Walmart's new Apple-like HQ will include an expansive fitness center and onsite child care for employees' children.

Why it matters: These are major amenities for the more than 14,000 people who will work at the company's new Bentonville headquarters.

The fitness center: The Walton Family Whole Health & Fitness will be 360,000 square feet at the corner of Fifth and Southeast P Streets.

• The center will include an open space with a café, a youth activity center, indoor and outdoor tennis courts, multipurpose courts, fitness studios, three pools and a meditation garden.

What they're saying: "What we want to do is give our associates all the tools for wellbeing, and that includes mental, emotional, spiritual and physical. This building encompasses all of that," Alice Walton said Wednesday during an event at the existing home office.

The child care center: The center will have space for up to 500 children in the 73,000-square-feet facility on Fifth Street across from the fitness center.

• Cindi Marsiglio, Walmart's senior vice president of corporate real estate, told Axios that the center will start with children ranging from six weeks old through pre-K before looking into allowing school-age children after school and during the summer.
• The facility will include classrooms and an outdoor parent plaza where holiday events can take place.
• Walmart did not announce a cost for parents.

Flashback: Walmart announced its plans to build a new headquarters in 2017.

• Site work has started on the new campus on about 350 acres on J Street in Bentonville. Walmart has operated out of its existing office on Southwest Eighth Street since 1971.

What's next: Walmart expects the fitness center to be complete in the fall of 2023 and the child care center soon after, Marsiglio said.

• The new home office will open in phases and is expected to be fully open in 2025.

What to watch: Tom and Steuart Walton announced during Wednesday's event that Blue Crane, which is the real estate arm of their holding company Runway Group, will purchase the existing home office building but did not say what will happen with the property.

The Fayetteville City Council will set aside $1 million to help nonprofits impacted by the pandemic, the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports.

• The money comes from the city's nearly $18 million American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) package.

Why it matters: 64% of Arkansas nonprofits surveyed in 2020 reported lost revenue due to canceled events. 40% weren't confident they would meet their budgets and one-third had to reduce hours for paid employees.

• 69% reported delivering reduced services to their clients.

Details: The council allocated $100,000 for organizations seeking $5,000 or less. Those applications will move through the approval process in a matter of weeks, according to the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

• The remaining $900,000 was earmarked for organizations with requests greater than $5,000.
• Those applications will require council review and will likely take longer.

The intrigue: The city already has an application portal for nonprofits seeking ARPA grants of $25,000 or more to help with pandemic-related financial needs.

• The newly allocated $1 million is for organizations seeking less than $25,000.

The bottom line: Applications for all grants are due April 30.

Pro tennis star and gender equality advocate Venus Williams will speak next week as part of the University of Arkansas' distinguished lecture series, the university announced Wednesday.

Details: The event will be Q&A-style, moderated by Danyelle Musselman, who has worked in sports broadcasting at the NFL Network, Yahoo Sports and ESPN.

When and where: 7pm Tuesday at Bud Walton Arena on campus. It's free and open to the public.

Most of Arkansas' southern and eastern counties had a natural decrease in population during 2021, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Driving the news: The bureau says fewer births, an aging population and increased mortality due to COVID-19 contributed to decreases across the U.S.

• The agency defines natural decrease as being more deaths than births in a population over a period of time.

Zoom out: 73% of U.S. counties had a decrease in population during 2021, up from about 56% in 2020 and about 46% in 2019.

Zoom in: Phillips County in east-central Arkansas lost an estimated 4% of its population in 2021.

• Little Rock's Pulaski County was fairly stable, down 0.3% in its population.

The other side: Benton County grew by 3.3%, Madison County 2.7% and Washington County by 1.7% last year.

See the interactive map

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Canoo, the electric vehicle maker relocating its headquarters to NWA, landed a $147,855 contract with NASA, Bloomberg first reported.

• Canoo vehicles will transport astronauts to the launchpad for missions to the moon and Mars, Bloomberg reports.

Why it matters: It's one small step toward raising international awareness about Canoo vehicles in a crowded field of startup EV makers.

• Canoo vehicles will be manufactured in Arkansas and Oklahoma.

Yes, and: Tony Aquil, Canoo's CEO, sits on Gov. Asa Hutchinson's Arkansas Council on Future Mobility, so visibility for Canoo could also raise the state's profile.

Flashback: Canoo announced its move to NWA in November.

• It also has a contract to build 1,000 vehicles for the state of Oklahoma.
• The company lost $346.8 million in 2021.