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OPINION | REX NELSON: Christmas at Des Arc
The crowd stretches more than 100 yards outside what once was a shirt factory on the edge of my mother's hometown of Des Arc. The sun is just beginning to set …
Stories by Rex Nelson
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Subscriber ExclusiveThe University of Arkansas at Monticello is focused on supporting the state's valuable forest products industry
It was Arbor Day, and a ceremony was taking place on the University of Arkansas at Monticello campus. Students planted a bur oak as dozens of people watched.
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Subscriber ExclusiveOPINION | REX NELSON: Holding its own
I'm standing at the front door of the Trotter House in Monticello, wishing I had spent the night at this bed-and-breakfast inn rather than at a chain motel. Op…
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Subscriber ExclusiveOPINION | REX NELSON: Alligators in Arkansas
Earlier this year, I wrote a column about a duck hunting trip to Grassy Lake in southwest Arkansas. I ended it by saying that "I would love to come back this s…
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Subscriber ExclusiveOPINION | REX NELSON: Thankful for Arkansas
Thanksgiving has long been my favorite holiday. It's a day to eat too much, watch football games and exchange stories with family members. It's also a day to r…
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Subscriber ExclusiveCOLLEGE FOOTBALL IN ARKANSAS: Rex Nelson’s predictions for week 12
Sam Pittman is back for at least another season. It means that the athletic department at the University of Arkansas will save a lot of money. It also means th…
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Subscriber ExclusiveHIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL: Rex Nelson's rankings after 13 weeks
We've talked all year about the Big Four in Class 7A -- Fayetteville, Bryant, Conway and Bentonville.
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Subscriber ExclusiveOPINION | REX NELSON: A false narrative
It's a sunny Wednesday in October, the leaves are changing color, the square at Jasper is crowded with visitors, and I'm eating one of the best pizzas I've had…
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Subscriber ExclusiveOPINION | REX NELSON: Blytheville looks downtown
Back in the summer of 2019, before the word "pandemic" was one we thought about on a daily basis, I wrote a column about a young couple trying to revitalize do…
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The Southern Fried Podcast | Conservation and wetlands protection with Reed Green and Norm Berner
On this week's episode, Rex sits down with Reed Green and Norm Berner of the Friends of Fourche Creek, a group dedicated to conservation and wetlands protectio…
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Subscriber ExclusiveOPINION | REX NELSON: Sense of momentum
The room was filled on a Wednesday morning last month at downtown Little Rock's Museum of Discovery. The occasion was a board meeting of the Downtown Little Ro…
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Rex Nelson college football picks: Week 11
I look back now and realize how silly I was to have picked Arkansas to beat Auburn. I wrote last week: "Is that win at Florida making us too confident?" The an…
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Subscriber ExclusiveHIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL: Rex Nelson's rankings after 12 weeks
It gets serious this week in high school football.
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Subscriber ExclusiveOPINION | REX NELSON: Change is coming
Neil Compton hailed from Bentonville, making him an outsider to the folks in Searcy and Newton counties.
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Subscriber ExclusiveOPINION | REX NELSON: Bob Fisher comes home
At least for a few months, Bob Fisher is home.
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Subscriber ExclusiveOPINION | REX NELSON: Battle of the Ravine
They'll play another Battle of the Ravine in Arkadelphia on Saturday afternoon. In my family, the annual football game between Henderson State University and O…
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Subscriber ExclusiveCOLLEGE FOOTBALL IN ARKANSAS: Rex Nelson's predictions for week 11
We have a Razorback football victory to talk about for the first time in two months. Last Saturday's 39-36 win over Florida in The Swamp was a relief for Ar…
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Subscriber ExclusiveHIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL: Rex Nelson's rankings after 11 weeks
The regular season ended last Friday with several huge games across the state.
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OPINION | REX NELSON: Loving it to death
History is repeating itself in the Arkansas Ozarks. When a brave band of environmentalists began the fight decades ago to have the Buffalo River designated as …
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Subscriber ExclusiveOPINION | REX NELSON: Cotton and steel
Economic development officials in Mississippi County use the slogan "Cotton to Steel" when talking about the transformation of this northeast Arkansas county f…
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The Southern Fried Podcast I Politics, education and public service with Victoria DeFrancesco Soto
This week, Rex chats with Victoria DeFrancesco Soto, dean of the Clinton School of Public Service at the University of Arkansas, about the institution's accomp…
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Subscriber ExclusiveOPINION | REX NELSON: The steel college
In 1974, Mississippi County residents voted for a tax increase to pay for construction of Mississippi County Community College. The county still had a populati…
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Subscriber ExclusiveCOLLEGE FOOTBALL IN ARKANSAS: Rex Nelson's predictions for week 10
On a glorious Saturday in October, Razorback fans were able to forget all of their football woes. They could instead concentrate on basketball, treating a prac…
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Subscriber ExclusiveHIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL: Rex Nelson's rankings after ten weeks
With just one week left in the regular season, the chalk continues to hold in high school football.
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Subscriber ExclusiveFrom brawn to brain: A smarter approach to steel production in Mississippi County
The sign on the door of the Hog Pen, which sits along the famous Blues Highway in Mississippi County, gets right to the point. "Wipe your feet please," it read…
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Subscriber ExclusiveOPINION | REX NELSON: The steel capital
I'm in a meeting room at the Nucor Arkansas (known locally as Nucor Hickman) steel plant in north Mississippi County. The Nucor employees gathered around the t…
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Subscriber ExclusiveOPINION | REX NELSON: Paradox redux
I recently wrote about the Arkansas paradox: the fact that the economy seems poised to enter a golden era at the same time our politics has become poisoned wit…
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Subscriber ExclusiveOPINION | REX NELSON: Our better angels
Braver Angels of Arkansas isn't a large organization, but it might be the most important in a state where a new governor has imported the angry, divisive polit…
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Subscriber ExclusiveCOLLEGE FOOTBALL IN ARKANSAS: Rex Nelson's predictions for week 9
Mississippi State's 7-3 victory was the lowest-scoring conference game for any Arkansas team since a 7-0 loss to Baylor in 1966. The Hogs, now 2-6 overall and …
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HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL: Rex Nelson's rankings after nine weeks
Once again in our high school football rankings, the overall Top 10 remains the same. The top teams in each of the six classifications are also still the same.
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OPINION | REX NELSON: The Unnatural State
I often become angry when driving in the state's largest city. It's not just due to the drivers who run stoplights and speed because they know they can get awa…
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Subscriber ExclusiveOPINION | REX NELSON: Arkansas ambassadors
In Wednesday's column, I wrote about Lake Village's Rhoda Adams, the Arkansas tamale queen who died in August at age 85. The first three restaurants inducted i…
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The Southern Fried Podcast: Learning the ways of a Scout with Shanna Richardson
On this week's episode, Rex sits down with Shanna Richardson, CEO of the Little Rock-based Quapaw Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America. The two discuss Sh…
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Subscriber ExclusiveOPINION | REX NELSON: Remembering Miss Rhoda
The recent death of Rhoda Adams at age 85 brought back warm memories of Arkansas' tamale queen. I remember that stormy Tuesday night in the spring of 2017 when…
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COLLEGE FOOTBALL IN ARKANSAS: Rex Nelson's predictions for week 8
We wrote last week that we believed "the Hogs will find a way yet again to stay within striking distance on the road." The three-point loss at Alabama was even…
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HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL: Rex Nelson's rankings after eight weeks
Eight weeks of the high school football season have been completed, and only three weeks remain in the regular season.
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Subscriber ExclusiveOPINION | REX NELSON: Urban wonderland
As our canoes pull away from the launch ramp at Little Rock's Interstate Park, traffic on nearby Interstate 30 can be heard. We paddle upstream on Fourche Cree…
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Subscriber ExclusiveOPINION | REX NELSON: Heart of the city
The heart of any city is its downtown. And the heart of Arkansas is its capital city. That's what I say to anyone who asks why I often write about downtown Lit…
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Subscriber ExclusiveOPINION | REX NELSON: Selling a region
They call it Life Works Here. It's the branding initiative developed by the Northwest Arkansas Council to raise awareness of the region and attract talent. By …
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Subscriber ExclusiveCOLLEGE FOOTBALL IN ARKANSAS: Rex Nelson’s predictions for week 7
Last week, we said this: "Things get a lot harder this week with a number of games that could be close." That turned out to be the case. But everything even…
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Subscriber ExclusiveHIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL: Rex Nelson's rankings after seven weeks
There were no major upsets in high school football on Friday night. That means that our overall Top 10 remains the same. Things should get interesting for the …
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Subscriber ExclusiveOPINION | REX NELSON: The Arkansas Paradox
I call it the Arkansas paradox. At a time when the state has its worst governor since Orval Faubus and an ineffective Legislature, the Arkansas economy seems p…
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Subscriber ExclusiveOPINION | REX NELSON: Outdoors in Arkansas
Michael Spivey, a Rogers native, spent almost eight years in South Africa as general counsel for Massmart, a firm that owns a number of major brands in Africa.…
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The Southern Fried Podcast: Talking timber and forestry with Peter MacKeith and Michael Blazier
Peter MacKeith, dean of the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, and Michael Blazier, the dean of the Col…
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Subscriber ExclusiveOPINION | REX NELSON: Capital of cool
I'm in my hotel room in northwest Arkansas, reading several publications I picked up. Two things further impress on me something I already know: This region is…
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Subscriber ExclusiveCOLLEGE FOOTBALL IN ARKANSAS: Rex Nelson’s predictions for week 6
It was, as the headline in this newspaper proclaimed on Sunday morning, "pretty frustrating." Texas A&M 34, Arkansas 22 in Arlington, Texas.
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Subscriber ExclusiveHIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL: Rex Nelson's rankings after six weeks
The game of the week last week in high school football was Fayetteville's 47-42 victory over Rogers. The win kept the Purple Dogs ranked second overall in the …
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Subscriber ExclusiveOPINION | REX NELSON: The turning point
If you're a student of Arkansas political history, mark down the dates of Sept. 11-13. They might represent the first time Arkansas legislators realized that t…
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Subscriber ExclusiveOPINION | REX NELSON: Visiting Inspiration Point
Headed west out of Eureka Springs on U.S. 62, the large tower crane can be seen rising above the trees. It's the kind of crane one would expect to see in Bento…
