Arkansas

Arkansas Real Estate Mogul John Bailey Backs Wisconsin Recall Efforts

Published

3 months ago

September 16, 2024

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Arkansas Real Estate Mogul John Bailey Backs Wisconsin Recall Efforts

John Bailey (Karen E. Segrave)

The speaker of Wisconsin’s house of representatives clearly has a well-heeled opponent in Arkansas.

Spoiler alert: It’s real estate titan John Bailey of Little Rock.

Robin Vos has been speaker of the Wisconsin State Assembly, which is what the Badger State calls its house of representatives, since 2013. He represents a district in southeast Wisconsin, south of Milwaukee.

While Vos is a Republican, he isn’t Republican enough for some folks. Twice this year he has been the target of recall attempts because he rejected calls to decertify President Joe Biden’s 2020 win in the state by a mere 21,000 votes. According to the Associated Press, he further alienated himself from some in his party by declining to endorse an effort to impeach the state’s top election official.

Both recalls failed because they didn’t get enough valid signatures from Vos’ district as it is currently configured. That doesn’t seem to be because they didn’t have enough money: The two efforts combined reported donations of almost $1.28 million — about $185 for every one of the 6,850 voter signatures that either petition drive needed in order to get the recall on the November ballot.

What may have been lacking was local buy-in. When the two organizations behind the recall attempts finally filed their financial statements — a month late — at the end of August, it turned out that less than $2,500 came from Wisconsin donors while more than $1.2 million came from Bailey.

Identified in the paperwork as a philanthropist from Little Rock, we know Bailey as a major shareholder and former CEO of publicly traded BSR Real Estate Investment Trust. BSR owns multifamily residential properties, mostly in Texas but also in Oklahoma City and Little Rock. BSR’s headquarters at 1400 W. Markham St. was listed as the donor’s address.

“This makes it clear this wasn’t a grassroots, volunteer, local effort,” Vos was quoted by The Journal Times in Racine. “It was an out-of-state paid endeavor engineered to pay those who took part in it.”

Vos was nominated for re-election in the Republican primary last month, getting almost 70% of the vote after his only challenger unofficially withdrew.

It is not clear what would prompt Bailey to invest so much into ousting the Wisconsin speaker — $425,000 to the first recall effort (after an additional $60,000 was returned to him when that effort fizzled) and $785,000 to the second.

Whispers reached out to BSR with no success, and no reporters in Wisconsin seem to have answered the why either.

Bailey isn’t the only Arkansan involved in the efforts to recall Vos. Conrad Reynolds, the retired U.S. Army colonel who has twice sought the Republican nomination for Arkansas’ 2nd Congressional District, worked with both Wisconsin recall committees.

Reynolds and Bailey were both listed as officers of Restore Election Integrity Arkansas, which abandoned its planned petition initiative to get a paper ballot amendment on this year’s General Election ballot.

Reynolds told Whispers he knew that Bailey was interested in Wisconsin because “it was important to the mission to get their elections right,” but he said he could not speak to Bailey’s motive for donating so much to the Vos recall attempts. Reynold said he had not personally solicited donations to that effort from Bailey or anyone else.

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Arkansas

Texas Tech Red Raiders vs Arkansas Razorbacks Prediction, Odds and Picks

Published

11 hours ago

December 27, 2024

Press Room

Texas Tech Red Raiders vs Arkansas Razorbacks Prediction, Odds and Picks

The Texas Tech Red Raiders take on the Arkansas Razorbacks in the Liberty Bowl, and both squads could have an entirely different look compared to the regular season. For Tech, the Red Raiders lost their offensive coordinator but should be a tad more stable in terms of roster outlook compared to the Razorbacks. Arkansas is down to six scholarship offensive linemen and will be missing two key starters in this bowl game. Furthermore, both squads have had players leave for the transfer portal, but the Razorbacks losses were significantly more impactful such as WR Andrew Armstrong heading to the NFL. Furthermore, Arkansas will be without two of its better defensive players: safety TJ Metcalf and EDGE rusher Landon Jackson.

Texas Tech’s biggest loss could be star RB Tahj Brooks, but he has participated in every bowl game practice leading up to the game despite not making an official decision with less than 24 hours to go before kickoff. Stability is key in modern-day bowl game matchups, and while neither side has much, the Red Raiders have a clear edge in that department. With all things considered, I’ll take Texas Tech on the moneyline.

Texas Tech ML (-120) available at time of publishing. Playable at that number up to -140.

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Arkansas

Raynor and Wallace lead Arkansas State past Bowling Green 38-31 in the 68 Ventures Bowl

Published

19 hours ago

December 27, 2024

Press Room

Raynor and Wallace lead Arkansas State past Bowling Green 38-31 in the 68 Ventures Bowl

Associated Press

MOBILE, Ala. (AP) — Jaylen Raynor passed for 221 yards and two touchdowns to go with a rushing score, and Zak Wallace had 99 yards rushing and a TD to help Arkansas State beat Bowling Green 38-31 on Thursday night in the 68 Ventures Bowl.

Wallace scored on a 14-yard run with 3:10 left in the fourth quarter for a 38-24 lead. He carried the ball on the last six plays of the drive, gaining 59 yards on the eight-play, 68-yard march. It was his 11th rushing touchdown of the season, nine coming in the last six games.

Rahkeem Smith returned the ensuing kickoff 58 yards to give Bowling Green a short field. Five plays later, Smith made a 23-yard catch in the end zone to get within 38-31.

Hunter Summers easily recovered the onside kick and Wallace powered through the middle of the defense for a 19-yard gain to seal it.

Corey Rucker added 107 yards receiving and two touchdowns for Arkansas State (8-5), which won a bowl game for the first time since 2019 — the same year it last won eight games in a season.

Rucker caught a long pass from Raynor and raced for a 79-yard touchdown for a 24-14 lead with 4:13 left in the first half. Following a fumble recovery by Noah Collins, Raynor found Rucker for a 6-yard TD to make it 31-21 early in the third.

Connor Bazelak threw for 390 yards and three touchdowns for Bowling Green (7-6). Harold Fannin Jr. had 17 catches for a career-high 213 yards and a touchdown.

Fannin reached 125-plus yards with a touchdown for the sixth time this season, which leads the FBS.

Bowling Green’s special teams struggled. Zach Long missed his third field goal attempt of the game (one was blocked) with 10:19 left. The Falcons allowed Courtney Jackson to return a punt for a 60-yard touchdown in the first quarter, and BGSU also had a fake punt come up short of a first down in the second half.

Record Holder

Fannin made a catch midway through the first quarter to become the single-season record holder for receiving yards by a tight end in the FBS. He entered needing just 11 yards to surpass Jace Amaro’s record of 1,352 in 2013 at Texas Tech. Fannin finished the season with 1,555 yards.

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Arkansas

Liberty Bowl by the numbers: Arkansas vs. Texas Tech

Published

1 day ago

December 26, 2024

Press Room

Liberty Bowl by the numbers: Arkansas vs. Texas Tech

AutoZone Liberty Bowl

Texas Tech (8-4) vs. Arkansas (6-6)

6 p.m. CST Friday (ESPN)

Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium in Memphis, Tennessee

0 Starts for Texas Tech QB Will Hammond, who will open under center for the Red Raiders against Arkansas after No. 1 QB Behren Morton had shoulder surgery. Morton threw for 3,335 yards and 27 TDs in 2024. Hammond has completed 15-of-23 passes for 191 yards with one TD and no interceptions this season. Hammond won’t have 1,000-yard receiver Josh Kelly to throw to on Friday. The wide receiver has opted out of the game.

1 Previous appearance in the Liberty Bowl for Texas Tech, which defeated Mississippi State 34-7 on Dec. 28, 2021. That kicked off the Red Raiders’ current three-game bowl winning streak that has boosted Texas Tech’s bowl record for 17-23-1.

2 Players in the nation had at least 2,800 passing yards and 500 rushing yards entering the bowl season – Arkansas QB Taylen Green and Washington State QB John Mateer. Green has completed 219-of-360 passes for 2,813 yards with 13 TDs and nine interceptions and run 141 times for 521 yards and seven TDs.

5 2-point conversions have been given up by Arkansas in 2024, tied for the most in the nation entering the bowl season. Texas Tech has scored four 2-point conversions this season.

7 Appearances in the Liberty Bowl for Arkansas when the Razorbacks take the field on Friday, the most in the game’s history (two ahead of Mississippi State). The Razorbacks have a 3-3 record in the Liberty Bowl after winning their past three appearances. Arkansas defeated East Carolina 20-17 in overtime on Jan. 2, 2010, Kansas State 45-23 on Jan. 2, 2016, and Kansas 55-53 in three overtimes on Dec. 28, 2022, and lost to Tennessee 14-13 on Dec. 20, 1971, Auburn 21-15 on Dec. 27, 1984, and Georgia 20-17 on Dec. 29, 1987. Overall, Arkansas has a 17-24-3 bowl record.

8 Victories and three losses for Arkansas against opponents from the Big 12 and its predecessor conferences in bowls. In bowls against other conferences, the Razorbacks have a 9-21-3 record. Overall, Arkansas has a 34-14 record against Big 12 opponents since 1928, when the Big Six formed, including a 39-31 loss in two overtimes to Oklahoma State on Sept. 7.

10 Victories, 19 losses and two ties for Texas Tech against SEC opponents. The Red Raiders played their first game against an SEC opponent on Jan. 1, 1954, when Texas Tech scored a 35-13 victory over Auburn in the Gator Bowl. The Red Raiders have a 4-6-1 record in bowl against SEC opponents.

21 Victories and 11 losses for SEC teams in the Liberty Bowl. The 1965 Liberty Bowl was all-SEC, with Ole Miss beating Auburn 13-7. Big 12 teams have a 4-7 record in the Liberty Bowl. The SEC has a 4-4 record against the Big 12 and its predecessor conferences in the Liberty Bowl.

29 Victories for Arkansas and eight victories for Texas Tech in the Razorbacks-Red Raiders series, although Texas Tech won the most recent meeting 35-29 on Sept. 19, 2015, and has victories in three of the past four meetings. Thirty-two of the 37 meetings came when the teams were members of the Southwest Conference together from 1960 through 1991.

34.5 Points per game have been scored against the Texas Tech this season, the highest average yielded by any bowl participant this season. The Red Raiders led the Big 12 in scoring during the regular season with an average of 38.6 points per game.

97 Third-down snaps were converted into first downs by Texas Texas in 2024, the most in the nation entering the bowl season. The Red Raiders have had 196 third-down snaps, tied for the second-most in the nation and have converted 49.5 percent into first downs, the sixth-best rate in the nation.

103 Yards and two TDs on 20 rushing attempts in 2024 for Rodney Hill, who is listed as the No. 1 running back on Arkansas’ depth chart for Friday’s game. Ja’Quinden Jackson led the Razorbacks with 790 yards and 15 TDs on 149 rushing attempts this season, but he has opted out of the game.

231 Plays from scrimmage gained at least 10 yards for Arkansas in 2024, the second-most in the nation entering the bowl season.

1,140 Receiving yards for Arkansas WR Andrew Armstrong, the most in the SEC this season. But Armstrong has opted out of the bowl, as has No. 2 receiver Isaiah Sategna, leaving WR Isaac TeSlaa as the Razorbacks’ leading receiver entering Friday’s game. TeSlaa has 438 yards and three TDs on 25 receptions in 2024.

1,505 Rushing yards for Texas Tech RB Tahj Brooks this season as he replaced Byron Hanspard as the Red Raiders’ career rushing leader in 2024. By running for at least 109 yards in each of his 11 games this season, Brooks lifted his career total to 4,557 rushing yards, the fourth-most in Big 12 history. Brooks is in Memphis with Texas Tech, but his participation in Friday’s game has not been confirmed by the team.

FOR MORE OF AL.COM’S COVERAGE OF THE SEC, GO TO OUR SEC PAGE

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.

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