The Texarkana Showdown in Texarkana, Ark., hosted some of the best barrel racers in the business over Valentine’s Day weekend.

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Derby

Michelle Alley and Lipstick N Stilletos (“Stiletto”) have dominated at every level of barrel racing since the gritty mare’s futurity season. Out of Alley’s great mare, Seis Corona (“Saucy”), by Tres Seis, Stiletto is by the record-breaking stallion, RR Mistakelly.

Alley sold Stiletto to her friend, Heather Moller, when the mare was still a foal, but has done all of the training and competing throughout Stiletto’s career. In the past two years, the duo has earned over $450,000, and they added a substantial amount to their earnings in Arkansas.

Alley and Stiletto clocked a 14.241, earning nearly $16,000 with carryovers. The pair topped the single-round Derby, the Friday Open 1D, and finished third in the High Stakes and Saturday Open 1D.

From arena records on standard patterns (including a 16.4 at the Ruby Buckle in 2024) to professional rodeo wins, Stiletto has been a force to be reckoned with since her four-year-old year. Now six years old, Stiletto’s runs are marked by her gritty style and incredible speed.

More maternal siblings (and even a pair of full siblings) to Stiletto will hit the ground this spring, as Alley looks to carry on Saucy’s legacy. As to what the future holds for Stiletto, with today’s technology, it could be anything from producing the next generation of champions to competing at the 2026 National Finals Rodeo — all in the same year.

Futurity

Heaven A Good Time (JL Dash Ta Heaven x Charge My Corona x Hot Corona) and Kelly Allen claimed their second futurity championship of 2026. The duo clocked a 14.310 to win Round 2 of the futurity. They doubled down on their earnings with a pair of sixth-place checks in the High Stakes and Open 1D.

Futurity Notes

In Round 1 of the 1D Futurity, a pair of maternal siblings finished third and fourth. Although VF Chasin Cans’ career was tragically cut short by an injury, the mare quickly amassed six figures in earnings and multiple futurity championships.

Her first foal crop hit the arena in 2026 and has quickly proven that the bloodline will be one to watch. VQ Can Do Attitude (sired by The Goodbe Lane) and Mark Bugni clocked a 14.582 for third in the round. Joy Wargo rode Chasin Tres Cans (sired by Tres Seis) to a 14.600 for fourth.

VQ Can Do Attitude also placed back-to-back with a paternal sibling, Lady Lane, who finished second in the round. Ridden by Jodee Miller, Lady Lane is by The Goodbye Lane and out of Hummers Last Lady by Humbolt Duster.

Round 2 belonged to the JL Dash Ta Heaven offspring. Allen took the win on Heaven A Good Time, James Barnes rode KVS Fame N Heaven (out of Gaga On Firewater by Firewater Flit) to a fourth-place finish. Heavens Gone Wild and Heavens Wild Side (both out of LegsGoneWild by Tres Seis and ridden by Molli Montgomery) claimed fifth and sixth in the round.

High Stakes

It is no surprise to see Carlee Otero and her palomino speedster, AM Regina George, scorching the leaderboard. The duo ran the fastest time of the weekend (14.151 seconds) to claim the $8,748 win, as well as the Saturday Open 1D win. The pair earned over $10,000 on the single run, as they head to the Southeast for upcoming professional rodeos.

Labor union membership in Arkansas fell to a record low in 2025, according to new data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Among wage and salary workers, 2.8% were union members, down from 3.5% in 2024 and four-tenths of a percentage point below the previous low of 3.2% in 2012.

Arkansas’ 2025 union membership rate tied with South Carolina’s for third lowest in the U.S. North Carolina posted the lowest rate at 2.4%, followed by South Dakota at 2.7%.

Hawaii had the highest union membership rate at 24.8%, followed by New York at 21.3% and Alaska at 18.1%.

The total number of Arkansas union members in 2025 was 36,000, down from 45,000 in 2024. Another 8,000 workers were represented by a union or covered by an employee association or contract, but were not union members themselves.

The state’s union membership rate peaked in 1990 at 10.3%.

Since 1989, when comparable state data became available, union membership rates in Arkansas have been below the U.S. average.

In 2025, the national union membership rate was 10%, up from 9.9% in 2024. About 14.7 million wage and salary workers were union members, while another 1.8 million were represented by unions but were not members.

Public-sector membership was 32.9%, remaining much higher than private-sector membership, which was 5.9%.

After several years defined by volatility, commercial real estate is entering a new phase — not a broad-based rebound but a disciplined capital reset. Today, interest rates are stabilizing, liquidity is improving and transaction activity is beginning to reemerge. As national outlooks by CBRE, JLL, Colliers and others have highlighted, capital is steadily returning to the market with greater selectivity.

Investors are increasingly focused on markets and property assets with durable fundamentals rather than speculative growth. It is a shift I believe will favor midsize regions such as Arkansas.

Nationally, the commercial real estate landscape remains uneven. Major urban cores continue to work through office oversupply, while industrial markets are normalizing following years of record demand and new development. As a result, underwriting has shifted toward greater emphasis on cost basis, tenant quality and long-term functionality. What does it all mean? In the current environment, capital is gravitating toward assets that align with how companies operate today and where their employees want to be.

At Tempus Realty Partners, we are seeing consistent demand for Class A office space located in vibrant, mixed-use environments, particularly in secondary and suburban growth markets such as northwest Arkansas. The trend is evident at our Uber Freight building in Rogers, which sits within an active transportation corridor and is surrounded by established retail, expanding multifamily development and everyday, in-demand amenities that support employees and employers.

It is a dynamic further reinforced by nearby speculative office development. We see the same investment pattern at Crosspoint Plaza in Fishers, Indiana, a market that closely mirrors Rogers. When we acquired the property in 2019, it was nearly vacant. Yet despite COVID-19-pandemic-era headwinds, it has since been leased to 100 percent occupancy. These projects reflect the broader shift of companies selecting locations close to where their employees live. Businesses, like their team members, favor environments with strong retail access, modern amenities, and connectivity, such as extensive trail networks.

Industrial demand, while moderating nationally, also remains strong in regions that are strategically located for regional distribution, advanced manufacturing and, increasingly, large-scale digital infrastructure. In Arkansas, our central location, talented workforce and affordability continue to attract traditional industrial users, while robust power access and supportive utility partners are helping us compete in the rapidly growing data center and artificial intelligence infrastructure market.

Over the past several months alone, Arkansas has announced two of the largest investments in its history. The projects include the $6 billion AVAIO Digital campus near Little Rock and the $4 billion Google data center campus in West Memphis. The record-breaking investments underscore the importance of power availability and regional scale in today’s site-selection decisions.

Despite the bright spots, 2026 will not be without challenges for commercial real estate. Office vacancy remains uneven in certain markets, particularly those that overbuilt prior to 2020, and it will take time for these properties to right-size and normalize. Rising warehouse vacancies also serve as a reminder that real estate is inherently local. As we do at Tempus, investors must temper broad optimism with rigorous market-by-market analysis, grounded in asset-level performance, tenant behavior and micromarket dynamics.

Is 2026 the time to invest in commercial real estate? Most experts agree that capital will continue returning to the market with greater discipline, prioritizing quality, functionality and assets that reflect how people work, do business and live today. Tempus Realty Partners has followed that common-sense approach since our founding a decade ago, focusing on long-term value creation and reliable outcomes for tenants and investors alike.

As we embark on a new year, I believe a disciplined strategy that leans into Arkansas’ strengths can — and will — position our state to benefit meaningfully from the ongoing reawakening of the commercial real estate market.

Clay Ramey is a partner and vice president of capital markets for Little Rock-based Tempus Realty Partners, an investor-centric real estate investment partnership that has acquired more than $1 billion worth of property across 25 states since its founding 10 years ago. Email him at cramey@tempusrealty.com.

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