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.
Becca Bacon Martin from Northwest Arkansas Newspapers has some suggestions.
Jazz saxophonist Tia Fuller will perform inside Starr Theatre at Walton Arts Center this Friday. Fuller spoke with KUAF’s Robert Ginsberg about her career and music.
“Look before You Leap” by Derrick Morgan
Megan Bassing, who teaches English at Gravette High School, volunteered time last year to help clean up Joplin after the deadly tornado. Bassing shares her thoughts about her experience.
(Music used in the essay, in order: “Brothers” by Ry Cooder; “Exit Music” by Brad Mehldau; “Aragon” by Brian Eno; and “Spritual” by Charlie Haden and Pat Metheny)
We end our four-part series on the important role of social workers in our lives--from education to end of life. We visit with two hospice social workers and hear from Buddy Hawkins (photo), who lost his wife, Cindy, to ALS last summer.
The National Child Protection Training Center on the Northwest Arkansas Community College campus received $500,000 from the Walmart Foundation last Friday.
“New Chautauqua” by Pat Metheny