On this edition of Ozarks at Large, Fort Smith releases a report of the progress made in some focus areas; and the Taxpayer Advocacy Council looks for a volunteer to represent Arkansas’ taxpayers. Roby Brock from our content partner www.talkbusiness.net has a business and political news update for last week; and today’s Arkansongs features musician Robert McFerrin, Sr.
Ozarks At Large
The Taxpayer Advocacy Panel is looking for a volunteer to represent the taxpayers of Arkansas. Christina Thomas spoke with David Still of the IRS from his office in Oklahoma City. To apply to represent Arkansas on the Taxpayer Advocacy Panel, visit www.improveirs.org. The deadline to apply is April 27.
Last week, Fort Smith released a report of the progress made in the top strategic priorities and key issues identified by the top city staff and the Fort Smith Board of Directors. Ozarks at Large’s Iti Agnihotri-Mudholkar spoke with Ray Gosack, Fort Smith City Administrator to learn more.
Comedian Tim Northern will perform at the UARK Bowl on Dickson Street in Fayetteville tonight. He spoke with Ozarks at Large's Kyle Kellams earlier this week.
On this edition of Ozarks at Large, highlights from President Barack Obama's visit to Cushing, Oklahoma. We also have a preview of the Artosphere and Fayetteville Roots festivals; and another chat about math with our expert Dr. Chaim Goodman Strauss.
President Obama made his first visit to Oklahoma yesterday. He visited the small town of Cushing which is in the middle of oil country.
Ozarks at Large’s Katy Henriksen spoke with Seattle-based singer-songwriter Damien Jurado who’s known for his quiet, lo-fi recordings.
More information is available at www.damienjurado.com.
Horizontal slickwater natural gas drilling flowback fluids not reused or recycled are pressure injected into the earth. Several such wells were shuttered last year in Faulkner County, linked to seismic activity. Industry is now looking toward Johnson County--pocked with empty underground gas reservoirs--to safely contain frack waste. But some Johnson County residents say not in their backyard.
Ozarks at Large’s Katy Henriksen spoke with the Central Arkansas doom metal band called Pallbearer who performed at South by Southwest – a music, film and interactive conference hosted annually in Austin, Texas.
More information is available at www.facebook.com/pallbearerdoom
Author Michael Downs talks about his book “The Greatest Show” which is a collection of short stories based on the 1944 Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey circus fire.
To listen to more of this conversation, click here.
Latest Edition of Ozarks at Large
Tuesday, April 22, 2014
Ahead on this edition of Ozarks, other ways to teach and other ways to learn. We go inside a local school of innovation, and we'll go on stage in Bentonville as Northwest Arkansas Community College prepares their staging of The Giver.
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