State gains 660 tech jobs in '18 report
Tech-related employment in Arkansas grew 1.1 percent in 2018 and now accounts for 4.7 percent of the state's workforce, according to an annual report from CompTIA, a leading technology association.
Net tech employment in Arkansas grew by 660 jobs to 60,300, ranking Arkansas 38th among the states in the category, the Cyberstates 2019 report said.
The tech sector has an estimated direct economic impact of $4.4 billion, or about 3.8 percent of the total Arkansas economy, according to the report.
"Clearly the broad-based impact of the tech industry touches virtually every community, industry and market across Arkansas, especially when you consider the tens of thousands of knowledge workers who rely on technology to do their jobs," Todd Thibodeaux, president and chief executive officer of CompTIA, said in a news release.
The outlook for employment growth remains positive. Last year, the state saw 11,677 job postings related to emerging technologies.
-- Noel Oman
Hundreds file claims after Texas fire
HOUSTON -- A Houston-area petrochemical storage company that was heavily damaged by fire has received hundreds of compensation claims from residents seeking lost wages and other damages, a company executive said Tuesday.
Brent Weber, a senior vice president for Intercontinental Terminals Co., told reporters that about 2,000 people have called a company claims hotline and another 300 submitted claims in writing. He didn't specify how many callers to the hotline made formal claims.
Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Caren Damon said a portion of the Houston Ship Channel remained closed Tuesday but that ships have navigated the restricted portion of the channel without a gasoline component tainting their hulls.
The Deer Park facility caught fire March 17 and burned for days , sending waves of thick, black smoke thousands of feet into the air. Schools and roads were closed and gasoline and other materials seeped into nearby waters. Air monitors last Thursday detected elevated levels of benzene in the air, prompting public officials to order people living in the area to remain indoors.
Harris County commissioners on Tuesday, in their first meeting since the fire, said they'll hold Intercontinental Terminals accountable for the hazards unleashed by the blaze. They gave approvals for the county to sue the company.
-- The Associated Press
Import ban backed for some iPhones
SAN FRANCISCO -- A trade court judge will recommend banning some iPhones from being imported into the U.S. after concluding Apple's best-selling device infringed on technology owned by chipmaker Qualcomm.
The U.S. International Trade Commission decision is the latest twist in a bitter legal dispute between Qualcomm and Apple over the rights to some of the technology that connects iPhones to the Internet.
It's unclear when the recommended ban will be imposed or even which iPhone models would be affected. Judge MaryJoan McNamara's recommendation still must be weighed by the full trade commission.
The legal battle between Qualcomm and Apple broke out more than two years ago after the U.S. Federal Trade Commission sued Qualcomm, saying the company used its portfolio of mobile-technology patents to gouge smartphone makers and stifle competition in the chip market. A federal judge in San Jose, Calif., is still reviewing a decision in that case, two months after presiding over a trial.
Shortly after the trade commission filed its case in 2017, Apple pounced with its own lawsuit accusing Qualcomm of trying to wring licensing fees for technology that it didn't really invent.
-- The Associated Press
Proxy-fight news lifts Bed Bath & Beyond
Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. rose 22 percent Tuesday on news that activist investors plan to challenge the home-goods retailer's directors in a proxy fight. The company responded Tuesday by saying the investors have ignored its requests for feedback and appear interested only in gaining ammunition for an activist battle.
Three activist funds are opening a campaign to replace the 12-person board over concerns that the retailer is not responding well to the rise of e-commerce, according to people familiar with the matter.
The trio -- Legion Partners Asset Management LLC, Macellum Advisors and Ancora Advisors LLC -- control about a 5 percent stake in the Union, N.J.-based retailer and are seeking to replace Chief Executive Officer Steven Temares, according to the people, who asked not to be identified discussing a private matter.
Bed Bath & Beyond confirmed Tuesday that it had met with Legion and Macellum in recent weeks and asked "on several occasions" for "suggestions and ideas for improving the company's business but they did not provide any."
-- Bloomberg News
JPMorgan whistleblowers to get $50M
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission agreed to pay $50 million to a pair of whistleblowers who provided information that helped the agency win a $267 million settlement with JPMorgan Chase & Co. over claims that the bank failed to inform wealthy clients of conflicts of interest in managing their money.
One of the informants will get $37 million, the third-biggest payout in the history of the SEC's whistleblower program, the agency said in a statement Tuesday. The SEC didn't name the company involved or the people getting the awards, citing federal law that protects confidentiality.
In December 2015, JPMorgan agreed to pay more than $300 million to the SEC and to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. JPMorgan admitted disclosure failures from 2008 to 2013 related to two units that manage money -- its securities subsidiary and its nationally chartered bank -- as part of the SEC settlement.
-- Bloomberg News
China ex-Net censor sentenced for graft
BEIJING -- China's former Internet censor, who once held high-profile meetings with industry leaders such as Apple chief executive Tim Cook and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, was sentenced Tuesday to 14 years in prison on corruption charges.
The Intermediate People's Court in the eastern city of Ningbo said Lu Wei had confessed to accepting $4.6 million in bribes. It said he expressed remorse and vowed not to appeal his sentence.
Lu helped lead the ruling Communist Party's tightening of controls over domestic cyberspace and championed Beijing's stance that governments have a right to filter and censor Internet access.
-- The Associated Press
Business on 03/27/2019