Elizabeth Burns Anderson, executive director of the Farmers Bank Foundation, joins Rex Nelson on this week’s episode to discuss the development of the Lonoke Business Academy and other efforts across the state to boost rural communities. 

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Gina Gemberling, president and CEO of the Little Rock Convention & Visitors Bureau, joins Rex Nelson on this week’s episode of the Southern Fried Podcast to discuss some key points of the agency’s 2023 Tourism Master Plan.

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Ben Kutylo, executive director of Forward Arkansas joins Rex Nelson on this week’s episode of the Southern Fried Podcast.

Kutylo discusses Forward Arkansas’ updated State of Education in Arkansas report, released earlier this year, and offers his insight on how the nonprofit is working to move the Natural State forward in education.

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Austin Booth, director of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, joins Rex Nelson on this week’s episode of the Southern Fried Podcast to discuss the agency’s efforts to promote conservation on public and private lands while fostering the next generation of hunters and anglers across the state.

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Little Rock restaurateur Ben Brainard joins Rex Nelson on the latest episode of the Southern Fried Podcast.

Brainard, a pillar of the Arkansas food scene, opened a Big Bad Breakfast in West Little Rock last year. With the first location rapidly becoming a breakfast hot spot, Brainard announced plans to open a second shop downtown. 

He and Rex discuss the capital city’s booming restaurant culture and recent developments — including Lyon College’s plans to open dental and veterinary schools — that have sparked a resurgence in Downtown Little Rock.

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Melissa Taverner, president of Lyon College, joins Rex Nelson this week to discuss the school’s plans to add dental and veterinary programs in Little Rock. 

Taverner, a Virginia native and the 19th president of Lyon, talks about the Batesville school’s decision to bring the dental and veterinary programs to the capital city. She also discusses the impending “enrollment cliff” and how Lyon has adjusted its strategy to meet this change in the academic landscape.

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Little Rock public relations executive Jordan Johnson joins Rex Nelson on this week’s episode of the Southern Fried podcast for a look at what 2023 has in store for the capital city. 

Leading the list of economic developments in Little Rock this year is Lyon College’s plans to open dental and veterinary schools on the site of the Heifer International campus. Jordan and Rex discuss what effect  the schools will have on the burgeoning East Village and the city as a whole. 

They also talk about improvements in the “three P’s” in Little Rock: parks, public safety and the port.  

Skip Rutherford’s back for the end-of-the-year episode of the Southern Fried Podcast. 

Skip and Rex Nelson look back at Arkansas’ political and economic happenings in 2022, and share some of their predictions for 2023.

Rex and the production team are taking a break for the holidays, but we’ll be back at it in 2023. See you in January!

Judge Robert Brown, former justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court, is back on this episode of the Southern Fried Podcast. 

After discussing his latest book on the last episode, he and Rex Nelson dive into the judge’s 2010 release, “Defining Moments: Historic Decisions by Arkansas Governors from McMath through Huckabee,” in this edition. 

Judge Brown and Rex discuss the twelve men who have governed Arkansas in the past 70 years; from Sid McMath in 1949, to the current administration of Gov. Asa Hutchinson, now in his final weeks in office ahead of Governor-elect Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ January inauguration.   

Robert Brown, former associate justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court, joins Rex Nelson on this week’s episode of the Southern Fried Podcast.

Judge Brown talks about his latest book, “All Rise: How Race, Religion, and Politics Shaped My Career on the Arkansas Supreme Court,” going into his storied career in law and politics, as well as his upbringing as the son of an Episcopal bishop attending high school in Little Rock at the peak of the Central High desegregation crisis.

With so many stories to share, Judge Brown will be back on the next episode, airing Dec. 2