Kyle Massey

1 week ago | arkansasbusiness.com | Kyle Massey

Hugh McDonald spent a career in the utility industry before becoming Arkansas’ secretary of commerce. The recent legislative session tapped his expertise in both energy and economic development as he championed laws he believes will boost business in Arkansas. Some are already bearing fruit. McDonald was CEO of the state’s largest electric company, Entergy Arkansas, from 2000 to 2016. He joined Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ cabinet in 2023.

2 weeks ago | arkansasbusiness.com | Kyle Massey

Three funding paths converged recently to free up nearly a billion dollars for a new bridge over the Mississippi at Memphis. Construction could start late next year. Plans for a wider, modern bridge at one of the nation’s busiest multimodal transport hubs have circulated for decades. But new federal and state funding sources accelerated the effort to replace the oldest bridge in the nation’s interstate system: the 75-year-old Memphis & Arkansas Bridge, opened in December 1949.

2 weeks ago | arkansasbusiness.com | Kyle Massey

The Trump administration’s distaste for clean energy has put an ax over the state’s largest commercial solar energy project ever: a planned $100 million system of arrays for the University of Arkansas System. The project, announced nearly two years ago by the UA System and Scenic Hill Solar, the Little Rock renewable energy developer, drew fire from the administration in February.

3 weeks ago | arkansasbusiness.com | Kyle Massey

Even as a new administration stirs up traditional foreign and defense policies, the aerospace and defense industry around Camden is still zooming. “My one-word summary is ‘busy,’” said James Lee Silliman, the Camden native who has worked in regional economic development for a decade. “It’s a very active time right now for aerospace in Camden and Highland Industrial Park [in East Camden].

3 weeks ago | arkansasbusiness.com | Kyle Massey

Beth Reed followed Mark Gregory’s footsteps at the Hot Springs Sentinel-Record in remarkable detail. Like Gregory, who retired as editor April 7 after 42 years with the paper, Reed was born in Hot Springs and wanted to return after college. And again like Gregory, she took a minor post with the paper shortly after graduation, became a full-fledged staffer within months and held several important positions before taking charge of the newsroom.