LITTLE ROCK — QUOTE OF THE DAY
“With two months left in the fiscal year, we still don’t know what’s going to happen.”
Paul Hamm,
Army Corps of Engineers supervisory project manager for the Grand Prairie and Bayou Meto irrigation projects Article, 1D
Broke plane-maker’s bonuses fought
WICHITA, Kan. - Hawker Beechcraft wants to pay eight senior executives more than $5.3 million in bonuses as it tries to emerge from bankruptcy, but the request was challenged Monday by the Justice Department’s bankruptcy watchdog agency.
The Wichita, Kan.-based airplane maker hasn’t shown that its proposed bonus plan is not a “disguised retention plan,” U.S. Trustee Tracy Hope Davis argued in documents filed in bankruptcy court in New York.
Hawker Beechcraft said the plan was developed to recognize the critical role certain employees have in the bankruptcy process, arguing that their continued employment is essential.
Davis argued there must be other factors such as “challenging standards” or “high hurdles” for debtors to overcome before they can be paid bonuses, and that Hawker Beechcraft did not meet those standards.
The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers said it plans to formally file an objection to the executive bonuses before the hearing.
Hawker has a facility in Little Rock that finishes business jets. It employs about 450.
3-, 6-month Treasury rates mixed
WASHINGTON - Interest rates on short-term Treasury bills were mixed in Monday’s auction with rates on three-month bills unchanged and rates on six-month bills rising.
The Treasury Department auctioned $30 billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 0.095 percent, unchanged from last week. An additional $27 billion in six-month bills was auctioned at a discount rate of 0.140 percent, up from 0.135 percent last week.
The three-month rate was the highest since those bills averaged 0.100 percent on July 2. The six-month rate was the highest since those bills averaged 0.135 percent last week.
The discount rates reflect that the bills sell for less than face value. For a $10,000 bill, the three-month price was $9,997.59, while a six-month bill sold for $9,992.92. That would equal an annualized rate of 0.096 percent for the three-month bills and 0.142 percent for the six-month bills.
Separately, the Federal Reserve said Monday that the average yield for one-year Treasury bills, a popular index for making changes in adjustable rate mortgages, declined to 0.18 percent last week from 0.20 percent the previous week.
Computer glitch spurs Kmart closing
The Kmart store at 10911 Rodney Parham Road in Little Rock was closed all Monday and until about 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday because of a computer glitch, said store manager Donna Sadler.
“We had a massive computer problem,” Sadler said.
The store never opened on Monday, she said.
Kim Freely, a spokesman for Sears Holdings Corp. of Hoffman Estates, Ill., which owns Kmart, said the problem was limited to the one store.
Court: Airlines can face new rules
The government can require airlines to show consumers a total ticket price that includes taxes and fees in print and online ads, the U.S. Court of Appeals said Tuesday, rejecting an industry challenge to a series of consumer protection regulations.
The ruling also covers two other regulations: A requirement that airlines allow consumers who purchase tickets more than a week in advance the option of canceling their reservations without penalty within 24 hours after purchase, and a ban on airlines increasing the price of tickets or baggage fees after tickets have been bought.
Business, Pages 26 on 07/25/2012