NEWS IN BRIEF

— LR to get seasonal nonstop flights

Southwest Airlines will offer nonstop flights between Little Rock and Orlando, Fla., between Feb. 15 and April 13, according to a news release from Bill and Hillary Clinton Little Rock National Airport/Adams Field.

The seasonal service is timed to coincide with spring break for students, the release said. Fare information wasn’t released but the flights are listed at southwest.com.

“We’re very fortunate that Southwest is giving us a trial to test service into Orlando,” airport spokesman Shane Carter said in an e-mail. “If the route performs well, the airline may offer the service again seasonally for spring break 2014 or possibly add it permanently.”

There is no other seasonal service at the airport, Carter said.

  • Jack Weatherly

Wal-Mart is focus

of university study

A collaboration between University of Arkansas and University of South Carolina researchers is examining Wal-Mart Stores Inc.’s sustainability efforts through the Walmart Sustainability Case Project, according to a news release Tuesday.

The project is a teaching tool, but the data can be used to help understand the choices and obstacles faced when a company adopts a sustainability strategy, researchers for both schools said in the release.

Based on interviews with 25 company employees, the researchers are looking at elements of the Bentonville-based company’s seven year sustainability plan and plan to identify specific decision points of the company’s efforts.

David Hyatt, a clinical assistant professor at UA’s Sam M. Walton College of Business in Fayetteville, and Andrew Spicer, an associate professor at the University of South Carolina, are directing the project.

The case studies are open for public viewing, and some are available at sustainabilitycases.kenexcloud.org/about.

  • John Magsam Arkansas Index

up 2.07 to 248.53

The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, rose 2.07 to 248.53 Tuesday.

“Despite concerns about approaching the edge of the fiscal cliff, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 115 points, achieving back-to-back triple-digit point gains for the first time since July,” said Bob Williams, senior vice president and managing director of Delta Trust Investments Inc. in Little Rock.

Murphy Oil gained 2.4 percent, while P.A.M.

Transportation Services lost 3.7 percent.

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 28 on 12/19/2012

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