Subject: Wednesday Morning Briefing
From: Talk Business <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 4 May 2016 11:55:53 +0000
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ARKANSAS ENERGY REPORT: SEVERANCE TAX REVENUE FALLS, NATGAS RISES AS TOP U.S. ELECTRICITY PRODUCER - Arkansas’ rig count remained at zero through the first four months of 2016 as Southwestern Energy and other Fayetteville Shale drillers tried to stay afloat as scant drilling activity is making it hard for oil and gas companies to generate capital.

However, it’s not all bleak for the natural gas sector. The amount of U.S. electricity produced by coal in February 2016 – the most recent federal data available – fell 27% compared to February 2015, while natural gas produced electricity rose 7.7% and wind power was up 35.1%.

The Arkansas Energy Report is produced monthly and is sponsored by the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce/Associated Industries of Arkansas, and MISO (Midcontinent Independent System Operator). Access the full report here (http://talkbusiness.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=4403c46412536341322b6e88c&id=0860394f9d&e=b5f4886f5f) .

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2016 COMPASS CONFERENCE SET FOR FRIDAY, PART OF FORT SMITH CHAMBER BUSINESS EXPO: The 2016 Compass Conference will be held in conjunction with the Fort Smith Regional Chamber of Commerce’s First Friday Breakfast, and will feature a panel discussion about the health and future of the regional economy. The conference is held each year as part of The Compass Report. The quarterly Compass Report is managed by Talk Business & Politics, and is sponsored in the Fort Smith area by Arvest Bank. The report is the only independent analysis of economic conditions in Arkansas’ three largest metro areas.

Friday’s (May 6) event will be held 7:30 to 8:30 a.m., at the Fort Smith Convention Center. Admission is $17.50. Contact Melissa Curry at [email-masked] – to register or for more information. Highlighting the conference will be a panel discussion about the Fort Smith regional economy. Panel participants are Tim Allen, Fort Smith chamber president and CEO; Mike Barr, CEO of WeatherBarr; Steve Clark, CEO of Propak Logistics; Judy McReynolds, CEO of ArcBest; and Clay Nickel, director of Investment Strategy for Arvest Bank. Roby Brock, CEO of Talk Business & Politics, will moderate the panel discussion. Read more details here (http://talkbusiness.us2.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=4403c46412536341322b6e88c&id=2647befd2b&e=b5f4886f5f) .

FREE REFLECTS ON OH BABY SALE, BLACKHIVE READY TO EXPAND PRODUCT OFFERINGS, DISTRIBUTION: When Fran Free started Oh Baby Foods in 2009 with $50,000 of her own money, she saw herself in an apron making baby food in her kitchen well into retirement. And despite the fact that her natural baby food passion soared to $1 million in sales last year, she’s no longer at the helm making the day-to-day decisions. Free recently sold the business to Fayetteville-based Blackhive for an undisclosed amount. Free has stepped back into a consultant role where she still works 15 hours a week in product development, the aspect she most loved about the baby food business.

After a successful run in 2014, expanding staff and developing a private label baby food for Kroger, Free said in 2015 she found herself needing more capital to grow the business. A local investor group led by Ramsay Ball worked with Free in hopes of providing the funding needed. Because Free also hoped to step back as CEO, the local group chose a CEO replacement. Read about what's next for Oh Baby Foods at this link (http://talkbusiness.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=4403c46412536341322b6e88c&id=03748b687e&e=b5f4886f5f) .

2016 FIRST QUARTER NORTHWEST ARKANSAS BUILDING PERMIT VALUES UP 108%: The residential building and commercial construction projects across the Northwest Arkansas’ four largest cities continue to rally ahead of the building pace a year ago. Bentonville, Rogers, Springdale and Fayetteville issued new residential and commercial permits valued at more than $264.962 million in the first three months of 2016. The single family, multifamily and new commercial construction permit values are up 108% over the $127.049 million reported in the same period last year. Read more here (http://talkbusiness.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=4403c46412536341322b6e88c&id=c09114098f&e=b5f4886f5f) .

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ARKANSAS’ NET AVAILABLE REVENUE AT $110 MILLION WITH 2016 FISCAL YEAR NEARING END: A busy April tax season pushed Arkansas collections well above forecast as net available revenue in state coffers topped $110 million with only two months left in the fiscal year. The state Department of Finance and Administration’s monthly revenue report shows net available general revenue for April totaled $661.3 million, $37.2 million or 6% above last year and $37.1 million or 5.9% above forecast. The April tally builds on March’s double-digit collections when net available general revenue for March totaled $413.7 million, $48.6 million or 13.3% above last year and $41.1 million or 11% above forecast. Read more analysis here (http://talkbusiness.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=4403c46412536341322b6e88c&id=3b7175d5e3&e=b5f4886f5f) .

GOP CHAIR: STATE SHOULD ‘TAKE ADVANTAGE OF’ FEDERAL HEALTH CARE DOLLARS; TRUMP ON TRACK - Republican Party of Arkansas chairman Doyle Webb and Democratic Party of Arkansas chairman Vince Insalaco were guests at Tuesday's central Arkansas Political Animals Club. Webb, who is running for a fifth term (http://talkbusiness.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=4403c46412536341322b6e88c&id=1383c31978&e=b5f4886f5f) as chairman, said the GOP-dominated state legislature made the right call in supporting Gov. Asa Hutchinson's Arkansas Works health plan. Insalaco agreed and said he was pleased to see Republicans coming around to Democratic positions on health care access. Read about their additional skirmishes and exchanges here (http://talkbusiness.us2.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=4403c46412536341322b6e88c&id=26e37283db&e=b5f4886f5f) .

FORMER ARKANSAS SEN. BOOKOUT REPORTS TO FEDERAL PRISON: A former state senator who pleaded guilty in March 2015 to mail fraud is now serving an 18-month sentence in federal prison, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons website (http://talkbusiness.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=4403c46412536341322b6e88c&id=6ba0b5dce6&e=b5f4886f5f) . The website noted that former Sen. Paul Bookout, D-Jonesboro, 53, was booked into the AUSP-Thomson facility in order to serve the prison sentence. The facility is located in Thomson, Ill., a small town near the Illinois-Iowa border. Bookout was sentenced to prison in March 2016 and also given a two-year supervised release and ordered to pay $150,000 in restitution.

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GALLUP POLL: HEALTHCARE COSTS TOP FINANCIAL CONCERN FOR U.S. FAMILIES - Fifteen percent of Americans cite healthcare costs as the most important financial problem facing their family. In addition to healthcare costs, Americans also point to low wages, debt, college expenses and housing costs as pressing financial concerns for their family. About one in 10 Americans say their family faces no financial problems. Those are results of Gallup's annual Economy and Personal Finance poll, conducted April 6-10 this year. To read the full report, click here (http://talkbusiness.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=4403c46412536341322b6e88c&id=29063cee69&e=b5f4886f5f) .

CMS ADDS NEW QUALITY MEASURES TO NURSING HOME COMPARISON WEBSITE: The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has added six new quality measures to its consumer-based Nursing Home Compare website. Three of these six new quality measures are based on Medicare-claims data submitted by hospitals, which is significant because this is the first time CMS is including quality measures that are not based solely on data that are self-reported by nursing homes. These three quality measures monitor the rate of re-hospitalization, emergency room use, and community discharge among nursing home residents.

With the new quality measure updates, CMS is nearly doubling the number of short-stay measures, which reflect care provided to residents who are in the nursing home for 100 days or less. CMS is also providing information about key short-stay outcomes, including the percentage of residents who are successfully discharged and the rate of activities of daily life (ADL) improvement among short-stay residents. For more information on the nursing home comparison tool, click here (http://talkbusiness.us2.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=4403c46412536341322b6e88c&id=83f71a66fc&e=b5f4886f5f) .

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"Yes, it’s time that we take advantage of offerings from the federal government, whether it’s a highway program that if we come up with $200 million in match, we can build and improve our highways. Whether it’s health care, if it’s offered from the federal government, then we should seize upon it to help the quality of life of our people." - Arkansas GOP chairman Doyle Webb.

"I believe there are no such things as permanent majorities anymore." - Democratic Party of Arkansas chairman Vincent Insalaco.

"It’s come full circle for me. My baby girl was my inspiration for this business and she’s 7.5 years old now. As the business grew the stakes got so much higher and I wasn’t there for my family." - Fran Free, founder of Fayetteville-based Oh Baby Foods.

"Results in April, the largest collection month of the year, were above forecast in Individual Income tax and below forecast in Corporate Income tax and Sales tax." - John Shelnutt, director of the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration's Economic Analysis & Tax Research division.
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