LITTLE ROCK — $2.4 million added for appliance rebates
The Energy Star Appliance Rebate program has been reopened in Arkansas with an additional $2.4 million to fund rebates for energy-efficient appliances, the Arkansas Energy Office announced Wednesday.
In August, the program exhausted its original $2.74 million, and an additional $1.4 million added in July.
In all, it funded more than 17,000 rebates for appliances.
The office expects the next round of the program to produce 10,000 rebates.
Mail-in rebates are $275 for refrigerators, $225 for clothes washers, and $300 for water heaters.
People who purchased qualifying appliances when the program was closed, Aug. 9 through Sept. 23, have until Oct. 29 to submit rebate forms for those purchases.
More information on the program, applications and qualifying appliances is available from AR.State-Rebate.com or (877) 883-8510.
August jobless rates up in 7 areas in state
Unemployment rates were higher in all seven Arkansas metropolitan areas in August compared with a year earlier, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said Wednesday.
Nationally, joblessness rates were down in almost half the country’s 372 metropolitan areas, the federal agency said.
Northwest Arkansas’ unemployment rate was 6.5 percent in August, up from 5.8 percent in August last year. Little Rock had a 7.1 percent rate in August, up from 6.2 percent.
Other August rates in Arkansas’ metropolitan areas, compared with August 2009, were: Jonesboro, 7.3 percent, up from 6.8 percent; Texarkana, 7.8 percent, versus 6.6 percent; Fort Smith, 7.9 percent, up from 7.6 percent;
Hot Springs, 7.9 percent, up from 6.8 percent; Pine Bluff, 9.7 percent, up from 9.2 percent.
Compared with July this year, rates were unchanged in Little Rock, Texarkana, Jonesboro and Pine Bluff. Rates rose one-tenth of a percentage point in Northwest Arkansas, Fort Smith and Hot Springs.
Arkansas Index rises a tad; 8 stocks gain
The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, was up 0.09 to 180.81 Wednesday.
“U.S. stocks closed slightly lower on Wednesday as the ongoing European debt concerns resurfaced,” said John Blackwell, senior vice president and managing director of equity trading at Stephens Inc. in Little Rock. “The Arkansas Index finished slightly higher, as eight stocks advanced and nine declined.”
The index was developed by Bloomberg News and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette with a base value of 100 as of Dec. 30, 1997.
Business, Pages 27 on 09/30/2010