Author

Wesley Brown

Little Rock native Wesley Brown has more than 40 years of experience in the news industry as a financial and political journalist. Most recently, Brown oversaw the editorial and advertising operations of the Daily Record as publisher of Arkansas’ oldest weekly business publication. Brown also seeks to broaden the news perspective in Central Arkansas, and mentors budding journalists. Wesbro Communications LLC, a media relations and publishing firm Brown started in 2008, owns and operates Arkansas Black Vitality magazine and online news platforms, BlackConsumerNews.com and ArkansasDeltaInformer.com. Brown started his career in the late 1980s as one of the first Black journalists at the Tulsa World, where he was part of the award-winning staff that covered the Oklahoma City bombing. He also gained national recognition for his reporting on the global consolidation of the oil industry. He covered OPEC and global oil conglomerates in the 1990s as the chief energy correspondent for Bridge News and Reuters business newswires. Brown became the business editor for the Stephens Media newspaper in Fayetteville after leaving Reuters. He later joined Stephens’ Arkansas News Bureau in Little Rock as senior business and financial reporter while also covering politics at the State Capitol. Today, Brown is a frequent political and business news analyst on Arkansas Week with Steve Barnes and KARN and hosts a weekly news talk show on KABF FM. His reporting on corporate news, the energy industry and the stock market has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Reuters, and Dow Jones international newswire.

Republican Sen. Jonathan Dismang of Searcy (at lectern) gestures toward Sen. David Wallace (R-Leachville) as Dismang presents Senate Bill 295 on Tuesday, March 7, 2023. The bill will establish new financial rules for utility customers who sell excess solar-generated electricity to the grid maintained by large utilities. (Photo by Wesley Brown/Arkansas Advocate)

Arkansas Senate passes amended net metering after companion bill stalls on House floor

By: Wesley Brown - March 7, 2023

A thrice-amended bill that opponents say would upend the state’s burgeoning solar industry easily passed the Arkansas Senate on Tuesday. Senate Bill 295, sponsored by Sen. Jonathan Dismang (R-Searcy), passed on a vote of 24-9 and was immediately sent to the House, where a twin bill awaits on the lower chamber’s floor that will likely […]

Rep. David Whitaker and Farmington School District officials smile for a photo beside a giant entegrity solar lightswitch

Bill sponsors, stakeholders reach compromise on Arkansas solar legislation

By: Wesley Brown - February 22, 2023

A press release mentioned in this story came from the Arkansas Advanced Energy Association. An editing error in an earlier version of the article gave an incorrect name. After a testy all-day hearing on an amended bill opponents say would kill Arkansas’ burgeoning solar industry, sponsors of House Bill 1370 reached late-hour agreement that is […]

Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders has directed Attorney General Tim Griffin (right) to appeal the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's rejection of Arkansas' plan for dealing with air emissions that affect ozone levels in neighboring states. She made the announcement at an Arkansas Electric Cooperative power plant near Wrightsville. (Wesley Brown/Arkansas Advocate)

Arkansas files federal lawsuit against EPA over Arkansas’ rejected ozone plan

By: Wesley Brown - February 16, 2023

The Natural State’s dirty air problems are causing another beef between Gov. Sarah Sanders and the Biden administration. During a 20-minute news conference at the Oswald Generating Station in Wrightsville, owned by the Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corp., Sanders announced that she asked state Attorney General Tim Griffin to file a federal lawsuit against the Biden […]

Workers install solar power modules for producing electricity on the roof of a house in Wessling, Germany. The German government introduced a feed-in tariff with its Renewable Energy Act in 2000 that guarantees homeowners a minimum rate for selling electricity from renewable energy sources into the nation's electricity grid. (Photo by Alexandra Beier/Getty Images)

Legislation threatens to hamstring Arkansas’ rooftop solar expansion

By: Wesley Brown - February 9, 2023

Arkansas’ major electricity companies favor proposed legislation that likely would end the state’s boom in rooftop solar generation. Renewable energy advocates counter that such efforts will dismantle consumer-friendly policies put in place by the Legislature only four years ago. Introduced Wednesday by Rep. Lanny Fite, R-Benton, House Bill 1370 would end the state’s current policy […]

Local residents gather at Fayetteville's The Commons Bar & Café in Northwest Arkansas, one of the nation’s fastest-growing metropolitan areas, according to recent census data. (Photo credit: Northwest Arkansas Council)

Migration to NW Arkansas fuels state’s population growth in 2022

By: Wesley Brown - January 31, 2023

BENTONVILLE, Ark. – Jasmine Hudson never thought she would be a long-term Arkansas resident after moving to the Bentonville area to take a job with Walmart Inc. The Tennessee State University graduate joined the Arkansas retail giant nearly a decade ago. She left the company during the COVID-19 pandemic to start her own business with […]

Arkansas energy stakeholders begin talks on new net-metering compensation bill

By: Wesley Brown - January 18, 2023

Negotiations have begun on legislation intended to give Arkansas residential solar energy users extra cash on any excess power generation that goes into the energy grid. Under HB 1047, filed Jan. 3, so-called “net-metering” retail customers in Arkansas would be compensated for any excess solar generation. For residential utility customers with solar panels or other […]

Gov. Asa Hutchinson and Arkansas Department of Commerce Secretary Mike Preston speak to reporters via video conference during a trade visit to Japan and China in late 2015. (Photo by Wesley Brown)

Hutchinson hands over job-recruiting legacy to the Sanders administration

By: Wesley Brown - January 9, 2023

Gov. Asa Hutchinson and his right-hand man Mike Preston ended the popular Republican governor’s eight-year tenure in office the same way they started: hunting for new jobs to grow the state’s 1.3 million-plus worker labor pool. Four days before leaving office, Hutchinson and Preston held their last press conference on Jan. 6 at the local […]

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (left) and Sen. Jonathan Dismang (R-Beebe) talk before Hutchinson presents his fiscal year 2024 state budget at the Nov. 10, 2022, meeting of the Legislature's Joint Budget Committee. (Photo courtesy of Gov. Asa Hutchinson)

Economists predict ‘mild recession’ as Arkansas gears up for 2023 legislative session

By: Wesley Brown - January 2, 2023

A mild recession and a holiday spending hangover. That’s what economic forecasters predict for 2023 as lawmakers head to the state Capitol in January. Rising interest rates and persistent inflation will push the economy into a downturn, experts say, and those economic clouds could also cause the 94th General Assembly to consider any robust spending programs […]

U.S. Army soldiers at Fort Carson, Colorado, transport their M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System vehicles. HIMARS are made in Camden, Arkansas, by Lockheed Martin. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Nathan Clark/Released)

Camden-made rocket launcher and missiles changing Ukraine conflict

By: Wesley Brown - December 19, 2022

A new Pentagon contract that is part of President Joe Biden’s most recent Ukraine security package will increase production of Arkansas-made rocket launchers and precision-guided missiles at Lockheed Martin’s sprawling manufacturing campus in East Camden. The $430.9 million Pentagon contract awarded on Dec. 2 will ramp up production of High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) […]

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