Not every word we use means the same thing it did in the past. Our Militant Grammarian, Katherine Shurlds, explains how words like "nice" have shifted over time. MUSIC: " Wouldn't it Be Nice" The Beach Boys

When a clerk hands us our change, we might toss it in our purse or pants pocket and if we make it home with our coins, it might get deposited in a jar or fall between couch cushions. New technology is working to help consumers save that often disregarded money by turning it into digital currency. Bucket Technologies is a new NWA-based startup company that plans to launch in early 2018.

Roby Brock, with our partner Talk Business and Politics , discusses tax reform with John Brummett, political writer for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. They also manage to find time to discuss the changes with University of Arkansas football.

A groundbreaking ceremony was held Monday afternoon for OurPharma LLC, a new generic drug manufacturing and compounding facility in south Fayetteville's Commerce District. Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson and Fayetteville Mayor Lioneld Jordan were among the large crowd welcoming the new pharmaceutical industry to the region and state.

On today’s show, we hear how a new area business is changing how pharmaceuticals are made...and, thus, priced for consumers. Plus, we learn about technology being developed in northwest Arkansas that alters how you collect your pennies, dimes and quarters. And, our Militant Grammarian explains how the meanings of words have changed.

Friday, a northwest Arkansas holiday shopping tradition began its latest incarnation. The Fayetteville Lions Club is holding its annual auction on the air through Dec. 4 to raise money for its work with sight-related causes. We learn more from Steve Gray, the president of the Fayetteville Lions Club.

A post holiday roundup: the head of the state Chamber of Commerce talks about potential benefits of the tax plan passed by the Senate, the chancellor at the University of Arkansas urges lawmakers to continue tax credits for students, and dry conditions in Arkansas mean the risk for wildfires in the state is high.

University of Arkansas Fort Smith Chancellor Paul Beran discusses the school's new five-year vision and the goals that will get it there. The goals include increasing enrollment, workforce participation and matching resources to what the school wants to achieve.

"Trauma-Informed Classrooms" are trending across the U.S., as more teachers realize more students are experiencing personal devastation, in the public sphere or at home. We visit with Elmdale Elementary school principal Michele Hutton in Springdale, where Jennifer Coldiron, with Ozark Guidance , has educated teachers on how to respond to and help students who are traumatized. We also meet Scarlett Lewis, who's son perished in the Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting five years ago. She's

Nive Nielsen is a native Greenlander, and she, with her musical collaborator and husband Charlie Shapiro were recently invited to northwest Arkansas by The House of Songs, an organization the two previously worked with in Austin, Texas. Though they were busy collaborating with area musicians and performing at venues such as the Dickson Street Pub and Haxton Road Studios, Nive and Charlie found some time to come to the Carver Center for Public Radio to talk with and perform a few songs for us.