NEWS IN BRIEF

June home sales up 4 percent over 2012

Home sales in Arkansas rose 4 percent in June compared with last year, the Arkansas Realtors Association said in a report released Friday.

There were 2,453 homes sold in June, up from 2,359 in June 2012.

Pulaski County Realtors sold 440 homes last month, up 8.6 percent from June 2012. There were 420 homes sold in Benton County, a 17.3 percent increase.

For the first six months of the year, home sales were up 8.9 percent. There were 12,762 homes sold in the first half of the year, up from 11,723 for the same period last year.

Home sales in Benton County totaled 2,152 for the first half of the year, eight more than Pulaski County’s 2,144.

Home prices in the 43-county area surveyed by the Realtors Association were up 4.1 percent in June compared with a year earlier. The average home price in the state last month was $167,455.

Pulaski County had the highest average home price last month at $209,542, up 11.1 percent. Benton County homes averaged $191,403 in June.

• David Smith

Cherokee Nation nets contract with DEA

Cherokee Nation Technology Solutions earned a five-year, $17.5 million contract with the Drug Enforcement Administration, according to a news release Friday by the Cherokee Nation.

The deal is for services, including professional, technical and administrative support to DEA offices across the U.S. The contract lists more than 100 labor categories including program management, information technology, human resources, security and quality assurance.

A spokesman said this is the first time the company has done business with the DEA. Cherokee Nation Technology Solutions is based in Catoosa, Okla., and employs about 300.

The company is part of the Cherokee Nation Businesses family of companies and is wholly owned by the Cherokee Nation.

• John Magsam

Arkansas index falls 0.31 in light trading

The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, fell 0.31 to 290.29 Friday.

Winners and losers were evenly divided.

P.A.M. Transportation Services jumped 5.3 percent on 38 times its normal trading volume. Deltic Timber fell 2.8 percent in light trading.

For the week, nine stocks advanced and seven declined. P.A.M. Transportation gained 4.1 percent for the week. Dillard’s lost 1 percent this week.

Volume for the index was 13.2 million shares Friday, compared with average daily volume of 18.2 million shares. The index was developed by Bloomberg News and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette with a base value of 100 as of Dec. 30, 1997.