The latest results released from the Talk Business Arkansas-Hendrix College poll show that the chief concern among Arkansas voters is the economy as this mid-term election year gets underway. Crews with the Arkansas and Missouri Railroad continue to make repairs and determine the cause of failure to certain equipment on the railroad bridge crossing the Arkansas River at Van Buren. Cargill is ordered to pay more than $2 million in a settlement of hiring discrimination allegations, and the state of Arkansas is clawing back nearly a half million dollars from Hewlett-Packard after the company failed to meet employment projections at its facility in Conway.
Ozarks At Large

The Joint Budget Committee of the Arkansas LEgislature hears from Arkansas Department of Human Services regarding funding for the state's Private Option expansion of Medicaid, while a new Talk Business Arkansas-Hendrix College poll suggests that Arkansans are supportive of the program. And, Crawford County officials are hopeful that voters will be supportive of a sales tax increase that would fund construction and operation of a new county jail.


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.
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.
We visit the Rogers Police Department to find out about how one can protect and serve the public, as the department prepares to offer the Entry Level Police Officer Examination early next month.


Latest Edition of Ozarks at Large
Monday, April 28, 2014
Ahead on this edition of Ozarks, how lasers have gone from a phenomenon on The Jetsons to a part of daily life. We speak with a Stanford University professor who has been teaching about the light-emitting device since 1969. Plus, annual hospitality awards in the Arkansas River Valley honor those who serve and take care of the public.
The Kansas City band Trampled Under Foot recently stopped by the Firmin-Garner Performance Studio to talk with Paul Kelso, host of the Generic Blues Show. While they were here, they performed a couple of songs including Bob Dylan's “Don't Think Twice, It's Alright.”
In today's Segment A, we look at the Arkansas House's vote yesterday to override Governor Mike Beebe's veto of a controversial voter ID bill. The House also passed a resolution in support of the federal Defense of Marriage Act, a resolution that sparked emotion from both supporters and opponents of same-sex marriage. And the Razorback Baseball team continues its winning streak.
"Typhoid Mary" by Hollis Webb
Roby Brock talks with Grant Tennille with the Arkansas Economic Development Commission about the Big River Steel super project.
Thomas Hylton, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, has made smarter city planning his passion. He'll speak at the University of Arkansas April 4th about his book Save Our Land, Save Our Towns. We talked to him in advance of his visit.
"Forward Motion" by Mezzoforte
Becca Martin Brown from Northwest Arkansas Media says spring break is over and the entertainment opportunities abound.