LITTLE ROCK — QUOTE OF THE DAY
“We’re finally seeing a more sustained and broad-based improvement in home prices.”
Millan Mulraine,
senior U.S. strategist for TD Securities Article, 1D
State scores small-business funds
Arkansas will receive $320,358 from the U.S. Small Business Administration, part of a broader $30 million distributed nationwide, to support efforts to increase exporting by small businesses.
The State Trade and Export Promotion initiative began last year as part of the Small Business Jobs Act. Arkansas received $576,000 last year under the first phase of the project.
Dan Hendrix, president and chief executive officer of The World Trade Center Arkansas, located in Rogers and part of the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, said 24 small to medium-sized companies took advantage of the funding last year. He said the money will be used to reimburse small businesses for various expenses used to increase foreign trade and exporting such as attending trade shows and foreign trade missions.
- John Magsam
IRS eases on drought livestock sales
Farmers and ranchers forced to sell livestock because of the drought that struck Arkansas and much of the nation’s Midwest now have extra time to replace the livestock and defer tax on any gains from the forced sales, the Internal Revenue Service said Tuesday.
The IRS said the one-year extension applies to capital gains realized on sales of draft, dairy or breeding livestock that were necessary because of the drought. Other livestock sales, such as those raised for slaughter and poultry, are ineligible.
The relief will apply to any farm or ranch in any county, parish, city or district listed as suffering from exceptional, extreme or severe drought by the National Drought Mitigation Center between Sept. 1, 2011, and Aug. 31, 2012.
The designation, which covers all or parts of 43 states, includes all 75 Arkansas counties.
More information about the extension is available in IRS Notice 2012-62, which was posted Tuesday at IRS.gov.
- Glen Chase
Medline plans center in Maumelle
Medline Industries Inc. of Mundelein, Ill., a privately held manufacturer and distributor of medical and surgical supplies, plans to open a distribution center in Maumelle next spring, the firm said.
Construction is expected to begin on the 100,000 square-foot facility this fall. The facility will service Medline’s health-care customers, including hospitals, nursing homes, surgery centers and home-care agencies in Arkansas.
The center initially will hire 10 to 15 employees, Medline said Monday.
The distribution center will be Medline’s 37th in the United States. It will be Maumelle’s first Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design building, said Maumelle Mayor Mike Watson.
- David Smith
American wants to talk, pilots say
DALLAS - A pilots’ union said Tuesday that American Airlines senior Vice President Denise Lynn wrote to the union asking to resume negotiations on a new labor contract.
Pilots are angry that American set new pay and work rules, which could lead to outsourcing more flying to other airlines.
American has been plagued by cancellations and delays since a federal bankruptcy judge let the airline throw out the pilots’ old contract this month.
In Arkansas, the most recent reported cancellation was one American Eagle flight at Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport on Sunday for a mechanical issue. Matt Miller, an American Airlines spokesman, said in an e-mail Tuesday that there were no other cancellations in the state and none were planned.
Allied Pilots Association spokesman Gregg Overman said the union board will meet today, and there’s no timetable yet for resuming contract talks.
- Staff and wire reports
Guilty, ex-Olympus chief tells court
TOKYO - Olympus Corp.’s former president Tsuyoshi Kikukawa admitted guilt Tuesday in a cover-up of huge investment losses at the Japanese camera and medical equipment maker.
The scandal emerged last year when Michael Woodford, the British chief executive who turned whistleblower, raised questions about payments for financial advice and dubious acquisitions. Woodford was later fired.
“There is no mistake. The entire responsibility lies with me,” Kikukawa said during the opening session of the high-profile court trial.
Tokyo prosecutors have charged the company, Kikukawa and other officials, arrested February, with violating laws regulating securities exchanges by falsifying company financial statements.
Two other former senior Olympus executives also pleaded guilty Tuesday, and the company’s new president, Hiroyuki Sasa, entered a guilty plea on behalf of the company.
The former executives face up to 10 years in prison, a $128,000 fine, or both. The company can be penalized with a fine of up to $9 million.
Olympus has said it hid $1.5 billion in investment losses dating to the 1990s.
- The Associated PressNo Google Maps yet for iPhone5
Apple Inc.’s iPhone 5 customers won’t be getting Google Inc.’s map application on their new devices anytime soon.
Google has yet to take any steps to offer new map software for the phone, Chairman Eric Schmidt said Tuesday.
Apple, which had previously installed Google Maps on the iPhone before it shipped to users, replaced the feature with its own application in the latest model of the handset.
Google Maps isn’t currently offered in Apple’s App Store, and Apple’s new maps program has come under criticism from reviewers, who have said it doesn’t provide directions for public transportation and sometimes gets confused when navigating. Apple built its own mapping app amid a growing battle with Google, which had provided its Google Maps program since the iPhone was introduced in 2007.
The fallout from the feud extends beyond mapping.
Customers also won’t find Google’s YouTube application preinstalled on the iPhone for the first time since 2007.
Business, Pages 26 on 09/26/2012