Arkansas
Arkansas Football: 2 Reasons Why Razorbacks Will Win 2022 SEC Championship
After failing to play in a bowl sport for 4 years in a row, the Arkansas Razorbacks lastly made their return to bowl season in 2021, even profitable the Outback Bowl on the expense of the Penn State Nittany Lions in January 2022. That signifies that the Razorbacks are again, and they’ll look to construct on that stable marketing campaign this upcoming season the place they must show that Arkansas soccer is greater than only a flash within the pan in as we speak’s panorama of faculty soccer. Razorbacks head coach Sam Pittman is optimistic about what lays forward of Arkansas soccer.
Through Aaron Suttles of The Athletic:
“I feel once we first bought right here we wished to, you realize, to have the ability to compete,” Pittman mentioned. “Our first objective annually is to be bowl eligible, after which after that, it’s wherever the season takes us. We wish to be loyal. We wish to be robust. And we wish to play onerous as hell. And if we are able to do this, then the outcomes, in my view, will maintain themselves.”
With all that mentioned, listed here are a few explanation why the Arkansas Razorbacks can find yourself because the 2022 SEC champions.
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Why Arkansas Soccer Will Win 2022 SEC Championship
2. The double-edge Razor(again)
We’re speaking about KJ Jefferson right here who will likely be getting into his junior 12 months in Fayetteville coming off the heels of an amazing physique of labor in 2021 the place he actually turned the nook. After warming the seat for many of his first two seasons in Arkansas as a secondary possibility within the quarterback room, Jefferson lastly bought his likelihood to be on prime of the place’s pecking order in 2021. That season. Jefferson handed for two,676 yards and 21 touchdowns in opposition to simply 4 interceptions whereas additionally connecting to his targets 67.3 p.c of the time. Amongst certified SEC quarterbacks final season, Jefferson’s completion price was fourth finest within the league — placing him forward of the like of Alabama Crimson Tide signal-caller and Heisman Trophy winner Bryce Younger and just some decimal ticks beneath Ole Miss Rebels gunslinger and now Carolina Panthers rookie Matt Corral.
Pittman has loads of causes to imagine that Jefferson may surpass his 2021 manufacturing and effectivity in 2022, particularly with the expertise he now has. However there’s extra to Jefferson than simply being a reliable passing quarterback. In his first 12 months because the full-blown starter of Arkansas soccer, Jefferson made positive to show as properly what he may do along with his legs. Jefferson paced the Razorbacks with 644 dashing yards to go along with a complete of six touchdowns on 146 dashing makes an attempt for a median of 4.5 yards per carry. In different phrases, he was the central determine of Arkansas soccer’s floor assault that led your entire SEC with 227.77 dashing yards per sport. Jefferson may regress, in fact, however he’ll all the time be seen as a harmful dual-threat by opponents, and possibly that’s going to be all Arkansas must loosen up SEC defenses.
When the Razorbacks went toe to toe in opposition to Alabama late within the 2021 season, Jefferson struggled to realize yards on the bottom, developing with a paltry sum of twenty-two dashing yards on 13 carries, however he was golden transferring the rock by means of the air, going 22/30 for 326 passing yards and three touchdowns with out getting intercepted. Jefferson goes to be an issue, and it’s in all probability even higher for the Razorbacks that he feels as if he’s bought a chip on his shoulder after not getting a nod to be a part of preseason all-SEC groups.
Through Kyle Deckelbaum of KATV:
“It’s fairly regular now. I’ve been doubted my entire life,” Jefferson instructed KATV. “Having that motivation going into the season all the time provides you an edge.”
1. Hogging the limelight on the bottom
Arkansas soccer’s passing assault will get dinged with vast receiver Treylon Burks now incomes professional cash within the NFL. Burks was the highest possibility downfield for Jefferson, main the Razorbacks with 1,104 receiving yards and 11 touchdowns on 66 receptions. He was head and shoulders over everybody else within the receiving corps of Arkansas, which ranked 81st nationally in passing yards per sport (214.0) and simply eleventh within the SEC.
Nevertheless, the Razorbacks can all the time depend on their dashing sport. As talked about earlier, KJ Jefferson is a respectable dual-threat quarterback and he will likely be working the gaps on the bottom along with returning working backs Raheim Sanders and Dominique Johnson, who every had a minimum of 575 dashing yards final season whereas additionally combining for 10 dashing touchdowns. AJ Inexperienced can also be again and he could possibly be on the verge of breaking out in his sophomore 12 months after dashing solely 47 instances in 2021 and changing these to 227 dashing yards and a landing.
Arkansas
Viewer pictures: The Natural State transforms into a winter wonderland
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – A winter storm rolled into Arkansas Thursday and brought with it snow to the majority of western and central Arkansas.
Many from around the Natural State sent in pictures of their area covered in snow.
Though Arkansas is already full of natural beauty, there’s something about the state covered in snow that makes it even more of a winter wonderland.
Several kids from around the state got out and took advantage of the day off of school by throwing snowballs, digging up the snow, sledding and of course making snow angels.
Many who got out in the snow had enough accumulated to make snow men.
Share your snow day pictures at KARK.com/winter-pics.
Arkansas
Arkansas Blue Cross & Blue Shield Lays Off About 75 Workers, Reports $100M Loss
The Arkansas Blue Cross & Blue Shield building in Little Rock (Michael Pirnique)
Arkansas Blue Cross & Blue Shield sent layoff notices to 2% of its workforce — about 75 employees — on Thursday after reporting a loss of more than $100 million in the first three quarters of 2024, the state’s dominant health insurance carrier confirmed.
The Little Rock nonprofit had 3,375 employees as of April 2024, and its $3.14 billion in 2023 revenue put it at the top of Arkansas Business‘ most recent list of the state’s largest private companies.
But revenue in the first three quarters of 2024 was down by almost 7%, and the company (officially USAble Mutual) reported to the Arkansas Insurance Department a net loss of $100.5 million for those nine months. That compares with net income of $94.7 million for the same period in 2023, although the year finished with net income of just $13.2 million.
“The reduction in workforce was due to changing conditions in the market and increasing financial pressures primarily due to health care costs jumping to the highest levels in more than a decade,” Max Greenwood, an ABCBS spokeswoman, said in response to email questions Thursday afternoon.
ABCBS also has seen “large increases” in the use of all medical services, especially prescription drugs.
“These situations have caused necessary shifts in business strategy across the health care and health care insurance industries,” she said.
In addition, the insurance company lost tens of thousands of members as result of the state’s disenrollment of tens people on Medicaid in 2023.
As part of the Obama-era Medicaid expansion, the state pays private insurers to provide health insurance policies to qualifying Arkansans under the Arkansas Health & Opportunity for Me program, or ARHOME. This program had been known as the “private option” and Arkansas Works.
In January 2023, ABCBS had about 207,000 ARHome members. By December 2024, it was down to 108,729, Greenwood said.
“We’ve also seen a drastic increase in the claims amounts among our ARHome population,” she said. “Remember, since we were the first company who offered ARHome policies statewide when the program began, our block of members in that program is older and most likely unhealthier than what other carriers may be experiencing.”
ABCBS’ premium revenue fell during the first three quarters of 2024. It reported $2.2 billion premiums collected net of reinsurance through Sept. 30, a 4.8% drop from the same period in 2023.
The insurance company’s total members also fell from 630,444 on Dec. 31, 2023, to 598,492 on Sept. 30. The biggest drop came from its comprehensive individual plan. In that group, the total members fell nearly 17% to 132,596 members.
ABCBS also laid off 85 employees in January 2024. Those positions have not been refilled, Greenwood said.
She said it was too early to tell what the financial numbers will look like for the fourth quarter, which ended Dec. 31. No additional layoffs are planned at this time.
“Every executive vice president was asked to make reductions in their areas,” she said.
Greenwood said the insurance company has made several other budget-tightening moves for 2025. “We’ve reduced our budget by more than 7% including cuts to consulting and outside vendor costs, contract labor, software and equipment and facility costs,” she said. “We’ve also had to implement substantial premium increases on our small and large groups.”
Greenwood said the company has a strong balance sheet and has no concerns about its liquidity.
Founded in 1948, Arkansas Blue Cross & Blue Shield offers health and dental insurance policies for individuals and families.
Arkansas
Topping out ceremony for new $33.9 million Arkansas Tech University Ferguson Student Union set for Tuesday in Russellville | Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
RUSSELLVILLE — Arkansas Tech University and Kinco Constructors will host a topping out ceremony for the $33.9 million Ferguson Student Union at 2 p.m. Tuesday.
Attendance will be open to the public. Those in attendance will have an opportunity to sign the final steel beam before it is put in place atop the facility. Refreshments will be served in Chambers Cafeteria West Dining Room following the ceremony.
Construction on Ferguson Student Union on its Russellville campus began last year after the ATU Board of Trustees accepted the guaranteed maximum price for building the facility during its meeting on June 20.
Kinco Constructors submitted a final price of $33,946,865 for the project. That figure includes the cost of demolishing the Administration Building and Tomlinson Hall, constructing Ferguson Student Union and parking lot development on the south side of the new building
Parking for the event will be in the lot between Rothwell Hall and Doc Bryan Student Services Center with overflow in the Tucker Coliseum parking lot. Golf cart shuttles to and from the ceremony site will be available.
Those unable to attend the ceremony who wish to sign the steel beam may do so from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday and beginning at 9 a.m. Tuesday through the ceremony at 2 p.m. that afternoon. The beam will be located on the east side of the construction site near Rothwell Hall and Dr. Robert Charles Brown and Jill Lestage Brown Hall.
Construction of Ferguson Student Union began in July 2024 and is scheduled to be complete in early 2026.
Located on the parcel of land between Chambers Cafeteria and the Hull Physical Education Building, Ferguson Student Union is named for ATU benefactors Cindi and Jimmy Ferguson.
Ferguson Student Union will provide student meeting spaces, lounge spaces for students to enjoy during their free time, fast casual dining, an e-sports gaming lab, basketball courts, a location to check out outdoor recreation gear and workout areas for cardiovascular and strength fitness training.
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