News in brief

Arkansans urge U.S to back disaster aid

Arkansas' congressional delegation on Thursday asked the federal government to support a disaster-declaration request for 12 counties hit the hardest by up to two weeks of steady rainfall in August.

Gov. Asa Hutchinson recently asked for the disaster aid. U.S. Sens. John Boozman and Tom Cotton and U.S. Reps. Rick Crawford, French Hill, Steve Womack and Bruce Westerman asked U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack to approve the request.

The Arkansas House and Senate committees on agriculture, forestry and economic development committees voted Thursday to send similar letters.

The University of Arkansas System's Agriculture Division recently said in a study that the heavy rains in August caused at least $46.4 million in crop losses, especially to rice, cotton and soybeans. Farmers in Lawrence, Craighead and Randolph counties were hit the hardest when the Black River and its tributaries overflowed at the start of harvest.

Carroll, Clay, Independence, Jackson, Lincoln, Madison, Prairie, White and Woodruff counties also were cited in the delegation's request.

-- Stephen Steed

CARTI's bond rating downgraded by Fitch

Fitch Ratings has downgraded the rating on revenue bonds for Little Rock's Central Arkansas Radiation Therapy Institute, better known as CARTI.

The rating on the 2013 $49 million bonds was dropped from BBB+ to BBB- by the Chicago-based ratings service.

The downgrade was prompted by CARTI's third-consecutive year of missing operating targets.

Based on unaudited figures for fiscal 2016, which ended June 30, CARTI had an operating loss of $7.8 million compared with an anticipated $2.3 million in operating income.

CARTI had a 4.2 percent operating loss in fiscal 2015.

CARTI is expected to miss its fiscal 2016 debt service covenant requirement.

-- David Smith

2 stocks hit highs as index rises 2.72

The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, gained 2.72 to 338.82 Thursday.

"U.S. stocks continued to climb Thursday, extending Wednesday's gains after the Federal Reserve's decision to hold rates steady," said John Blackwell, senior vice president and managing director of equity trading at Stephens Inc. in Little Rock.

Shares of Acxiom and Windstream hit 52-week highs.

Total volume for the index was 20.4 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 09/23/2016

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