NEWS IN BRIEF

Thursday, June 13, 2013

Fort Smith chamber chief schedules exit

FORT SMITH - Paul Harvel, chief executive of the Fort Smith Regional Chamber of Commerce, will leave the organization on Dec. 31 after more than 40 years of work at chambers of commerce in Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas.

Succeeding Harvel, 70, will be Tim Allen, current Fort Smith chamber president and chief operating officer, the chamber board announced this week.

Harvel led the Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce for 21 years, before leaving in 2006 to become executive director of the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce.

Harvel also organized a regional economic development alliance in Arkadelphia before joining the Fort Smith Chamber in 2009.

Allen, 51, joined the Fort Smith chamber in 2011 after 11 years as a project manager with the Arkansas Economic Development Commission. He will assume his new duties Jan. 1.

Wal-Mart to fund health-care training

BENTONVILLE - The American Red Cross will train 2,500 students for entry-level health-care careers with help from a $3.5 million grant from the Wal-Mart Foundation, the retailer announced this week.

Participants in the Red Cross’ Nurse Assistant Training program will become certified nurse assistants, known as CNAs - a level of caregiver able to provide basic care such as feeding, dressing, bathing and monitoring patients.

Such assistants can work in long-term care facilities such as nursing homes and assisted living, hospitals and in-home health care.

The Red Cross program also offers the students placement support after graduation.

The grant is the first credential-specific training grant Wal-Mart has awarded as part of its Global Women’s Economic Empowerment Initiative.

The intent of the retailer’s Global Women’s Economic Empowerment Initiative is to help 200,000 U.S. women from low-income households increase their employment opportunities.

Day ends 3.83 lower on Arkansas Index

The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, declined 3.83 to 274.56 Wednesday.

Deltic Timber Corp.

shares fell 2.7 percent to end at $62.85. Home Bancshares Inc. shares declined 2.4 percent to close at $41.18. Windstream Corp.

shares gained 1.5 percent to finish at $8.09. J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc.

shares fell 1.7 percent to close at $71.01.

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 25 on 06/13/2013