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 Bacon Martin from Northwest Arkansas Newspapers talks about First Thursday events in Fayetteville and Bentonville, “An Ouija Experiment,” and a performance by the University of Arkansas Percussion Ensemble.
“Tree Hugger” by Kimya Dawson
The Northwest Arkansas Earth Day Festival is the longest continuous Earth Day Festival in the history of Earth Day. Mikel Lolley, the chief organizer, explains.
To listen to more of this conversation, click here.
Sarah Lear from Trike Theatre discusses the Mary Poppins musical theatre boot camp that’s at Walton Arts Center next Saturday.
“My Rollercoaster” by Kimya Dawson
Jodi Beznoska from Walton Arts Center tells us what’s in store for us at the Center and Northwest Arkansas Music Pavilion.
We visit Pea Ridge’s newly constructed above-ground public tornado shelter in Benton County, funded in part by an Arkansas Department of Emergency Management Hazard Mitigation program grant, as well as a state-of-the-art personal underground shelter, installed by new local business startup, SureSafe Tornado Shelters.
“Shelter” by Ray LaMontagne