As soon as the flood waters in the River Valley receded, volunteers started getting busy helping their neighbors take the first step toward recovery. Volunteers with Grand Avenue Baptist Church will spend the coming weeks emptying damaged homes. In some cases, the houses will be stripped down to the studs. Meanwhile, at the Volunteer Intake Center at Eastside Baptist Church, the United Way of Fort Smith Area will be connecting volunteers to projects across the city.

Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson announced June 13 that an agreement had been reached between the state and operators of C&H Hog Farms to permanently close the industrial swine-breeding facility located on the Buffalo National River watershed in Newton County. The farmers will be paid $6.2 million dollars in compensation and a perpetual conservation easement will be placed on the farm site.

Becca Martin-Brown, the features editor for the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, is on the National Park Radio bandwagon. She reminds us the band will play their annual Steel Creek concert this weekend.

Bentonville-based Game Composites, an aircraft manufacturer with a facility at Louise Thaden Field, obtained a production certificate from the Federal Aviation Administration this week. The certificate allows the company to produce the GB1 Gamebird plane and deliver it to customers worldwide.

Kale Ogle, who used to release music with a bit of an edge under the name Dr. Nod, has formed a new band with a completely different sound. The new band is called Kale Ogle and the Light and features Kale and local musicians Kevin Blagg, Jason Rich and Lora Murphy. The band recently stopped by the Firmin-Garner Performance Studio to let us hear some of the songs from an upcoming album, and to talk a little about their music.

Ed Stilley, a creator of unique musical instruments, some of which can be seen and heard during performances by Still on the Hill, died this week. Stilley spent 25 years making more than 200 instruments out of various combinations of rough-sawn wood scraps and found objects like door hinges, saw blades and pot lids. Stilley spoke with Ozarks at Large's Jacqueline Froelich in 2000.