Researchers at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences have been awarded $1.3 million to study disparities in immune system response to COVID-19 through antibody testing in Arkansas. The study will follow about 450 men and women who are racially, ethnically and geographically diverse to examine the short and long-term impact of the virus on people of color.

For the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic reached Arkansas in March, state legislators have approved $10 million in federal stimulus money to help tenants who are behind on their rent. The Arkansas Fresh Start COVID-19 Housing Stabilization Program will cover up to two and a half months of past due rent for applicants making up to 80 percent of area median income. A website to submit applications will be up in the next couple of weeks. In the meantime, some renters who are facing eviction

A new poll from Talk Business and Politics shows big leads in the state for Republican U.S. Senator Tom Cotton and President Donald Trump. John Brummett, political writer for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette , and Roby Brock, with Talk Business and Politics , discuss what this means for the state's overall political makeup.

Issue 2 asks voters to approve changing term limits for the General Assembly described in Amendment 73 of the Arkansas Constitution. The amendment would eliminate lifetime term limits, but require breaks in service for future state senators and representatives.

A large collection of Confederate flags, permanently installed over the past several years on certain graves in Eureka Springs historic cemetery by a neo-Confederacy group, will remain in place after the town cemetery commission ruled the flags are a form of free speech.

With support from The Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation , “The Movement That Never Was: A People’s Guide to Anti-Racism in the South and Arkansas,” begins with the protests over the killing of George Floyd this summer and the explosion of interest in anti-racist movements, particularly in white communities, and looks ahead to what this new found interest might mean for the country. The podcast is w ritten and executive produced by Paul Kiefer, a journalist based in Seattle and finalist for the

A new Heartland Forward report lays out a strategy for economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and long-term prosperity for the Northwest Arkansas region. The plan consists of seven key points including growing the economy and jobs around big company anchors, and making diversity and inclusion a regional priority.

After having to cancel this year's events due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Bentonville Soup organizers have released a Bentonville and Benton County-specific voter guide that includes information on candidates running for City Council, Quorum Court, and the state and U.S. House and Senate races. Bentonville Soup is a nonprofit that promotes community-based development by hosting crowdfunding dinner events.

This week's visit with Randy Dixon from the David and Barbara Pryor Center for Oral and Visual History is about efforts to reform Arkansas's prisons, which have been accused of corruption, violence, torture and lack of food. We hear archived material, as well as new interviews with people who are part of a story that's unfolded over the last several decades starting with a ruling in 1969 that deemed several aspects of the existing prison system unconstitutional.

Early voting begins Monday, Oct.19, in Arkansas in advance of the Nov. 3 General Election. Along with a surge in new poll workers, we can expect more poll watchers to be present this cycle. But just who can watch and how they can watch is strictly regulated by state and county election administrators.