Home BancShares to report 3Q earnings
Conway-based Home BancShares, the parent company of Centennial Bank, will release third-quarter earnings before the market opens today.
Home BancShares' top executives will discuss the results in a conference call that starts at 1 p.m.
To listen to the call, dial (877) 508-9586 and ask for the Home BancShares conference call.
-- David Smith
Kentucky GOP drafts pension changes
FRANKFORT, Ky. -- Most of Kentucky's future public employees would not get guaranteed pension payments under a deal announced Wednesday by the state's Republican leaders, who are trying to salvage one of the worst-funded public retirement systems in a country where many such plans are awash in red ink.
The plan to move most new hires into a 401(k)-style system would still put pressure on state taxpayers, who would be legally required to make annual payments of more than $2 billion to the system. That's roughly 20 percent of the state's annual general fund spending.
"This is a big, big cost to the people of Kentucky," Republican Gov. Matt Bevin said, but added it will keep the plans solvent. "If you are working toward retirement and hoping to be a retiree at some point, you should be rejoicing at this bill."
The proposal unveiled by Bevin and the state's top two legislative leaders still must pass the Legislature, most likely during a special session that Bevin plans to call before the end of the year. Democrats, who have a minority in both chambers, appeared opposed to the plan.
The plan spares the state's more than 166,000 current retirees from any reductions in their pension checks.
Most new hires, plus anyone hired after Jan. 1, 2014, would move into the 401(k)-style plan, with the exception of police officers and firefighters.
-- The Associated Press
Crews extinguish California refinery fire
EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- A fire Tuesday at the West Coast's largest oil refinery threatened storage tanks and sent flames into the sky and black smoke across neighborhoods before crews quickly smothered it.
Dozens of firefighters responded late in the day to the 1,000-acre Chevron El Segundo Refinery just south of Los Angeles, which processes nearly 275,000 barrels of crude per day.
Residents were urged to close windows and take shelter as flames roiled at the facility and smoke traveled through neighborhoods. Surrounding streets were briefly closed, but no evacuations were ordered. No injuries were reported.
Crews using firefighting foam kept the blaze from spreading to storage tanks, and within about a half-hour there was little visible flame.
Chevron officials did not immediately comment Wednesday on the possible cause.
The refinery, the West Coast's largest, supplies 40 percent of the jet fuel to nearby Los Angeles International Airport and has 20 percent of the gasoline market share in Southern California, according the company's website.
-- The Associated Press
Electronic Arts shuts Visceral game unit
Shares of Electronic Arts Inc. tumbled Wednesday after the company said it will close its Visceral video game unit and postpone the release of a Star Wars title that had been projected to help fuel growth next fiscal year.
About 70 people are employed at Visceral, best known for the Dead Space science-fiction series. The company is looking to shift many of the employees to other projects, Patrick Soderlund, EA's executive vice president of Worldwide Studios, said in a statement Tuesday. He said tests during the development process indicated the game needed a major overhaul.
The stock fell $2.82, or 2.4 percent, to close Wednesday at $113.16.
-- Bloomberg News
Bitcoin falls after U.S. regulatory move
Traders who had been waiting for a pullback in bitcoin's price to rebuild positions in the world's largest cryptocurrency have the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission to thank.
In a primer on the asset class published Tuesday, the agency said virtual "tokens" used in initial coin offerings can come under commission oversight, a message that a market averse to scrutiny did not take well.
Bitcoin fell as much as 8.4 percent, its biggest loss in almost a month, to as low as $5,109.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has already said tokens from some initial coin offerings can be securities under its oversight. "There is no inconsistency between the SEC's analysis and the CFTC's determination" from 2015 that virtual currencies are commodities, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission said.
If September's price plunge is any guide, losses on bets that bitcoin will fall within U.S. regulatory jurisdiction could be short-lived. Bitcoin was quick to shrug off China's move to tighten its grip on trading, extending an eightfold increase over the past year to a record high of $5,866 on Oct. 13.
-- Bloomberg News
CNN gets OK to fly drones over crowds
CNN received a waiver allowing routine drone flights above crowds, a milestone for the industry seeking greater use of the remote-controlled devices for everything from insurance inspections to covering news.
The approval is the first time the Federal Aviation Administration has granted a waiver for unlimited flights over people, the news network said in an emailed statement. The standards used in the application can be applied to other applicants, potentially opening vast new uses by the media and other industries for so-called unmanned aerial systems, or UAS.
The FAA currently prohibits drone flights over crowds, although its regulations allow for waivers if applicants can show there's no risk of injury. Limited waivers have been issued to filmmakers and others for flights over contained areas after those on the ground consented.
The small device that was approved, a Snap drone, has internal rotors and is designed to break apart in the event of a crash to prevent injuries. Time Warner Inc.'s CNN and Vantage Robotics, the company that built it, say they spent two years designing and testing the drone.
-- Bloomberg News
Business on 10/19/2017