Local News from KNWA

I am a huge fan of local news.  I have been as long as I can remember.  My favorite local newscast here in NWA is the KNWA 10 p.m. show.  I don't always get a chance to watch, but tonight I did.  Here's a recap of KNWA's news at 10 tonight.

New U of A basketball coach, Mike Anderson

The lead story tonight was on a subject that has been buzzing all over Fayetteville ever since former U of A basketball coach John Pelphrey was fired last week.  As soon as Pelfrey was let go, there had been much speculation as to who was going to fill the position.  A name that I was hearing a lot here in town was the former assistant to Nolan Richardson, Mike Anderson.  Yesterday, the U of A announced that Anderson was accepting the position of the head basketball coach. It didn't take him long to get to work. 

Today, Anderson was flying around the state to meet with basketball recruits.

Tonight Matt Turner (anchor KNWA) reported live via satellite from Fayetteville's Drake Field in hopes of getting an interview with Anderson.  However, the trip out to the airport did not land Turner the interview he was seeking.  Upon arrival to Drake Field, Anderson got off the twin-engine plane owned by the University of Arkansas athletic department, jumped into an SUV and drove off.  But a somewhat disappointed-looking Turner handled the letdown well by giving a recap of Anderson's activities throughout the day.

The story that directly followed the lead story tonight was the vote in the Arkansas State Legislature to bring Fayetteville into Arkansas' 4th Congressional District.  Marci Manley was the reporter, and the story was shot as a package with her explaining more detail in the studio.  The part of this story that stood out to me the most was not actually the content, but the fact that Manley used a touch-screen as a graphic aid in the studio.  I wasn't even aware that KNWA had a touch-screen!  To be honest, I'm still not sure they do but whatever they did looked great.

After the first two stories came the weather report, as well as some details about the controlled burn at Lake Fayetteville that made downtown Fayetteville look more like smoggy downtown Los Angeles today.  This was followed by a couple of stories about a fundraiser for tornado victims in Cincinnati, Ark., an announcement about Habitat for Humanity needing volunteers for this weekend and a sneak peek for Crystal Bridges art museum.  The newscast topped off with Aaron Peters reporting on sports.  His sports report this evening consisted mostly of Mike Anderson's activities throughout the day.