Opinion

Challenges facing today’s AE firms

I spent my 43-year professional career working in or for architecture and engineering (AE) firms. I have been an owner in four of them, a board member in several more,…

How do you know your cybersecurity is being handled?

Typically, when speaking to business leaders about their cybersecurity status, many times they say, “My IT people are handling that!” To which our response is, “how do you know”? How…

Embracing this fast-growing technology would help Arkansas’ economy grow faster, too

Video games: The term often conjures images of teenagers with poor hygiene wasting time in a dark room while homework and chores sit unfinished. But Arkansas has the opportunity to…

What to do about climate anxiety

From historic droughts to tornadoes and flash floods, some days watching the weather can feel like a real-life horror film. The rise in climate change-driven natural disasters is taking a…

Optimism amid volatility

Owning or starting a small business is challenging, even in the best financial times. Still, in the uncertain economy of the past few years, small business owners face even more…

Parks and trails and the quality of life

Parks and trails have long been a staple in major cities and smaller communities. When buying or selling a house, this is often a sought-after feature: “only minutes from the…

The health care landscape: Looking back at 2022 and ahead to 2023

The year 2022 is behind us, and although we began last year hoping for a gradual return to normal after two years in a public health emergency, we continue to…

Your 2023 plan is wrong

2023 is here, and no doubt, it arrives with much anticipation, hopes, and perhaps fears and will likely involve important choices and even a big bet or two. In many…

Why ban TikTok?

On Dec. 2, 2022, the FBI issued a warning about the use of TikTok because of the app’s data collection policies. TikTok policies allow for the capture of sensitive, personally…

Money issues

Just how confident are we about the economy heading into the new year? American consumers’ confidence in the U.S. economy grew in December as high inflation continued to ease, according…

Home buying forecast: Trends to know in 2023

The housing market has seen extreme highs and lows this year. Fluctuating home prices and mortgage rates are primarily attributed to inflation, fears of a recession, and the U.S. Federal…

Act 109 qualifies state, public school employees for transformative weight loss surgery

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), 36.4% of Arkansans struggle with obesity, ranking our state as the ninth-worst in the rate of obesity. That’s 1,103,155 people who fall…

You had best get reengaged with your business, and fast

I went by my friend Burt Hanna’s new candle factory in Fayetteville the other day. Since he was kind enough to read a draft copy of my new book, “Confessions…

Family estrangement is more common than you think

The term “cancel culture” burst onto the scene around 2016. It’s defined as the practice or tendency of engaging in mass canceling to express disapproval and exert social pressure. Its…

Riff Raff: Recipe support

Dr. Seidensticker, a college professor, made me a cassette tape of recordings of music by composers Haydn, Stravinsky, Wagner, and others, although he said Wagner could be tough to follow…

Connections and communication

For the last several years, we’ve gone to suburban Kansas City to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday with my brother Bruce and sister-in-law Lynn. While there, in addition to loads of…

Taking an even closer look at credit card fees

I appreciate State Rep. Marcus Richmond’s recent post regarding ‘swipe fees’ on credit card purchases, and the financial impact those fees have on veterans. As a community banker committed to…

Hope for the holidays: Low-dose CT scans for lung cancer

Thanksgiving came and went before we entered full-blown holiday mode. Despite the hustle and bustle of the season, many of us are looking forward to gathering with family and friends,…

Improv advice in translation

Most advice is worthy of thorough examination. Often advice about one discipline — with just a bit of translation — has meaning in other disciplines. This translation process allows for…

You can’t be what you’re not around

Generally, every season has an off-season. For example, it’s now the baseball off-season. Off-seasons serve at least two primary purposes: rest and recovery from the season that just concluded and…