Arkansas Urology to build surgery center
Arkansas Urology is building a $4.9 million outpatient surgery center at 1310 Centerview Drive in Little Rock.
A building permit issued for the project lists the development at 12,457 square feet. Arkansas Urology operates a location at 1300 Centerview Drive.
Clark Contractors of Little Rock will serve as contractor of the new construction. Project manager Hayden Cunningham said construction will start within the next two weeks and is expected to take about 11 months.
Arkansas Urology has locations in Benton, Clinton, El Dorado, Heber Springs, Little Rock, North Little Rock and Russellville. It is the state's largest urology practice.
-- Chris Bahn
Popular New York deli plans to close
NEW YORK -- New York City's Carnegie Deli is closing at the end of the year.
Spokesman Cristyne Nicholas said Friday that the family who owns the Manhattan restaurant wants to license the Carnegie Deli brand and sell the products for wholesale distribution.
WABC-TV reported that the owner will license Carnegie Deli restaurants in other cities and hopes the flagship location can reopen sometime under a similar arrangement.
The popular tourist destination is a few blocks from Carnegie Hall and is known for its huge pastrami sandwiches and pop culture cameos. Scenes from Woody Allen's Broadway Danny Rose were shot there.
-- The Associated Press
Ex-AT&T worker charged in data theft
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- A former AT&T retail sales worker is accused of obtaining customers' cellphone records and selling them to a private investigator -- the second such case in Alabama in recent days, federal prosecutors said.
Eric Conley, 33, is charged with computer intrusion, the FBI and U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance said in a statement Thursday. They say Conley sold hundreds of AT&T's customer records to the private investigator.
Earlier this month, authorities said former Verizon Wireless technician Daniel Eugene Traeger of Hoover, Ala., used Verizon's computers to obtain customers' private call records -- plus data showing where customers' phones were -- and sold them to the private investigator.
Prosecutors say the cases are related, and that both former workers sold customer information to the same unnamed private investigator.
Traeger pleaded guilty to a felony count of unauthorized access to a protected computer as part of a plea deal, court records show. It wasn't known whether Conley has an attorney who could be reached for comment.
"We cannot allow people with access to sensitive personal information abuse that access for personal financial gain," Vance said in a statement. "Anyone with a cellphone could be put at risk of harm if their private call information or tracking data is illegally accessed and used."
-- The Associated Press
Strike ends against maker of Peeps
BETHLEHEM, Pa. -- The peeps who make marshmallow Peeps are back at work.
The union representing 400 striking workers at Just Born Quality Confections in Bethlehem, Pa., said workers returned to the manufacturing line Friday. They went on strike Sept. 7 from the company that makes Peeps as well as Mike and Ike candies.
The union offered to return to work Thursday, a day after the company filed a federal lawsuit claiming the strike violated a no-strike provision of a contract that expired June 18. The company said the no-strike clause was still in effect until Sept. 18 under a contract extension, but the union said it expired with the contract.
Union President Hank McKay said the workers decided to return after recent progress on a new contract. Talks will continue Oct. 13.
-- The Associated Press
New Orleans airport hotel gets no bids
KENNER, La. -- Louis Armstrong International Airport's plan for a hotel at the front entrance to its new $807 million passenger terminal has failed to attract any interest.
The Times-Picayune reported that the New Orleans Aviation Board received no responses to its recent request for proposals to build a nationally branded, full-service, 140-room hotel connected to the terminal.
The new terminal is under construction and slated to be finished by October 2018.
Airport spokesman Michelle Wilcut said in a statement Wednesday that the board was disappointed, but they would continue to explore all options.
Airport officials estimated the hotel would be a $17 million project.
-- The Associated Press
Federal agency to run Hancock pension
TUPELO, Miss. -- Hancock Fabrics has filed a motion with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware, asking it to approve an agreement in which the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation takes over its underfunded pension plan.
Hancock, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in February and later moved to liquidate, essentially went out of business on July 31 after the rest of its stores closed.
When it filed for Chapter 11 on Feb. 2, Hancock listed debt of $182 million and assets of $151.4 million. Its pension plan was underfunded by $41.6 million.
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation spokesman Mark Hopkins told the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal that the corporation guarantees private defined-benefit pensions much like the FDIC insures money deposited in banks up to a certain amount.
Hopkins says the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation guaranty does not include 401(k) or other retirement plans.
-- The Associated Press
Beijing home down payment rises to 35%
China's capital city told home buyers to put more money into down payments as part of a wider effort by the world's second-biggest economy to rein in prices and cool the property market.
The Beijing administration raised the down payment for first-time purchasers to a minimum 35 percent of the price, from the 30 percent earlier, while it increased it to at least 50 percent for second-time buyers, according to a statement on the city government's website. The decision by Beijing came a day after similar measures by Hangzhou, which also capped land auction prices to give a maximum of 150 percent premium.
Home prices in the world's most populous nation rose the most in six years last month, defying new policies to curb excessive speculation in big cities and government warnings about asset bubbles. While gains have been most pronounced in big cities like Shenzhen, where home prices are up about 60 percent in the past year, smaller cities such as Xiamen have also seen runaway growth, where prices have risen more than 38 percent.
Compared with other property markets, China's big cities still beat global peers, with Shenzhen and Shanghai trailed by pricey San Francisco and London over five years, and leaving Tokyo and New York far behind.
-- Bloomberg News
Business on 10/01/2016