Weekend Digest: The Jeb vs. Hillary Edition

For our weekend business and political readers:

TV PREVIEW
On this week’s edition of Talk Business & Politics, which airs Sundays at 9 a.m. on KATV Ch. 7, tune in for the following:

Rep. Justin Harris, the West Fork legislator, is on the hot seat after a news report on his adopted daughters being placed in a different home where a rape occurred surfaces. He says his family was at serious risk of harm. On Friday afternoon, Harris holds a news conference to tell his version of events. KATV’s Janelle Lilley and Elicia Dover report.

Civil rights for the lesbian and gay community have been a topic of discussion in the current General Assembly. TB&P contributor and Arkansas Democrat-Gazette columnist John Brummett goes one-on-one with State Sen. Jason Rapert on the subject.

And we’ll tell you about two new ways to get your business and political fix. TB&P contributors Wes Brown and Jessica DeLoach Sabin join our roundtable to explain the big stories of the week in business and politics.

Tune in Sunday for Talk Business & Politics at 9 a.m. on KATV Ch. 7.

WHO IS THE RICHEST BILLIONAIRE IN EACH COUNTRY?
Interesting question. It’s pretty well a given that Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates with his huge $79.2 billion fortune is going to come out on top in the U.S., but who are the world’s other richest billionaires “that hail from 68 countries?”

This year, FORBES’ ranking of the world’s richest billionaires hit a record: 1,826 10-digit fortunes that hail from 68 countries. That’s more than a 13-fold increase from the first global wealth list in 1987, when we found 140 billionaires from 24 countries.

While our ranking’s roster continued to expand this year, only 8 out of 70 countries crowned a new richest person for their nations: Germany, Greece, Japan, Norway, Peru, Russia, Tanzania, and the United Kingdom.

What iconic brands do some of these richest billionaires represent and which two countries joined the mega-rich list this year? Forbes has the full list at this link.

A SECOND JOB FOR FARMERS
Marketplace reports on a sad development in recent years – farmers having to take second jobs.

“Part-time farming is pervasive and it appears to me to be permanent, and I think there’ll even be more reliance on off-farm income,” says Paul Lasley, a professor of sociology at Iowa State University, who studies farm communities.

Lasley says 50 to 60 percent of farmers in the U.S. have some kind of second job – off the farm. Maybe they drive a school bus, or sell insulation like Bob Lilienthal.

Why is this a reality today for modern farmers? Marketplace sits down with a couple of young innovative farmers to get to the bottom of it and you can too by clicking this link.

5 MYTHS OF GREAT WORKPLACES
Harvard Business Review says, “When we think about extraordinary workplaces, we tend to think of the billion-dollar companies at the top of Fortune magazine’s annual list. We picture a sprawling campus, rich with generous amenities; a utopian destination where success is constant, collaborations are seamless, and employee happiness abounds.”

But as it turns out, many of the assumptions these images promote mislead us about what it means to create an outstanding workplace.

Consider these five “great workplace” myths.

Here at this link.

A SOFTWARE COMPANY HELPS COMPETITORS HIRE WOMEN
The company is called Fog Creek Software and it’s located in downtown Manhattan. Its head of recruiting is Liz Hall.

About a year ago, Liz Hall invited all-star JavaScript coder and founder of Girl Develop It Sara Chipps to their downtown Manhattan office for lunch. In Hall’s 10 years working to hire engineers at the prestigious software company—originator of Stack Exchange and Trello—she has struggled with how to attract and hire qualified women. Hall thought Chipps, a talented developer interested in getting more women coding, and at the time acting CTO of Flatiron Schools, might have some answers.

She did. To find out what they were, connect to this link from Fast Company.

FORMER ARKANSAS SENATOR MARK PRYOR TAKES A NEW JOB
The Hill reports, “Former Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) will be joining the K Street ranks at law and lobby firm Venable, a partner at the firm confirmed to The Hill on Friday.”

Pryor lost his Senate seat in last year’s elections after a bitter battle with Republican Rep. Tom Cotton. Immediately after, headhunters began sizing him up for potential private-sector positions.

He will serve as a partner at the firm and may begin as soon as next week. As a former Senator, Pryor is prohibited from lobbying his former colleagues for at least two years. He can, however, give clients strategic legal, policy and advocacy advice – or put his law degree to use.

Click on this link to learn more about Venable and why Pryor’s more than a decade of experience in the Senate and his term as Arkansas Attorney General will be so valuable to this firm.

HOW WILL THE CHIEF JUSTICE VOTE?
The New York Times called this past Wednesday’s hearing before Chief Justice John Roberts and the Supreme Court, “one of the most important cases in his almost 10 years on the court.”

Before the arguments started, the Obama administration was confident it could count on the court’s four liberal members to allow tax subsidies that help millions of people buy health insurance in the roughly three dozen states where the federal government runs insurance exchanges.

But would Chief Justice Roberts provide the crucial fifth vote to support the divisive health care overhaul, as he did in 2012? Or would he join his usual conservative allies, who seemed eager to strike down the law?

It still remains a “mystery” until the full court decides, but The Times says Roberts may have given “the slightest of hints.”

For the full story and what that “hint” may be, go to this link.

HILLARY’S EMAIL MESS
Actually Politico calls it a scandal that “alarms Democrats.”

Three days into the rolling controversy over Hillary Clinton’s use of a personal email address as Secretary of State, Democrats are showing signs of stress.

In interviews with more than three dozen Democratic activists, donors, and officials from across the country — including many in the influential presidential nominating states of Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina — some were scathing in their criticism over the revelations, while others admitted to being unnerved.

At the moment, Democrats continue to present a largely united front in their public support for Clinton and in their belief that the email issue isn’t one that will ultimately matter to voters.

But it’s still 20 months before the November 2016 election, and is it possible “she could implode totally?”

Full details and analysis at this link.

JEB BUSH ON TRACK TO RAISE $80 MILLION THIS QUARTER
“Maybe,” says The Washington Post.

Jeb Bush has a money problem that every other one of his rivals would kill for: He has too much money coming in to the early stirrings of his 2016 presidential bid.

An unusual request has gone out to wealthy donors writing large checks to support former Florida governor Jeb Bush: Please don’t give more than $1 million right away….

Why is that, and just how much money is Bush going to raise in the first quarter of the year?

Click here to find out.

BLOODY SUNDAY
National Journal reports, “March 7 marks the 50th anniversary of the civil rights movement’s ‘Bloody Sunday’.”

During the first Selma-to-Montgomery march, 600 civil rights demonstrators were attacked by local and state police. The attack bolstered support for the movement, and the demonstrations that followed eventually led to the Voting Rights Act.

For “20 Photos of the 1965 Selma-to-Montgomery Marches,” go to this link.

SAY GOODBYE TO THE ELEPHANTS
That is by 2018 for Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus according to Time.

The decision was spurred by public concern about the treatment of elephants in circuses, and perhaps a growing understanding that being kept as an entertainment spectacle is emotionally damaging to the sensitive, intelligent animals.

“There have been many reports of elephants in captivity experiencing abuse by their handlers. In 2011, Mother Jones published a year-long investigation into Ringling Bros.’ treatment of its elephants.”

For more on this story including Ringling Brother’s comments, connect here.

HALL AND OATES SUE HAULIN’ OATS
‘80’s pop legends Hall and Oates are suing a Brooklyn granola company called “Haulin’ Oats” for alleged trade name and trademark violations.

“Hall and Oates’ company, Whole Oats Enterprises, owns a Federal Trademark Registration for the identical mark ‘Haulin’ Oats’ covering breakfast foods that is used in connection with the sale of ‘Haulin’ Oats’ branded oatmeal by Whole Oats Enterprises’ licensee,” a spokesperson for the music group said.

Watch out, boys, she’ll chew you up. Read more here.