Ozarks At Large
New standardized public education testing will be tried in Arkansas public schools under the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers. As Jacqueline Froelich reports, one million students across 18 states, including Arkansas, will participate in the “Next Generation Assessment” field tests.
The university system's board voted yesterday to start offering online courses. And, the state departments of health and education partner on educating schools about the dangers of heat-related illnesses.
Ahead on this edition of Ozarks: a walk around the trails at Lake Fayetteville will take you past acres of charred land. We learn about the benefits of prescribed burns such as these. Plus not one, but two area towns are in the running to take over the March Madness bracket of the Greatest Southern Town. And, we climb a tree to visit the serene world of a children's treehouse, and get ready for Spring Break with options for movie lovers.
Trading on the popularity of the NCAA Tournament, the magazine Garden and Gun has its own bracket. This one pits southern towns against each other.
Wings, and other films, will be shown at area libraries during next week's Spring Break Vacation. Becca has a full list.
We go off into our own world with Josh Hart, a carpenter and owner of Natural State Treehouses, who builds play structures for people of all ages.
It’s that time of year, like it or not, when foresters and conservationists burn the land. But as Jacqueline Froelich reports, prescribed burning not only helps to restore and maintain native habitat, it can help to sequester carbon.
Roby Brock with out content partner Talk Business Arkansas leads a roundtable discussion with Grant Tennille, director of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission, to talk jobs and the economy, including a state workforce program and minimum wage.
As promised, the state legislature overrode a line-item veto by Governor Mike Beebe to allow sand used in natural gas drilling to be exempt from sales tax. And, several organizations through the state accrue grant funding.
Latest Edition of Ozarks at Large
Monday, May 26, 2014
For a holiday edition of Ozarks at Large we hear highlights from a show at Fayetteville Public Library featuring songwriters Candy Lee, Shawn James and Barrett Baber.
Here are the ten clips for our montage dedicated to streets, roads and avenues:
1. Nat King Cole gets us started with Route 66.
2. Gloria Swanson as the doomed Nora Desmond in Sunset Boulevard.
3. U2 sings Where the Streets Have No Name.
4. Michael Douglas as Gordon Gecko in Wall Steet.
5. Bruce Springsteen sings 10th Avenue Freeze Out.
6. Michael Conrad offers his end-of-meeting statement on Hill Street Blues.
7. The opening theme, of course, from Sesame Street.
8. Part of the trailer from the original Nightmare on Elm Street.
9. Jack Kerouac reads from the last page of On the Road.
10. Willie is On the Road Again.
Apologies to Bob Dylan’s Highway 61, the cast of Mulholland Drive, any number of other songwriters and Kraftwerk’s Autobahn (but then again, the German group was included in last week’s montage). Maybe next time.
"Intro" by XX
Congressman Tim Griffin has some questions for the top IRS official who resigned earlier this week. A festival of short films comes to Eureka Springs next month. Arkansas drivers can expect lower gas prices this month. The Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts has plans for increasing the amount of college credit with which students graduate. And the region four headquarters of the Arkansas Highway Transportation Department makes the move from Fort Smith to Barling.
"Get Lucky" by Daft Punk
Michael Tilley from The City Wire discusses the 2014 Arkansas governor’s race and pollution at a former Whirlpool plant.
We finish our week-long series about summer camps with a preview of Camp Invention at Immaculate Conception Elementary School in Fort Smith. For more information about any Camp Invention in the area, click here.
"Luna Park" by Signal Hill
Becca Martin Brown from NWA Newspapers gives us the details on a busy outdoor weekend.