It’s Monday. and here’s the open line. All yours. Final words:
NEWS UPDATE NEWS UPDATE NEWS UPDATE
* HAWKER BEECHCRAFT SALE DEAL: The report is that Hawker Beechcraft, which has an aircraft finishing facility in Little Rock, will be sold to a Chinese firm for $1.8 billion if the deal proceeds as planned. Key line in company news release:
Should the transaction be completed, Superior intends to maintain Hawker Beechcraft’s existing operations while also investing substantial capital in the company and its business and general aviation product line, saving thousands of American jobs, including in Wichita, Kan. and Little Rock, Ark.
* REWARD FOR DRINK CAN BOMB: The FBI announced today it was offering a $20,000 reward for information leading to an arrest of someone responsible for placing an improvised explosive device in a soft drink can at a rural Carroll County church. The can was found June 9, 2010 near the Osage Baptist Church. Church employees found the device in cleaning up after runoff elections. The church was used as a polling place. As others have noted, authorities made an arrest in the case previously, but ended up not prosecuting the suspect on the charge.
* HISTORY PRESERVED: Good news from Beth Wiedower, Delta field officer of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Work is nearing completion on the Arkansas State University’s JapanesAmerican Relocation Center Interpretive Project. It will provide a walking tour of the former site at Rohwer where American citizens of Japanese descent were interned during World War II. It will include signs, panels, audio vignettes and a brochure, as shown in the photo below of a tower with interpretive panels. Desha County and the cities of McGehee and Dumas are working to finish grading and site details. It’s a dark chapter in U.S. history that deserves permanent illumination. I’ll let you know when it’s formally open.