News in brief

Firm to open site in Sherwood, hire 250

Denver-based TeleTech Holdings Inc. plans to open an office in Sherwood and hire 250 workers, the publicly traded firm said Monday.

The center will be located in the Wildwood Centre & Medical Tower in Sherwood and will represent a national public health insurance client. TeleTech is seeking applicants with life and health-care insurance licenses. There also are opportunities for prospective employees to take part in TeleTech’s health-care insurance development program to become licensed agents.

TeleTech said it is accepting applications for a range of roles and experience, with specific needs for customer service representatives, trainers, recruiters, operations managers, facilities staff and technical assistance and information technology specialists.

Those interested in application information can visit www.teletechjobs.com.

— David Smith

Livestock haulers get rule exemption

Haulers of livestock and poultry have been granted a one-year exemption from U.S. Transportation Department rules pertaining to hours of service.

A mandatory 30-minute rest after eight hours of service was waived by the regulatory agency for livestock and poultry haulers, partly over animal welfare. Additionally, haulers often have breaks in driving time for loading and unloading trucks.

Hours of service rules went into effect on July 1. Exemptions granted by the Transportation Department have been rare, but the agency does allow exceptions.

Lobbying on behalf of haulers was done by the National Pork Producers Council.

"This is an important development for the food-animal industry, particularly the pork industry" National Pork Producers Council President Howard Hill said in news release. "Pigs don't sweat, so we can't have them sitting on a truck for 30 minutes in the height of summer."

-- Chris Bahn

Arkansas Index falls 0.36; bank stocks up

The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, fell 0.36 to 354.42 Monday.

The index reached an all-time high of 355.69 during the day.

"Stocks finished with minor gains taking the Dow Jones industrial average and the S&P 500 to all-time highs fueled primarily by merger and acquisition news," said Bob Williams, senior vice president and managing director of Delta Trust Investments Inc. in Little Rock.

Bank of the Ozarks rose 1.4 percent and Home BancShares, gained 1.2 percent, Williams said.

Tyson Foods fell by over 6.5 percent after winning its bidding war for Hillshire Brands, Williams said.

The index was developed by Bloomberg News and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette with a base value of 100 as of Dec. 30, 1997.

Business on 06/10/2014

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