Portal:Arkansas
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Arkansas (IPA: /ˈɑɹkn̩ˌsɑː/) (are-can-saw) is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Arkansas shares a border with six states, with its eastern border largely defined by the Mississippi River. Its diverse geography ranges from the mountainous regions of the Ozarks and the Ouachita Mountains, which make up the U.S. Interior Highlands, to the eastern lowlands along the Mississippi River. The capital and most populous city is Little Rock, located in the central portion of the state.
With the exception of Hawaii, Arkansas is the smallest state entirely west of the Mississippi River. The Mississippi River forms most of Arkansas's eastern border, except in Clay and Greene counties where the St. Francis River forms the western boundary of the Missouri Bootheel, and in dozens of places where the current channel of the Mississippi has meandered from where it had last been legally specified. Arkansas shares its southern border with Louisiana, its northern border with Missouri, its eastern border with Tennessee and Mississippi, and its western border with Texas and Oklahoma.
Arkansas is a land of mountains and valleys, thick forests and fertile plains. Northwest Arkansas is part of the Ozark Plateau including the Boston Mountains, to the south are the Ouachita Mountains and these regions are divided by the Arkansas River; the southern and eastern parts of Arkansas are called the Lowlands. All of these mountains ranges are part of the U.S. Interior Highlands region, the only major mountainous region between the Rocky Mountains and the Appalachian Mountains. The highest point in the state is Mount Magazine in the Ouachita Mountains; it rises to 2,753 feet above sea level. (more...)
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) is an American public corporation that runs a chain of large, discount department stores. It is the world's largest public corporation by revenue, according to the 2007 Fortune Global 500. Founded by Sam Walton in 1962, it was incorporated on October 31, 1969, and listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1972. It is the largest private employer in the world and the fourth largest utility or commercial employer, trailing the Chinese army, the British National Health Service, and the Indian Railways. Wal-Mart is the largest grocery retailer in the United States, with an estimated 20% of the retail grocery and consumables business, as well as the largest toy seller in the U.S., with an estimated 22% share of the toy market.
Wal-Mart operates in Mexico as Walmex, in the UK as ASDA, and in Japan as Seiyu. It has wholly-owned operations in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Puerto Rico, and the UK. Wal-Mart's investments outside North America have had mixed results: its operations in South America and China are highly successful, but it sold its retail operations in South Korea and Germany in 2006 after sustained losses.
Wal-Mart has been criticized by some community groups, women's rights groups, grassroots organizations, and labor unions, specifically for its extensive foreign product sourcing, low rates of employee health insurance enrollment, resistance to union representation, and alleged sexism. (more...)
A rally at the state capitol of Arkansas in Little Rock, in the year 1959, protesting the race integration of Little Rock Central High School.
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton (born William Jefferson Blythe III on August 19, 1946) was the forty-second President of the United States, serving from 1993 to 2001. He was the third-youngest president, older only than Theodore Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy. He became president at the end of the Cold War, and is known as the first baby boomer president, as he was born in the period after World War II. He is the husband of the junior United States Senator from the state of New York and a Democratic candidate in the 2008 US presidential election, Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Clinton was described as a New Democrat and was largely known for the Third Way philosophy of governance that came to epitomize his two terms as president. His policies, on issues such as the North American Free Trade Agreement, have been described as "centrist." Clinton presided over the longest period of peace-time economic expansion in American history, which included a balanced budget and a reported federal surplus. Clinton reported a surplus of $559 billion at the end of his presidency, based on Congressional accounting rules. His presidency was also quickly challenged. On the heels of a failed attempt at health care reform with a Democratic Congress, Republicans won control of the House of Representatives for the first time in 40 years. In his second term he was impeached by the U.S. House for perjury and obstruction of justice, but was subsequently acquitted by the United States Senate and completed his term.
Clinton left office with a 65% approval rating, the highest end-of-presidency rating of any President who came into office after World War II. However, public reaction to the Lewinsky scandal left a mixed impression about his personal character. Since leaving office, Clinton has been involved in public speaking and humanitarian work. He created the William J. Clinton Foundation to promote and address international causes, such as treatment and prevention of HIV/AIDS and global warming. In 2004, he released a personal autobiography, My Life. (more...)
- ...that dozens of tornadoes were produced during a two-day tornado outbreak in 1997, killing at least 27 people in Arkansas, Mississippi and Tennessee, USA?
- ...that St. Louis Southwestern locomotive #819, one of a group of five 4-8-4 locomotives approved by the United States federal wartime administration for construction by the St. Louis Southwestern Railway (more commonly known as the "Cotton Belt Route"), was the last engine built by the railway and the last locomotive built in Arkansas to date?
- ...that Pelton's Rose Gentian was recently discovered by a retired mechanic and is only found in a single county in Arkansas?
| Flower | Apple Blossom | 
|
|---|---|---|
| Motto | Regnat populus (The people rule) | |
| Nickname | The Natural State | |
| Bird | Mockingbird | |
| Rock | Bauxite |
- Many killed in tornadoes across southern U.S.
- Minor league baseball coach killed on field in United States
- Wikinews Shorts: March 15, 2007
- US air force colonel claims he spotted UFOs over Arkansas
- 18 dead after multiple twisters strike US Midwest
- Suspect in gay bar attack dies after gunfight with police
| Official State of Arkansas website |
- Arkansas Governor
- Arkansas Lieutenant Governor
- Arkansas Attorney General
- Arkansas Secretary of State
- Arkansas State Auditor
- Arkansas State Treasurer
- Arkansas State Supreme Court
- Arkansas State Legislature
- USDA Arkansas Statistical Facts
- USGS real-time, geographic, and other scientific resources of Arkansas
Little Rock is the capital and the most populous city of the State of Arkansas. It is also the county seat of Pulaski County and had a city population of 184,422 in the 2006 census estimates. It and North Little Rock, Arkansas are co-principal cities of the six-county Little Rock-North Little Rock Metropolitan Statistical Area, an area with a population of 652,834 people, according to 2006 census estimates. The MSA is in turn included in the Little Rock-North Little Rock-Pine Bluff Combined Statistical Area, which had a population of 829,032 in the 2006 census estimates.
Located near the geographic center of Arkansas, Little Rock derives its name from a small rock formation on the south bank of the Arkansas River called La Petite Roche (the "little rock"). The "little rock" was used by early river traffic as a landmark and became a well-known river crossing. (more...)
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