Ozarks At Large
Tonya Lewis Lee helped bring Christopher Paul Curtis' novel The Watsons Go to Birmingham to Tv this month. Tonight the film is being shown, for free, at Bentonville High School and today we talked with Ms. lee about the project that premiered earlier this month on the Hallmark Channel.
Late last week, the federal Department of Health and Human Services accepted Arkansas's plan for Medicaid expansion. The city of Bentonville will give away compost and wood mulch this week. A couple of roads close or otherwise reroute in the River Valley starting today. And gas prices dropped slightly in Arkansas over the past week.
With this morning's montage, we say several goodbyes; to Summer, to a famed Yankees pitcher, and to one of our longest-tenured colleagues at KUAF. Here are our 10 pop culture references we used to say goodbye.
- "So Long, Farewell" from the Sound of Music
- Lou Gehrig's farewell speech
- "Goodbye my Lover" by James Blunt
- ET says his goodbye
- The famous words from Gone With The Wind
- "Hello, Goodbye" by The Beatles
- The Friends leave the apartment for the final time
- "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" by Elton John
- Jim Carey tells his fare goodbye at the beginning of Dumb and Dumber
- Leaving Casablanca for the final time
- Johnny Carson bids his final farewell to the audience during his final time hosting The Tonight Show
The Arkansas Center For The Book this week made its selection for the 2013 If All Arkansas Read The Same Book Program. Kyle Kellams spoke with Vivienne Schiffer, the author of the novel Camp Nine, this year's selection.
State officials continue to seek a solution to the teacher insurance crisis in Arkansas. New numbers are out regarding Arkansas students' achievements on Advanced Placement tests. And, the Connecting Arkansas Internet Conference is being held in Little Rock this week.
You can go to a workshop at NWACC to learn about the state's Freedom of Information Act, or you can participate in one of many lake and other outdoor cleanups in the next few days.



Latest Edition of Ozarks at Large
Friday, May 9, 2014
Ahead on this edition of Ozarks, Michael Tilley talks about a new owner for some long-abandoned real estate in Fort Smith, and the official announcement of a Whole Foods in Fayetteville. Plus, Cletus Got Shot gets ready to perform at a few festivals in the next month.
Advocates claim the permitting of a large hog breeding factory farm in Newton County heralds an economic revival for their impoverished region. Conservationists fear the farm, sited along a major tributary to the Buffalo National River, will devastate a scenic and historic treasure. Jacqueline Froelich provides an update, including public comment from the farm’s operator as well as efforts towards a legislate fix.
The City of Fayetteville Parks and Recreation Departmenthas invited the public to a Parks and Recreation Advisory Board meeting to gather public input on the proposed master plan of the Botanical Garden of the Ozarks.
"Thunder Walk" by George Benson
Becca Martin Brown of Northwest Arkansas Media says she can complete her Sondheim checklist by seeing the new production of Company at the University of Arkansas
Roby Brock from Talk Business Arkansas talks to Valerie Erkman, Vice President for marketing at Arkansas Capital Corporation, about recent entrepreneurial competitions in the state.
"Cardiff" by Stone Sour
We continue our series previewing this weekend’s large poetry reading in Fayetteville by inviting C. Violet Eaton to the Carver Center for Public Radio to read an excerpt from an epic poem he recently finished.