Free Arkansas

Colt Shelby has worked in the oil field for 24 years. He never planned to run for office, until a proposed 3,000-bed prison landed four miles from his home in Cecil, Arkansas. Now he's the Libertarian candidate for governor.

In this episode, host Andy McNeill talks with Colt about what a Libertarian actually believes, how the prison fight turned him into an activist, and why he's running on local control and government transparency. They also dig into Arkansas' prison and parole system, the LEARNS Act and school vouchers, data centers, nuclear energy, and citizen-led ballot initiatives, before closing with a rapid-fire round on taxes, spending, and state policy.

In this conversation:

• What the Libertarian Party stands for
• How a prison proposal launched a campaign
• Colt's views on prisons, parole, and public safety
• The LEARNS Act, EFAs, and school choice
• Data centers, energy, and economic development

If you want to hear from a candidate outside the two major parties, this conversation lets him lay out his case in his own words.

Bryan Norris spent 21 years in the military before coming home to Independence County and leading a citizen initiative to bring back paper ballots, an effort that passed with 63% of the vote before the county's quorum court overturned it. That fight eventually led him to run for Arkansas Secretary of State, where he lost the Republican runoff by fewer than 1,000 votes despite facing opposition from much of the state's Republican establishment.

In this episode, host Andy McNeill talks with Bryan about that campaign, what he says he learned about voting machine security from computer scientists he consulted during the ballot fight, and what it was like campaigning across all five regions of Arkansas and hearing directly from voters in each one. They also discuss citizen-led constitutional amendments, the role of out-of-state money in Arkansas campaigns, and ideas for growing the state's economy by attracting more business investment.

In this conversation:

• The Independence County paper ballot fight and its reversal
• Running a statewide campaign against the political establishment
• Claims and debates around electronic voting machine security
• Citizen-led ballot initiatives and legislative pushback
• Ideas for attracting business investment to Arkansas

If you want to understand the debate over election security and citizen initiatives happening in Arkansas right now, this conversation lays out one side of it directly from someone who lived it.

DJ Williams spent his career on the field, first as a John Mackey Award-winning tight end for the Razorbacks, then five seasons with the Green Bay Packers. Now, as host of the Fourth and Fifteen podcast, he's spent just as much time thinking about what's actually happening behind the scenes of college football.

In this episode of Arkansawyers, Eli Cranor talks with DJ about the real story behind NIL deals and revenue sharing, why the old "student-athlete" model was built to keep players from getting paid, and why he thinks a program like Indiana's recent turnaround has less to do with money than people assume. They also get into life in an NFL locker room, why the game itself has never been more popular despite all the noise around it, and the high school coach who changed the course of DJ's life.

In this conversation:

• The truth behind NIL, collectives, and revenue sharing
• Why "student-athlete" was never about protecting players
• What's really behind Indiana's success
• Life in an NFL locker room vs. college
• The coach who shaped DJ's life on and off the field

If you love football, or you're just trying to understand what's actually going on in college sports right now, this conversation breaks it down from someone who's lived every side of it.

Andy McNeill and Eli Cranor are back with another Y'all Hear About This, their casual rundown of the stories making the rounds. This week: a wild scam story out of a Little Rock strip club, Arkansas' newly enforced Act 372 and what it means for librarians and booksellers, and a controversial social media post from a Texas political candidate that's drawing bipartisan criticism.

The conversation turns into a bigger question worth sitting with: what actually separates a flawed politician from one who's purely self-serving, and how do you tell the difference as a voter?

If you like your Arkansas news with a little banter and a lot of honesty, this one's for you.

There's roughly $2 trillion worth of lithium sitting under South Arkansas, and almost none of it has been extracted yet. Chris Milligan, CEO of Earth, is trying to change that.

In this episode, host Andy McNeill talks with Chris about how lithium is actually pulled from brine two miles underground, why Exxon, Chevron, and Equinor have already locked up hundreds of thousands of acres in the region, and why every major lithium plant proposed so far has stalled before breaking ground. Chris also shares his own path from water treatment engineering to founding Earth, and makes the case that Arkansas' real opportunity isn't just the lithium itself, it's the engineering, refining, and technology jobs that could come from building the supply chain here instead of shipping raw material overseas.

In this conversation:

• How lithium is extracted from underground brine
• Why lithium prices crashed and stalled U.S. investment
• The difference between extraction and refining, and where the real value is
• Arkansas' overlooked history in critical minerals dating back to 1947
• What it will take to build Arkansas into a critical minerals hub

If you've ever wondered what's actually happening with lithium in Arkansas, and why it's taking so long, this conversation lays it all out.

Rod Bigelow has spent over a decade helping bring Alice Walton's vision to life. As CEO of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, he's watched it grow from a bold idea into a campus that drew over a million visitors last year, most of them from outside Arkansas.

In this episode, host Andy McNeill talks with Rod about how Alice Walton went from art collector to museum founder, the story behind calling architect Moshe Safdie out of the blue, and why Crystal Bridges was built around a simple idea: remove every barrier between people and art. They also discuss the museum's expansion into health and well-being, and what it really means to say you can't understand American history without walking through Crystal Bridges' halls.

In this conversation:

• How Alice Walton's personal collection became a museum
• Building Crystal Bridges around access, not exclusivity
• The Momentary, the Hub, and what's next for the campus
• Why Rod believes art and health are deeply connected

If you've ever wondered how Bentonville became a name people recognize across the country, this conversation tells that story from the inside.

Hallie Shoffner is a sixth-generation Arkansas farmer who closed her family's 150-year-old farm last year because of the economic crisis. Now she's running for U.S. Senate against Tom Cotton, and just over two months from Election Day, the race is closer than almost anyone expected.

In this episode, host Andy McNeill talks with Hallie about what's actually driving her campaign: healthcare affordability, rural hospital closures, a farm bill that leaves specialty crop farmers with nowhere to turn, and the growing anxiety around data centers being built in communities that feel like they have no say. They also dig into privacy and government surveillance, immigration policy from a farmer's perspective, and what it really means to be an Arkansas Democrat.

In this conversation:

• Why Hallie left farming to run for Senate
• The failures of the current farm bill for Arkansas farmers
• Rural hospitals, Medicaid & the coming senior care crisis
• Data centers and who gets a say in where they're built
• Privacy, the Fourth Amendment & government surveillance

Eli Cranor spent twelve years in Arkansas public education. Steve Straessle has spent decades leading Little Rock Catholic High School, one of the state's most respected private schools. On this episode of ARKANSAWYERS, the two sit down for a conversation that doesn't shy away from disagreement, because that's the point.

They tackle the real questions behind the Arkansas LEARNS Act. Where does taxpayer money actually go once it follows a student to a private school? Why do private and public schools play by different accountability rules? And has school choice actually delivered on its promise, or just shifted the deck in a way that leaves public schools worse off?

They also widen the lens past education policy to talk about poverty, parenting, and anxiety in raising kids today, find out who most personifies the uncompromising "Arkansawyer" spirit in Steve's life, and hear the story of a Pope, a president, and a priest from Little Rock who never voted for him.

Real stories. Real people. Unscripted transparency, one Arkansawyer at a time.

Arkansas has a right most people don't think about until it's gone: the power for regular citizens to put laws and constitutional amendments directly on the ballot, without waiting on the legislature. Gennie Diaz, founder and executive director of For AR People, has spent the last two years fighting to protect that right.

In this episode, host Andy McNeill talks with Gennie about how her organization got its start holding local government accountable, what it actually takes to collect over 100,000 signatures for a constitutional amendment, and what happened when that amendment was rejected by the Secretary of State after 18 months of work. She and Andy also dig into unchecked power in a one-party legislature, local control, and why she believes this fight is far from over.

In this conversation:

• How Arkansas's citizen ballot initiative process works
• The founding story of For AR People
• What it took to collect 100,000+ signatures
• Why the amendment was ultimately rejected
• What's next for direct democracy in Arkansas

If you've ever wondered how much power citizens actually have in this state, this conversation will change how you think about your ballot.

Bentonville, Arkansas used to be a pass-through town of 20,000 people, best known for the Walmart Museum. Today it's one of the fastest-growing tourism destinations in the country, and Kalene Griffith, CEO of Visit Bentonville, has been at the center of that transformation since day one.

In this episode, host Andy McNeill talks with Kalene about how a small Arkansas city became a global name in mountain biking, art, and food. She breaks down how Visit Bentonville is funded, the strategy behind turning Crystal Bridges into a citywide public art movement, and the moment she knew Bentonville had become a major destination.

In this conversation:

• How Visit Bentonville is funded and structured
• Turning Crystal Bridges into a citywide public art movement
• Building a world-class mountain biking destination
• What Northwest Arkansas has to get right to keep growing

If you've ever wondered how a small city pulls off a transformation like this, you'll want to hear the whole story.