News in brief

Oxford American names interim editor

Eliza Borne, managing editor of the Oxford American, will take over as interim editor of the magazine after editor Roger Hodge's departure, the publication said Wednesday.

Hodge, who will continue as editor at large at the Oxford American, is joining The Intercept as national editor. He joined the Oxford American in 2012.

More details about the search for a permanent replacement will be announced in June, according to the news release.

Hodge will oversee major investigations and editing of features and news articles "with special attention to the manipulation of the democratic process by moneyed elites," according to an announcement by The Intercept, an online publication.

The Intercept, part of First Look Media, was created by Glenn Greenwald, Laura Poitras and Jeremy Scahill. It is backed by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar and covers a range of issues, but is known for reporting on documents from National Security Agency that were leaked by Edward Snowden.

-- Jessica Seaman

Bank director sells shares worth $8.5M

Ross Whipple, a director with Bank of the Ozarks and former chairman of Summit Bank of Arkadelphia, sold 200,000 of his shares in the Little Rock bank, according to a filing with the federal Securities and Exchange Commission last week.

Whipple sold 187,400 of Bank of the Ozarks shares for $7,967,704. He also sold another 12,600 shares for $528,844, for a total value of $8,496,548.

Bank of the Ozarks bought Summit Bank last year for about $216 million, about 80 percent of which was in Bank of the Ozarks stock.

Since September, Whipple has sold about $43 million of his Bank of the Ozarks stock. He still owns more than 932,600 shares valued at almost $40.6 million.

-- David Smith

14 advancers lead state index up 2.62

The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, rose 2.62 to 378.92 Wednesday.

Fourteen stocks advanced and four declined.

Bank of the Ozarks climbed 3.3 percent on three times its average volume, reaching a 52-week high during the session.

ArcBest rose 3 percent on average volume.

Bear State Financial and Communications Sales and Leasing each lost 1.4 percent.

Total volume of the index was 22.8 million shares.

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

Business on 05/28/2015

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