Ozarks At Large

Here are out ten clips relating to Buffalo, New York and the War of 1812.

1) Ten Thousand Maniacs (from the Buffalo area) sing Because the Night,
2) Robert Redford and Wilford Brimley in The Natural (filmed in Buffalo).
3) Bruce Springsteen sings about Buffalo's Erie Canal.
4) A trailer, featuring Marilyn Monroe, for the movie Niagara…set in nearby Niagara Falls. 5) Buffalo native Rick James ponders a Super Freak.
6) A BBC documentary about the assassination of President McKinley. The shooting happened in Buffalo. (as did the subsequent swearing-n ceremony of Theodore Roosevelt).
7) The only electronic song we know of about Buffalo native Grover Cleveland.
8) Judy Garland sings Somewhere Over the Rainbow…written by Buffalo native Harold Arlen.
9) Amanda Blake, another Buffalo native, as Miss Kitty on an early episode of Gunsmoke.
10) Johnny Horton sings The Battle of New Orleans, about the final battle of the War of 1812. Arkansas connection: written by Jimmy Driftwood.

Justin Minkel, a Springdale elementary school teacher and 2007 Arkansas Teacher of the Year, has just written a new book aimed at young readers.

Ahead on this edition of Weekend Ozarks, we visit a local yarn shop to speak with local knitters about how and what they're working on this holiday season. Plus, a discussion with a local man who lost his grandson in the Sandy Hook massacre last December, and how a church reaches out to the community with its healing touch.

Last Thursday, a preliminary hearing was held before Pulaski County Circuit Judge Chris Piazza on a lawsuit filed last summer to strike down an Arkansas constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, approved by seventy-four percent of voters ten years ago. Jacqueline Froelich spoke with attorneys on both sides of the case, as well as a plaintiff and brings us the story. (Photo credit: John Rankine)