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Today’s newsletter is 1,189 words — a 4-minute read.

Bentonville's planned private STEM university broke ground Friday on land that was formerly home to the Walmart headquarters.

Why it matters: The Bentonville Institute of Technology is a major investment for the future of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields and for development in the region.

• The plan is to combine STEM education with business, artificial intelligence and real-world application, according to a news release.

Catch up quick: Steuart and Tom Walton, grandsons of Walmart founder Sam Walton, announced plans for the university in May 2025.

• The brothers and business partners in 2022 announced their plans for their company to buy the former Walmart headquarters property, but they didn't say at the time what they planned to do with it. The new Walmart campus in Bentonville fully opened this year, paving the way for the former site to be redeveloped.

What they're saying: "I believe our purpose begins with a gap we see in STEM education," university president David Mazyck said at a groundbreaking ceremony Friday.

• "Universities can produce technically capable graduates, but technical capability alone is no longer enough," he said. "The people who create meaningful impact must also know how to identify the right problems, understand human needs, work across disciplines, exercise judgement, communicate complex ideas, understand how value is created, and turn ideas into solutions that actually work in the world."

How it works: The school's curriculum will be designed so that students earn bachelor's degrees in three years rather than operating on a traditional semester schedule, Mazyck told Axios.

• In addition to undergraduate students, the university will offer certification programs for working professionals.
• The plan is to have an inaugural undergraduate class of 300 students plus 100 professional learners and eventually grow to a total of 1,500 undergraduate students and 500 professional learners, he said.
• Ideally, about half of the students will come from Arkansas and surrounding states, he said, adding that people often seek employment in areas where they went to school.
• The university will conduct a nationwide search for its faculty of about 100.

The intrigue: The university emphasizes enrolling students who demonstrate a high level of building upon their curiosity, Mazyck said, giving a hyperbolic example of a kid who rushes home from school because they're building a time machine in their backyard.

• The school will conduct interviews with prospective students and may observe them working in teams.

Zoom out: The intention is for the campus to be integrated with Bentonville's downtown and to build a new neighborhood over time, Tom Walton said at the groundbreaking.

• He mentioned office buildings, a variety of housing, a new hotel and "even another square for the town of Bentonville," noting that the city's current downtown area will likely be limiting in the next 10-15 years.

State of play: The campus is starting with three buildings — including an academic building, maker space building and residence hall — totaling about 444,000 square feet.

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Purple milkshakes don't come from cows on a steady diet of lavender.

• It's simply food dye for a gimmick that dates back to 1989, when The Purple Cow first opened in Little Rock.

The latest: The 1950s-style diner expanded in recent years — say, the last 20 or so — through central Arkansas and finally opened in Rogers this March.

The vibe: The dining room is outfitted like an '80s kid's imagination of a 1950s diner, with extra purple.

The food: I tried a half-pound burger in a smokehouse style, with bacon, barbecue sauce, onion and pickles with a side of fries ($15).

• Of course, I had a purple milkshake ($6.80).
• My date tried the grilled Reuben ($11).

The verdict: I'll be blunt: I didn't expect much. I've fallen for the schtick in Little Rock and Hot Springs before and wasn't impressed.

• To my udder delight — yeah, that was intended — this was a great lunch.
• The burger was cooked well and had the flavor of a patty that was made in-house, not at some faraway food factory. The sauce, a tad sweet, worked with the bacon, a tad salty.

It may not displace my Rogers fave on the four great Northwest Arkansas burgers list, but it's more accessible, straightforward and honest. It's a working man's burger.

• The fries? Well, they're almost McDonald's fries.

The shake was vanilla. That's the actual flavor, but the experience was anything but.

• Schtick or no, the purple flair adds to the experience, and I found it rich, well-blended and delicious.

The Reuben, I'm told, was fantastic.

Check it out

🍗 Dot's Nashville Hot Chicken in Fayetteville plans to close Oct. 24. (Fayetteville Flyer)

🗣️ Democratic Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear spoke at an Arkansas Democratic fundraiser about how Democrats can win in red states. (Arkansas Advocate)

⏰ President Trump publicly pressured Sen. Tom Cotton to support a bill to make daylight saving time permanent and posted his cellphone number on social media. (AP)

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A nonprofit c0-founded by Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art chairperson Olivia Walton will give $10 million to improve maternal health in Arkansas.

Why it matters: The state has some of the nation's worst outcomes, including high mortality rates, for new moms and babies.

Driving the news: Walton announced Healthy Moms Healthy Babies America's plan to give $10 million to Arkansas and $10 million to Kentucky late last week at Bentonville nonprofit Heartland Forward's Heartland Summit.

• A few weeks ago, she and her husband Tom Walton, grandson of Walmart founder Sam Walton, announced their pledge to contribute $100 million over five years with the goal of cutting U.S. maternal deaths in half.
• The Healthy Moms Healthy Babies America nonprofit was created this year by Olivia Walton and nurse midwife Cara Osborne, according to a news release.

State of play: The nonprofit plans to work with Arkansas and Kentucky to develop, implement and evaluate sustainable models of care that can be replicated across the country, according to a news release. The money will support state-led efforts to:

• Expand the availability of midwives, doulas, community health workers and other maternal health professionals
• Strengthen maternal health data and quality improvement efforts through systems like the Health and Human Services Perinatal Improvement Collaborative
• Increase access to home visiting services during pregnancy and postpartum.
• Expand postpartum care and support, including mental health services.

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Thanks to Chloe Gonzales for editing this newsletter.

🍔 Alex has never tried The Purple Cow.

🐮 Worth is on sabbatical. Maybe he's back at The Purple Cow.