LITTLE ROCK — Former Alltel president picked for AT&T board
AT&T Inc. has named Scott Ford to its 12-member board of directors.
Ford, the former chief executive officer and president of Alltel Corp. of Little Rock, is a partner with Little Rock-based investment group Westrock Capital Partners LLC and with North Little Rock-based coffee company Westrock Coffee Holdings LLC.
“Scott has extensive telecommunications experience and will be a great addition to our board of directors. His industry expertise and strong strategic focus will add immediate value as AT&T continues to lead the mobile Internet revolution,” AT&T Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Randall Stephenson said in a statement.
Ford will serve on the Dallas-based company’s corporate development and finance and the public policy and corporate reputation committees.
He also serves on the board of First Federal Bancshares of Arkansas Inc.
Toxin in stressed grass kills two cows in state
Two cows - one in White County and the other in Van Buren County - died of prussic acid poisoning, a cyanide compound found in several types of grasses when they are stressed by drought or frost.
“Of all the plants grown in Arkansas, those belonging to the sorghum category are most likely to contain potentially toxic levels,” Tom Troxel, associate head for animal science with the University of Arkansas System Agriculture Department, said Friday. “Grain sorghum contains the most, followed by Johnson grass, sorghum-Sudan hybrids and then pure Sudan grass.”
Troxel said Johnson grass - believed to be responsible for the deaths - may be of most concern since it grows wild and infests many grazing areas.
Symptoms include anxiety, progressive weakness and labored breathing, and death may result if enough of the poison is consumed.
Precautions include not allowing animals to graze drought-damaged plants in any form, regardless of height, within four days after a good rain and not allowing animals to graze wilted plants or plants with young regrowth.
State index leaps 5.96; Acxiom sees 7.4% rise
The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, jumped 5.96 to 227.67 on Friday.
Acxiom gained 7.4 percent in heavy trading.
First Federal Bancshares lost 5.81 percent on average volume.
For the week, 12 stocks were up and four fell.
Murphy climbed 12.8 percent for the week.
Acxiom and Deltic Timber were each up 6.6 percent for the week.
Volume on Friday was 32.4 million shares; the average is 28.1 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 30 on 06/30/2012