News in brief

Russellville project lands $1.7M grant

Russellville has been awarded a $1.7 million Department of Economic Development Administration grant for water infrastructure improvements near a planned convention center and hotel project.

About 200 jobs are expected to be created by the hotel project, scheduled for completion in August 2017. Russellville will lease 22 acres to David Hunt, a developer from Jackson, Tenn., who has pledged to build a Hilton Garden Inn and convention center on the property.

The project will cost an estimated $18 million to $22 million for a 32,000-square-foot convention center and 130-room hotel, Russellville Mayor Randy Horton said.

"It's been a long time coming," Horton said of the hotel project. We've been working on it for a while. It will be big for the city."

Money from the grant is earmarked for water and wastewater improvements, which are also expected to help protect the Arkansas Tech University campus from flooding. The hotel will be built north of Interstate 40 and west of Exit 81.

-- Chris Bahn

Proposal alters how truck crashes logged

After pressure from trucking companies and truckers, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration announced a pilot program that would allow unpreventable crashes to be removed from carriers' records.

The agency's existing Safety Measurement System publicizes motor carriers' safety records and reported crashes without taking into account the carrier's specific role in the crash or whether it was preventable.

The agency is reviewing crashes in which a carrier was hit by a motorist driving under the influence or driving in the wrong direction, hit by a motorist from behind or hit while legally stopped.

The testing period will last at least a year.

-- Emma N. Hurt

Index climbs 0.47; P.A.M. gains 6.2%

The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, rose 0.47 to 341.38 Friday.

P.A.M. Transportation Services Inc. shares rose 6.2 percent.

Bear State Financial Inc. shares fell 1.5 percent.

Shares of Bank of the Ozarks, P.A.M. Transportation and ArcBest saw the biggest gains for the week. Communications Sales and Leasing, Deltic Timber Corp. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. saw the biggest losses.

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

Business on 07/16/2016

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