Economic Development
Northwest Arkansas project aims to provide affordable housing for area’s workers
Construction will soon begin on an apartment complex featuring units reserved for Northwest Arkansas workers who’ve been pushed out of the region by rising housing prices and unprecedented population growth. The 77-unit mixed-income apartment project on Emma Ave. in downtown Springdale will include 30 units permanently reserved for households earning below the region’s area median […]
Pulaski County, Shorter College receive federal economic development grants
Pulaski County and Shorter College in North Little Rock are getting $4.3 million in federal funds to support business growth and workforce development, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo announced Tuesday. The Commerce Department’s Economic Development Administration is providing grants of: $3 million for Pulaski County to extend rail service at the Port of Little […]
Pine Bluff voters consider whether to ‘go forward’ with sales tax
The debate about how to support economic growth and quality of life improvements in Pine Bluff will be put to a vote during a special election May 9 as residents consider two sales and use tax proposals totaling one cent. One proposal would create a permanent three-eighth cent sales tax to benefit the city’s fire […]
Arkansas legislator says ending ‘state-sponsored discrimination’ is aim of his bill
Legislation that criminalizes government affirmative action programs in Arkansas heads to the full Senate after a panel approved it Tuesday. Senate Bill 71 by Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan of Jonesboro would do away with programs that encourage state agencies, public schools and colleges to hire people of color and women. The bill would make it […]
Sanders names directors of economic development, environmental quality
Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Thursday appointed two state agency veterans to be directors of the Arkansas Division of Environmental Quality and the Arkansas Economic Development Commission. Caleb Osborne will serve as director and chief administrator of environment at ADEQ, and Clint O’Neal will lead AEDC as executive director, Sanders announced in press statement. Osborne […]
Hutchinson hands over job-recruiting legacy to the Sanders administration
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 […]
Former Entergy CEO to be Arkansas secretary of commerce, Huckabee Sanders announces
Gov.-elect Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Thursday she will nominate former Entergy Arkansas CEO Hugh McDonald as secretary of the Department of Commerce. McDonald, 64, served as president and CEO of the state’s largest electric utility from 2000 to 2016. Entergy provides power to more than 700,000 customers. He remains active in civic roles on the […]
$30-million Arkana Laboratories expansion to create Little Rock jobs
Little Rock-based Arkana Laboratories is launching a $30-million expansion project that will create 74 new positions by 2028. As the largest renal pathology lab in the country, Arkana Laboratories processes an estimated 40% of the country’s kidney biopsies. The company makes more than $30 million annually, and some of its best-known competitors include the Mayo […]