On the Line

In the 100th episode of "On the Line," host Karl Richter speaks with Texarkana, Arkansas, Mayor Allen Brown as he explains the November 2025 city bond issue election meant to fund street and drainage improvements.

At the 51:30 mark, horror author Robert E. Stahl talks about his journey as an author and his debut collection of short stories, "Show Me Where It Hurts."

Dr. Laura Sikes returns to discuss what a typical Texarkana family would have eaten each day around the turn of the 20th century. Where did their food come from? How was it preserved and prepared? Dr. Sikes answers those questions and many more. Get ready to get hungry!

LINKS

Email Karl

Email Laura

U.S. House Rep. Nathaniel Moran (TX-1) sat down with Karl on Monday, April 21, 2025, for his second "On the Line" interview. Topics included the economy and tariffs, separation of government powers, tax policy, and more, including some questions raised by Texarkana Gazette readers.

Mallory Wyatt talked with DeKalb (Texas) High School's Talisha Ingram, who recently won her second consecutive state powerlifting championship. Ingram and her coach Troy Zeringue about her preparation, her attitude and what's next in her athletic career.

If you like "On the Line," give this a listen. It's the latest episode of our new podcast "150 Years of the Texarkana Gazette."

Karl Richter and Dr. Laura Sikes, history professor at" TAMU-Texarkana, chat about the Gazette's February history special section. It's filled with news stories that happened in Februaries over the course of the Gazette's 150 years.

UPDATE: Randy Sams' annual dueling pianos fundraiser is April 24, 2025.

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Karl spoke with Jennifer Lacefield, executive director of Texarkana's Randy Sams Outreach Shelter, about what the shelter does, who the local homeless population is and what they need, and what we all can do to help.

LINKS

Randy Sams website

Randy Sams Facebook page

In this two-part episode, Karl first speaks with Redwater, Texas' own Hailey Wright, who is appearing on NBC singing competition show "The Voice."

Then Arkansas State Historian David Ware and Katie Adkins, project director/archivist of the Arkansas Digital Newspaper Project, tell Karl about the history and preservation of Arkansas newspapers.

LINKS

"The Voice"

Chronicling America - Library of Congress newspaper archive

Email Karl Richter

Karl talked with Dr. Laura Sikes about railroads' importance in the founding and early development of Texarkana.

OTHER LOCAL HISTORY EPISODES

The Caddo Nation, Part 1

The Caddo Nation, Part 2

The Great Red River Raft

LINKS

Email Karl

Email Laura

The Texarkana Gazette Community Journalism Project

The Gazette at 150

Podcast: 150 Years of the Texarkana Gazette

Texas State Railroad (Palestine-Rusk round trip)

Olivia Poulton, executive director of Texarkana Public Library, and Mallory Wyatt, member of the TPL Centennial Committee, talk about celebrating the 100th anniversary of the library's founding in 1925. Fun monthly events through the year will lead to a black tie gala, and there's a lot more.

They and Karl also discuss the various — and sometimes surprising — services the library offers the community.

LINKS

Texarkana Public Library website

Texarkana Public Library Facebook page

The year’s first episode looks back at 2024 and forward to 2025.

Gazette GM and Editor James Bright explained the new Texarkana Gazette Community Journalism Project and its goal: to raise $150,000 in honor of the Gazette’s 150th anniversary in 2025. Proceeds will be used for the sole purpose of supporting professional local news reporting.

In part two, host and producer Karl Richter takes listeners through a review of 2024’s “On the Line” interviews, introducing a clip from each.