Northwest Arkansas

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Area Home Sales Slow Year To Year

The Arkansas Realtors Association reports that home sales decreased over the same period last year in both Benton and Washington counties.

I.O. Metro Opens Third Store

I.O. Metro LLC opens in Fayetteville. It’s the company’s third import furniture and accessories store.

PB2, CEI Engineering Top Largest List

The Northwest Arkansas Business Journal ranks the largest architecture and engineering firms by local employees in Washington and Benton counties. PB2 of Rogers ranks No. 1 with 260 employees in 2006, down 8 percent from last year.

PBS Features UA, Hardgrave

A six-minute Public Broadcasting Service television spot about radio frequency identification technology features Bill Hardgrave, director of the University of Arkansas RFID Research Center.

Polly Crews Dies at 76

Local radio and television host Polly Crews died April 9 in a Fort Smith hospital. She was 76.

DOXA Work Wins Gold National Foundation Award

DOXA Total Design Strategy of Fayetteville wins a gold award from the Council on Foundations for its work on the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation’s 2004 annual report.

Talking Tree Catches Eye

Very few locally produced television commercials stand out for their positive qualities, but one we’ve noticed lately does.

Daily Newspapers Go into Reruns

On April 27, we noticed the second and third pages of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette sports section were identical, except that an extra space in the headline of Otis Kirk’s column had been corrected in the second version.

Crossland Gets Cold Storage (Real Deals)

Crossland starts $19 million cold storage facility and Harris McHaney will build a $6.5 million office building in Rogers.

APEI Set to ‘Graduate’ UA Genesis Incubator

In May, Arkansas Power Electronics International Inc. will graduate from the University of Arkansas’ Genesis Technology Incubator in Fayetteville.

VIC’s Vegrandis Granted $225,000 Phase II SBIR

Vegrandis LLC, a Fayetteville company and a client of Virtual Incubation Corp., receives a Phase II Small Business Innovation Research grant from the Environmental Protection Agency.

Pinnacle Hills Cross Closes In On Record

If you’ve driven past the New Hope Road exit on Interstate 540 in Rogers lately, you probably saw the new cross jutting into the skyline at the construction site of the Church at Pinnacle Hills.

Bank Board Confusion Leaves Less Paper

More on Jeff Collins, executive director of the University of Arkansas’ Center for Business and Economic Research, who apparently agreed to be a board member for The Bank of Fayetteville but then was told he wouldn’t be allowed to serve.

Arvest Debit Users Rank High With Visa

We hear the debit card division of the blue Bentonville banking behemoth is going gangbusters, with Arvest its 29th most active bank customer by debit card sales dollars processed for 2005.

Signature Bank Ad Refers to Art

We noticed an interesting billboard put up by ex-Arvester Gary Head’s new bank, Signature Bank of Arkansas.

Dixie Signs Big Lease

We hear Dixie Development of Fayetteville has gotten a sizeable commitment for space at its Appleby Landing project.

Estrada Ad Misleads Us

That Bella Vista has a bunch of home sites available is not news. Nor is the fact that Northwest Arkansas is one of the fastest-growing parts of the country

Delta Holds Promise (Jeff Hankins Commentary)

The new leader of the Delta Regional Authority, Rex Nelson, finds reasons for optimism in the Arkansas Delta.

Area?s Top 10 ROE Banks Switch Positions

The top 10 banks by return on equity in the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal?s annual list of private banks changed somewhat from year-end 2004 to 2005.

Building Banks Bites Into Efficiency Ratio

Many Northwest Arkansas banks use efficiency ratios as a performance barometer, but it?s only one of many. Includes the lists of the region’s largest banks, public and private.

Black River Technical finishes renovations to welding lab on its Pocahontas campus

Fairfield Bay launches strategic growth plan

Fort Smith parks director seeks ‘park warriors,’ touts amenities

NRF: Retail sales rose 3.54% in December from year ago