by - January 18, 2009 6:02 pm
Sounds of retreat
The Fort Smith Board of Directors held a 2009 planning retreat Jan. 10 that lasted more than seven hours. Such meetings are analogous to buying an impressive arrangement of flowers….
Author: Michael Tilley
by - January 11, 2009 6:59 pm
Here we go again
Here we go again with this collective self-loathing about the future of American cultural, military, political and financial prestige and power. This gnashing of east coast educated teeth typically happens…
by - January 7, 2009 8:55 pm
Fort Smith tourism funding and management: We do it different in these parts
Communities with which we compete for tourism dollars operate tourism efforts under one umbrella. Bumbershoot!
by - January 4, 2009 7:30 pm
The emerging multi-million dollar question: What to do with the Fort Smith Convention Center?
Past, present and future funding decisions and fundamental tourism administration decisions will soon get mixed into a stew that someone will have to eat. (We recommend a red table wine and about two tons of Tums.)
by - January 4, 2009 6:43 pm
Media misses
Please indulge, Kind Reader, and read the following list of top 2008 Arkansas news stories from the vaunted news professionals around the state. It goes like this: The Top 10…
by - December 28, 2008 3:23 pm
Keeping tabs on the SOBs
It’s just another day, really. Another week. Another month. Another year, one hopes, above the daisies and dirt. But this calendar shift comes with an unavoidable remembrance that, honestly, best…
by - December 22, 2008 7:47 am
Of chamber coincidences and mayoral musings
Sometime between Christmas and New Year’s Day we should celebrate Roger Meek day. Roger and other members of the Meek family own and operate the Coca-Cola distribution business in the…
by - December 14, 2008 3:28 pm
Fighting back against the Bah Humbug of job losses
The shame with all these economic troubles is that one doesn’t have to be a skeptical ass like me to find the need to suppress the negative irony when hearing…
by - December 7, 2008 9:48 pm
Rediscovering previous notes on leadership, country and ideas
Recently rediscovered a few comments from yours truly noted for having received the most feedback from Kind Readers. Am hoping they are suitable for reframing in this space. • Let’s…
by - December 5, 2008 5:18 pm
I-49 funding possible, needs regional leadership
Highway experts say Fort Smith regional leaders must act aggressively and with innovative action on political and financing fronts if the important interstate project is to receive adequate funding.
by - December 3, 2008 10:42 am
A note on hoping American fundamentals remain fundamental
This thing about us Americans and our belief in the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness is innate. Damn strong, I’d like to think. No matter what…
by - November 25, 2008 3:47 pm
Files decides against run for state Republican Party chairman
Jake Files, a former state representative from Fort Smith, has announced he will not seek the post of party chairman of the Arkansas Republican Party. Files is a former member…
by - November 23, 2008 7:25 pm
Garbage In. Gas Out. Money In. Story here.
The Fort Smith Department of Sanitation has found that the pressure of putrefaction is profitable; that the noxious and the nasty can be worth a nickel or two. Or millions.
by - November 22, 2008 7:04 pm
Let’s use the transition time to make a big time transition
Transition time is always a good time to, well, transition. Sometimes it’s the best time to transition in a big way. If you, Kind Reader, need an example then you’re…
by - November 20, 2008 2:04 pm
Problems in Detroit could trickle down to the Fort Smith area
With our without a bailout of the big three U.S. automakers, potentially thousands of jobs in the Fort Smith region will feel the pressure of declining auto production. A word of warning: This story does not have a happy ending. Sorry. We tried to find the silver lining.
by - November 14, 2008 10:04 am
Another study seeks economic change in Arkansas (updated)
Many of the points and issues raised by the task force were part of previous state studies and reports. And that’s not to fault the Task Force. It speaks more to the sometimes slow pace at which change happens in Arkansas.
by - November 11, 2008 5:48 pm
Entrepreneurial development important to regional economic success
Regions with strong entrepreneurial programs have 125 percent more employment growth, 58 percent more wage growth and a 63 percent higher percentage of high-tech businesses. The Fort Smith region is not yet one of these entrepreneurial regions. But a few folks are working on it.
by - November 11, 2008 6:19 am
This week we remember Raymond and the others
(Editor’s note: This essay was first published in November 2002 when I was business editor of the Times Record. A version of that essay can be found here.) This week…
by - November 2, 2008 7:51 pm
Reestablishing contact with Kind Readers in the Fort Smith region
On June 27, the fine folks at The Times Record in Fort Smith and The Morning News in Northwest Arkansas ended my almost eight years of employment as their business…
by - February 19, 2001 12:00 am
Caldwell Gets Creative, Leaves Life@Work
Stephen Caldwell, who has served for the past three years as executive editor of The Life@Work Journal, the Christian business magazine based in Fayetteville, has left that job to join Walker Creative Inc.