Ozarks at Large

On today's show, a new minor in diversity studies at the University of Arkansas Fort Smith. Plus, plans for a roundabout are coming to Eureka Springs, and much more.

A special session of the Arkansas Legislature is underway...COVID-19 cases continue to mount in Arkansas...the first postseason in nearly a decade ends for the Razorback volleyball team.

Next spring the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith will offer a Diversity Studies minor for students. The program will included more than two dozen existing courses.

There are some faculty at the University of Arkansas with major awards in the school's 150 years of history.

The United States Marshals Museum in Fort Smith will continue a tradition of spending time with history Monday night with an evening dedicated to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Eureka Springs city council has approved a resolution to build a roundabout at the intersection of Highway 62 and 23 South — which currently has only one stop sign — to ease increasing tourist, commercial and school traffic congestion. The roundabout, proponents say, is a cost-effective solution compared to a traffic light. But opponents claim simply adding two more stop signs is best.

On today's show, certain rural electric cooperatives in Arkansas charging extra fees to residential solar customers has caught the attention of the Arkansas Public Service Commission. Plus, our Militant Grammarian gives us a list of words that don’t exist, and much more.

Among the news of the day: expecting Omicron's arrival in Arkansas...new cases of the virus increase in Oklahoma...the Arkansas Legislature's special session starts.

A growing number of Arkansas Electric Cooperatives are charging extra fees for residential solar installation and net metering, fees not sanctioned by the Arkansas Public Service Commission — which holds oversight so is investigating the matter. Patrick Villines, proprietor of New Farm Solar says the additonal fees are deterring solar adoption in at least one rural electric cooperative district.

A special session of the Arkansas Legislature begins today. The governor wants it mostly to be about taxes. Some lawmakers want to discuss more.

Our Militant Grammarian says we all use words that aren't words. She explains why overwhelmed isn't needed. And she has a quiz as well.

In American Waters: The Sea in American Painting is at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville through January 31st. The works show more than ships and masts. And the exploration of the sea goes beyond sailing. We take a tour.

On today's show, examining another month of a pandemic’s effects on Arkansas. Plus, The ancient history of the osage orange, and much more.

We check in, one last time, with journalists at Arkansas COVID to explore how the virus affected Arkansas in November.

Remnant Osage Orange trees which were once plentiful across the eastern U.S. continue to grow on the Ozark Highlands as well as in a few other southern states. The unusual trees produce a highly valued decay-resistant wood, as well as large strange-looking green fruit – that only extinct megafauna relished. Noted author, Steven Foster, meets us under an elder Osage Orange on Mt. Sequoyah Center to...

This week's archives from the David and Barbara Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History take us back to December, 1968. We hear Arkansas' Democrats consider what the new president, Republican Richard Nixon, might do and learn how we could send telegrams faster.