Accelerated population growth of about 32 people a day means Northwest Arkansas could make the list of Top 100 Metro Areas in the country by early next year. That is a few months earlier than anticipated by the Northwest Arkansas Council. NWA Council president and CEO Nelson Peacock says the designation will come with many opportunities, as well as many challenges that will need to be addressed sooner rather than later.

A Tuesday roundup includes a new report on real estate availability in northwest Arkansas, an honor for U of A Law School Dean Emeritus Cynthia Nance and a new campus for NWACC.

Lua Kamal Yuille, assistant professor of law at the University of Kansas, studies autonomy and the law. She says the idea we can live our own lives without help is not based in reality. She talked to us during a visit to the University of Arkansas campus.

John Brummett, political writer for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, talks with Roby Brock, from our partner Talk Business and Politics , about the latest delays for the availability of medical marijuana in Arkansas.

A white fungus has killed millions of cave-dwelling bats across the eastern U.S. during the past decade. Now, white-nose syndrome is spreading across the Ozarks. We hear from two U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service white-nose syndrome experts about the federal government's response to the bat-killing epidemic, and we hear from an Arkansas Game and Fish Commission mammal expert about the disease's impact in Arkansas.

The I'll Fly Away Foundation goes into area classrooms and helps elementary school students write songs about math, science and history. Next month's Power of Music Festival in Bentonville is a fundraiser for the foundation. We talk with organizers Betsy Brumley and Kevin Bernier about the festival and the foundation.

For a special edition of the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal Report, Roby Brock sits down with Wes Ward, the Arkansas Agriculture Secretary. Their conversation includes some of the good news, and bad, for Arkansas farmers. They speculate about the effect of possible tariffs and other trade issues.

Dr. Fuquan Ding and spouse Dr. Limin Zhang immigrated to Northwest Arkansas several years ago to join their daughter, who's studying at the University of Arkansas. They arrived with few English language skills, but they've been more easily able to settle in through help from Ozark Literacy Council in Fayetteville. The couple shares some of their life story with help from translator Bing Bing Yang. This story is part of our continuing series of Ozark Literacy Council profiles.

A Monday roundup: an agreement for the massive Clean Line project is terminated, unemployment increases slightly and a new fact about an old dinosaur.

Fayetteville resident Jessica McClard created the Little Free Pantry in 2016. The concept is similar to that of the Little Free Library— anyone may take food from the pantry or leave food for others. During the past two years, the initiative has spread across the country, and one of the newest pantries in Northwest Arkansas is located along Scull Creek Trail near South Creekside Apartments. It's the first pantry on the Fayetteville bike trail.