For Khalid Ahmadzai, who moved to Arkansas from Afghanistan in 2010, watching the Taliban retake his home country from afar has been a "hopeless" experience. He gives his reaction to this week's events in Afghanistan and explains how Arkansans can help support refugees.

Progressive Washington County residents are protesting how the Republican-majority Washington County Quorum Court is failing to allocate millions of dollars of federal COVID-19 relief to help thousands of county residents struggling due to the pandemic as well as on criminal justice reforms.

John Joseph Ray has performed as both a solo act and as a part of various projects for several years. During the past three years, he recoded five albums of original songs and obscure covers that he enjoys. We talk with him about the collection of songs, and about some of the help he received on the project from several other northwest Arkansas musicians.

Frisco Fest is underway in downtown Rogers, with COVID-19 protocols in place. Becca Martin Brown, the features editor with the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette , says it is just one of the outdoor opprotunities this weekend.

After a Pulaski County Circuit Court judge temporarily blocked a state ban on COVID-19 mask mandates for government agencies and public facilities in Arkansas — passed earlier this year by the Conservative-majority Arkansas legislature — the state department of education had to quickly revise its COVID-19 guidelines . Arkansas School Boards Association model policy director, Lucas Harder explains the new procedures.

This week's Northwest Arkansas Business Journal Report includes a conversation with Marcy Doderer, the president and CEO of Arkansas Children's, about continued concerns connected to high case numbers of COVID-19 and resulting hospitalizations.

We may be in the dog days of summer, but there are ample opportunities for live music this weekend, taking place both indoors and outside. Thr, Aug 19 Jeremiah Griffith at Six-Twelve Coffeehouse (Fayetteville) - 7 p.m. Asher Perkins and Friends at Walmart Museum (Bentonville) - 5 p.m. Open Bluegrass Jam at Chelsea's (Eureka Springs) - 8 p.m. Charley Crockett at Majestic (Fort Smith) - $25.00, 8 p.m. Fri, Aug 20 Honeyjack at George's Majestic Lounge (Fayetteville) - $8.00, 6 p.m. Funk Factory at

This week, University of Arkansas music professor Lia Uribe takes us on a tour of Spain, Cuba and Buenos Aires with compositions for guitar by Joaquin Rodrigo, Claudia Montero and Leo Brower.

Courtney Lanning, a flim critic with the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette , says a new mystery about memories provides little worth remembering. But a new animated film on Netflix might be worth your time.

The University of Arkansas is offering hundreds of opportunities for students to win awards simply for being fully vaccinated. Whether students got vaccinated early in the rollout or today, they can enter to win . Drawings for the awards begin weekly starting September 1.