Ouachita Baptist University will soon have a “front door” entrance sign thanks to a $54,000 grant awarded to the university, President Dr. Rex M. Horne Jr., announced Tuesday.

One of the nation’s largest and most prestigious awards programs in the financial services industry today announced Arkadelphia-based Southern Bancorp is a semifinalist for $5.5 million to scale up their success. Community development financial institutions (CDFIs) are special purpose financial institutions skilled at creating opportunities and economic growth in difficult markets across the nation.

The Helena Health Foundation in partnership with the Delta Area Health Education Center held a groundbreaking Monday for an outdoor walking track, children’s playground, fitness stations, and pavilion to be constructed on the grounds of the Helena Health Wellness Center.

With prices going up across the board, requests for utility bill assistance have increased, according to officials who help pay energy bills.

“Five thousand or more people must have applied in the five counties served,” said Betty Smith, executive director of the Pine Bluff/Jefferson County Economic Opportunities Commission.

Arkansans Against Abusive Payday Lending (AAAPL) held a news conference July 16, 2008, to release a report evaluating payday lenders’ compliance with Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel’s March 2008 order to stop making loans. The report found that 101 of 156 lenders have complied with McDaniel’s order and stopped making loans while the remaining 55 remain open in defiance of the order.

…Delta American launched its biodiesel project in late 2005. The original target date of April 1 has passed and now the anticipated opening has been moved back to no earlier than mid August.

Brian Miller set the tone for his investiture as federal judge for the Eastern District of Arkansas when he appeared in the Richard Arnold Courthouse Friday morning.

Arkansas Delta Yams, which experienced a bumper crop in its first year of operation in 2007, has been awarded $1 million in state-federal funding, Phillips County Judge Don Gentry announced Wednesday.

LITTLE ROCK – Further consolidation in Arkansas’ banking community likely is already under way, the CEO of Southern Bancorp said Tuesday.

“I think you’ll see probably massive consolidation here in Arkansas and I think that that’s probably under way right now and will continue,” Phillip Baldwin said after a speech at the Arkansas Small Business Awards luncheon.

“The name will change, but everything else will be the same,” said Bill Wright, chairman and CEO of Elk Horn. “Our customers can keep using their Elk Horn Bank checks and ATM cards and debit cards.”