David Smith
Stories by David
New-car tags in state climb 8% in April
posted: 05/22/2013 4:33 a.m. Discuss
New-vehicle registrations in April rose almost 8 percent in Arkansas, the first increase in titles since January, according to Cross-Sell of Lexington, Ky., which provides market analysis for the automotive industry.
Audit: Office buys put 1 broker ahead of rest
posted: 05/21/2013 4:33 a.m. Discuss
Steele Vincent Stephens, an investment broker who has sold bonds to Arkansas’ treasurer’s office, has had one major client in the past five years — the state of Arkansas — the head of the state’s Securities Department said Monday.
State’s jobless rate dips to 7.1%; ebb in labor force ends
posted: 05/18/2013 3:52 a.m. Discuss
For the first time since January 2012, Arkansas’ civilian labor force grew, even if only by about 900 people, as the state’s April unemployment rate slipped to 7.1 percent from 7.2 percent in March, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said Friday.
Pipeline changes to curb diesel, jet fuel into state
posted: 05/17/2013 12:50 a.m. Comment 1
The owner of a pipeline that supplies diesel and jet fuel to three locations in Arkansas — El Dorado, North Little Rock and Jonesboro — has notified a federal agency that it plans to make changes in the pipeline.
Dillard’s quarter reaches a record
posted: 05/16/2013 3:47 a.m. Discuss
Dillard’s Inc.’s earnings increased 23 percent in the first quarter, spurred by strong sales in women’s accessories and lingerie, the Little Rock retailer said Wednesday.
NLR archivist faces New Zealand snag
posted: 05/11/2013 3:32 a.m. Discuss
John Rogers, the North Little Rock photo archivist who owns more than 200 million photos, has agreed to buy thousands of pictures from dozens of New Zealand newspapers, but some Kiwis are questioning the legality of the transaction.
OSHA reports on crane collapse
posted: 05/10/2013 12:28 a.m. Discuss
A crane lifting a 525-ton generator stator — a large stationary enclosure where electricity is generated — collapsed March 31, leading to the death of a worker and shutting down Arkansas Nuclear One for four weeks, a team of federal officials reported Thursday.
Power firm to plant regional base in LR
posted: 05/09/2013 12:44 a.m. Discuss
A regional transmission organization that oversees the electrical power grid in 15 states plans to open a regional headquarters in Little Rock next year, paying up to 50 employees an average of $85,000 a year, the firm said Wednesday.
Entergy Corp. pact faces dissolution
posted: 05/04/2013 3:11 a.m. Discuss
It is possible that when Entergy Arkansas withdraws from Entergy Corp.’s system agreement in December it will be the beginning of the end for the pact that binds the parent company’s six utility subsidiaries.
Benton County the leader as state home sales rise 7%
posted: 05/03/2013 12:30 a.m. Discuss
Home sales in Arkansas rose 7 percent in March compared with March of last year, the strongest showing since the government was enticing buyers with tax credits, the Arkansas Realtors Association said Thursday.
PSC hears no flak on steel-mill power plan
posted: 05/02/2013 3:32 a.m. Discuss
The Arkansas attorney general’s office and the general staff of the state Public Service Commission told the commission Wednesday they have no objections to Entergy Arkansas’ plans to supply electricity to a steel mill to be built near Osceola.
Business news in brief
posted: 04/30/2013 2:07 a.m. Discuss
QUOTE OF THE DAY “Job additions and rising household wealth will continue to support housing demand.” Lawrence Yun, National Association of Realtors chief economist Article, 1D First Federal reports officers’ earnings Dabbs Cavin, chief executive officer at First Federal Bancshares of Arkansas, earned $263,000 last year, the Harrison bank said in a federal filing Friday.
$5.8 million renovation set for LR’s Albert Pike
posted: 04/30/2013 12:12 a.m. Discuss
The buyer of the Albert Pike Residence Hotel in downtown Little Rock plans to spend about $5.8 million to renovate the 84-year-old historic building.
After landing steel mill, other projects limited
posted: 04/28/2013 2:57 a.m. Discuss
After years of losing major projects to other states, Arkansas finally landed a legitimate super project with this month’s legislative approval of the $1.1 billion Big River Steel mill near Osceola.
Duke’s earnings up 52% for 2012
posted: 04/24/2013 2:11 a.m. Discuss
Top Wal-Mart executive Michael Duke saw his overall pay top $27.1 million in the past year, including $7.1 million in stock options exercised, according to the annual shareholders’ statement filed Monday by Wal-Mart Stores Inc. of Bentonville.
Fewer go get tags for new vehicles
posted: 04/23/2013 2:56 a.m. Discuss
New-vehicle registrations fell for the second straight month in March, the first time in almost three years that registrations declined in successive months, Cross-Sell of Lexington, Ky., which provides market analysis for the automotive industry, said Monday.
Arkansas’ jobless rate stays at 7.2%
posted: 04/20/2013 3:36 a.m. Discuss
Arkansas’ unemployment rate remained stuck at 7.2 percent in March for the the third-straight month, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistic said Friday.
Conway bank has record quarter
posted: 04/19/2013 2:53 a.m. Discuss
Home BancShares, which owns Centennial Bank offices in Arkansas, Florida and Alabama, reported a record net income of $17.5 million in the first quarter, up 21 percent from $14.5 million in the first quarter last year, the Conway bank said Thursday.
High court upholds ruling in bond case
posted: 04/19/2013 2:52 a.m. Discuss
An attorney who acts as counsel in a bond issue cannot be held liable to the buyers of the bonds, the Arkansas Supreme Court ruled Thursday.
Simmons First earnings slide 6.6%
posted: 04/19/2013 12:54 a.m. Discuss
Simmons First National Corp. earned $5.94 million in the first quarter, down 6.6 percent from $6.36 million in the same period last year, the Pine Bluff bank reported Thursday.
Co-op’s investors divvy up $787,000
posted: 04/16/2013 12:13 a.m. Comment 1
About 500 investors in Affiliated Foods Southwest’s $34 million savings program will split only about $787,000, according to a settlement approved Monday by Pulaski County Circuit Judge Jay Moody.
Bank of Ozarks reports earnings
posted: 04/12/2013 12:21 a.m. Discuss
Bank of the Ozarks earned $20 million in the first quarter, an 11 percent increase over the $18 million earned in the same period last year, the Little Rock-based bank said Thursday.
UALR team tops governor’s cup
posted: 04/11/2013 3:29 a.m. Discuss
A team from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock said it has a way to balance the population of Asian carp, a nuisance fish that is multiplying in the country’s waterways.
Nuclear One safe, regulator says
posted: 04/06/2013 3:31 a.m. Discuss
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has no safety concerns about Entergy Corp.’s Arkansas Nuclear One plant near Russellville after an accident on Sunday, a commission spokesman said Friday.
Interest-rate-setting bill sent to Senate
posted: 04/05/2013 12:18 a.m. Comments 2
A bill that Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel described as an attempt to restore payday lending in Arkansas cleared a Senate committee Thursday.
February home sales in Arkansas fall 1.6%
posted: 04/02/2013 3:40 a.m. Discuss
Home sales dropped less then 2 percent in February, the Arkansas Realtors Association said Monday.
Groups oppose bill that would alter law on loan-interest cap
posted: 04/02/2013 3:33 a.m. Discuss
Consumer groups and the state attorney general’s office oppose a Senate bill that proposes to alter Arkansas’ 17 percent interest rate cap.
500-ton item fall cause of Nuclear One accident
posted: 04/02/2013 12:36 a.m. Comments 2
An accident that resulted in one death Sunday at Arkansas Nuclear One near Russellville and shut down the plant’s operating unit was caused when a 500-ton piece of equipment fell as it was being moved, an Entergy Corp. spokesman said Monday.
Arkansas jobless rate still at 7.2%
posted: 03/30/2013 5:13 a.m. Discuss
Arkansas’ unemployment rate held steady at 7.2 percent in February, the U.S.Bureau of Labor Statistics said Friday.
USA Truck stock’s 42% tops 1st-quarter gain list
posted: 03/29/2013 4:27 a.m. Discuss
USA Truck Inc. had the best performance of any Arkansas publicly traded company in the first quarter, gaining 42 percent in the past three months.
State offices side with SWEPCO on Flint Creek power plant
posted: 03/29/2013 4:27 a.m. Discuss
The general staff of the Arkansas Public Service Commission and the state attorney general’s office both agreed Thursday that owners of a coal-fired power plant in Northwest Arkansas should be allowed to install environmental scrubbers at the facility. Southwest Electric Power Co. and Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corp. each own half of the 528-megawatt Flint Creek coal plant in Gentry that supplies electricity to Northwest Arkansas. SWEPCO operates the plant.
Vehicle titles log 5% fall in state
posted: 03/27/2013 4:29 a.m. Discuss
Auto registrations in Arkansas fell 5 percent in February compared with the same month last year, according to a research firm that provides market analysis for the automotive industry.
One Bank owner Stuart dies at 61
posted: 03/27/2013 12:28 a.m. Discuss
Layton Stuart, owner of One Bank & Trust in Little Rock, died Tuesday after suffering from respiratory distress.
Nucor foresees job shifts if mill built
posted: 03/23/2013 2:55 a.m. Comment 1
If Big River Steel LLC builds a $1.1 billion steel mill near Osceola, nearby Nucor Corp. would face deciding whether to transfer some of its Arkansas employees out of state, Charlotte, N.C.-based Nucor says in a 20-page document prepared for Arkansas legislators.
Arkansas’ jobless rate edges up 0.1%
posted: 03/19/2013 3:04 a.m. Discuss
Arkansas’ unemployment rate rose one-tenth of a percentage point from December to 7.2 percent in January, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said Monday.
Hormel: Skippy brand not peanuts
posted: 03/16/2013 3:12 a.m. Discuss
Hormel Foods Corp. wants to expand the Skippy peanut butter brand significantly in the United States, Hormel’s Chief Executive Officer and Chairman Jeff Ettinger said Friday before he spoke to employees at Skippy’s Little Rock plant.
Justices hear sides argue in bond case
posted: 03/15/2013 12:01 a.m. Discuss
Lawyers who provide legal opinions on bonds should be held liable for omitting material facts from their offering documents, Tom Thrash, who represents several Arkansas banks, told the Arkansas Supreme Court on Thursday.
Fed: 13 state banks crested crisis
posted: 03/14/2013 2:35 a.m. Discuss
Thirteen Arkansas banks were able to maintain the highest regulatory rating leading up to and after the national financial crisis, according to a report from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
Regulators: State’s banks recover slowly
posted: 03/10/2013 3:39 a.m. Discuss
Arkansas banks are slowly improving despite a static economy, two bank regulators said last week.
Home sales rise 11% but prices fall
posted: 03/08/2013 3:27 a.m. Discuss
Home sales in Arkansas rose more than 11 percent in January compared with January 2012, the highest increase since February last year, the Arkansas Realtors Association said Thursday.
Mill site acreage goes up in price
posted: 03/07/2013 12:37 a.m. Comment 1
An increase in the price of farmland will cost Mississippi County about $2 million more for the site of a proposed steel mill near Osceola, the chairman of a committee that approved the investment said Wednesday.
Entergy rate request: $178 million
posted: 03/02/2013 3:21 a.m. Comments 7
Entergy Arkansas Inc. is seeking an annual electric rate increase of almost $180 million, the utility said Friday in a filing with the state Public Service Commission.
January vehicle titles 2nd most in 5 years
posted: 02/28/2013 12:54 a.m. Discuss
There were 10,074 new vehicles titled in January in Arkansas, the second most in the past five years behind only May 2012, when 10,170 were registered, said Cross-Sell of Lexington, Ky., a company that provides market analysis for the automotive industry.
State exports rise 36% to $7.6 billion
posted: 02/27/2013 3:06 a.m. Discuss
Arkansas exports jumped 36 percent last year, the second largest increase of any state in the country, the U.S. Department of Commerce said Tuesday.
Steel-mill report details strengths
posted: 02/24/2013 4:12 a.m. Comments 4
The $1.1 billion Big River Steel mill proposed to be built near Osceola would rely on at least five factors to be successful, a research report prepared for the state says.
Turk coal-fired plant quietly up, going
posted: 02/17/2013 2:27 a.m. Comment 1
The latest technology for coal-fired power plants is being used at the $2.1 billion, 600-megawatt John W. Turk Jr. plant about 15 miles northeast of Texarkana.
Agents search home of ex-CEO
posted: 02/07/2013 12:19 a.m. Discuss
Federal investigators searched the home of Layton Stuart, former chief executive officer of One Bank & Trust Co. in Little Rock, on Wednesday, Stuart said.
Vehicle registrations up 17% in Arkansas
posted: 02/06/2013 12:53 a.m. Discuss
Nearly 96,000 new vehicles were registered in Arkansas last year, a Kentucky auto research firm said Tuesday.
Pulaski County site was mill nominee
posted: 02/05/2013 12:59 a.m. Discuss
Big River Steel LLC, which plans to build a $1.1 billion steel mill near Osceola, considered a site in Pulaski County for the plant, an executive with one of the largest investment groups in the project said Monday.
Koch Industries called steel mill’s largest investor
posted: 02/02/2013 3:35 a.m. Comments 45
Koch Industries Inc., a multi-billion dollar company based in Wichita, Kan., will be the largest investor in a $1.1 billion steel mill that is planned for northeast Arkansas, another investor in the project said Friday.
