Business in Arkansas

NEWS IN BRIEF

Entergy’s quarterly profit up 5 percent Entergy Arkansas Inc. had net income of $52.9 million in the third quarter, Entergy Corp. of New Orleans said in its quarterly filing released Friday.
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Hay yield cut in half by rainfall

Record rainfall from one-after-another storms in September and October has halved the hay crop of some Arkansas farmers, according to state forage experts.
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Agriculture weather losses put at $225 million

State agriculture experts say soggy weather that drenched Arkansas during much of the harvest season will cut farm receipts statewide by nearly $225 million.
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Agreement reached on sale of Fort Smith hospital

The Board of Trustees at Sparks Regional Medical Center in Fort Smith have signed a definitive agreement to sell the hospital to a Florida company.
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Conway plant to stop making school buses

Ax is over 477 jobs; work to go to Tulsa

The owner of school-bus maker IC Corp. in Conway told employees Thursday that it will soon cease assembling buses there and cut up to 477 jobs starting as early as January.
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River commerce riding a wave

LR port’s tonnage way up, buoyed by business from pipe maker

Despite swollen rivers and an economic downtown, commerce along the Arkansas River is barging ahead, already surpassing last year’s tonnage.
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Plant to stop bus making; up to 477 jobs affected

The owner of a plant that has made school buses in Conway for decades says that will end soon, affecting up to 477 jobs at the facility.
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Tyson to pay $250,000 in labor suit

A jury in Birmingham has ordered Tyson Foods Inc. to pay $250,000 for labor violations at its production plant in Blountsville.
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State sees uptick in auto titling

A steep decline in auto registrations through the first eight months of the year slowed considerably in September, primarily because of the government’s “cash-for-clunkers” incentive program, statistics from a Kentucky research firm indicate.
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Wal-Mart to eliminate 60 jobs in international division

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. will eliminate about 60 positions in its international division at company headquarters in Bentonville, but also will add 40 positions to the division, spokesman Kevin Gardner said Wednesday.
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Steel giant must pay $1.2 million in bias suit

Steel giant Nucor Corp. must pay $1.2 million to a half-dozen former and current black employees for racial discrimination at its northeast Arkansas plants.
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LR firm buying S.C.’s NuVox

Little Rock-based Windstream Corp. on Tuesday said it is buying NuVox Inc., a Greenville, S.C.-based telecommunications company, for $643 million, its third acquisition announced in the past six months.
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Energy firm sets rate rise request

Southwestern Electric Power Co.’s request for a $17.8 million rate increase will cost the average customer $3.84 a month, according to testimony at the Arkansas Public Service Commission on Monday.
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LR bank posts $13.7 million loss

Metropolitan’s CEO predicts return to profitability in 2010

Metropolitan National Bank, the sixth-largest Arkansas-based bank, lost $13.7 million in the third quarter, the Little Rock institution said Friday.
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Utilities: Natural gas rates to drop

Large stockpile tied to price dip

It will cost most Arkansans less to heat their homes this winter, the state’s three largest providers of natural gas said Friday in their annual winter rates filings with the Arkansas Public Service Commission.
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