Entries - Time Period: Divergent Prosperity and the Arc of Reform (1968-2022) - Starting with I

Interstate 49 (often called “I-49”) is a U.S. interstate highway with two different segments in western Arkansas. The best-known section of Interstate 49 is in northwestern Arkansas, where a roughly eighty-five-mile segment stretches from Interstate 40 to the Missouri border, passing through Fayetteville (Washington County) and the Bentonville (Benton County) corridor. A second segment of Interstate 49 extends forty-two miles from the Louisiana border to Texarkana (Miller County). Both sections will eventually be united by a third segment of I-49 in Arkansas that will cut through the Ouachita Mountains. Ultimately, a completed Interstate 49 will stretch continuously from New Orleans, Louisiana, to Kansas City, Missouri. While Interstate 49 was not included in the original 1950s Interstate Highway plan, leaders in …

Margaux Isaksen was a world-class competitor in the modern pentathlon, an Olympic sport in which athletes compete in fencing (one-touch épée), freestyle swimming, equestrian show jumping, pistol shooting, and cross-country running. A three-time Olympian, Isaksen first started competing at the international level when she was fifteen. Margaux Isaksen was born on October 7, 1991, in Fayetteville (Washington County) to Tommy Isaksen and Kathleen West. She has a younger sister, Isabella. Isaksen’s father died of colon cancer when she was two years old. Isaksen and her sister were raised by their mother, who later married Steve Ferguson. Growing up on a farm in Fayetteville, Isaksen had ready access to horses and the opportunity to ride. In addition, she ran cross country, …