Ahead on Weekend Ozarks, new outdoor workout equipment is installed, a new art exhibit opens and a new book is published.
Ozarks At Large
Jim Fairbanks’ new memoir examines his life since a diagnosis of type one diabetes.
More about the book at makesusstronger.com
In our weekly review of the headlines, we take a look at groups and organizations that are on the hook for more money, and one organization getting a sizable amount of money.
Jim Fairbanks’ new memoir examines his life since a diagnosis of type one diabetes.
More about the book at makesusstronger.com
Ahead on this edition of Ozarks, an update on an agreement between Arkansas and Oklahoma to improve the Illinois River Watershed. Plus, trap shooting. Also, a tour of the second phase of construction at Fayetteville High School, a forum focused on the possibility of a growing green economy in the Arkansas and Mississippi Delta Regions.
Oklahoma and Arkansas have battled for years in the press and courts about cleaning up the Illinois River, an impaired stream shared by both states. This winter they agreed to renew a pact to determine a scientific basis to clean the river. But as Jacqueline Froelich reports, Arkansas industrial interests have since issued letters to EPA requesting a suspension of the current clean water standard.
The Amazeum won't open until 2015, but Sam Dean, the director of the new science and learning museum, says that museum officials already have some idea of what the exhibits, and the building itself, will look like.
A group protesting construction of the Keystone XL pipeline in Oklahoma, including members from Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas and California, chain themselves to equipment at a construction site on the pipeline to prevent construction from moving forward. Officials in Central Arkansas lament a lack of access to documents related to the Mayflower Oil spill, leading to what they view as a lack of oversight. Rogers aldermen look to spend just more than $1 million on a trails project. And state officials draft a waiver that would allow the state to use federal Medicaid dollars for the state's so-called "private option" Medicaid expansion plan.
Michael Heffernan will read tomorrow night at Nightbird Books. We talk to him about his latest collection of poetry, "Walking Distance."
The state's Department of Corrections has announced it will make changes to the state's parole system following calls by Governor Beebe and others to strengthen the supervision and control of parolees in the state. While new unemployment numbers show a decline in the state's business sector, other areas have experienced growth. Opposition is mounting against the White River's designation as a National Blueway. And non-profit organizations looking to Rogers to host baseball tournaments will soon have to pay more to play.
Latest Edition of Ozarks at Large
Wednesday, June 11, 2014
Ahead on this edition of Ozarks, raising the minimum wage in Arkansas. Plus, we have a report on regional accents.
One Arkansas senator is pressing election officials to resolve issues with the state's voter ID law. Other legislators are pushing to prevent the state lottery commission from implementing video gambling games throughout the state. The FASTER Arkansas committee continues its push for changes in state law to allow public schools to connect to an existing, state-funded fiber optic network. And one Eureka Springs alderman is trying to move forward a decades-long debate on what to do about parking in that city's downtown area.
More than twenty Northwest Arkansas specialty shops sell electronic cigarettes, both disposable and rechargeable. The popular devices deliver a smooth warm nicotine-laced white vapor in variety strengths and flavors. We visit the Velvet Vapor in Rogers and also talk to an Arkansas Department of Health tobacco specialist about pending regulations and potential risks associated with “vaping.”
Our history doctor, Bill Smith, explains the relationship between politics and money is an American tradition.
Becca Martin Brown, from Northwest Arkansas Newspapers, directs us to performance art and fireworks this weekend.
Jonathan Story sits down at the Mary Baker Rumsey Steinway.