Mays, LR tech park officially drop suits
The Little Rock Technology Park Authority and lawyer Richard Mays on Friday dropped their litigation over Mays' building at 415 Main St.
The three-story office building, the home of Mays' law practice for more than 31 years, was the last parcel the authority needed to start on Phase 1 of the $100 million tech park to be built in and adjacent to a city block between Main and Scott streets north of Capitol Avenue.
Mays had rejected the authority's offer, and the tech park made plans to condemn the property. Mays sued the authority first, saying his property would not be used for a "public purpose" and that for the tech park board to sue him would be "an illegal exercise of power." The board then filed a condemnation suit against Mays.
In November, Mays accepted the board's counteroffer of $1.037 million, and the board closed on all of the Phase 1 properties on Monday.
Mays and the board on Friday formally asked Pulaski County Circuit Judge Alice Gray to dismiss their two lawsuits.
-- Scott Morris
2 get seats on board at Windstream Inc.
Windstream Holdings Inc. has appointed two members to its board of directors.
Jeannie H. Diefenderfer, 54, and Larry Laque, 57, qualify as independent board members. Diefenderfer will serve on the governance committee, and Laque will be on the audit committee. The appointments are effective immediately.
Diefenderfer has almost 30 years of experience with Verizon Communications, where she served as senior vice president.
Laque is executive vice president for Discovery Communications Inc. with more than 30 years experience in technical planning and operations.
Windstream also announced that Judy Jones and William Montgomery, board members since 2006, will not stand for re-election in May and will depart the board when their terms expire.
-- David Smith
State index up 4.59; 15 stocks post gains
The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, rose 4.59 to 291.34 Friday.
Fifteen stocks advanced, and three declined.
Murphy Oil gained 5.1 percent in heavy trading.
Windstream fell 3.1 percent in light trading.
For the week, 10 stocks declined and eight advanced.
USA Truck finished up 8.6 percent for the week.
Communications Sales & Leasing fell 16.7 percent for the week.
Total volume for the index was 29.7 million shares.
The index was developed by Bloomberg News and the Democrat-Gazette with a base value of 100 as of Dec. 30, 1997.
Business on 02/13/2016