Arkansas news stories on Newser

Arkansas Axes Coach Petrino Over Motorcycle Babe

Mary Papenfuss — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 01:57:11 CDT

Arkansas Razorbacks football coach Bobby Petrino has been canned after the married dad of four confessed to having a volleyball-playing lover half his age whom he put on the college payroll. Petrino's secret life came to light following a motorcycle accident earlier this month while he was riding with lover...

Arkansas Supreme Court: Teacher-Student Sex OK If...

Fri, 30 Mar 2012 11:54:05 CDT

Arkansas 18-year-olds can now freely engage in sex with their teachers. The state's Supreme Court yesterday struck down the state's law banning sexual contact between teachers and students, finding that people 18 or older have a constitutional right to engage in a consensual sexual relationship. The court sided with 38-year-old...

Bigfoot Search Requires Permit: Park Rangers

Matt Cantor — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 17:33:03 CDT

The National Parks Service doesn't allow just anyone to conduct a search for Bigfoot. A man conducting a group mission to track down Sasquatch was halted by park rangers who told him he needed a permit, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports. That's because the leader of the search around the Buffalo...

Teen Sends Extremely Unfortunate Text to Cop

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 09:52:58 CDT

A northwest Arkansas teenager thought it would be funny to text a random phone number saying she hid a body, but the joke backfired ... to say the least. Of all the local phone numbers she could have chosen, the 15-year-old Rogers girl picked one that belonged to a police detective....

Ark. Paper Snubs Gay Couple

Evann Gastaldo — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 11:37:46 CST

When Cody Renegar got engaged to his partner, he wanted to shout it from the rooftops—or at least announce it in his hometown paper. No dice, said the Northwest Arkansas Times . "There's a certain amount of validation that comes with putting it in the paper. You know, you grow...

Dem Politico's Cat Killed, 'Liberal' Scrawled on It

Mark Russell — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 04:15:05 CST

An Arkansas campaign manager arrived home with his four kids to discover the family cat dead on the front porch, its head bashed in and "liberal" written on its side in black marker, reports CBS News . Jake Burris, who has been working on Democratic candidate Ken Aden's run for Congress...

2 Dead as Storms Slap South, Midwest

Matt Cantor — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 07:15:00 CST

Alabama rescuers are going door-to-door seeking trapped Birmingham-area residents following violent storms in the region that have killed two so far. Tornadoes were reported in Arkansas, with warnings in effect in Tennessee, Mississippi, and Alabama, the AP reports. Hail and heavy wind have also slammed Mississippi, Illinois, and Tennessee, where...

Arkansas Teen Shoots, Kills 16-Year-Old Sister

Neal Colgrass — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 15:56:46 CST

A teenager in the Arkansas Ozarks turned himself in yesterday saying he had shot his 16-year-old sister, the Southwest Times Record reports. “He came in ... saying he needed to speak with someone because he had killed his sister,” Franklin Sheriff Anthony Boen said of the 15-year-old. Deputies found the sister...

Bomb Latched to Hostage's Leg by Bank Robber: Cops

Mary Papenfuss — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 02:43:04 CST

An elderly female hostage was sent to rob an Arkansas bank with what she believed was a bomb strapped to her ankle, according to police. When Betty Davis, 73, entered, she told bank employees, who called the cops. A bomb squad evacuated the bank and successfully removed the device, but...