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.
UA Fort Smith criminal justice students carry out a successful food drive, the Washington County sheriff wants to contract healthcare for inmates at the county jail, and UAMS and Washington Regional Medical Center announce a partnership to expand a statewide telemedicine network.
“Walcott” by Vampire Weekend
Michael Tilley from The City Wire, who marked its fourth anniversary yesterday, gives us an update on the jobless rate in the listening area, discusses Oklahoma's new “open carry” gun law and more.
Voters in several dry Arkansas counties, this election, will be asked to consider permitting the sale and manufacture of alcohol. One of them is rural Madison County. The controversial issue is not only drawing more voters, it’s providing a big lesson in civic engagement.
In honor of Homecoming at the University of Arkansas, Becca Martin Brown from NWA Newspapers gives us a list of where we can find several pig art installations (part of Ozark Literacy Council's Pigshibition project) around town.
Historians Eric Gellman and Jarod Roll discuss their new dual biography The Gospel of the Working Class: Labor's Southern Prophets in New Deal America.