Subject: Wednesday Morning Briefing
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Date: Wed, 20 Apr 2016 12:03:45 +0000
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VIVIMMUNE, DRONE SURVEYING SOLUTIONS TAKE TOP PRIZES AT GOVERNOR’S CUP BUSINESS PLAN COMPETITION: The 2016 Donald W. Reynolds Governor’s Cup business plan competition held its award ceremony and luncheon at the Statehouse Convention Center on Tuesday, April 19. Graduate and undergraduate finalists competed in a pitch contest while overall winners were awarded in the areas of Innovation and Agriculture.

In the undergraduate division, Drone Surveying Solutions of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, took home the $25,000 top prize. Drone Surveying Solutions proposes to help farmers save money using drones to identify crop losses, expenses, and negative environmental effects. In the graduate division, VivImmune from the University of Arkansas won the top prize. VivImmune is a start-up biotechnology company specializing in immunotherapy for bladder cancer.

“They have a technology that can really change the way cancer is being treated for millions of people,” University of Arkansas faculty advisor, Dr. Carol Reeves, told Talk Business & Politics following the luncheon. “They’ve had incredible mouse data. It not only destroys the tumor, but keeps them from coming back in other areas. It’s really exciting.”

Read more on the competition at this link (http://talkbusiness.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=4403c46412536341322b6e88c&id=c607dc188b&e=b5f4886f5f) .

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WALMART REVIEWING BOX SIZES FOR ONLINE SHIPMENTS, REDUCING MILLIONS OF POUNDS OF CARDBOARD: Walmart.com said it’s paying closer attention to the way boxes are packed for its online delivery service. The changes could reduce millions of cubic feet of cardboard use, and it’s thanks to unsolicited comments from customers asking the retailer to reduce waste. Justen Traweek, vice president of operations and fulfillment for Walmart, recently said the retailer was using just 12 box options for its e-commerce deliveries of online orders. Customers expressed a desire for the retailer to reduce its packaging. The result? For every three truckloads packed under the old system, the same freight can now fit in two truckloads, he said. Read more on this sustainability effort here (http://talkbusiness.us2.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=4403c46412536341322b6e88c&id=eab6b2122e&e=b5f4886f5f) .

ARKANSAS AGENCIES, CJRW COLLABORATE ON NEW STATE ‘IMAGE’ BOOK FOR BUSINESS RECRUITMENT: A project that involved several state agencies has resulted in the printing of almost 50,000 copies of “All About Arkansas,” a 128-page limited edition book that Gov. Asa Hutchinson and other state officials hope to use in economic development efforts. The book (http://talkbusiness.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=4403c46412536341322b6e88c&id=573651ab35&e=b5f4886f5f) is the first “image book” produced by the state in nearly a decade, according to a press release from the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism. Also involved with the book project was the Arkansas Economic Development Commission. CJRW, a Little Rock-based communications firm, managed the project, coordinated state agency involvement, and secured private funding. The company also managed content and photography for the book. More than 35 Arkansas private companies and public agencies from across the state
financially supported the project.

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AMENDMENT PASSES JOINT BUDGET; ARKANSAS WORKS CLOSER TO FUNDING: An amendment that would change the law creating Arkansas Works so that it would end at the end of this year, rather than the end of 2021, passed the Joint Budget Committee, 41-11, Tuesday. The amendment by Sen. Jim Hendren, R-Gravette, ends the program this year, but Gov. Asa Hutchinson plans to execute a line-item veto of that part of the budget if it passes the House and Senate. The measure would not generate enough support to be overridden and therefore would become law.

Arkansas Works would continue the private option, the government program that uses federal Medicaid dollars to purchase private health insurance for adults with incomes up to 138% of the federal poverty level. It was created in response to the Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare. As of the end of January, 267,590 Arkansans were eligible for coverage. Read more here (http://talkbusiness.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=4403c46412536341322b6e88c&id=ed1e85877e&e=b5f4886f5f) .

ARKANSAS GAS TAX BELOW NATIONAL AVERAGE, OTHER STATES LOOK TO HIKE FUEL TAXES AS PUMP PRICES FALL: State-level taxes and fees on motor fuels in the U.S. averaged 26.5 cents per gallon as of Jan. 1, 2016, and officials with some states are considering raising or lowering gas taxes while regions are seeing pump prices below $2 per gallon for regulator unleaded. According to a report published Tuesday (April 19) by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), fuel taxes and fees ranged from a low of 8.95 cents per gallon in Alaska to a high of 51.4 cents per gallon in Pennsylvania, in addition to the federal tax of 18.4 cents per gallon.

In Arkansas, the state’s motor fuel tax now stands at 21.5 cents per gallon, about five cents below the national average and among the 15 states with the lowest tax on gasoline and diesel fuels. The tax on diesel is one cent higher at 22.5 cents per gallon compared to the national average at 27.4 cents per gallon, according to the state Department of Finance and Administration. Arkansas has not raised its motor fuels tax since 2001. How might this play out politically with a potential highway funding program? Read more here (http://talkbusiness.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=4403c46412536341322b6e88c&id=b2dbf07092&e=b5f4886f5f) .

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UNITED HEALTHCARE TO QUIT OBAMACARE BY 2017, WILL LEAVE ARKANSAS IN 2016: The parent company of healthcare insurance giant United Healthcare, which announced earlier this month that it was pulling out of marketplace exchanges in Arkansas and Georgia, said in its first quarter earnings webcast that it will remain in only a handful of states for the rest of 2016 and will carry no financial exposure in 2017 from the federal health exchanges set up by the Affordable Care Act.

United Health Group CEO Stephen Helmsley in his comments to Wall Street analysts said the nation largest healthcare insurer’s higher risk profile within the federal marketplace “continue(s) to suggest we cannot broadly serve it on an effective and sustained basis.” Although it posted net earnings of $1.61 billion on revenue of $44.5 billion in the first quarter, United Health Group projected that it would see total losses of $650 million from its state-by-state exchange business in 2016.

NEW UAMS WEBSITE HELPS ARKANSANS VOLUNTEER FOR RESEARCH: The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) Translational Research Institute has launched a new website where Arkansans can now volunteer for research studies. Called ARresearch.org (http://talkbusiness.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=4403c46412536341322b6e88c&id=2396385f16&e=b5f4886f5f) , the website gives Arkansans a place to sign up if they want to be contacted about UAMS studies that are enrolling participants.

According to UAMS officials, there are more than 1,200 active studies by UAMS researchers. The studies range from clinical trials to health surveys and tests of health interventions. UAMS research leaders hope that ARresearch.org (http://talkbusiness.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=4403c46412536341322b6e88c&id=c4759c4c9c&e=b5f4886f5f) can serve Arkansans as well as help meet the needs of researchers. The website’s registry will also match volunteers to studies based on the areas of interest that they check on the form, such as heart disease, mental health and cancer. To learn more, go to the new website here (http://talkbusiness.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=4403c46412536341322b6e88c&id=fb4a0d73d4&e=b5f4886f5f) .

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"This is just the way we do things, and to me the majority won, and I’ll just accept that. … I do think it’s over." - Sen. Cecile Bledsoe, R-Rogers, on the funding debate for Arkansas Works.

"I feel good about the chances at this point." - Senate President Jonathan Dismang, R-Beebe.

"Some of these students, I would take an appointment with, just because they have a great idea, a good concept and they sell it well. I would love to sit down with them and look at the business plan to see if it makes sense." - Arkansas Economic Development Commission director Mike Preston on the Governor's Cup business plan competition.

"If scaled over our entire e-commerce operation in the U.S., this effort has the potential to reduce cardboard box consumption by 7.2 million cubic feet annual, roughly enough to fill 82 Olympic-size swimming pools." - Justen Traweek, vice president of operations and fulfillment for Walmart.
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