Mercy Health used an innovative walking program to become one of the healthiest workplaces in the country.
Ozarks At Large
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
Sunday, March 9, 2014
Ahead on this edition of Weekend Ozarks, we visit the kitchen of Jen Lewis, take a spin in a state-run clinic that aids veterans in rural communities, and we meet a recovering opiate addict who has found hope with methadone.
Becca Martin Brown from NWA Newspapers gives us a preview of the Walton Arts Center's 2013-2014 season.
Recently, the band Little Chief came to the Firmin-Garner Performance Studio for a conversation and performance. Their EP, “Somewhere Near the River,” is now available on iTunes.
With federal budget sequestration looming around the corner, Arkansas' U.S. Senate contingent sounds off about the issue. We also look at how budget sequestration could impact research at the University of Arkansas. And, the Arkansas Legislature moves forward with two anti-abortion bills.
"Loud Pipes" by Ratatat
The pipeline, which will pump heavy crude oil mined from Canadian tar sands through Cushing, Oklahoma to Texas Gulf Coast refineries is providing hundreds of jobs for Oklahomans and sourcing steel pipe in Arkansas. Opponents claim the project is environmentally disastrous and only serves petrochemical industry interests.
(Photo courtesy of David Druding)
Small business owners in Arkansas express concern over the federal healthcare law. Maggie Carroll from our content partner KUAR in Little Rock has more.