Ozarks At Large
On today's edition of Ozarks, 21c Museum Hotel officially opens. We have a report from the ribbon cutting ceremony that took place late this morning. Plus, local organizations are helping education residents about the Earned Income Tax Credit, while tomorrow night's Science Cafe will provide information on the nanotechnology work being conducted on the University of Arkansas campus.
Becca Martin Brown from NWA Newspapers says tonight's entertainment suggestions include auditions for “Goodbye Charlie” at Rogers Little Theater, and the band Spoken returns to Fayetteville.
This is our list of items for this morning’s montage of snakes:
- Kaa, the snake from The Jungle Book, sings a hypnotic tune. The voice is provided by the legendary Sterling Holloway.
- Harrison Ford, as Indiana Jones, ponders his next adventure.
- Jim Stafford, now of Branson, sings one of his biggest hits, "Spiders and Snakes."
- The character Snake, from The Simpsons, watches his car get stolen.
- A highlight of Kenny “The Snake” Stabler running for a touchdown for the Oakland Raiders.
- A big (talking?) snake gets zapped in the Harry Potter movie Chamber of Secrets.
- Electric Light Orchestra performing "Don’t Let Me Down."
- The famous Spam skit from Monty Python. (python, get it…)
- The only part of *the* quote from the movie Snakes on a Plane we could put on the air.
- Duran Duran with the song "Union of the Snake."
Today is Chinese New Year, beginning the Year of the Snake. In honor of the holiday, Ozarks at Large's Christina Thomas visits the Reptile Museum in Fayetteville to take a look at some snakes, alligators and other scaly beasts.
Web Esxlusive: Images From the Reptile Museum
The alt-country band Damn Arkansan credits Smoke and Barrel Tavern for helping them make it as a band, so they helped organize a benefit concert to help the bar buy a new sound system.
Web Exclusive: Video of Damn Arkansan Inside the Firmin-Garner Performance Studio
The Valley of the Vapors music festival turns Hot Springs into a hotbed of DIY and experimental music each March. There's a new documentary film out about the fest making its Northwest Arkansas debut at Nightbird Books in Fayetteville this Saturday. Ozarks at Large's Katy Henriksen has more.
In reaction to the Newtown, Connecticut elementary school massacre, Arkansas schools continue to bolster security—from hiring armed guards to installing heavy surveillance. We check districts around the region, talk with school security experts, look at current state legislation, and hear from former U.S. Congressman Asa Hutchinson on the status of his National School Shield Emergency Response Program, commissioned by the National Rifle Association.
Bishop Gene Robinson, elected in 2003 as the first openly gay bishop in the Episcopal Church will speak at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Fayetteville February 9th and 10th. He took an early retirement from his post late last year and is now a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress in Washington D.C. We speak to him by phone about his life and vocation, in advance of his visit.
We've had another week with news about organizations that provide services to the community. Timothy Dennis looks at those stories, plus repercussions from the week's severe weather, in this week's Week in Review.
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.
The Ozarks Genealogical Society's annual conference is scheduled for Sept. 13-14 in Springfield, Missouri, and the featured speaker is D. Joshua Taylor (http://www.djoshuataylor.com).
The first event outside of Eureka Springs for the Creative Energy Project will bring yarn, and plenty of it, to Bentonville.
Link: For more about Yarnology or the Creative Energy Project, www.creativeenergyproject.com
Officials with hunger relief organizations in Arkansas express concern over recent efforts to remove SNAP funding from the federal Farm Bill. Central Arkansas leaders request information from ExxonMobil regarding a stretch of pipeline in the Lake Maumelle Watershed. The Arkansas House and Senate Education Committees discuss the new Common Core curriculum, set to take effect when schools start in about a month. And the Fayetteville Public Library board of directors moves forward with an offer to purchase the former City Hospital property.
"Cut Me Loose" by T Model Ford
In the first of our series on the deployment of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in Arkansas, Cynthia Crone, the state’s insurance department deputy commissioner, explains the fundamentals, including getting an early look at Arkansas’s insurance exchange, now referred to as marketplace.
Early next month the organization called the Military Order of the Purple Heart of the U.S.A. Inc. will hold its annual convention in Rogers. We talked to John Bircher, National Spokesman for the Military Order of the Purple Heart.
Link: To learn more about the Military Order of the Purple Heart, visit www.purpleheart.org