Mercy Health used an innovative walking program to become one of the healthiest workplaces in the country.
Ozarks At Large
A roundup of events and news for the next few weeks include an alternative way to deliver a Valentine.
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An administrative law judge with the Arkansas Public Service Commission on Friday ordered SWEPCO to proceed on its proposed plan to build a massive new power transmission line through portions of northwest Arkansas. Also, Governor Mike Beebe says that recent cost analyses of operating the state's Private Option expansion of Medicaid justifies the program's passage during last year's session of the state legislature. And the state Attorney General's office warns residents about rapid-refund tax providers.
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Ahead on Ozarks, a conversation with young adult author An Na. Also, we learn what it takes to become a police officer.
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We speak with An Na, author of A Step From Heaven, a book that was awarded the Michael L. Prince Award when it was published a decade ago. Critics and reviewers commended the book's characters for speaking like a child without being too precocious or condescending. The author will speak in Fayetteville later this month.
Latest Edition of Ozarks at Large
Sunday, March 9, 2014
Ahead on this edition of Weekend Ozarks, we visit the kitchen of Jen Lewis, take a spin in a state-run clinic that aids veterans in rural communities, and we meet a recovering opiate addict who has found hope with methadone.
Next time you plan to venture into Eureka Springs, climb aboard Café Roulant. The trolley, fitted with linen covered tables and fine china, offers diners locally produced cuisine and miles of historic sights enroute. Café Roulant is open for winter tourism, and is now taking reservations for Valentines Day.
There's at least one fan in the house. Becca Martin Brown has more on this Walton Arts Center show.
"White Rabbit" by Jefferson Airplane
Yesterday's release from the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics shows broad-based job growth in northwest Arkansas, sales tax revenue went up for the big four cities of northwest Arkansas in November. NWACC decides to buy land from the Arkansas and Missouri Railroad. The education given by the U of A is again described as a good value by the Princeton Review. A teaching farm in Fayetteville gets a grant from Ozark Natural Foods. And Arkansas' newest state senator doubles down on not renewing the state's Private Option expansion of Medicaid.
"Ultraviolet" by Lights & Motion
Arkansas Democrat Gazette columnist John Brummett talks to Talk Business Arkansas' Roby Brock about the private option's chances for survival.
Economist Kathy Deck says that the size of the area directly impacts both the actual and perceived growth in the northwest Arkansas economy.
"Sarasota" by The New Mendicants