Investment entities told to cease, desist
The Arkansas Securities Department said Wednesday that it issued a cease-and-desist order against Timothy Alonza Lilly and two of his business entities, BLW Debt Resolution LLC and Renu by BNT LLC.
Lilly and the businesses are accused of engaging in securities fraud by offering securities not registered with the department.
Lilly promised returns of varying amounts to seven Arkansas investors, collecting $1.5 million, $1 million of which is still outstanding. All but one of the investors had been clients when Lilly held an insurance license, which was revoked in 2009.
The department said Lilly and the two companies should be fined $320,000.
-- David Smith
2 commercial flocks culled over bird flu
Two commercial chicken flocks, one in Kentucky and the other in Alabama, have tested positive for low pathogenic avian flu and have been culled.
A commercial flock of 22,000 birds in Christian County along the Tennessee-Kentucky border tested positive for the disease, and the birds were killed. A controlled zone in a 6-mile radius of the farm was put into place as a precaution, according to Kentucky officials.
In Alabama, a commercial flock in Pickens County, which borders Mississippi, and a backyard flock in Madison County, which borders Tennessee, tested positive and were culled, and 6-mile controlled zones were put into place. A second commercial flock tested positive and was culled last week. A state spokesman said 42,000 birds have been killed this year as a result of the flu.
Earlier this month, a flock of more than 73,000 from a Tyson Foods supplier in Tennessee was killed after the birds tested positive for H7N9 bird flu, a more contagious type of the disease. A second flock of 17,000 in Tennessee was culled after it tested positive for low pathogenic avian flu.
-- John Magsam
Falling 0.80, index finishes at 334.95
The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, dropped 0.80 to 334.95 Wednesday.
"Equities closed mixed on Wednesday following Tuesday's sell-off, although market volatility continues to rise in front of today's vote on a Republican health care bill," said Leon Lants, managing director at Stephens Inc. in Little Rock. "Telecommunications and financials underperformed the broader S&P 500 Index."
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 03/23/2017