Did anybody else who read Jaime Adame’s comprehensive Democrat-Gazette report on the University of Arkansas Board of Trustee’s approval of an $85 million UAMS orthopedics facility conclude this was primarily seen as an investment in Razorback football and other Hog sports?

They said it will be somewhere in “Northwest Arkansas,” but let’s get real. A facility pitched as an athlete recruiting tool is going to be built in Fayetteville, not Cave Springs or Gravette.

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The UA Board — incidentally and with less fanfare since football wasn’t involved — also moved ahead with the creation of a full (but accelerated to three years ) med school in Northwest Arkansas to go along with the four-year med school in Little Rock.

I’m old enough to remember when UAMS was unhappy about the creation of a med school at Arkansas State University. One med school was more than enough for Arkansas, they were saying, particularly given a shortage of residencies for graduates.

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Now, count ’em: Arkansas has three and a half-operating med schools, with UAMS zooming toward completion of the fourth. Texas billionaire Alice Walton is also planning to build a fifth around Bentonville. Who’s next for a med school? El Dorado?

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