Rex Nelson

It's time for the first full slate of college football games. Granted, the state's two FCS schools opened play last week, and both registered victories.

The Little Rock Regional Chamber recently announced that the metropolitan area has set a record for the total number of employed residents. According to the latest Local Area Unemployment Statistics report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, total civilian employment in the Little Rock metro now tops 385,000. The total labor force is above 400,000 for the first time.

In this week's episode, Rex Nelson talks with the dean of the New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro, Dr. Shane Speights.

Earlier this year, LinkedIn included Little Rock on its list of the 25 fastest-growing U.S. metros for jobs and new talent. As you might imagine, central Arkansas' elected officials, economic developers and business leaders were quick to herald the news. LinkedIn News has more than 19 million followers online.

The Arkansas Travelers will play their final home game of the 2026 season today at Dickey-Stephens Park. Those of us who follow Travelers baseball feared that a tradition dating back more than a century was coming to an end.

Let us read it for you. Listen now. Your browser does not support the audio element. For the third time in as many weeks, we have a new No. 1 team in high school football.

When Diamond Baseball Holdings purchased the Arkansas Travelers in May 2024 from the team's local shareholders, one of the things DBH officials liked was the Travelers' rich history. This is an organization that has played on only three fields during the past 125 years. That should now stretch to at least 145 years with the 20-year lease that was signed last month to keep the club at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock.

Let us read it for you. Listen now. Your browser does not support the audio element.

I drive down Interstate 630 in Little Rock on a daily basis and never fail to look over at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences' parking lot that once was the site of Ray Winder Field. For Arkansans of a certain age, Ray Winder Field was our version of Fenway Park or Wrigley Field. The final game there was played 20 years ago this month.

Legendary Arkansas environmentalist Joe Nix died last month at age 86. In thinking about Nix's life, I realized how fortunate I was to grow up where I did and when I did.