Henderson State University will host 88 ninth and tenth graders from local school districts as the second year of an innovative educational opportunity in Clark County begins. The Arkadelphia College Preparatory Acadamy is scheduled to resume classes on Oct. 24 on Henderson’s campus. The program was designed as part of the High School Redesign Initiativeof the Southwest-A Education Renewal Zone and the Arkansas Department of Education.

More must seek degrees, skills training

Mississippi has lost 50,000 jobs in the last two years and it would “need 10 more Nissans to fill the gap,” state economist Phil Pepper said Friday.

“We will see very little increase in employment in the next several years,” he said.

And education will be the key to making the most of the opportunities that are there, Pepper and other speakers said during an economic forum at the Jackson Marriott sponsored by the Mississippi Economic Policy Center, an independent, nonpartisan initiative that analyzes policies.

If enough tax revenues are available, the Clark County Budget and Finance Committee may approve Sheriff David Turner’s request for $215,000 more than what was appropriated for his total budget last year. Turner said he is requesting more for 2010 so that he will not have to go before the committee next year. The committee has, for two years in a row, convened with the sheriff in the fourth quarter to discuss over-budgeting.

The wheels of the Delta Bridge Project continue to turn and seem to continue to improve and revitalize Phillips County and Helena-West Helena. Joe Black, president of Southern Bancorp Capital Partners, in conjunction with the DBP, is seeking action from the Helena-West Helena City Council to declare parts of Downtown Helena a development district.

INDIANOLA, Miss., Oct. 19, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas (FHLB Dallas) today will join Community Bank of North Mississippi, Guaranty Bank and Trust Company, Planters Bank and Trust Co., and Southern Bancorp in announcing $10,000 in Partnership grants that have been awarded to Indianola Main Street.

HELENA — First and always, it’s the music.

The sustaining memory from the annual blues festival over the weekend will be of sitting mesmerized amid a gentle cooling breeze on the Mississippi River levee late Thursday night. Fayetteville’s Cate Brothers, Ernie and Earl and their band mates, flawlessly dished out a quintessentially Arkansas musical stew of blues and mellifluous soul and mild rock and maybe a hint of country.

Arkansas Blues & Heritage Festival officials recently presented Southern Bancorp with a special biscuit platter for their generous donation as the Primary Sponsor of the 2009 AB&HF.

The last payday lender operating a store in Arkansas closed its doors this summer, but Attorney General Dustin McDaniel said that hasn’t stopped predatory lenders from continuing to target Arkansans.

Though it hasn’t filed any lawsuits against them yet, the attorney general’s office has sent about 30 warning letters to so-called payday lenders who have either loaned or offered to loan money to Arkansas residents over the Internet.

Southern Bancorp provided $200,000 grant to help build the B.B. King Museum.

The AT&T* Learning Center at the B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center will be dedicated on Labor Day, Monday, September 7, 2009. The legendary B.B. King will be on hand to join in welcoming local officials, dignitaries, and museum supporters from the Delta and beyond. The day will begin with live music and a music workshop for young people will be held following the ceremony. The Learning Center is the fulfillment of a dream made possible by a $500,000 grant from AT&T*.

Customers who walk into the Bank of Trumann Wednesday will be greeted by the same familiar faces of the bankers they have come to know and trust. However, the name will have changed.

As of Sept. 30, Bank of Trumann officially merged with Southern Bancorp.

Southern Bancorp, which is headquartered in Arkadelphia, is the largest Rural Development Bank in the United States. Southern Bancorp president and CEO Phillip Baldwin was on hand Wednesday to share with the Trumann Lions Club what being a rural development bank is all about.