Ozarks At Large

Arkansas ends its fiscal year with a surplus of several million dollars, but lawmakers have no firm plans yet of how to spend the money. Ongoing highway improvements mean some road closures and delays over the holiday weekend. And, students at UALR react to the interest rate hike that went into effect this week on Stafford student loans for low income students.




The United States Supreme Court decision regarding the Voting Rights Act means changes for Arkansas.
The popular resort town of Eureka Springs is a prime Ozarks vacation spot filled with pretty B&Bs, cottages and cabins for overnight guests. But as Jacqueline Froelich reports, some say a glut of tourist accommodations and vacation rentals are dislocating residents, forcing them to live out of town.
Arkansas home sales are up by 10 percent according to the Arkansas Realtors Association. The half-cent highway sales tax kicks in this month and will continue for the next ten years. The Fort Smith Fire Department honors one of its own who rescued a child from a 30-foot utility shaft. And a familiar term to Fayetteville residents: construction zone.
Latest Edition of Ozarks at Large
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
On this edition of Ozarks, a conversation with photographer and author Tim Ernst. Also, giving the gift of a free family portrait to those in need.
Last January the U.S. Department of the Interior designated the White River Watershed as a National Blueway, the second river in the nation to be honored. The title recognizes and supports a new generation of watershed stewardship. But Jeannie Burlsworth, who runs the right-wing property rights group, “Secure Arkansas,” claims the Blueway Program is a covert government operation. Burlsworth has roused so much opposition, that the Arkansas Blueway initiative was forced to shut down.
Roby Brock, from our content partner Talk Business Arkansas, says a big shakeup in the banking world garnered much attention last week.
In his book Enduring Legacy: Rhetoric and Ritual of the Lost Cause, Stuart Towns argues that without the words expressed during and after the Civil War, the Lost Cause movement in the American South would not have been what it was. Christina Thomas speaks with Towns about the oral history of the Lost Cause and how it has influenced the region today.
"July" by Spirit of the West
Even though she’s in New Orleans, Becca Martin Brown gets us up to date on music in northwest Arkansas this holiday weekend.
In our weekly review of the headlines, we take a look at groups and organizations that are on the hook for more money, and one organization getting a sizable amount of money.