LR port's barge work
'very strong' in July
The Port of Little Rock worked 45 barges and handled 70,000 tons of cargo last month, according to Little Rock Port Authority data.
The barge activity was down from June's near-record volume -- 70 barges and 106,000 tons of cargo -- but port officials characterized July activity as "very strong."
Barge activity in the first seven months of 2018 remained well above the pace in the same period last year. The port has worked 312 barges and handled 477,000 tons of cargo through July compared with about 230 barges and 346,000 tons in the year-ago period.
A total of 6,831,401 tons of cargo was transported on the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System through the first seven months of 2018, a 3.4 percent increase compared with the same period last year, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said.
-- Noel Oman
Apply animal-abuse
policy, USDA urged
The Animal Welfare Institute is urging the U.S. Department of Agriculture to follow its animal mistreatment policy more closely, citing more than 50 cases of mistreatment of poultry.
From "Good Commercial Practice" records dated between 2016 and early 2018, the animal protection group deduced that food inspection agency personnel were not following a letter of concern directive, which requires the agency to send a notice of animal mistreatment to appropriate state officials and plant management.
In a letter dated Aug. 9, Dena Jones, director of the institute's Farm Animal Program, said "it is likely that many local and state officials are unaware that [USDA] does not take any enforcement action in response to an egregious instance of bird mistreatment."
According to the group's assessment, records show more than 50 instances where birds were "knowingly mistreated" because of excessive high or low temperatures, lack of food or water, or improper loading practices. Plants with marks against them belonged to Koch Foods, Pilgrim's Pride and Tyson Foods, among others.
-- Nathan Owens
Dillard's gains $3.61
as index sheds 1.14
The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, dropped 1.14 to 450.07 Monday.
Only four issues gained ground, with Dillard's shares advancing $3.61.
"U.S. stock indexes moved lower on Monday as the declining Turkish currency weighed on shares of big U.S. lenders," said Chris Harkins, managing director with Raymond James & Associates in Little Rock.
Total volume for the index was 19.3 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 08/14/2018