LITTLE ROCK — QUOTE OF THE DAY “Small banks like us to are too small to save, as opposed to too big to fail.” Larry Bauer, president of Planters & Merchants Bank in Gillett Article, 1D
Grant proposals sought to aid poor
The Arkansas Economic Development Commission is accepting proposals for grants to benefit small communities with low-income populations.
The general assistance and innovative project grants of $50,000 to $200,000 will go to communities with populations of fewer than 50,000 that are composed mostly of households earning low or moderate incomes. The submission deadline is March 31.
Projects must benefit those households, “help eliminate conditions of slum and blight, or assist in addressing an urgent community need,” according to a release from the commission. Innovative projects and projects that serve lower-income communities will be prioritized, according to the commission’s release.
Communities can obtain a copy of the application and the guidelines from the Grants Management Division on the Arkansas Economic Development Commission Web site, arkansasedc.com.
Firm has last word in Microsoft suit
SEATTLE - A federal appeals court ordered Microsoft Corp. to stop selling its Word program in January and pay a Canadian software company $290 million for violating a patent, upholding the judgment of a lower court.
But people looking to buy Word or Microsoft’s Office package in the U.S. won’t have to go without the software.
Microsoft said Tuesday it expects that new versions of the product, with the computer code in question removed, will be ready for sale when the injunction begins on Jan.
11.
Toronto-based i4i Inc. sued Microsoft in 2007, saying it owned the technology behind a tool in the popular word processing program. The technology in question gives Word users an improved way to edit XML, or code that tells the program how to interpret and display a document’s contents.
A Texas jury found that Microsoft Word willfully infringed on the patent. Microsoft appealed that decision, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Tuesday upheld the lower court’s damage award and the injunction against future sales of infringing copies of Word.
Michel Vulpe, founder and co-inventor of i4i, said in a statement that the company is pleased with the decision, calling it “an important step in protecting the property rights of small inventors.”
Microsoft said it has been preparing for such a judgment since August and may appeal.
Citigroup denies hack-attack report
WASHINGTON - The FBI is investigating a hacker attack on Citigroup Inc. that led to the theft of tens of millions of dollars, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.
Citing anonymous government officials, the Journal reported that the hackers were connected to a Russian cyber gang. Two other computer systems, at least one connected to a U.S. government agency, also were attacked.
Citigroup denied the report. “We had no breach of the system and there were no losses, no customer losses, no bank losses,” said Joe Petro, managing director of Citigroup’s Security and Investigative services. “Any allegation that the FBI is working a case at Citigroup involving tens of millions of losses is just not true.”
The Journal reported that the attack on Citigroup’s Citibank subsidiary was detected over the summer, although it may have occurred up to one year earlier.
Devon to sell 3 Gulf sites to Maersk
OKLAHOMA CITY - Devon Energy Corp. will sell three development projects in the Gulf of Mexico to Maersk Oil for $1.3 billion, part of its strategy to reposition itself as a North American onshore company, the company said Tuesday.
The projects are in the deepwater Walker Ridge federal lease area off Louisiana. The deal covers Devon’s 50 percent working interest in the Cascade project and 25 percent working interests in the Jack and St. Malo projects.
Devon Energy, based in Oklahoma City, said it expects to receive after-tax proceeds of $1.1 billion from the deal.
The money will be used to reduce debt.
The company has no current production or proved reserves associated with these projects. The sale also will cut Devon’s previously announced 2010 capital budget for the Gulf of Mexico by $400 million.
Devon said last month that it wanted to sell its Gulf of Mexico and international assets. The company estimates that it will receive after-tax proceeds of $4.5 billion to $7.5 billion from the sales, including the one announced Tuesday.
Recession reduces Manhattan rents
Manhattan rents fell as much as 7 percent in the year that ended Dec. 15 as the recession enabled some tenants to live in larger apartments for less.
In buildings attended by doormen, rents for studio apartments dropped 7 percent to an average of $2,247 a month during the 12-month period, according to a report by the Real Estate Group of New York. One-bedroom apartments with doormen fell 5.6 percent to $3,262.
In buildings without doormen, studio apartments fell by 3.8 percent to $1,921, while one-bedrooms in those buildings fell less than 1 percent $2,636.
Business, Pages 28 on 12/23/2009