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.
As a festival that celebrates local food and farmers, Dig In! Food and Farming Festival will return to Fayetteville tomorrow.
More information is available at www.diginfestival.com.
“Life in Technicolor” by Vitamin String Quartet (Tribute to Coldplay)
Michael Tilley from our content partner www.thecitywire.com discusses a recent Bureau of Labor Statistics report about increase in the unemployment rate in Arkansas and Mississippi in 2011; a proposed one-cent tax extension in Fort Smith; the increase in sales tax collections in Fort Smith and northwest Arkansas; and more.
“Perpetual Self/What Would Saul Alinsky Do” by Sufjan Stevens
Becca Bacon Martin from Northwest Arkansas Newspapers and a special guest explain to Iti Agnihotri-Mudholkar the mystery of “Veggie Tales.”
“Hairbrush Song” by Veggie Tales
Dr. Eric Baker from the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith will present a lecture next week about the depletion of oil resources around the world and the consequences. The event “The End of the Oil Age: Peak Oil and Its Ramifications” will take place in the Gardener Building Lecture Hall on the UA-Fort Smith campus this Monday at 7 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.
“Bittersweet Symphony” by The Verve
Jodi Beznoska from Walton Arts Center talks about our entertainment choices for the month of March.