Governor Mike Beebe says that while four sites are currently under consideration for a new state veterans' home, that potential still exists for other options should they arise. And, the Seville Hotel in Harrison is back on the market, some seek denied school transfer requests to be overturned in Little rock, an awareness campaign aims to decrease drivers illegally passing school buses and Mark Darr sets off another waterfall of political candidacies with his announcement that he will run for Congressman Tom Cotton's seat in Washington next year.
Ozarks At Large


Still on the Hill will curate (and perform at the launch of) a new exhibit of instruments made in unique Ozarks style.
Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art anticipates welcoming its one millionth visitor this week and have organized a number of events to mark the occasion.
A plan to create a campus in Fort Smith to help people move out of homelessness received some help this summer.
Two special elections will be held tomorrow, one to fill a vacant city council seat in Springdale, and one regarding a 1 percent sales tax for water and sewer improvements in Paris. And, the Rogers School District, like many others in the area, will start the new school year with more bandwidth, to allow for a more connected classroom.


After listening to speculation about Tom Cotton's political future for months, he finally, formally announced his intention to run for a Senate seat. This week's montage focuses on other cottons:
- Zooey Deschanel's Cotton commercial
- Michael Jordan's Hanes Lay Flat T-shirt commercial
- Golden Corral cotton candy commercial
- "Cotton Candy Land" by Elvis Presley
- :Peter Cottontail" by Gene Autry
- A clip from Francis Ford Coppola's movie The Cotton Club
- "Cotton Mouth Man" by James Cotton (featuring Joe Bonamassa)
- "Cotton Fields" by Creedence Clearwater Revival
- "Pickin' Time" by Johnny Cash
- "Cotton Eye Joe" by Rednex

Latest Edition of Ozarks at Large
Sunday, January 5, 2014
On this special edition of Weekend Ozarks at Large, we look back at some of our favorite musical performances of the last half of 2013 including: Don't Stop Please, Barrett Baber, Boom Kinetic, A Good Fight, Kory Montgomery, Foley's Van, The Cole Reeves Band, National Park Radio,Priscilla Dawn White, Block Street Hot Club, and the reunion of the Early Morning Bourbon Girls.
The Ozarks Genealogical Society's annual conference is scheduled for Sept. 13-14 in Springfield, Missouri, and the featured speaker is D. Joshua Taylor (http://www.djoshuataylor.com).
The first event outside of Eureka Springs for the Creative Energy Project will bring yarn, and plenty of it, to Bentonville.
Link: For more about Yarnology or the Creative Energy Project, www.creativeenergyproject.com
Officials with hunger relief organizations in Arkansas express concern over recent efforts to remove SNAP funding from the federal Farm Bill. Central Arkansas leaders request information from ExxonMobil regarding a stretch of pipeline in the Lake Maumelle Watershed. The Arkansas House and Senate Education Committees discuss the new Common Core curriculum, set to take effect when schools start in about a month. And the Fayetteville Public Library board of directors moves forward with an offer to purchase the former City Hospital property.
"Cut Me Loose" by T Model Ford
In the first of our series on the deployment of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in Arkansas, Cynthia Crone, the state’s insurance department deputy commissioner, explains the fundamentals, including getting an early look at Arkansas’s insurance exchange, now referred to as marketplace.
Early next month the organization called the Military Order of the Purple Heart of the U.S.A. Inc. will hold its annual convention in Rogers. We talked to John Bircher, National Spokesman for the Military Order of the Purple Heart.
Link: To learn more about the Military Order of the Purple Heart, visit www.purpleheart.org