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.
Roby Brock gives us an update on the Big River Steel project and more in his weekly business update.
Becca says kids activities for this week include a fishing derby tomorrow.
Dr. Peter Ungar, an anthropologist at the University of Arkansas, discusses how he looks at teeth to determine the diets of our ancestors and how what we and other animals eat today affects our pearly whites. He is also the author of Teeth: A Very Short Introduction published by Oxford University Press.
The latest state revenue report shows a surplus for the end of the fiscal year. State and local leaders celebrated the opening of the 71-B Flyover last night in Fayetteville, and Rogers is working on building a new, modern fire station for the central part of the city.
The Oklahoma Department of Health has confirmed the state's first death due to Heartland virus—a new tick-borne illness discovered in the mid-South. So far no cases have been documented in Arkansas. Jacqueline Froelich spoke with an Oklahoma epidemiologist to find out the status of the virus and how to avoid be bitten.