Walmart supports career program
Walmart Inc. and the Walmart Foundation donated more than $4 million this week to support a career advancement program for retail workers in Colorado, the company said in a news release.
The funds were awarded as a grant to the Colorado Workforce Development Council, which will create 10 public-private partnerships across the state connecting employers with educators and representatives from workforce and economic development groups. The partnerships will design training programs to give retail workers more opportunities to move up in their careers.
Julie Gehrki, the Bentonville retailer's vice president of philanthropy, said in the release that the award "is a further step in our efforts to strengthen the workforce ecosystem beyond Walmart's walls through collaboration with public- and private-sector leaders."
The grant is part of a five-year, $100 million Retail Opportunity Initiative by Walmart and its philanthropic arm to increase the economic mobility of workers in retail and related industries. To date, it has funded more than $80 million in grants, according to the release.
-- Serenah McKay
Rules considered for poultry houses
Oklahoma's board of agriculture is considering proposed setback and emergency regulations to address the recent increase in the number of large commercial poultry houses permitted for the northeast part of the state.
Within the last year, more than 200 poultry houses were approved for Oklahoma, state data show, with most attributed to Siloam Springs-based chicken producer Simmons Foods. Simmons plans to open a new chicken processing plant near Gentry next year.
Opponents of the of new or expanding poultry farms have met in recent months with politicians and held meetings to raise concerns about the developments. Opponents expressed worries about possible water table contamination, road damage from trucks hauling chickens routinely, fowl noises and odors often come wrapped as a bundle deal with poultry expansion.
In response to mounting concerns, the Cherokee Nation and the state of Oklahoma created a joint poultry council in October to assess the matter. The Oklahoma Board of Agriculture halted processing new registrations for poultry feeding operations until the council could address the concerns. Out of those talks came the proposed setbacks once the moratorium on permits is lifted.
The proposed rules, published on the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture Food and Forestry's website, require new or expanding farms to be at least a quarter-mile from an occupied residence and a half-mile from a public school or incorporated city.
Public comment on the proposal can be sent to andrea.bair@ag.ok.gov. The deadline is 8 a.m., Monday.
-- Nathan Owens
State index slides 11.37 to 385.67
The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, tumbled 11.37 to 385.67 Friday.
The index reached a 52-week low of 384.79 before closing slightly higher.
Windstream closed up 1 percent in heavy trading, the only stock on the index with a gain. USA Truck lost 8.7 percent in below-average volume.
Six stocks hit 52-week lows during the week.
For the week, all 15 stocks lost ground. Uniti Group had the best week, losing 2.9 percent. USA Truck fell 19.4 percent for the week.
Total volume for the index on Friday was 20.5 million shares. The average daily volume for the week was 24.3 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 12/08/2018