Two groups announce intentions to file suit to block a new law that they say would make it more difficult to circulate petitions to get initiatives on the general election ballot. Two area schools get recognized, one for ESL proficiency and the other for overall achievement. And the Joe Martin Stage Race gets underway, with cycling traffic set to peeve some motorists on certain area roads this weekend.
Ozarks At Large
Here is the key to our clips heard in this morning’s montage of famous cemeteries, graveyards and funerals in pop culture:
- Thriller by Michael Jackson. The most famous dance routine set in a graveyard.
- Opening moments from the original Night of the Living Dead.
- The original “graveyard smash”, "The Monster Mash" by Bobby Pickett.
- A wonderful Lee Marvin stumbles into a funeral in the underrated comedy, Cat Ballou.
- Gene Wilder and Marty Feldman have a rough night in the cemetery in Young Frankenstein.
- Opening moments from a 1940 film version of Thornton Wilder’s Our Town.
- Abe Vigoda and Al Pacino is a pivotal scene at Don Corleone’s funeral in The Godfather.
- Theme from the HBO series Six Feet Under.
- Reginald Owen as Scrooge in the 1938 film A Christmas Carol as he sees his own grave.
- The Crypt Keeper from an opening episode of the HBO series Tales From the Crypt.


We continue our series previewing this weekend's poetry festival at Nightbird Books. Katie Nichol grew up in St. Cloud, Minnesota and says she started writing poetry when she was about 12 years old:
Artosphere is just around the corner, and as a result, a full slate of activities are on the schedule at Walton Arts Center.
The Fifth Annual Celebration of Heroes event benefiting the Northwest Arkansas Chapter of the American Red Cross is next Saturday May 4. Today, we meet a local hero who saved the life of a three-year-old girl.
Emily Chase recently received a national honor for her thesis work at the University of Arkansas. She told us about the creation of her paper gowns.
Becca Martin Brown says that Fleetwood Mac, Little Big Town and Jewell are a few of the music acts to keep an eye out for in the coming days.
A Fort Smith homeless agency halts its plans to move to a homeless campus until certain criteria are met. Ozarks at Large’s Christina Thomas takes us on a tour of the organization and potential campus.

Latest Edition of Ozarks at Large
Sunday, November 3, 2013
Ahead on this edition of Weekend Ozarks, the area's first green cemetery, plus a conversation and silly questions with Frank Tavares, whose voice can be heard reading underwriting announcements on NPR.
In just more than a decade, Mark Landon Smith, director of Arts Live Theatre, has taken the program to new heights. Becca Martin Brown has more on their upcoming season.
Here are our ten clips inspired by monster trucks...well, all monster---no trucks.
1. Bobby Pickett sings Monster Mash.
2. Boris Karloff and O.P. Heggie in an iconic (if often misquoted) scene from The Bride of Frankenstein.
3. Warren Zevon's song Werewolves of London.
4. Maria Ouspenskaya and Lon Chaney, Jr. in The Wolf Man.
5. Godzilla, the song by Blue Oyster Cult.
6. Godzilla, the fire-breathing monster.
7. Edgar Winter and the classic rock instrumental, Frankenstein.
8. King Kong's roar. You get credit if you guessed a lion's roar played backwards...because that's what it is.
9. Imagine Dragons' song Monster.
10. Bela Lugosi's Dracula doesn't lie...he just doesn't tell the whole truth.
Apologies to: Lon Chaney, Sr. (silent films are not good Sunday Montage fodder), the Creature From the Black Lagoon and Of Monsters and Men. Maybe next time.
The Arkansas gross domestic product grew in 2013, particularly in some unexpected sectors. With one of the architects of the Arkansas Private Option defeated in a primary runoff this week, the future of the Medicaid expansion is in doubt, but Governor Mike Beebe is undeterred. Plus, this weekend marks the 149th anniversary of the end of slavery in the U.S., and the 17th annual NWA Juneteenth Celebration will mark the occasion in Springdale.
"Ten Million Slaves" Otis Taylor
Michael Tilley, from The City Wire, talks about the latest details regarding an acquisition of Hillshire.