
Ozarks At Large

The Joint Budget Committee of the Arkansas LEgislature hears from Arkansas Department of Human Services regarding funding for the state's Private Option expansion of Medicaid, while a new Talk Business Arkansas-Hendrix College poll suggests that Arkansans are supportive of the program. And, Crawford County officials are hopeful that voters will be supportive of a sales tax increase that would fund construction and operation of a new county jail.


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.
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.
We visit the Rogers Police Department to find out about how one can protect and serve the public, as the department prepares to offer the Entry Level Police Officer Examination early next month.


Our ten clips saluting sailors and sailing:
1. The theme to Popeye the Sailor Man.
2. Bob Denver and Alan Hale hatch a scheme on Gilligan's Island.
3. Christopher Cross creates the all-time yacht rock song with Sailing.
4. Gregory Peck, as Captain Ahab, ponders his life with Starbuck in Moby Dick.
5. Sloop John B by the Beach Boys.
6. Hercules ignores the orders of Jason in the 1963 version of Jason and the Argonauts. (later, the GREATEST MOVIE SCENE EVER with the sword-weilding skeletons).
7. Jimmy Buffett is Aa Son of a Son of a Sailor.
8. Russell Crowe catches up to a ship in Master and Commander.
9. Bogart and Hepburn on The African Queen.
10. Lyle Lovett sings If I Had a Boat.
Apologies to: Horatio Hornblower, Sinbad (the sailor, not the comic) and Errol Flynn. Maybe next time.
1. The theme to Popeye the Sailor Man.
2. Bob Denver and Alan Hale hatch a scheme on Gilligan's Island.
3. Christopher Cross creates the all-time yacht rock song with Sailing.
4. Gregory Peck, as Captain Ahab, ponders his life with Starbuck in Moby Dick.
5. Sloop John B by the Beach Boys.
6. Hercules ignores the orders of Jason in the 1963 version of Jason and the Argonauts. (later, the GREATEST MOVIE SCENE EVER with the sword-weilding skeletons).
7. Jimmy Buffett is Aa Son of a Son of a Sailor.
8. Russell Crowe catches up to a ship in Master and Commander.
9. Bogart and Hepburn on The African Queen.
10. Lyle Lovett sings If I Had a Boat.
Apologies to: Horatio Hornblower, Sinbad (the sailor, not the comic) and Errol Flynn. Maybe next time.
Latest Edition of Ozarks at Large
Monday, April 28, 2014
Ahead on this edition of Ozarks, how lasers have gone from a phenomenon on The Jetsons to a part of daily life. We speak with a Stanford University professor who has been teaching about the light-emitting device since 1969. Plus, annual hospitality awards in the Arkansas River Valley honor those who serve and take care of the public.
Downtown Rogers plays host to a regional conference about downtown development, a new animal shelter will soon open in Washington County and Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport receives federal grant money for ongoing rehabilitation projects.
"Dash and Dot" by The Beau Hunks
Today we begin a six-part, five-day series about poverty in Arkansas. Iti Agnihotri Mudholkar, the producer of the series, explains what we’ll hear and why she was drawn to the subject.
"Tenderly" by Oscar Peterson
According to a U.S. Census Bureau report released last week, in 2010 and 2011, close to 15 percent of Americans were living under the federal poverty line, but in Arkansas, that number was as high as 17 percent. The state has consistently ranked among the states with the highest rates of poverty. On Ozarks at Large this week, we will examine Arkansas' poverty problem.
Today, Ozarks at Large's Iti Agnihotri-Mudholkar examines the various definitions of poverty and the adequacy of the country's poverty measurement system. We also find out what poverty looks like at the human level.
"Dark Was The Night" by Ry Cooder
Becca Martin Brown, features editor at Northwest Arkansas Newspapers says a busy week begins today with many options.
The past week Governor Mike Beebe announced the Medicaid expansion plans for Arkansas. That’s one of the stories Roby Brock from TalkBusiness.net reviews in his weekly checklist of the state’s biggest political and business stories of the past seven days