News in brief

CJRW begins move to Creative Corridor

Marketing, public relations and advertising agency CJRW has begun moving from its longtime home at 303 W. Capitol Ave. to its new digs in the former home of Bennett's Military Supplies, 300 Main St. The Third and Main streets location is at one end of what is being branded as downtown Little Rock's Creative Corridor, the 300-700 blocks of Main Street.

Richard McKeown, CJRW's senior vice president and chief public relations officer, said the company will open for business in the three-story building Monday. The company is leasing the space from Terraforma LLC, a real estate development firm in Maumelle.

Cranford Co., whose principals include three former CJRW executives, is expected to move into ground-floor space in the nearby Main Street Lofts building by the end of this month, said partner Jay Cranford.

Grain-trading rules emerge from panel

A subcommittee of the state Plant Board approved a measure Monday to regulate how farmers and businesses sell and buy grain in the state.

The board's Public Grain Warehouse Committee approved a draft of the regulation. Darryl Little, Plant Board director, said the subcommittee will recommend the draft to the board Wednesday.

Little said he expects the regulations will go through a public hearing in early September.

The rules would create a paper trail when farmers sell goods to a buyer. The change comes after Turner Grain Merchandising Inc. of Brinkley went bankrupt last year, costing farmers tens of millions of dollars.

Grain buyers, under the regulations, would be required to show they have the financial capacity to carry out a transaction, unless they are already licensed under the Arkansas Public Grain Warehouse Law and the United States Warehouse Act. The regulations also tighten record-keeping requirements.

Index ekes out gain as stocks fall overall

The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, gained 0.75 to 366.40 Monday.

"The major averages slid lower yet closed off the session lows as optimism arose in anticipation of [today's] emergency summit of European Union leaders after the ouster of the confrontational Greek finance minister," said Bob Williams, senior vice president and managing director of Simmons First Investment Group Inc. in Little Rock.

P.A.M. Transportation, America's Car-Mart, USA Truck and Bear State Financial bucked the broad market trend with gains of 2.2 percent to 3.8 percent, Williams said.

The index was developed by Bloomberg News and the Democrat-Gazette with a base value of 100 as of Dec. 30, 1997.

Business on 07/07/2015

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