Arkansas
I moved with my fiancé from DC to Arkansas to save money. It was actually more expensive there, and 5 months later, we broke up.
We signed the lease for our new home in Bentonville, Arkansas on a damp April afternoon.
The house had an oak tree out front with a big lawn, three bedrooms, and a sunroom. Perhaps best of all, though, was that the rent was nearly $1,000 less than our DC apartment.
After four years of paying sky-high rent for DC apartments that cost as much as a mortgage, my fiancé and I were ready for a change.
We dreamed of a kitchen where two people could cook without sidestepping each other, and a dining table. More than anything, I yearned to lie in the grass in my own backyard. To hear real birds, not the Spotify ones I used to drown out the ambulances below my apartment.
I never imagined that change would come in the form of Arkansas, but my fiancé had a job lead in Bentonville, I had remote work, and we figured our money would go further there.
Bentonville wasn’t the money-saving haven I thought
We arrived at our new home, sight unseen, in May 2024. The illusion cracked quickly.
My fiancé’s job never came through, leaving us with my decent corporate salary and his hourly gig work.
Moving from urban to suburban always requires compromise, but I found that Bentonville is priced like a boutique bubble.
Our rent was cheaper, yes, but I found that a lot of other things weren’t.
For example, a latte at the award-winning coffee shop, Onyx, costs $7. Of course, there were cheaper options, like Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts, but in general, I found that a decent cup of coffee cost me as much as it did in DC. Finding new friends also wasn’t cheap.
My fiancé had some friends in Bentonville already, but I wanted to try to build my own community. I went to a local women’s networking event, sipped more $7 lattes at a local book club, and befriended the cashier at the Kaleidoscope, a women-owned creative collective.
Eventually, though, I found myself eyeing Blake Street, a social club that offers a gym, pool, yoga classes, music, comedy shows, and local excursions. At $255 a month, the cost felt a little absurd, but I joined anyway. It felt, increasingly, like a necessity.
I also bought a car, paid for the insurance, and the additional annual property tax that comes with owning a vehicle in Arkansas. On top of that, maintenance costs piled up fast.
Within the first few months, I got a flat tire on a back road and had to replace it. Then came the routine upkeep: oil changes, tire rotations, a cracked windshield from flying debris during tornado season. For some, these might be the expected rhythms of car ownership, but after years of living in walkable cities, it felt like an entirely new category of expense. Suddenly, nearly 20% of my income was going toward car payments, repairs, inspections, and insurance.
Even groceries, which we assumed would be cheaper at Walmart, cost about the same as our beloved Trader Joe’s in DC. A carton of eggs that cost $2.79 at Trader Joe’s was $3.12 at Walmart. A bag of frozen mango chunks? $3.49 in both places. And organic milk — nearly identical in price, hovering around $5.50. The sticker shock wasn’t dramatic, but it added up.
In DC, my monthly “lifestyle” spending hovered around $500: coffee shops, fitness classes, the occasional rooftop drink. In Arkansas, it easily crept toward $800, even though I was doing more or less the same things.
I missed the city
After furnishing our oversized sunroom, buying a lawn mower, and stocking up on tornado-season essentials — flashlights, backup batteries, and yard tarps — I started to wonder if this “affordable” life was actually saving us anything.
I told myself I was being adventurous, flexible, and supportive. However, the voice in my head kept whispering: You didn’t really want this. I just wanted a plot of grass to call my own, but I realized I would settle for public parks if it meant living in a big city, again.
I missed the city’s convenience, but more than that, I missed the version of myself who lived there. In Arkansas, I began to disappear. I tried to cling to the things that made me feel like myself.
However, I wasn’t walking to my favorite café or running into friends on the street. My days revolved around errands, driving, and trying to settle in.
For my fiancé, the compromise made sense — he was content with a slower, simpler life. He didn’t mind living on an hourly wage or staying in most nights. He didn’t need the things I craved, and I began to feel like a supporting character in someone else’s life.
For me, the move to Arkansas didn’t just mark a change in geography; it exposed how far apart we’d grown in what we each wanted from our lives.
I left my life in Arkansas 5 months after moving there
Five months after moving to Arkansas, I left the state and my relationship, with a $10,000 personal loan to cover the cost of the detour.
I owed more on my car loan than the car was worth when I sold it back to the dealership. I had to pay the difference. My now-ex-fiancé wouldn’t be able to afford the house on his own after I left, so we had to break the lease. I paid for moving costs, and had to begin again — financially bruised, but finally honest with myself.
I wasn’t sure where I would go next, but when a dear friend offered me her spare bedroom in London, I didn’t hesitate. I booked a one-way flight almost immediately.
Since then, I have stayed with friends, joined an international housesitting website, visited seven new countries on a whim, and successfully managed to go nine months without paying rent.
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What I really needed
Turns out, the reset I needed wasn’t a house with a backyard, a husband, or a booming bank account. It was a passport, carry-on, half-formed plan, and the nerve that shows up when you let everything else fall apart.
Bentonville is a beautiful, art-filled town surrounded by nature. I met plenty of people who genuinely loved it there. They biked the trails, raised their families, hosted supper clubs, and meant it when they said they couldn’t imagine living anywhere else. In hindsight, I can see why.
For me, the problem wasn’t Bentonville. It was everything I’d brought with me: the wrong relationship and an inauthentic version of myself. For them, it’s home. For me, it was a detour, so I took the nearest exit.
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Arkansas will open the Ryan Silverfield era at home on Sept. 5 against North Alabama as part of a home schedule that features seven home games, including five Southeastern Conference games as part of the league’s first-ever, nine-game conference slate.
The Razorbacks open the season inside Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium against North Alabama on Sept. 5. Coach Silverfield will coach his first game as the Head Hog in the program’s first-ever meeting with Lions. Another program first awaits the following week with a trip to Utah (Sept. 12) for the first football game between the two schools. The road game at Utah will be the Hogs’ third at a Big 12 opponent in five seasons following trips to BYU in 2022 and Oklahoma State in 2024.
Arkansas returns home to Fayetteville for back-to-back games with its first Southeastern Conference game of the season against Georgia on Sept. 19. The Bulldogs’ visit to Razorback Stadium will be the team’s first since 2020 when the two teams squared off in the season opener. Arkansas’ final non-conference game of the season is set for Sept. 26 vs. Tulsa. The matchup will be the 74th in a series that dates back to 1899.
A three-game stretch to start October features games at Texas A&M (Oct. 3) and at Vanderbilt (Oct. 17) with a home game against Tennessee (Oct. 10) in between. The trip to Texas A&M will be Arkansas’ first since 2020 and the trip to Vanderbilt will be the first for the Razorbacks since 2011 and mark just the 11th meeting all time between the two programs. Despite joining the SEC in 1992, the Hogs and the Commodores have played just seven times with only three coming in Nashville.
Arkansas’ bye week is set for Oct. 24 before wrapping up the month with a home game against Missouri (Oct. 31). The Battle Line Rivalry moves up the schedule from its traditional final game slot for the first time since Mizzou joined the league. The Razorbacks and Tigers have closed every regular season – except the pandemic-shortened schedule in 2020 – against each other since 2014.
November begins with a trip to Auburn (Nov. 7) before closing the season at home in two of the final three regular season games. South Carolina makes the trip to Fayetteville on Nov. 14 for the first time since 2022. A return trip to Texas (Nov. 21) serves as the final road game on the slate. The Battle for the Golden Boot returns to its regular season finale position on the schedule on Nov. 28. Arkansas and LSU battled on the final weekend of the regular season from 1992 when the Hogs joined the SEC through the 2013 season.
Football season ticket renewals will take place from January 20 through March 31. New season tickets can be purchased by clicking here. All new season ticket purchasers will have the opportunity to relocate their season ticket locations during Razorback Seat Selection in April. Additional season ticket inventory will be made available following the seat selection process.
2026 Arkansas Football Schedule
Date – Opponent
Sept. 5 North Alabama
Sept. 12 at Utah
Sept. 19 Georgia*
Sept. 26 Tulsa
Oct. 3 at Texas A&M*
Oct. 10 Tennessee*
Oct. 17 at Vanderbilt*
Oct. 24 Bye
Oct. 31 Missouri*
Nov. 7 at Auburn*
Nov. 14 South Carolina*
Nov. 21 at Texas*
Nov. 28 LSU*
*Southeastern Conference game
Arkansas
Arkansas Educational Television Commission disaffiliates from PBS | Arkansas Democrat Gazette
Bill Bowden
Bill Bowden covers a variety of news for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, primarily in Northwest Arkansas. He has worked at the newspaper for 16 years and previously worked for both the Arkansas Democrat and Arkansas Gazette.
LITTLE ROCK (KATV) — Accounting firms in Arkansas are aggressively adopting artificial intelligence tools. The field is among the most impacted by the AI boom because it is so data-centered.
“All the accounting firms, you know, medium size to large firms that I’ve been talking to, they have incorporated AI to some extent,” said Dr. Gaurav Kumar, a professor of accounting at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
Artificial intelligence can do in an instant work that used to take accountants many hours.
Landmark CPAs is at the forefront of the industry’s shift to AI in Arkansas and says the technology has all but eliminated the need for entry-level accountants to punch in numbers for W-2s and 1099s.
“Being able to use software that can auto-populate, can read documents and populate that into the return for us has really made a big difference,” said Rocky Goodman, a tax partner at Landmark.
And it’s the same with audits—AI can look for discrepancies and verify cash payments at lightning speed.
“It’s going to do it like that, whereas it used to take a staff maybe five to 10 hours,” said Michael Pierce, a Landmark audit partner.
And contrary to fears, Landmark says AI isn’t costing accountants jobs but plugging a gap created by a workforce shortage in the industry.
The advantages of AI are clear, but it also demands investment in cybersecurity and ensuring data privacy.
“One of the concerns is privacy. So, you know, if the staff is using personal AI tools, client data could be exposed. So firms must provide kind of secure, enterprise-grade AI options and clear policies,” Kumar told KATV.
Landmark plays it safe and uses enterprise-level AI tools.
“Our IT department obviously spends a lot of time researching to ensure that we don’t have any issues with client information being included in the learning modules that are building out these AIs,” Pierce told KATV.
Another concern is that, despite its rapid growth, AI is not infallible.
“AI can still produce incorrect or sometimes made-up information it can automate tasks, but it cannot replace judgment, ethics, or the ability to interpret complex tax laws or business scenarios,” Kumar said. “So, you know, that’s where a professional CPA, professional accountants, come in—review is essential.”
For that reason, and because data input is no longer a burden, Landmark is hiring CPAs for more of an analytical role.
“It does take a different skill set for someone than it did prior to the AI explosion,” Goodman told KATV.
But AI is reshaping the accounting industry in other ways as well.
“It’s also another challenge because AI is reducing the number of hours it takes to do a work, and traditionally accounting firms have always billed their clients on an hourly basis. So now AI is kind of pressuring firms to shift away from hourly billing and move more towards value pricing and subscription based advisory. So it’s kind of like they have to change their whole model,” Kumar told KATV.
Another factor is the cost of AI—like other firms, Landmark has had to spend a lot of money to stay competitive in its rapidly changing industry.
There is immense pressure to adopt AI, and it’s not limited to accounting firms.
“I’ve been seeing that companies in Central Arkansas are eager to move forward, but they’re trying to do it judiciously,” said Marla Johnson, tech entrepreneur-in-residence at UALR.
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