Walmart plans to leverage its juggernaut status — and coast-to-coast footprint — to help U.S. communities better prepare for crises.

Driving the news: The company held its first disaster preparedness summit yesterday, during which roughly 150 emergency management professionals at the state and federal level, nonprofits and other corporate entities convened at Walmart's home office in Bentonville to talk about collaboration.

• Yes, and: The Walmart Foundation announced an investment of $3 million to four organizations that help Gulf Coast communities prepare for and mitigate disasters.

Why it matters: Globally, climate change is leading to more frequent and severe extreme weather events. From wildfires to flooding to tornados, Walmart's 5,300 U.S. stores and the communities where they're located are increasingly at risk, the company said.

• Last year, Walmart's U.S. stores navigated 4,000 weather-related events, twice as many as in 2020, chief sustainability officer Kathleen McLaughlin said.

Threat level: Disasters can have long-term economic and social impacts, especially on communities that are home to traditionally marginalized populations, the company said.

What to watch: McLaughlin said Walmart will be looking at its emergency management initiatives through a diversity, equity and inclusion lens.

What they're saying: Reese May, chief strategy officer for the Saint Bernard Project, one of the groups receiving money from the Walmart Foundation, noted that socioeconomically disadvantaged people in the Gulf region live in low-lying areas prone to flooding because that's what they can afford.

• Another grant recipient, Institute for Diversity and Inclusion in Emergency Management, plans to work with 10 vulnerable, underserved or marginalized communities in Louisiana and Mississippi to develop disaster recovery and mitigation plans.
• The group's CEO Chauncia Willis, said: "The only way to fix a broken system is to replace it with a better system."

Flashback: Walmart and the Walmart Foundation formally developed their community emergency response team after the 2005 devastation of Hurricane Katrina on the Gulf Coast.

Editor's note: Reporter Worth Sparkman is a Walmart shareholder.

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You can shop for art, antiques, clothing, jewelry, home décor, outdoor furnishings and seasonal plants at the weekend-long Vintage Market Days event.

• Get a three-day pass for $10 or a Sunday-only ticket for $5.

When and where: 10am-5pm today and Saturday and 10am-4pm Sunday at Benton County Fairgrounds, 7640 SW Regional Airport Blvd. in Bentonville.

Gov. Asa Hutchinson visited Springdale yesterday following last week's tornado.

State of play: Hutchinson said the damage left in the storm's wake will not qualify for federal relief, but Arkansas officials are evaluating whether people can receive state assistance, 5 News reported.

• Of note: The state is not likely to cover all individual losses.

Flashback: An EF-3 tornado hit the north Fayetteville-Johnson area and Springdale early in the morning of March 30.

🧾 Don Nelms, who owns and operates Adventure Subaru in Fayetteville, purchased 13 acres off Interstate 49 in Rogers.

• Nelms says he has no immediate plans for the property but knows it's a good place for development. (Talk Business & Politics)

🌮 Austin-based Tex-Mex chain Chuy's is taking over the restaurant space occupied by Colton's on East Millsap Road in north Fayetteville. (Fayetteville Flyer)

🧑‍⚖️ A federal judge ordered the Arkansas attorney general's office to release 4,500 emails pertaining to transgender issues to the ACLU. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)

🏫 Springdale school district is looking into releasing students early on Wednesdays starting this fall. (Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)

Technology that police departments use to detect gunshots is under fire because of accusations that the devices confuse gunshots with other noises, like slamming doors — claims the manufacturer strongly disputes.

Why it matters: When these devices falsely identify a gunshot, critics argue, police officers can end up rushing to a perfectly peaceful area on unnecessarily high alert, creating a risk of violent interactions, writes Axios' Russell Contreras.

Zoom in: ShotSpotter is used in Little Rock and Hot Springs.

• The technology alerted police to a shooting in Little Rock that left one man wounded two weeks ago.
• Hot Springs said in December it would expand ShotSpotter service after it received 800 shots fired alerts in 2020.

Driving the news: The police reform group Campaign Zero is launching a campaign Thursday to try to convince cities to stop using ShotSpotter as communities struggle with rising gun violence.

• Campaign Zero tells Axios its "Cancel ShotSpotter" effort comes after the group conducted a yearlong study of the technology in dozens of cities, which often pay millions of dollars to use the service.

The other side: ShotSpotter told Axios its technology operated at a 97% aggregate accuracy rate for real-time detections, with all of its customers, between 2019 and 2021.

• The company said this figure was derived directly from police department reports and confirmed by Edgeworth Analytics, an independent data science firm that audited ShotSpotter’s accuracy.

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Worth here. A Thursday afternoon pic of clouds. Telephone poles and building included.

• Just a reminder that life is short.
• I intend to enjoy as much of it as possible outside.