Mercy Health used an innovative walking program to become one of the healthiest workplaces in the country.
Ozarks At Large
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.

Ahead on Ozarks, a conversation with young adult author An Na. Also, we learn what it takes to become a police officer.

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.
Latest Edition of Ozarks at Large
Sunday, March 9, 2014
Ahead on this edition of Weekend Ozarks, we visit the kitchen of Jen Lewis, take a spin in a state-run clinic that aids veterans in rural communities, and we meet a recovering opiate addict who has found hope with methadone.
Opponents to Arkansas' 12-week abortion ban are asking a federal judge to issue a permanent injunction to prevent the law from ever being enforced. Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport gets a $3.4 million grant that will be used for pavement upgrades, a master plan and more. Mount Sequoyah Gardens in Fayetteville is getting upgrades to make it a more appealing overlook. And, the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality is holding several public meetings around the state regarding a revised statewide ten-year solid waste plan.
"They Were Wrong" by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes
Roby Brock from our content partner Talk Business Arkansas speaks with Axiom executive Jerry Jones, the chairman of a task force called FASTER Arkansas, that's working to improve broadband access to public school students.
Benton County native, Joe Woolbright, operator of Ozark Ecological Restoration, contracts with local and state nonprofit agencies, to help bring native grassland prairies on both public and private land back to life.
"When We Both Are Cats" by Bombadil
Becca Martin Brown from NWA Newspapers discusses entertainment options in the region, including a Frida Kahlo exhibit at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City.
The owner of a new drums-only store in downtown Springdale thinks Emma Avenue has unique potential to become a destination community.