Judges urged to halt
use of rehab center
The Freedom from Religion Foundation sent letters to 24 Oklahoma courts on Monday urging judges to stop sending defendants to the Christian Alcoholics and Addicts in Recovery program.
The yearlong program allows convicts to take unpaid chicken plant jobs in lieu of prison time.
In the letter, Sam Grover, the foundation's associate legal counsel, implored Oklahoma's courts to separate from the rehab program, ensure that no others are sent there, and offer a secular alternative for enrolled clients.
"It is a forced-labor camp, shot-through with religious proselytization," the letters said.
Two lawsuits were filed last week in Oklahoma against Christian Alcoholics and Addicts in Recovery and Simmons Foods, a Siloam Springs-based poultry business. Plaintiffs claim they conspired to create a pool of free laborers. They also claim the rehab program kept their wages and workers' compensation, according to the lawsuits.
-- Nathan Owens
Agriculture groups
gain federal grants
The state Agriculture Department, the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture and other entities will share $303,776 in federal grants to sustain and promote eight "specialty crops," including vegetables, fruits and nuts, dried fruits, and horticulture and nursery crops.
The state Agriculture Department received grants to promote specialty crops at the Produce Marketing Association's annual meeting next year and for the agency's "Arkansas Grown" promotions.
The UA Division of Agriculture received a grant for the marketing association's meeting but also for programs on cover crops and conservation for specialty crops. The division's Cooperative Extension Service also received grants to develop the Arkansas Blackberry Association, a promotional effort to expand production of that fruit, and to find ways to increase yield and health of Arkansas' pecan crops.
-- Stephen Steed
State index closes
with a gain of 2.51
The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, climbed 2.51 to 369.95 Wednesday.
"Corporate earnings reports and prospects for tax reform lifted stocks with the financials sector outperforming the broader S&P 500 Index," said Leon Lants, managing director at Stephens Inc. in Little Rock.
Total volume for the index was 19 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 10/19/2017