March 2009
Test of faith
Mon, 03/16/2009 - 8:22am — adminMetropolitan Baptist Church was bursting out of its home.
From a group of freed slaves in Civil War-era Washington, Metropolitan Baptist had grown into a modern-day megachurch and community service powerhouse. In 2006, construction began on the congregation's dream complex in Largo, Md. a $30 million campus with a 3,000-seat church, an education center and an 1,100-car parking lot.
Last year, the congregation sold its church in Washington. Preparations began for the move to what leaders had taken to calling "God's land in Largo."
But on Oct. 20, their plans were abruptly put on hold.
Trade deficit falls to $36B in Jan.
Mon, 03/16/2009 - 8:13am — adminWASHINGTON (AP) The U.S. trade deficit plunged in January to the lowest level in six years. While U.S. exports from farm goods to autos to civilian aircraft fell sharply, imports fell at an even faster clip as a deepening recession cut demand for goods from abroad.
The Commerce Department said Friday the trade imbalance dropped to $36 billion in January, a decline of 9.7 percent from December and the lowest level since October 2002.
While the improvement was better than the $38 billion deficit that economists had expected, they did not see the development as good news for the economy.
State's jobless rate rises
Fri, 03/13/2009 - 12:55pm — rickfahrThe state’s unemployment rate increased seven-tenths of a percentage point to 6.4 percent in January.
Also, the December jobless rate was revised from 6.2 percent to 5.7 percent as part of the annual revision process done in accordance with U.S. Department of Labor guidelines. In January 2008, Arkansas’ unemployment rate stood at 4.9 percent.
The U.S. unemployment rate increased four-tenths of a percentage point to 7.6 percent.
The trade, transportation and utilities sectors saw the biggest monthly decline losing 6,800 jobs. Government, manufacturing and construction all recorded big job losses.
Foreclosures rise in Arkansas
Welcome to www.cabinbusiness.com
We are excited to unveil this Web site in conjunction with a quarterly publication that we hope will help business owners and managers expand their opportunities. These efforts will be a bit different in that, while we will be providing lots of information in a top-down method, we encourage and hope to foster a networking, collaborative environment in which entrepreneurs help each other.
We are just beginning these projects, and we certainly welcome input and feedback. Help us help you better.
Thanks for visiting, and we hope you find this site and its companion publication useful.
Rick Fahr
editor
City delivers solution to purify drilling water
Thu, 03/12/2009 - 11:55am — adminThe city of Clinton has discovered a method to recycle and purify the contaminated water expended in the natural gas drilling process through the use of an idle sewer plant in town.
“We feel like we have the answer for the Fayetteville Shale,” Clinton Mayor Roger Rorie said. “We have a process that will clean drill waste water.”
Gas companies recently gave the city permission to take samples of flow back at drilling sites. Using filtering equipment from Siemens Water Technologies, the city processed the water at its idle sewer plant.
Samples of the water were pulled out during three different stages of treatment and sent to the private lab, Environmental Service Co. for processing. “The results are back and it is definitely doable,” Rorie said.
Analysis - Senators caught in ‘card check’ squabble
Thu, 03/12/2009 - 11:46am — adminArkansas’ U.S. senators, Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor, have had their names mentioned in the news more in the past few weeks than perhaps in the rest of their tenures combined.
They’d probably rather not have all the attention.
The two Democrats find themselves square in the middle of a heated battle over proposed union legislation. The Employee Free Choice Act would make it easier for labor to organize by allowing workers to unionize by merely signing a card, instead of going through a secret-ballot election process. The bill would allow for the elections, too, but the “card check” aspect is the sticking point.
Evolution crucial to utility
Thu, 03/12/2009 - 11:38am — adminWhat is Conway Corp. doing to stay up with the latest technologies?
As technologies change, customers want more services. This has impacted our cable and Internet business plans. So, in addition to adding services to cable like Video On Demand and High Definition and increasing speeds for our Internet service, we have recently added telephone service to our offerings. The infrastructure was already in place to add this service, and having the service available locally makes it more convenient for our customers.
When did Conway Corporation begin offering telephone service?
Serving
Thu, 03/12/2009 - 11:34am — adminWhy is a vital downtown crucial to the city’s growth?
A vital attractive downtown is crucial to the sense of community and sense of place that all great cities have to have. HP was in town only twice before they announced they were coming to Conway. The first time they were only here 45 minutes. They drove out to see Meadows Technology Park, they drove through UCA and compared it to Corvalis, Ore., and drove through downtown and marveled at how vibrant and beautiful it was and then they were gone. The wobbly, drab looking downtown of a few years ago would have told the tale of a city that wouldn’t take care of itself or invest in itself. The message would be, “why should they invest in us if we won’t?”
‘Boring’ is good
Thu, 03/12/2009 - 11:29am — adminWhat effects do a struggling economy have on investment/savings companies?
I think that’s been evident in what we’ve seen in the news over the past year. Some companies have folded, some companies have been bailed out (government aid, sold, merged, etc.), and yet others seem to be in good shape. However, I think they all should be doing what every single person should be doing right now — trimming costs/expenses until the better days arrive.
How does your advice for clients change?
