A Monday roundup: Medical marijuana is a step closer to reality in Arkansas, danger for wildfires continues and dangerous beetles a possibility.

Five months after the U.S. Supreme Court reversed an Arkansas Supreme Court ruling against issuing birth certificates to babies born to same-sex married women without court filings, the issue remains embattled. Noted Arkansas LGBTQ Civil Rights Attorney, Cheryl Maples, who appealed Arkansas's birth certificate law before the U.S. Supreme Court, says the legislature must amend all Arkansas birth certificate statutes to be in constitutional compliance. State Rep. Bob Ballinger (R-Berryville)

The band Mouton is a four-piece punk band from Springfield, and when they were in northwest Arkansas recently to celebrate the release of their new EP, a joint effort with Fayetteville-based band Prahnas, they stopped by the Firmin-Garner Performance studio to perform for us.

Becca Martin Brown gives us a rundown of holiday options for the weekend including tonight's presentation of "A Christmas Story" in Rogers at 8 p.m., tomorrow's Holiday Open House at the Fort Smith Museum of History from 2 to 5 p.m., and a very SONA Christmas at Walton Arts Center in Fayetteville tomorrow at 2:00 and 7:30.

If you want to support your local community while you’re preparing for the holidays this year, there’s lots of ways to do so. You can buy food for your feast from local farmers or you can purchase gifts at a locally-owned boutique. You can even decorate your home with a locally-sourced Christmas tree. The Lollis Christmas Tree Farm in Rudy sells mistletoe, wreaths and Christmas trees. They're open from 10 a.m. to dark daily until Dec. 22.

Michael Tilley from Talk Business and Politics discusses the latest Compass Report and what it reveals about the economy in Arkansas' biggest cities.

In this week's Northwest Arkansas Business Journal Report , Bart Hester, a state senator from Cave Springs, discusses taxes, budgets and the future.

Saturday night, there will be folk, rock, blues, psychedelic and more from Alma to Bentonville.

A Thursday roundup: Mervin Jebaraj is officially the new director at the Center for Business and Economic Research, tourism spending is up and Arkansans like Starburst.

This week, we’ve been talking about the trail boom that’s spreading beyond northwest Arkansas; it recently arrived in Eureka Springs. On Monday, we heard about the developments at Lake Leatherwood , and today we head to the Great Passion Play to find out more about the project there that’s bringing in a renowned trail builder from out west.