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.
It's not too early to get your holiday portraits made. And if you have them made at an upcoming event at Mt. Sequoyah, your sitting fee will benefit the Northwest Arkansas Family Network.
Transporting Transformations: Cuba In and Out is the new exhibit just up at 21c Bentonville. This diverse exhibit explores paradox in the years following Fidel Castro's retirement. Ozarks at Large's Katy Henriksen speaks with Alice Gray Stites, chief curator and director of art programming for 21c, about the exhibit, as well as her philosophy "art is a verb," which she presented for the TEDx conference at the U.S. Embassy in Stockholm.
Web Exclusive: Pictures of the new 21c Exhibit
Becca Martin Brown tells us about an upcoming concert at Crystal Bridges featuring a new composition by Bruce Adolphe which is inspired by the works of Mary Cassatt.
The Arkansas Health Insurance Marketplace begin enrolling residents for coverage yesterday, though demand was so high it made it difficult for many to access the Web site for the exchange. The effects of the federal shutdown are still being weighed, including the shutdown of National Wildlife Refuges and the eventual impacts on research at the University of Arkansas. And a statewide prescription drug take-back program grows with sixty more drop-off locations added across the state yesterday.
"Not a Bad Thing" by Justin Timberlake
At 12:01 a.m. ET yesterday, the continuing resolution funding the federal government wasn't the only legistlation to expire. We speak with an agricultural economist to find out what the Farm Bill's reversion to 64-year old policy means for Arkansans.