Arkansas is one of 45 states to enact Common Core State Standards. A new office on the University of Arkansas campus has been established to find new ways bring those standards into the state's schools. We learn more about the Office of Innovation in Education from the office's director.
Ozarks At Large

Senator John Boozman says he would like to see the National Security Agency use more focused efforts to curb terrorism rather than relying on programs that use mass collections of data. The Arkansas Board of Election Commissioners approves a draft of rules for implementing the state's new voter ID law. Work is expected to begin soon on clearing the Cache River, a tributary of the White River. And the special collections department at the UA's Mullins Library unveils a new exhibit to celebrate National LGBT Pride month.


The Genesis Technology Incubator has been in the same place in some form for nearly three decades. But much has changed in and around that facility, as the Arkansas Research and Technology Park has coagulated on the acreage surrounding the facility.
Becca says the Fort Smith Museum of History is presenting a recreation of the Boston Store's tea room at noon Thursday.

Execution dates for inmates on death row in Arkansas have been put on hold. State lawmakers rally in Little Rock, urging the state's supreme court to uphold a judgement against drugmaker Johnson and Johnson. Also in the state capitol, close attention is being paid to how the state's parole monitoring system is being managed. Mercy Health Northwest in Rogers opens a new center to serve geriatrics in the area. And more trees are on the way for one parking lot in downtown Fayetteville.


Latest Edition of Ozarks at Large
Wednesday, December 4, 2013
Ahead on this edition of Ozarks, we talk to local officials about an increase in the DWI violations. Also, we attend a tasting at 28 Springs in Siloam Springs.
Becca Martin Brown says that the unique work of art will be installed at Crystal Bridges this week.
Surf de Soleil is one of the bands performing at a benefit for Guatemala tonight at George's Majestic Lounge in Fayetteville. Earlier this week, they stopped by the Firmin-Garner Performance and played their song "It's You and It's Me."
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.
To see pictures of some of Emily's work, click here.
The fifteenth-annual living history tour of Oak Cemetery is Sunday. Portrayals of Fort Smith's past residents, prominent and not, all tell a story of the city's history.
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.
Apologies to: that wonderful scene with Eli Wallach in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Dick Van Dyke’s narration in the opening of the movie The Comedian, all those vampire movies, about 1000 metal songs and the still-creepy ending to Carrie. Maybe next time.