The U of A gets $1.4 million of federal transportation money to start a Maritime Research and Educational Center. UAFS gets ready to unveil a new master plan. A Fort Smith school gets named a National Blue Ribbon School. And a volunteer fair set for this week aims to connect area non-profit organizations with people willing to help out.
Ozarks At Large



The Arkansas Insurance Department releases rates for insurance policies that will be sold through the state's new insurance exchange. Arkansas' poverty rate edges upward slightly in the latest American Community Survey by the U.S. Census Bureau. Arkansas Children's Hospital researchers continue efforts to curb the rate of childhood obesity. A Fayetteville street is closed to make way for sidewalk construction. And fewer travelers flew through XNA in August, though the airport has still seen more travelers so far this year than at this time last year.



We speak with our Ozarks at Large insect expert, Dr. Donald Steinkraus, to the tricks to getting rid of and keeping away the pesky kitchen pest.

The Big River Steel superproject moves forward in northeast Arkansas, while Central Arkansas Water files intent to sue Exxon Mobile if the company decides to prematurely restart its Pegasus pipeline through Central Arkansas. And, the Beaver Watershed Alliance plans a series of community meetings in southern Washington County to give local stakeholders information regarding best operating practices to help improve water quality in the West Fork watershed of the White River. The schedule and more information for those meetings can be found in this flyer.


Latest Edition of Ozarks at Large
Thursday, March 6, 2014
Ahead on this edition of Ozarks, as the state prepares for a busy election year, one county makes changes to its polling sites. Plus, a physical fitness event this weekend celebrates two very different causes, and we visit with a founder of the Soweto Gospel Choir, which is performing tonight at Walton Arts Center.
Rita Harvey, one of the cast members of Next to Normal, and Amy Herzberg, the director of the T2 production, came to the Firmin-Garner Performance Studio to talk about the production in mid-run and provide a musical sampler from the play.
Click here for more information about the special Wednesday night performance hosted by the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences' Psychiatric Research Institute. For more information about the musical and T2, click here.
Jack Fussell is running from coast to coast to raise money and awareness for Alzheimer's disease.
Tom Vilsack, the country's Secretary of Agriculture, was the esteemed speaker of yesterday's Dale and Betty Bumpers Distinguished Lecture at the University of Arkansas. He took the opportunity to speak candidly with the standing room only crowd about short-, medium-, and long-term ag public policy goals, and about opening lines of communication.
A Fort Smith homeless agency halts its plans to move to a homeless campus until certain criteria are met. Ozarks at Large’s Christina Thomas takes us on a tour of the organization and potential campus.
Southwestern Electric Power Company plans to string an extra high voltage transmission line across Benton and Carroll Counties to better serve the region’s growing electrical needs. But a group of affected residents have organized “Save the Ozarks” to block the transmission corridor.
"The Next Step" by Kurt Rosenwinkel