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 Northwest Arkansas Newspapers tells us about a book talk at the Fayetteville Public Library and a movie screening at the Rogers Public Library.
Recipients of a grant from the Winthrop Rockefeller foundation plan to implement savings programs for after high school schooling and improve the state's 49th rank in the country for young adults with a post-secondary education.
The state is the first in the country to implement a smart 911 system. The adoption of the new system across the state was announced earlier this week at the state capitol by elected officials and representatives of Arkansas’ fire, police and EMS first responders. Nathan Vandiver from our content partner KUAR in Little Rock filed this report.
"Ma Baker" by Boney M
University of Arkansas researcher Dr. Susan Gauch is helping develop personalized search engines. She visited KUAF earlier this week to talk with Ozarks at Large’s Antoinette Grajeda about her research.
More of this conversation is available here