Ozarks At Large
The head of the Hatcher Agency, the state's largest independent insurer, says that many of his clients are providing insurance to employees rather than paying penalties associated with the Affordable Care Act. Senator Mark Pryor talks about his push for answers from the Air Force regarding the 188th Fighter Wing in Fort Smith while Senator Boozman says he is concerned about a backlog in disability claims for veterans. And Elton John is coming to Fayetteville in just a few weeks.




Two public meetings were held late yesterday in Jasper to address concerns about the large CAFO in Newton County. Picasolar took home several thousand dollars from an MIT competition earlier this week. Fort Smith has finished automating trash collection, but now the city's sanitation department is turning its eye to automating recyclable collection. And speaking of Fort Smith, Senator Mark Pryor demands answers from the U.S. Air Force regarding the future of the 188th Fighter Wing.

Ozarks at Large's Meredith Martin Moats recently sat in on a conversation with Bud Rector, who will turn 99 later this year and has lived almost all his life in Yell County. We conclude her two-part report on his recollections of an Arkansas that has nearly vanished.

Latest Edition of Ozarks at Large
Remembering Some of the People We Lost in 2013
On this special edition of Ozarks we hear again some of the voices we lost during 2013, including Bill Harrison, Curley Miller, Ivan Denton and Dick Renko.
A new trend is catching on at a downtown Fayetteville elementary school: the lost art of bicycle commuting. To make the venture safer, bicycle enthusiasts are helping to organize parents and their children into “bike trains.” We take you along for a ride.
From "Oliver!" to a brand new murder mystery in downtown Bentonville, Becca Martin Brown from NWA Newspapers suggests hanging out in a theatre this weekend.
Radine Trees Nehring discusses the seventh novel in her "To Die For" series set a War Eagle Craft Fair.
A week from tonight Gretchen Parlato and her band will launch the 2012-2013 jazz series at Walton Arts Center. Over the next several months five performers will play ten shows in the intimate Starr Theater. We know the best guide for us to get ready for the season is Robert Ginsburg, the host of KUAF’s “Shades of Jazz” every Friday at 10 p.m.
Yesterday, artist Margot Moulton celebrated the installation of her newly finished pig statue at the Walton Arts Center as part of the Ozark Literacy Council's Pigshibition.