
Ozarks At Large



Mercy Health used an innovative walking program to become one of the healthiest workplaces in the country.
A roundup of events and news for the next few weeks include an alternative way to deliver a Valentine.


An administrative law judge with the Arkansas Public Service Commission on Friday ordered SWEPCO to proceed on its proposed plan to build a massive new power transmission line through portions of northwest Arkansas. Also, Governor Mike Beebe says that recent cost analyses of operating the state's Private Option expansion of Medicaid justifies the program's passage during last year's session of the state legislature. And the state Attorney General's office warns residents about rapid-refund tax providers.

Ahead on Ozarks, a conversation with young adult author An Na. Also, we learn what it takes to become a police officer.

We speak with An Na, author of A Step From Heaven, a book that was awarded the Michael L. Prince Award when it was published a decade ago. Critics and reviewers commended the book's characters for speaking like a child without being too precocious or condescending. The author will speak in Fayetteville later this month.
Latest Edition of Ozarks at Large
Monday, April 7, 2014
Ahead on this edition of Ozarks, the man who has been intimately connected with the Nobel Peace Prize for the past quarter-century talks about the process for selecting a recipient and some of the controversies associated with the honor.
Last week the University of Arkansas Libraries hosted a panel discussion about Daisy Bates. Janis Kearney, Roy Reed and Gerald Jordan participated in the forum. (Photo: UA Libraries Special Collection)
Gubernatorial hopeful Asa Hutchinson was among the candidates yesterday who filed to run in this year's election, while current Governor Beebe talked about the potential impacts that could come if the state legislature doesn't reauthorize funding for the Private Option.
"Stripes Main Theme" by Elmer Bernstein
The six-county Ozark Mountain Solid Waste District filed for bankruptcy in January on a landfill and hauling franchise it purchased nearly ten years ago in north Baxter County as a money-making venture. As Jacqueline Froelich reports, a state legislator has stepped forward to allocate special funding to safely seal the site.
The Fort Smith Board of Directors last night held its first quarterly open-forum meeting. The sessions are designed to discuss any "What" and "Why" questions the directors might have.
In 2011, Northwest Arkansas Community College received a one-million-dollar federal grant to offer certifications and other classes to the unemployed in Northwest Arkansas. Now in its third year, the ARK Grant program has already helped 275 area residents further develop their skills in order to more easily find a job