NEWS IN BRIEF

— Arkansas joins probe of Google Street View

Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel said Thursday that he’s joining other attorneys general nationwide to investigate Google Inc.’s “unauthorized collection of data” over wireless computer networks.

Software used in the company’s Street View program gathered information such as Web-browsing histories, passwords and emails, a release from the attorney general’s office said.

Arkansas is one of 38 states in the investigation.

Google has said it collected the data by mistake, the release said.

But states in the investigation say that the company’s response to a letter in May from Connecticut’s attorney general “raises more questions” about Google Street View. Google’s initial response, the release said, didn’t fully account for how the mistake occurred.

McDaniel’s office is especially concerned about whether Google sold or “otherwise disclosed” the information.

“Businesses and families need to be confident that information transmitted over wireless networks remains private,” McDaniel said in the release.

Mortgage firm, state accept consent order

The Arkansas Securities Department and WR Starkey Mortgage, along with two of its officers, have agreed to a consent order involving improper mortgage-lending activity.

Starkey Mortgage is based in Plano, Texas, with Arkansas offices in Texarkana and Nashville.

Jason James Cree, a loan officer, and Robert Edwin Stavely, a manager, were not licensed during 2009 under the rules of the Arkansas Fair Mortgage Lending Act, the Securities Department said.

During 2009, Cree and Stavely accepted a total of 129 mortgage-loan applications while they were unlicensed, the department said.

Starkey Mortgage, which did not admit or deny the allegations, agreed to pay a $20,000 fine to the Securities Department. In addition, Cree must pay a $5,000 fine and Stavely a $1,000 fine.

Arkansas Index soars 5.60 on U.S. bounce

The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, climbed 5.60 to 173.25 Thursday.

“U.S. stocks bounced back in a big way from Wednesday’s selloff as the market shook off economic uncertainty and embraced a batch of positive earnings reports,” said John Blackwell, senior vice president and managing director of equity trading at Stephens Inc. in Little Rock.

Deltic Timber jumped 7.5 percent on double its average volume, while Acxiom rose 6.1 percent.

Volume was 23.9 million shares; the average is 29.1 million.

The index was developed by Bloomberg News and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette with a base value of 100 as of Dec. 30, 1997.

Business, Pages 25 on 07/23/2010

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