News in brief

6th Arkansas town gets internet grant

The city of Magazine has been awarded a $1 million grant to create faster internet connections for homes in the Logan County community as part of an initiative to expand broadband access in rural areas of the state, the Arkansas Department of Commerce announced.

The grant was the sixth the department has awarded under its Arkansas Rural Connect broadband grant program. The program received $19.3 million from the $2.2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act to help provide grants to qualifying communities with populations of at least 500.

The high-speed broadband must have a rate of at least 25 megabits per second for download and 3 megabits per second for upload. Magazine and other grant recipients must spend the money by Dec. 30.

The city received the grant as part of a partnership with Magazine Telephone Co.

Grants totaling $7.6 million have been awarded. Other communities receiving grants are Cave City, Fairfield Bay, Lonoke, Nashville and Ozark.

-- Noel Oman

Startup Junkie seeks 60-second pitches

Startup Junkie of Fayetteville is accepting 60-second video pitches from aspiring entrepreneurs for its televised IdeaFame Pitch Competition. Two winners will receive prizes of at least $1,000 to help cover the cost of starting their businesses.

Submissions are due by Sept. 1. Arkansas residents are eligible to enter.

To accommodate social distancing and gathering guidelines, the nonprofit's annual Startup Crawl will instead be a virtual Startup Week this year, said Caleb Talley, Startup Junkie's director of marketing and events. The rest of the week's events will be announced soon, he said.

In their videos, contestants have up to 60 seconds to explain their ideas for new businesses, products or services. Videos should be emailed to [email protected].

The video pitches will air Sept. 14 on Fayetteville Public Television. The interactive program will let viewers vote for their favorite contestant, who will win one of the prizes.

Startup Junkie helps small-business owners apply for loans made through crowdfunding platform Kiva Northwest Arkansas.

-- Serenah McKay

State index picks up 2.57, ends at 440.50

The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, closed Wednesday at 440.50, up 2.57.

"Equities rallied through the day and briefly traded above the S&P 500 closing record high from Feb. 19 as the Nasdaq Composite outperformed other averages, with the information technology and health care sectors regaining favor with investors," said Leon Lants, managing director at Stephens Inc.

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

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