Hearing in bond-trader case wraps up
A hearing in which the Arkansas Securities Department accused former bond trader Steele Stephens of selling unsuitable bonds to the Arkansas treasurer's office concluded Tuesday.
Scott Freydl, an attorney with the Securities Department, said Wednesday that John Pruniski, the administrative law judge who presided over the two-day hearing, gave attorneys two weeks to provide closing briefs in the case. Pruniski will rule in the case after that, Freydl said.
The trades were made from 2010-12 while Martha Shoffner was the state treasurer. Shoffner was convicted last year of extortion and bribery in connection with accepting six payments of $6,000 each from Stephens for a share of the state's bond business. Stephens worked at the time for St. Bernard Financial Services of Russellville.
Shoffner resigned as treasurer in 2013.
-- David Smith
Sorghum-checkoff vote deadline nears
Arkansas' grain sorghum growers have until April 21 to vote on whether to continue funding the Sorghum Checkoff Program.
Those who produced or imported grain sorghum, also known as milo, between Jan. 1, 2011, and Dec. 31, 2014, are eligible to vote. Voting began March 23. While exporters can vote at U.S. Farm Service Agency offices; importers will cast ballots at Agricultural Marketing Service offices.
Arkansas farmers are expected to increase their planted sorghum acreage by 47 percent in 2015, to 250,000 acres from 170,000 acres in 2014.
The Sorghum Checkoff Program, with a 13-member board, is a national marketing program that maintains and expands domestic and foreign markets, as well as develops new uses for the crop.
More information is available from Craig Shackelford, a marketing specialist in the research and promotion division of the Agricultural Marketing Service's Livestock, Poultry, and Seed Program at (470) 315-4246. Information is also available online at ams.usda.gov/SorghumReferendum.
-- Glen Chase
Bernanke's book titled Courage to Act
Former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's memoir will be titled The Courage to Act and portray how he helped to rescue the U.S. economy, publisher W.W. Norton & Co. said.
Bernanke's account, with the subtitle A Memoir of a Crisis and Its Aftermath, will be released in October.
The title refers to how policymakers "mustered the moral courage to do what was necessary, often in the face of bitter criticism and condemnation," Bernanke, 61, said in a statement.
The book will give the former Fed chairman's account of "the tireless and ultimately successful efforts to prevent a mass economic failure," according to the publisher's website.
Bernanke, a Great Depression scholar, pushed to cut interest rates to near zero, led the Fed to purchase Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities as part of a quantitative-easing program, made Fed loans available to investment firms for the first time since the 1930s, and launched unprecedented rescues of American International Group Inc. and Bear Stearns Cos.
Still, he has admitted mistakes that contributed to the crisis, including a failure to regulate banks and subprime mortgages adequately.
-- The Associated Press
2 airlines get single-operation consent
FORT WORTH -- The Federal Aviation Administration on Wednesday granted American Airlines and US Airways the authority to operate as a single carrier.
The FAA decision means that American Airlines Group Inc. can combine workforces, websites and reservations systems starting this fall, but passengers won't notice much difference right away.
Eventually the US Airways name will disappear and its planes will be repainted in American's colors and logo. The company has already combined the two frequent-flier programs.
The company, formed by a December 2013 merger, is marking the FAA decision with a celebration at its headquarters in Fort Worth.
-- The Associated Press
Bloomberg adds $30M to anti-coal push
WASHINGTON -- Billionaire Michael Bloomberg announced Wednesday that he is donating an additional $30 million to a Sierra Club initiative working to reduce the nation's use of coal.
The Sierra Club has a goal of replacing half the nation's coal plants with renewable energy by 2017.
Bloomberg donated $50 million to the program in 2011. The latest donation, along with $20 million from others, will be spent over the next three years. He said reducing the number of coal plants will save lives and that job growth in solar, wind and natural gas can offset coal-related jobs.
"Coal's days are numbered. It is an outdated technology," Bloomberg said during a rally at the Sierra Club's offices in Washington. "It's holding back our economy and it's hurting our health."
The American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, a trade group, says that every time the Sierra Club helps shut down a coal plan, workers are sent to the unemployment lines and electricity rates for consumers increase.
"Sierra Club's effort is purely a political campaign that ignores the energy realities and needs of our nation," said Laura Sheehan, a spokesman for the group.
The number of coal-fired power plants in the United States has dropped by more than 100 over the past decade.
-- The Associated Press
AT&T settling data breaches for $25M
WASHINGTON -- AT&T is paying $25 million in a settlement with federal regulators over data breaches at call centers in Mexico, Colombia and the Philippines that compromised customer data for about 280,000 U.S. customer accounts.
The Federal Communications Commission announced the action Wednesday. It was the agency's largest privacy and data-security enforcement action to date.
The breaches occurred from November 2013 to April 2014 at a call center in Mexico and at other times in Colombia and the Philippines, the FCC said. Most customers were Spanish-speaking U.S. residents.
Call center employees were paid by third parties to obtain customer information such as names and full or partial Social Security numbers. The data were used to submit online requests for cellular unlock codes for stolen cellphones, the agency said.
-- The Associated Press
Business on 04/09/2015