The number of Arkansas school districts operating on a four-day school week is rapidly increasing. Lincoln made the move to four days this school year, and other districts in Northwest Arkansas — including Huntsville, Greenland and Decatur — plan to do it next year.

We talk to Lincoln Superintendent Mary Ann Spears and Decatur Superintendent Steven Watkins about the four-day school week in this edition of the Know the News podcast.

Artist and naturalist Christopher Marley, whose exhibit “Exquisite Creatures“ is featured at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. It is a display of animal, mineral and plant specimens arranged in precise, geometric compositions. 

It's really unlike anything you've ever seen. Features editor April Wallace explores the exhibit in an in depth interview with artist Christopher Marley in Sunday's WhatsUp section. I got a chance earlier to visit with Marley for a few minutes as he was traveling and ask him to describe his exhibit and his art for the benefit of people who haven't seen his work yet.

Arkansans will get a rare opportunity to see a total eclipse on April 8. Daniel Kennefick, physics professor at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, and researcher at the Arkansas Center for Space and Planetary Sciences, explains the science behind the phenomenon and what residents should expect to see in Northwest Arkansas.

Read more on Sunday at nwaonline.com. 

Perry Ryan Theater Co. is producing "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" March 7-9, and company founder Kayla Grizzard; the show's assistant director, Mia Gracey; and Rocky Favia III, who portrays Joseph, sat down with Arts Editor Becca Martin-Brown to chat about the history and religion that underpins the show.

During a 2018 community planning process, Bentonville residents collectively prioritized thoughtful growth as a pressing concern for the next 20 years. City officials are now soliciting public input for help determining what that thoughtful growth looks like.

We talk about that initiative with Tyler Overstreet, the city's planning director, and Susan Henderson, an architect involved in the process, on this week's edition of the Know the News podcast.

The 2024 primary election is almost upon us.

In this week's edition of the Know the News podcast, we're going to talk about some of Northwest Arkansas' biggest races in this election with our politics reporter, Doug Thompson.

We'll also chat with Kimberly Dennison, Benton County's election coordinator, about how they're preparing and what people should know about voting this time around.

Restoration work at the historic Woolsey farmstead property in west Fayetteville reached a milestone with completion of the main house built in the 1840s. Aaron Ruby with Revival Architecture has served as the project lead for the last decade and will talk about the project’s progress and what comes next with host Chris Swindle and reporter Stacy Ryburn.

In this week’s Know the News podcast, host Chris Swindle speaks with reporter Ron Wood and Circuit Judge Mark Lindsay about how the court system has coped with the backlog of cases caused by the covid-19 pandemic.

In this installment of the Northwest Arkansass Democrat-Gazette’s Know the News podcast, a conversation with reporter Tracy Neal on the eve of his coverage of the capital murder trial for Shawna Cash. Cash is accused in the 2021 death of Pea Ridge Police Officer Kevin Apple.