News in brief

Truck group's brief backs electronic log

The Trucking Alliance has filed a brief supporting the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, which is being sued by the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association over a federal rule requiring drivers to keep track of their hours of service with an electronic logging device.

The advocacy group, which includes Arkansas companies J.B. Hunt and Maverick USA and is led by former Arkansas Trucking Association President Lane Kidd, filed the brief with the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals this week.

It states electronic logging devices are critical to the transportation industry's "commitment to improving highway safety by adopting new technologies," according to attorney R. Jay Taylor Jr., who is representing the Trucking Alliance.

The Independent Drivers Association filed a lawsuit in March saying the federal mandate was a violation of the Fourth Amendment. The association also claims the mandate does not "advance safety, is arbitrary and capricious."

The rule was finalized late last year and is scheduled to take effect in December 2017.

-- Robbie Neiswanger

State GDP up 1.7% in 2015's 4th period

Arkansas' gross domestic product was $124.8 billion in the fourth quarter of 2015, a 1.7 percent increase over $122.8 billion in the same period of 2014, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis said.

The gross domestic product is the value of all goods and services produced in a state or country.

The U.S. gross domestic product was $18 trillion in the fourth quarter last year.

Of the 12 states in the southeast region -- Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia -- Arkansas' GDP ranked 10th in the fourth quarter last year, ahead of Mississippi with $108.4 billion and West Virginia with $73.5 billion.

-- David Smith

Bank stocks surge as index gains 5.71

The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, jumped 5.71 to 328.63 Thursday.

All but one stock in the index gained ground.

Bank stocks were among the state's best performers.

Home BancShares jumped 4.5 percent, Bank of the Ozarks was up 4.2 percent, Simmons First National climbed 3.3 percent and Bear State Financial rose 2.8 percent.

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

Business on 06/24/2016

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