SWEPCO starts up its second wind farm
Southwestern Electric Power Co. announced Friday that a second wind farm serving customers in Arkansas and Louisiana is now operating.
The 287-megawatt Maverick array near Enid, Okla., is part of the utility's 1,485-megawatt North Central Energy Facilities project in Oklahoma.
"We are now delivering even more clean energy to our customers as the Maverick wind farm begins commercial operation," said Malcolm Smoak, SWEPCO president and chief operating officer. "With no fuel cost for wind, these renewable energy facilities lower SWEPCO's overall fuel cost for power generation."
SWEPCO says the fuel-cost decreases will produce savings of more than $2 billion for customers over 30 years.
The first wind farm in the initiative began operating in April. The third will start operations early next year, the company said.
SWEPCO's investment in the project is about $1 billion. The utility has 122,800 customers in western Arkansas.
-- Andrew Moreau
UPS sets out to fill 100,000 holiday jobs
ATLANTA -- UPS is hiring 100,000 seasonal workers as it prepares for the busy holiday shipping period.
That includes nearly 2,340 positions in Atlanta.
UPS said that it expects an increase in package volume starting in October and continuing through January.
The hiring surge takes place as many companies are facing challenges finding enough employees during a national worker shortage that has arisen as businesses ramp up work. UPS is looking for roughly the same number of workers as it hired last year for the holiday season.
The company plans to give many applicants job offers within 30 minutes of applying.
The openings are for full-time and part-time seasonal jobs for package handlers, drivers, driver helpers and people who can drive their own vehicles to deliver packages. Many of the package-handler jobs pay $15 an hour, with higher pay in some other parts of the country.
About a third of seasonal package handlers at UPS were later hired into permanent jobs, according to the company.
UPS said it "encourages all candidates applying for a seasonal job to receive a covid-19 vaccine." The company is requiring vaccines for employees returning to work at its headquarters and other office buildings, but doesn't have the same requirement for front-line workers.
-- The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Arkansas Index dips, closes day at 648.63
The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, closed Thursday at 648.63, down 5.65.
The index was developed by Bloomberg News and the Democrat-Gazette with a base value of 100 as of Dec. 30, 1997.