Author: Michael Tilley

Teenage politics

The older of the young ladies in the Fort Smith branch of the Tilley family is in the process of morphing into a teenager. There is a new sense of…

Guys like us

It’s just another day, really. Another week. Another month. Another year, one hopes, above the daisies and dirt. But this calendar shift comes with an unavoidable remembrance that, honestly, best…

Thomas Glaser Named COO Of USA Truck

Trucking industry veteran Thomas Glaser, who was hired as a consultant by Van Buren-based USA Truck in November, has been named chief operations officer of the struggling trucking company. Glaser,…

The reaction by politicians and pundits to this horrible-beyond-description tragedy in Connecticut exhausted my reserve tank of benefit-of-the-doubt. Severed fully was any last string of belief in the credibility and…

Rheem To Layoff 100 In Fort Smith By January 2013

Officials with Rheem have confirmed a layoff of 100 jobs at its Fort Smith operation by Jan. 11. Rheem employees were told Thursday morning of the layoff plans.

Whirlpool Touts Its Commitment To U.S. Job Creation

Whirlpool Corp. recently bought a full-page newspaper ad in the Tulsa World touting the appliance maker’s commitment to creating U.S. jobs by saying it is: “Building the best in the world right here at home.” The advertisement presents an unavoidable irony for Fort Smith and Arkansas considering Whirlpool’s departure from Fort Smith and sending most of the production to plants in Mexico.

Lottery Scholarship Tally Up To $300 Million

Scholarships funded during the more than three years from the Arkansas Scholarship Lottery total more than $300 million, according to program figures released Monday (Dec. 10). Lottery sales began Sept….

Justify the A-10 lobby

In this effort to reverse a decision to remove A-10 war planes now attached to the Fort Smith-based 188th Fighter Wing, much has been made of the unwillingness or inability…

Manufacturing Announcement Stirs Arkansas Interest

News that Apple plans to shift $100 million in spending to build Mac computers in the U.S. added energy to a nascent belief that Arkansas and American manufacturing is set for a rebound.

Arkansas Per Capita Incomes Rise In 2011

The state and all eight of the metro areas in or connected to Arkansas saw per capital personal income gains during 2011, with Jonesboro seeing the largest percentage gain, and the Fort Smith region posting the lowest percentage gain.

Doubling down

This continued effort by a few members of the Fort Smith Board of Directors to micromanage city operations is troublesome, puzzling and frustrating. Let’s recap. The Fort Smith Board over…

Arkansas Policy Foundation Renews Tax Cut Call

Emboldened by Republican control of the Arkansas Legislature for the first time in almost 140 years, the Arkansas Policy Foundation (APF) is renewing its call for tax cuts that could reduce state collections by $88.5 million.

Thank you, Raymond

This week we are to remember the military men and women who served this country — especially those who saw combat and those for whom combat was the last thing…

USA Truck Takes Move To Prevent Hostile Takeover

Financially troubled USA Truck on Thursday (Nov. 8) announced a “stockholders’ rights plan” that seemingly protects the company from a hostile takeover following a rapid share-price decline that has seen price levels well below any point in the company’s publicly-held history.