Jan 12, 2010 | News
When Clarksdale’s Delta Wire plant closed a few months ago it was like having a bucket of cold water thrown in the face of the community, according to Pete Johnson of the Delta Regional Authority. The closing took 79 good paying jobs with no replacement jobs in sight.
“That was a wake-up call,” he says. “After that, I called a meeting and started a business group and invited more people. The last time we met we had 65 people there with some of them at opposite ends of local politics. We had many segments.”
Jan 8, 2010 | News
Following the holiday season and as cold, wintry weather settles in, many Arkansans find themselves facing tough financial situations. Entergy Arkansas, Inc. is offering help to customers whose income may be stretched.
Approximately 20 to 25 percent of Entergy’s 2.7 million customers need government assistance to survive. The latest poverty report released by the U. S. Census showed that the number of Americans living in poverty was the highest since 1997. The four states that Entergy serves were in the top nine with the highest statewide poverty rates. Arkansas ranked fifth.
Dec 31, 2009 | News
Arkadelphia, Ark. –
Though all of Arkadelphia’s city directors support the purchase of the Royal Theatre, two directors oppose how the administration is proposing the city pay for it.
A crowd of about 30 people, most of them Southern Bancorp employees, attended a special meeting Thursday morning in the Town Hall Boardroom, where a full quorum of board directors gave their input on a bond issuance.
In its last regular meeting, the board passed an “intent resolution,” 4-1, for the intent of issuing $2.6 million in new bonds for construction and refinancing the city’s 2003 bond.
Dec 31, 2009 | News
Arkadelphia, Ark. –
U.S. Congressman Mike Ross, center, cuts a ribbon to recognize the re-paving of Skyline Drive. Ross was accompanied by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers officials; County Judge Ron Daniell; Arkadelphia Mayor Chuck Hollingshead, left; Caddo Valley Mayor Alan Dillavou, right; Bill Wright, president of Southern Bancorp…
Dec 31, 2009 | News
Arkadelphia, Ark. –
2000
Arkadelphia city officials and Water Utilities employees moved into the newly constructed Town Hall in November, despite a “few things” that had yet to be finished. The old city hall, adjacent to where Fire Department Station 1 is now, was later torn down.
The veteran memorial was placed on the north lawn of the Clark County Courthouse.
The City of Amity constructed a new City Hall.
Dec 31, 2009 | News
2009 – the year in review
Local manufacturing plant Delta Wire announced on Aug. 6 that it would be shutting down operations effective immediately. Clarksdale Plant Manager Gary Downey attributed the plant’s closing to the general nationwide economic downturn and a drop in tire sales. 76 employees lost their jobs as a result of the plant closing.
A week later, in response to the Delta Wire closing, District 26 Rep. Chuck Espy called a meeting with local politicians and businessmen to discuss the future of Clarksdale without Delta Wire.
Dec 30, 2009 | News
Shawnie Carrier, executive director of the Arkadelphia Regional Economic Development Alliance, left and Connie Nelson, executive director of the Arkadelphia Area Chamber of Commerce, chat with Southern Bancorp employees Carrie Price, third from left, and Carrie Roberson, far right, during an Open House Thursday.
Dec 28, 2009 | News
Bob Moore, publisher of Carroll County News and the Lovely County Citizen is among three nominees in the county for 2010 Henry Awards, presented annually by the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism. Opera in the Ozarks and the Eureka Springs Parks and Recreation Commission are the county’s other nominees.
Dec 15, 2009 | News
The Southern Good Faith Fund issued a call Monday for the state to find more money to help match low-income Arkansans’ college savings.
Mike Leach, the fund’s public policy director, said the “Aspiring Scholars” program is growing and the current state funds aren’t enough to sustain the matches.
Dec 14, 2009 | News
The Aspiring Scholars Matching Grant Program showed a successful first year helping Arkansans save for college, according to a report released today by Southern Good Faith Funds Public Policy program.
Aspiring Scholars was authorized by the Arkansas Legislature under Act 597 of 2007. The program offers an incentive, in the form of a savings match, for low- and moderate-income Arkansas families to save for their childrens’ college education using the GIFT College Investment Plan. The GIFT Plan is Arkansas 529 college savings plan.
