
Ozarks At Large

The Washington Regional Medical Center board of directors accepted an offer by the Fayetteville Public Library to purchase the former City Hospital property for $2 million. Arkansas's U.S. Senators are hopeful about passing a farm bill when Congress reconvenes next month. The state's new voter ID law is being implemented by the Arkansas Secretary of State's office. Siloam Springs joins the list of area cities holding a special sales tax election this year. And the Northwest Arkansas metro area makes another list, this time for being one of the top real estate markets for wellness and wealth in the country.
KUAF's Katy Henriksen recently traveled to Chicago for the annual Pitchfork Music Festival. Here's some of the sound she found there.


We get a peek at the new green roof on the University of Arkansas campus. It is visually pleasing, but also has practical implications.
Roby Brock talks to Kyle Kellams about possible political repercussions following the resignation of State Senator Paul Bookout.
Opposing sides give their views on the safety of oil pipelines. Central Park-Morning Star Elementary in Bentonville is named a 2012 National Blue Ribbon School, while the Sebastian County Quorum Court appoints members to the Hartford School Board. And the city of Fort Smith replaces a record number of sidewalks this year.


Latest Edition of Ozarks at Large
Friday, January 10, 2014
Ahead on this edition of Ozarks…the 2013 Northwest Arkansas Education Report Card has numbers, plenty of numbers, relating to 17 public school districts in Washington and Benton Counties. We'll talk to Gary Ritter, the director of the Office for Education Policy at the University of Arkansas about the report. And the three-person band The Room Outside plays inside the Firmin-Garner Performance Studio. We'll also talk to Michael Tilley from The City Wire about the week’s news and Becca Martin Brown from Northwest Arkansas Newspapers about the upcoming weekend’s entertainment opportunities.
Well, maybe not lions and tigers, but the UA collection does have more than 250 river otters. They recently received a grant to rehouse their mammal collection. Ozarks at Large's Christina Thomas has more.
Becca Martin Brown says even though the BBBQ Rally has left, you can still get your ears filled with sound by making a short trip to see Nine Inch Nails in concert.
"How Many Times Must We Burn This Bridge" by Yuka Honda
In the next four months more than a dozen productions will be on stage in the region. The cast of The Clean House, which opens the University of Arkansas 2013-14 season, helps get us ready.
The Big River Steel superproject moves forward in northeast Arkansas, while Central Arkansas Water files intent to sue Exxon Mobile if the company decides to prematurely restart its Pegasus pipeline through Central Arkansas. And, the Beaver Watershed Alliance plans a series of community meetings in southern Washington County to give local stakeholders information regarding best operating practices to help improve water quality in the West Fork watershed of the White River. The schedule and more information for those meetings can be found in this flyer.
"Secret Garden" by Bruce Springsteen
In his weekly review of business and political news, Roby Brock of Talk Business Arkansas says that a recent release by the Federal Reserve shows that though the economic recovery isn't leaping forward in Arkansas, some sectors are showing brisk improvement.