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.
Here are the ten clips for our montage dedicated to streets, roads and avenues:
1. Nat King Cole gets us started with Route 66.
2. Gloria Swanson as the doomed Nora Desmond in Sunset Boulevard.
3. U2 sings Where the Streets Have No Name.
4. Michael Douglas as Gordon Gecko in Wall Steet.
5. Bruce Springsteen sings 10th Avenue Freeze Out.
6. Michael Conrad offers his end-of-meeting statement on Hill Street Blues.
7. The opening theme, of course, from Sesame Street.
8. Part of the trailer from the original Nightmare on Elm Street.
9. Jack Kerouac reads from the last page of On the Road.
10. Willie is On the Road Again.
Apologies to Bob Dylan’s Highway 61, the cast of Mulholland Drive, any number of other songwriters and Kraftwerk’s Autobahn (but then again, the German group was included in last week’s montage). Maybe next time.
"Intro" by XX
Congressman Tim Griffin has some questions for the top IRS official who resigned earlier this week. A festival of short films comes to Eureka Springs next month. Arkansas drivers can expect lower gas prices this month. The Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts has plans for increasing the amount of college credit with which students graduate. And the region four headquarters of the Arkansas Highway Transportation Department makes the move from Fort Smith to Barling.
"Get Lucky" by Daft Punk
Michael Tilley from The City Wire discusses the 2014 Arkansas governor’s race and pollution at a former Whirlpool plant.
We finish our week-long series about summer camps with a preview of Camp Invention at Immaculate Conception Elementary School in Fort Smith. For more information about any Camp Invention in the area, click here.
"Luna Park" by Signal Hill
Becca Martin Brown from NWA Newspapers gives us the details on a busy outdoor weekend.