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Hearing, listening differ, so why do we ignore that distinction?

Hearing, listening differ, so why do we ignore that distinction?

Hearing is not the same as listening.

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Arkansas Online

Philip Martin

Inside the tense Arkansas Capitol on July 15, 1996

Inside the tense Arkansas Capitol on July 15, 1996

"He's not quitting."

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Arkansas Online

Rex Nelson

The Strenuous Life: Look for the golden light

The Strenuous Life: Look for the golden light

I had a dream I was swimming in dark water, trying to surface but unable to find the break as my breath ran out. I awakened and, naturally, looked at...

latest 8

Arkansas Online

Steve Straessle

COLUMNIST: More aftermath in the wake of Lindsey Graham’s death

COLUMNIST: More aftermath in the wake of Lindsey Graham’s death

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham's sudden death sparked vicious vitriol from liberals and conspiracy theories from conservatives as Democrats looked...

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Arkansas Online

Arkansas Online Author

OTHER SAY: Hamas again disrupts humanitarian aid in Gaza

OTHER SAY: Hamas again disrupts humanitarian aid in Gaza

Current events in Iran have largely pushed the Israeli-Hamas conflict out of the news cycle. But a recent incident in Gaza reinforces how Hamas...

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Arkansas Online

Arkansas Online Author

MICHELLE GOLDBERG: How have you not heard of Victor Marx?

MICHELLE GOLDBERG: How have you not heard of Victor Marx?

Right-wing preacher turned politician Victor Marx has said that he first killed a man when he was 7. He's not sure how many deaths he's been...

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Arkansas Online

Arkansas Online Author

OPINION | DRIVETIME MAHATMA: Here’s some advice: Assume you are on camera

OPINION | DRIVETIME MAHATMA: Here’s some advice: Assume you are on camera

Dear Mahatma: I see lots of clips on social media of bad driving behaviors captured on in-vehicle cameras. Pros and cons? I recently added one after...

yesterday 0

Arkansas Online

Arkansas Online Author

No poster wars: Build a freer university for all

No poster wars: Build a freer university for all

Last spring my usually peaceful campus faced controversies likely to drop us in the annual Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) free...

yesterday 10

Arkansas Online

Arkansas Online Author

Memories we don’t have as a nation

Memories we don’t have as a nation

As this semiquincentennial summer celebration continues, our founding history is front and center. We remember what happened in 1776 because it set...

yesterday 10

Arkansas Online

Arkansas Online Author

OTHERS SAY: A thousand years later …

OTHERS SAY: A thousand years later …

The legendary Bayeux Tapestry detailing William of Normandy's 1066 conquest of England was embroidered, most likely by nuns, in England about 1,000...

yesterday 9

Arkansas Online

Arkansas Online Author

ROBERT STEINBUCH: DEI again (sigh)

ROBERT STEINBUCH: DEI again (sigh)

I received a lot of positive feedback about my vigilance in recently covering--again--progressive resistance to quashing the blatant discrimination of...

yesterday 10

Arkansas Online

Robert Steinbuch

GWEN FORD FAULKENBERRY: In need of a friend indeed

GWEN FORD FAULKENBERRY: In need of a friend indeed

This week marked the first day I returned to the studio at the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette in Fayetteville to record a vodcast since my...

previous day 8

Arkansas Online

Gwen Faulkenberry

On Medicaid, costs of war, politicians need to come to grips with math

On Medicaid, costs of war, politicians need to come to grips with math

A guest column in this paper the other day under the byline of assorted serious Arkansas people--including a former state Supreme Court justice and a...

previous day 8

Arkansas Online

John Brummett

We must conserve: Like water, EFA money can dry up

We must conserve: Like water, EFA money can dry up

Imagine, if you will, a desert town in the southwest whose agricultural water supply flows from a reservoir miles away. Every year water is released...

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Arkansas Online

Arkansas Online Author

OTHERS SAY: Do elected officials owe their constituents health reports?

OTHERS SAY: Do elected officials owe their constituents health reports?

We were glad to see the photo of a smiling Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), alongside his wife, Elaine Chao. The 84-year-old McConnell revealed Sunday...

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Arkansas Online

Arkansas Online Author

BRET STEPHENS: Lindsey Graham’s choice

BRET STEPHENS: Lindsey Graham’s choice

In the summer of 2015, Donald Trump gave out Lindsey Graham's cellphone number at a campaign rally, leading to a flood of calls. The South Carolina...

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Arkansas Online

Arkansas Online Author

Judge’s ruling a blow to Trump dictatorship

Judge’s ruling a blow to Trump dictatorship

It was with a heavy heart that, on May 24, I proclaimed after due deliberation that my president was a dictator--outright, no longer merely the...

wednesday 7

Arkansas Online

John Brummett

OTHERS SAY: Good news in the fight to save Social Security

OTHERS SAY: Good news in the fight to save Social Security

The baby boom from 1946 to 1964 kept the ratio of workers paying Social Security taxes to the number of retirees receiving Social Security benefits at...

wednesday 10

Arkansas Online

Arkansas Online Author

STAR PARKER: Unions vs. education

STAR PARKER: Unions vs. education

Included in the 2025 One Big Beautiful Bill Act is a dollar-for-dollar tax credit, up to $1,700, for contributions to "Scholarship Granting...

wednesday 9

Arkansas Online

Arkansas Online Author

The most memorable day of July 15, 1996

The most memorable day of July 15, 1996

It's difficult to comprehend the fact that it has been 30 years. July 15, 1996, was one of the most memorable days of my life. I remember it as if it...

wednesday 10

Arkansas Online

Rex Nelson

We don’t so much judge the past as, hopefully. learn from it

We don’t so much judge the past as, hopefully. learn from it

Most of my time on the job is spent editing letters and columns, reading proofs, writing, and combing through submissions. I'll admit I don't always...

wednesday 10

Arkansas Online

Brenda Looper

Trump hissy fit over housing bill all for naught in the end

Trump hissy fit over housing bill all for naught in the end

There were the usual weekend outrages with Donald Trump. They were hardly worthy of note. But one of them was local this time, so let's look at that.

14.07.2026 10

Arkansas Online

John Brummett

All-Time Arkansas Baseball Team: The best MLB players born in Arkansas

All-Time Arkansas Baseball Team: The best MLB players born in Arkansas

Argument is part of the pleasure of baseball. No game has ever been more thoroughly measured. We know launch angles, spin rates, exit velocities,...

14.07.2026 10

Arkansas Online

Philip Martin

COLUMNIST: A reading crisis among children

COLUMNIST: A reading crisis among children

There's a simple statistic that often stops people in their tracks: Reading for pleasure as a child is the factor that studies show is more closely...

14.07.2026 9

Arkansas Online

Arkansas Online Author

CAL THOMAS: Guardrails

CAL THOMAS: Guardrails

People of a certain age were taught to respect the police, obey the law, and other rules and regulations mostly practiced by our parents and...

14.07.2026 9

Arkansas Online

Arkansas Online Author

ON BOOKS | OPINION: New baseball books explore Dummy Hoy, the All-Star Game and baseball’s place in American history

ON BOOKS | OPINION: New baseball books explore Dummy Hoy, the All-Star Game and baseball’s place in American history

A few recent baseball books arriving this month approach the game from entirely different directions, yet they seem animated by the same conviction...

13.07.2026 3

Arkansas Online

Philip Martin

Arkansas connections made Hayek’s work widely accessible

Arkansas connections made Hayek’s work widely accessible

Inflation is back in the news, with the most recent Consumer Price Index (CPI) reading more than double the Federal Reserve's 2 percent target. In...

13.07.2026 10

Arkansas Online

Arkansas Online Author

Zombie socialism (Part II)

Zombie socialism (Part II)

Let us begin by dispensing with some persistent intellectual errors.

13.07.2026 10

Arkansas Online

Bradley Gitz

Can psychedelics aid mental health care?

Can psychedelics aid mental health care?

When President Donald Trump signed an executive order this spring to speed up FDA approval of psychedelic treatments, he echoed a push for healing...

12.07.2026 20

Arkansas Online

Arkansas Online Author

America’s first 250 years

America’s first 250 years

After the almost continuous weeks-long celebrations of our country's first 250 years, I am reflecting on why being an American, which I have taken for...

12.07.2026 20

Arkansas Online

Arkansas Online Author

Getting tangled up in dreamland

Getting tangled up in dreamland

Waking up from a 30-minute nap on a recent Saturday afternoon, I knew where I was. But I didn't know where I'd been.

12.07.2026 20

Arkansas Online

Karen Martin

Problem-solving for every child

Problem-solving for every child

This spring, I received my students' scores on the Arkansas Teaching, Learning, and Assessment (ATLAS) a few days after they took the test. We used to...

12.07.2026 20

Arkansas Online

Arkansas Online Author

Paying the price

Paying the price

Most of us have heard the 1500s-era English proverb that a person is "penny wise and pound foolish." Although it can be interpreted differently, in...

12.07.2026 10

Arkansas Online

Brenda Looper

An Arkansas River Walk, a Missing Mother and the Limits of Certainty

An Arkansas River Walk, a Missing Mother and the Limits of Certainty

We were walking home west along the River Trail in North Little Rock after Lucinda Williams closed out the Arkansas Folklife Festival a couple of...

12.07.2026 20

Arkansas Online

Philip Martin

How did Democrats wind up with Platner?

How did Democrats wind up with Platner?

Politicians are always running their last race, particularly if it was a loss. They want to undo everything that worked against them last time. That,...

12.07.2026 10

Arkansas Online

John Brummett

Political parties and hard truths

Political parties and hard truths

On Monday I received a very nice but somewhat shocking email from a reader. I wasn't shocked because I got an email, but because the reader assumed...

12.07.2026 20

Arkansas Online

Arkansas Online Author

Exploring the Red

Exploring the Red

Only about 180 miles of the 1,290-mile Red River touches or passes through Arkansas. The river, however, has had a huge impact on the southwest part...

12.07.2026 20

Arkansas Online

Rex Nelson

The ease of getting obesity drugs

The ease of getting obesity drugs

A secret shopper survey conducted by researchers at Yale University and published recently in the Journal of the American Medical Association offers...

12.07.2026 20

Arkansas Online

Arkansas Online Author

Technology shaping students’ futures

Technology shaping students’ futures

As an educator, my responsibility is simple: Prepare students for the world they will inherit.

12.07.2026 20

Arkansas Online

Arkansas Online Author

The accomplishments of LEARNS

The accomplishments of LEARNS

Full disclosure: I am currently a plaintiff in two court cases that challenge the LEARNS Act, and not at liberty to argue those specific cases in this...

12.07.2026 10

Arkansas Online

Gwen Faulkenberry

CRITICAL MASS | OPINION: ‘Chris & Martina’ explores post-career relationship of onetime tennis rivals

CRITICAL MASS | OPINION: ‘Chris & Martina’ explores post-career relationship of onetime tennis rivals

Netflix’s documentary on Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert reveals a complicated story that isn’t really about tennis.

11.07.2026 10

Arkansas Online

Philip Martin

ON BOOKS | OPINION: Why critics shouldn’t ignore self-published books

ON BOOKS | OPINION: Why critics shouldn’t ignore self-published books

For years critics treated self-published books as easy rejects. Lately, a handful of independent authors have reminded me that the best reason to...

11.07.2026 10

Arkansas Online

Philip Martin

Can white people play the blues? The question of authenticity

Can white people play the blues? The question of authenticity

A funny weird thing happened to me a couple of weeks ago.

11.07.2026 20

Arkansas Online

Philip Martin

What unites us in Arkansas

What unites us in Arkansas

Historian Ben Johnson of El Dorado has given far more thought than most Arkansans to where this state has been in the past 100 years and where it's...

11.07.2026 10

Arkansas Online

Rex Nelson

World Cup held up mirror on maternity care: We shouldn’t look away

World Cup held up mirror on maternity care: We shouldn’t look away

I will be the first to admit that I am not the person you come to for expert soccer analysis.

11.07.2026 10

Arkansas Online

Arkansas Online Author

COLUMNIST: Stop chasing a ‘magic number’ for retirement

COLUMNIST: Stop chasing a ‘magic number’ for retirement

It used to be considered something of a tawdry question, although it could be flattering as well: "What's your number?" Nowadays, your inquisitor is...

11.07.2026 10

Arkansas Online

Arkansas Online Author

OTHERS SAY: Parents, put down that scheduling book this summer

OTHERS SAY: Parents, put down that scheduling book this summer

The Fourth of July has come and gone, and for many families, summer has reached its sweet spot. The pools are open. The bikes are out. Library reading...

11.07.2026 20

Arkansas Online

Arkansas Online Author

MICHELLE GOLDBERG: Lessons From the Graham Platner Disaster

MICHELLE GOLDBERG: Lessons From the Graham Platner Disaster

Graham Platner's campaign, which started with such excitement and inspired so many people in Maine, has become a shameful catastrophe. What's...

11.07.2026 20

Arkansas Online

Arkansas Online Author

OPINION | Drivetime Mahatma: Here’s the 311 on how you can address pothole problems

OPINION | Drivetime Mahatma: Here’s the 311 on how you can address pothole problems

Dear Mahatma: I enclose images of the Pothole with A Cone. This, as these images document, occupies much of the north crosswalk area of the...

10.07.2026 10

Arkansas Online

Arkansas Online Author

The Southern Fried Podcast: Talking non-profit with Arkansas Community Foundation CEO Jessica Hughes Ford

The Southern Fried Podcast: Talking non-profit with Arkansas Community Foundation CEO Jessica Hughes Ford

In this week’s episode, Rex Nelson talks with the President and CEO of Arkansas Community Foundation, Jessica Hughes Ford about the foundation and...

10.07.2026 9

Arkansas Online

Rex Nelson