Group based in state buys Baxter Bulletin
The Baxter Bulletin, based in Mountain Home, has been sold by the Gannett Co. to an Arkansas-based media group, the newspaper announced Thursday.
Terms of the sale to Phillips Media Group, based in Harrison, were not disclosed and includes Gannett publications in the Missouri towns of Joplin, Rolla, Kirksville and La Plata. The sale is expected to close on Sept. 1.
The sale includes the downtown building that has been the Bulletin's headquarters since 1984, the newspaper said. The newspaper was founded in 1901.
Gannett, based in Virginia, has owned the Bulletin since 1976. Gannett in the past two years also has sold its newspapers in Pine Bluff, Helena-West Helena and Hot Springs Village. Gannett also owned the Arkansas Gazette, from 1986 to 1991, before selling that paper and its assets to WEHCO Media, publisher of what is now the Democrat-Gazette.
Phillips Media Group, which also owns the Harrison Daily Times and the Newton County Times, was founded by Rupert E. Phillips. It also owns nine newspapers in Missouri, not including the publications involved in the deal with Gannett, and one in Illinois.
-- Stephen Steed
Ex-governor linked to solar-farm plan
MEMPHIS -- A startup company co-founded by former Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen is funding a new, 1 million-watt solar farm in the city of Jackson.
The company, named Clearloop, plans to break ground on the solar farm on Sept. 2, according to a news release issued by the startup. The farm will provide enough energy to power 200 homes, the company said.
The groundbreaking event will include a virtual reality experience, barbecue and ice cream.
"We will also invite members of the public to bury a time capsule to signify all of the things we want to make a relic of the past, including carbon," Clearloop said.
Bredesen, a Democrat, served as Tennessee's governor from 2003 to 2011. He lost a U.S. Senate race to Republican Marsha Blackburn in 2018.
Clearloop said it works with companies "to reclaim their carbon footprint and expand access to clean energy" by building solar farms.
Jackson is about 85 miles east of Memphis.
-- The Associated Press
Arkansas Index rises 9.41, ends at 663.67
The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, closed Friday at 663.67, up 9.41.
Shares of Rogers-based America's Car-Mart fell about 20% this week despite the company's first-quarter 2022 earnings report Tuesday that beat analysts expectations. The used-car company saw shares level out on Thursday and Friday, with declines of around 1% to 2%.
The index was developed by Bloomberg News and the Democrat-Gazette with a base value of 100 as of Dec. 30, 1997.