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.
The Arkansas Department of Health, Department of Education and local school districts are offering flu vaccinations to students this week. The Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality isn't immune from furloughs of some workers. Fayetteville aldermen will consider creating an energy improvement district, which would give incentives to property owners for making energy efficiency improvements to their property.
"Amphibian Days" by Of Montreal
Two former Congressman, Jim Guy Tucker and Ed Bethune talk to Roby Brock about the partial federal government shutdown.
Holiday Island is an upscale retirement community on Table Rock Lake in northern Carroll County. Late last year, state inspectors discovered that nearly three quarters of the piped water supply had gone missing. Jacqueline Froelich goes up there to take a look.
Becca says Alabama (the band not the state) is headed to Tulsa.
"Take It or Leave It" by Cage the Elephant
A collection of area organizations have helped bring the 36-mile Razorback Regional Greenway closer to reality. But work is being done to try and connect some of the smaller cities of northwest Arkansas to the area's trail network.
"Collar Full" by Panic! at the Disco