2 state airports to get
safety-repairs grants
The Federal Aviation Administration will give two state airports a total of $277,655 to improve safety conditions for plane landing and taxiing.
The Lake Village Municipal Airport was awarded $77,350, and the Stuttgart Municipal/Carl Humphrey Field in Ulm will get $200,315, according to an FAA document.
Airport project engineer Joey Wallace said Friday that the Lake Village airport will use some of its grant to pave drainage ditches along the taxiway toward the ramp.
Two navigational towers will also be replaced, he said, adding that they have been standing since the airport was built in the 1960s.
One of the towers is called a wind cone. The large, orange cone helps pilots determine the direction of the wind during landing. Airport staff said the other tower is so old that is has become dangerous to repair, causing the beacon atop it to be unreliable, and that is troublesome for nighttime landing.
The Stuttgart airport will use its grant money to fix some of its runway guide lights, Wallace said.
-- Dalton LeFerney
18-wheeler orders
jump 39% in June
A rebound in June of long-haul truck orders has analysts and economists scratching their heads.
Companies nationwide ordered 18,100 Class 8 trucks, the big 18-wheelers used for long distance and high-volume shipments, a 39 percent increase from the same month last year, and up 1,200 units from May 2017.
Kenny Vieth, president and senior analyst for ACT Research, said the uptick is a sign of consumer confidence following the election of President Donald Trump, who has called for renegotiations of trade deals and increased infrastructure funding.
The orders are coming from smaller companies, not the large companies that usually order in the fourth quarter, in preparation for the upcoming year.
With so much volatility in retail markets -- including high inventory rates -- Vieth said he and his colleagues were "surprised by the strength" of the Class 8 orders.
-- Dalton LeFerney
State's index up 1.98;
13 stocks post gains
The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, gained 1.98 to 338.15 Friday.
Thirteen stocks advanced and five declined.
ArcBest shares rose 4.1 percent in light trading.
For the week, 12 stocks fell and six were up.
ArcBest had the best week, rising 4.9 percent.
Total volume for the index was 17.5 million shares. The average daily volume for the week was 17.2 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 07/08/2017