
Ozarks At Large




Becca Martin Brown tells us about Naturally Diverse Arkansas, the showcase exhibit that returns to the Fort Smith Regional Art Museum next month.


Though state and federally managed caves have been closed for a few years to prevent spread of the disease fatal to bats, a few cases have been confirmed in northern Arkansas.
A sizable grant from the Walmart Foundation will help the NWA Children's Shelter continue to provide essential services for the area's children. The Benton County assessor's and collector's office in Gravette will soon move. The City of Fayetteville installs a charging station for electric vehicles, only the fifth in NWA. And a religious scholar weighs in on Pope Francis's recent comments in Brazil regarding homosexuals.


Bill Halter steps out of the 2014 race for Arkansas governor, leaving Mike Ross as the sole Democrat in the race. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that Arkansans have a shorter life expectancy than the national average. And several highway projects announced last week by the Arkansas Highway Transportation Department will eventually become part of Interstate 49, but when that will happen is still to be determined.


Latest Edition of Ozarks at Large
Friday, April 25, 2014
Ahead on this edition of Ozarks, the band Elephant Revival stopped by the Frimin-Garner Performance Studio this month to talk about their instruments, their music and their social causes, and to play some music before their concert at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.
One Arkansas senator is pressing election officials to resolve issues with the state's voter ID law. Other legislators are pushing to prevent the state lottery commission from implementing video gambling games throughout the state. The FASTER Arkansas committee continues its push for changes in state law to allow public schools to connect to an existing, state-funded fiber optic network. And one Eureka Springs alderman is trying to move forward a decades-long debate on what to do about parking in that city's downtown area.
More than twenty Northwest Arkansas specialty shops sell electronic cigarettes, both disposable and rechargeable. The popular devices deliver a smooth warm nicotine-laced white vapor in variety strengths and flavors. We visit the Velvet Vapor in Rogers and also talk to an Arkansas Department of Health tobacco specialist about pending regulations and potential risks associated with “vaping.”
Our history doctor, Bill Smith, explains the relationship between politics and money is an American tradition.
Becca Martin Brown, from Northwest Arkansas Newspapers, directs us to performance art and fireworks this weekend.
Jonathan Story sits down at the Mary Baker Rumsey Steinway.