QUOTE OF THE DAY “A vast number of shoppers are sticking to their shopping lists and are being very deal-driven.” Ken Perkins, president of research firm RetailMetrics LLC, on back-to-school shopping Article,this pageState asks USDA to pay bird-flu costs
The Arkansas Livestock and Poultry Commission is seeking a $44,500 grant to cover the cost of mitigation of an isolated outbreak of avian influenza in Scott County earlier this year.
Funds for the request would come from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service to perform testing for the disease. Arkansas is the second-largest state for poultry production.
Brandon Doss, assistant state veterinarian, said a low-level pathogen was detected in the flock, leading to establishment of a quarantine zone with a 6.2-mile radius for poultry in the area. The zone included 29 commercial poultry operations and 48 “backyard” flocks that residents had for their own use.
Doss said the state veterinary office tested more than 970 birds in the backyard flocks, while poultry companies handled the testing of commercial flocks.
“It was isolated to that one flock, and that flock was immediately terminated,” Doss said.
Despite the limited scope of the outbreak, Japan, Russia and China ceased, at least temporarily, buying chicken parts that originated in Arkansas. The quarantine zone was lifted in mid-July.
U.S. fixed-mortgage rates remain steady
WASHINGTON - Average U.S. rates on fixed mortgages barely changed this week, giving prospective homebuyers time to lock in relatively low rates.
Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac says the average on the 30-year loan edged up to 4.40 percent from 4.39 percent last week. The rate is a full percentage point higher than in early May, when rates neared record lows. But rates remain low by historical standards.
The average on the 15-year fixed loan was unchanged at 3.43 percent.
Mortgage rates spiked in June after Chairman Ben Bernanke indicated the Federal Reserve could slow its bond purchases later this year. The bond purchases have kept long-term interest rates low, encouraging more borrowing and spending.
Dell accuses investor of ‘grandstanding’
Dell Inc. founder Michael Dell accused investor Carl Icahn in court papers of “grandstanding” in efforts to expedite litigation aimed at thwarting an inside leveraged buyout of the company.
Icahn sued Dell and his company Aug. 1 in Delaware Chancery Court, contending the founder’s offering price of $13.65 a share, now as much as $13.96 with dividends, was too low.
Now “plaintiffs appear to seek a hurry-up hearing at the end of which they will ask the court to order Dell to hold the vote on the proposed merger simultaneously with the annual meeting - which would require a delay in the vote,” Dell’s lawyers said in a filing made public Thursday.
Michael Dell contends in court papers that Icahn is seeking “undefined” proceedings as “just another soapbox for Mr. Icahn’s public spat” with Dell board members. The vote is tentatively set for Sept. 12.
In opposition to an Icahn motion before Judge Leo Strine Jr. to fast-track the case, Dell said Icahn lawyers “speak grandly” of shareholder interests, yet “speak for no one but themselves” and “‘cite zero authority” for the request. “The court has time and time again rejected claims of this kind,” Dell said in the filing.
Marvel owns comic titles, court rules
NEW YORK - A federal appeals court has sided with Marvel in a dispute about who owns the rights to popular comic heroes including Spider-Man, Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk.
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York agreed with a lower court Thursday in rejecting claims by artist Jack Kirby’s family.
Kirby died in 1994. His heirs wanted to terminate Marvel’s copyrights from 2014 through 2019 to comics published from 1958 to 1963.
Marvel sued in January 2010 to prevent it.
Comics in the case included The Fantastic Four, The Incredible Hulk, Spider-Man, Iron Man, The X-Men and The Avengers.
Marvel Worldwide Inc. had said the work was done “for hire,” a legal term that would render the heirs’ claims invalid. The appeals court agreed.
- The Associated Press
Business, Pages 26 on 08/09/2013