Sadness. That is all.

On this week's podcast, Max Brantley and Lindsey Millar talk about the latest COVID-19 news, including how Arkansas is likely to come up short in additional pandemic unemployment payments. They also talk about the race for Arkansas's 2nd congressional district and the latest on LRPD infighting.

From a two-week suspension of football to a total shutdown, Southwest High School hit by coronavirus.

A sample of the people who'll cast Arkansas's votes in the electoral college.

Kanye draws his electors from East Arkansas.

Also seven more deaths.

New software will allow voters in many places, including Pulaski County, to track the handling of an absentee ballot.

A familiar tale of staggering Republican hypocrisy.

A sixth grade at Forest Heights must go all virtual and football disrupted at Southwest High School.

Spitting into the Arkansas wind here.

“You might not believe that an inexperienced health clinic director could become a civil rights bogeyman or hero depending on who you were talking to," Neal's summary reads. "I was. And it all happened in a flash.”

"No Tears Suite" gets a release on Sept. 25, and you can catch a discussion with Melba Pattillo Beals and the musicians on Sept. 23 at Oxford American's Landmark Series.

The foundation has provided the university $3 million for maintenance of the Windgate Center of Art and Design.

The artist behind the sound suit creates installations addressing the question: "Is there racism in heaven?"

Arkansas Cinema Society takes its film fest offerings outdoors to MP Outdoor Cinema, a 180-car theater with a 36-foot screen at 6700 Allied Drive Way in Little Rock.

Forty-six metal, noise and punk outfits are throwing their music behind a Bandcamp compilation titled "Shut It Down: Benefit for the Movement for Black Lives," and two of those 46 are Arkansas's own Rwake and Terminal Nation.

There's a lot more to the new Buffalo Gals album than its quarantine soundtrack qualities, particularly its treatment of matters of rural queer identity.

Here's director Ben Meredith's video for the title track, which, promisingly, wanders the turf between Descarte's Dream argument, molecular gas clouds and classic Sabbath.

Dazzmin Murry's nonprofit, Creators' Village, is hosting a songwriter's camp in Bentonville, Friday Sept. 11 through Sunday, Sept. 13.

The lineup of performances/events begins Jan. 6, 2021.

A few spots to hit for food and entertainment this weekend.

Is there a more fastidious restaurateur in Central Arkansas than Lisa Zhang, owner of Three Fold Noodles and Dumpling Co.? The last time I interviewed her she told me that she had determined that one dumpling includes 24 ingredients and takes 21 steps to finish. Today, in similar spirit, the restaurant's Facebook page delves into the process for making the "mo," or buns (usually served in sandwich form at Three Fold).

The Faded Rose, Ed David’s nearly 40 year-old-New Orleans-style Cajun and Creole restaurant on Rebsamen Park Road, opened its dining room to the public today after nearly six months of scaled-back to go/curbside service and — starting in late July — patio dining. 

The workforce has earned a day of celebration for who they are and what they do. This Labor Day shouldn’t be hard. Let us do the strategizing for you. 

Now that dining in the open air is deemed a safer option than eating indoors, restaurants with comfortable patios are catching the eyes (and dollars) of Central Arkansas diners. So what do we do in a late summer characterized by tropical storm winds and an unseasonable amount of rain? We decided to put a list together of rain-or-shine restaurant patios for our readers.

Rodge Arnold, owner of Charlee’s Good Time Drinkery, understands the demand for good quality late-night grub. “I’ve been in the business for 16 years,” he said. “I actually worked here 10 or 11 years ago, when it was Salut.” 

Three Fold’s most popular ice is lychee, a tropical fruit native to southeastern China. “A lot of people describe it like a very ripe grape or kind of a floral taste,” general manager Rebecca Yan said.

Despite economic uncertainty and hardship, several brand-new restaurants — like Brood & Barley and Cypress Social — have popped up. Henrietta's is still in the works, and a renovated Oyster Bar is coming.

The menus will include daily specials, family-style meals and wine pairings curated by 42’s sommelier.

Rhett Brinkley talks about what it's like to wait tables during a pandemic. (Audio by Sydney Hunsicker and Jack Lloyd.)