QUOTE OF THE DAY
“It appears that the modest growth of the economy is continuing to support modest improvement in labor market conditions.”
Jim Baird, Plante Moran Financial Advisors chief investment officer Article, 1D
Pool-flood suit seeks $453,268 for hotel
TB Little Rock LLC has filed a lawsuit in Pulaski County Circuit Court seeking damages of $453,268.41 from Nabholz Construction Corp. for what it says was a Nabholz mistake that caused flooding from a third-floor swimming pool at the Doubletree Hotel at 424 W. Markham St.
Nabholz was hired to install a pool filter, which entailed the disconnecting and reconnecting of PVC pipes to the filter. The company used a rubber coupling to reconnect the pipes instead of using a PVC coupling, as it should have, according to the suit.
The work was done in late April 2011. In June 2011 the rubber coupling separated from the filter, the suit states, resulting in “substantial flooding and water-related damages to the first, second and third floors.”
Nabholz did not immediately respond to a voice mail message left about the suit, which was filed Wednesday.
Poultry group’s new hub honors Tysons
The Poultry Federation, a trade association representing the poultry-and-egg industry in Arkansas, Missouri and Oklahoma, on Thursday announced the opening of the Don & Randal Tyson Conference Center as part of its new building at 321 S.
Victory St. in Little Rock.
The center will be used for industry-related meetings and will be available to legislators and other policymakers. It is named in honor of the late Don Tyson, the former chairman of Tyson Foods Inc. of Springdale, and the late Randal Tyson, Don’s half brother, who was a Tyson Foods vice president and served a term as president of the Poultry Federation.
The announcement was made by Marvin Childers, president of the Poultry Federation, and John Tyson, chairman of Tyson Foods.
“The poultry industry is a huge economic engine in Arkansas’ Economy,” Childers said in a news release. “Poultry cash receipts of $3.6 billion [annually] represent 47 percent of total cash receipts from all agricultural commodities in Arkansas. Our industry accounts for one in four agricultural jobs in Arkansas and we are the only state to rank in the top 10 in chicken, turkey and egg production.”
- Steve Painter
UA study says hybrid rice more lucrative
Farmers who grow hybrid rice often get higher financial returns than those who grow conventional varieties, according to a pair of researchers at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville.
Lawton Lanier Nalley, associate professor of agricultural economics, and research assistant Nathaniel Lyman concluded that hybrid rice cultivars have significant yield advantages over the best-performing conventional alternatives, the researchers said in a news release Thursday.
“Evidenced by the the price discount scenario, attempts to curb hybrid adoptions to preserve the status quo will probably lead to large, statewide revenue losses,” the researchers said in a news release.
Hybrid milling yields were the same, and in some cases better, than those of conventional varieties, the researchers said.
The researchers compared the economic risks and returns of three popular hybrid varieties with eight conventional varieties grown in Arkansas. The findings were published in Agronomy Journal, a publication of the American Society of Agronomy.
Kentucky offers Toyota $146.5 million
Toyota Motor Corp., the world’s biggest automaker, is being offered $146.5 million in tax incentives by Kentucky to expand a plant that’s already the company’s largest in North America.
The Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority approved the package Wednesday, based on Toyota enlarging its auto-assembly factory in Georgetown by 2015 to produce an additional model. The Toyota City, Japan-based company would have to invest $531.2 million and add 570 full-time jobs to receive the full value of the credits, the agency said in a statement.
“Securing this significant investment in Georgetown, Kentucky would be a huge economic development victory,” Mandy Lambert, a spokesman for the Kentucky agency, said in a separate statement.
Mike Goss, a spokesman for Toyota’s North American manufacturing unit, said the company hasn’t yet decided to expand
the factory, but a production announcement is expected today.
Tesco set to check out of U.S. market
LONDON - After six years of fruitless attempts, the supermarket chain Tesco said Wednesday that its withdrawal from the United States would come at a big cost.
Tesco has yet to decide how to exit the U.S. market, where it set up the Fresh & Easy convenience stores in 2007, but said the move would cost $1.8 billion. Some analysts have said the withdrawal, which was expected, came after the British chain misjudged U.S. consumer habits.
”With profound and rapid change in the way consumers live their lives, our objective is to be the best multichannel retailer for customers,” the company’s chief executive, Philip Clarke, said in a statement. “Our focus now is on disciplined and targeted investment in those markets with significant growth potential and the opportunity to deliver strong returns.”
Clarke started a review of Tesco’s businesses more than a year ago, scaling back operations overseas to focus on its struggling business at home. Large investments abroad over the past decade, including in Asia, proved expensive and less successful than hoped. At the same time, sales struggled in Britain.
30-year mortgage rate falls to 3.41%
WASHINGTON - Average U.S. rates on fixed mortgages fell closer this week to their historic lows, making owning a home more affordable and refinancing more attractive.
Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said the average rate for the 30-year fixed loan dipped to 3.41 percent from 3.43 percent last week. That’s not far from the 3.31 percent rate reached in November, which was the lowest on records dating back to 1971.
The average rate on the 15-year fixed mortgage slipped to 2.64 percent from 2.65 percent the previous week. That nearly matches the record low of 2.63 percent, also reached in November.
To calculate average mortgage rates, Freddie Mac, the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp., surveys lenders across the country on Monday through Wednesday each week. The average doesn’t include extra fees, known as points, which most borrowers must pay to get the lowest rates. One point equals 1 percent of the loan amount.
The average fee for 30-year mortgages fell 0.1 to 0.7 point.
The fee for 15-year loans held steady at 0.7 point.
Business, Pages 26 on 04/19/2013