120,000 acres in the Smackover Formation in south Arkansas, owned by ExxonMobil, will be the home for lithium wells. The first well will be in Magnolia and Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders said she hopes the wells keep lithium from being mined overseas.
The wells are expected to support supplies for electric cars as soon as 2027. Clint O’Neil, the executive director of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission, said the partnership between ExxonMobil and the state of Arkansas will be a positive relationship.
The mines work by pulling lithium out of saltwater underground.
$648 million: Talk Business and Politics reports that the net income loss in the fiscal year 2023 was reported by Tyson Foods yesterday. Tyson Foods says it expects revenue to remain flat for 2024, in the $52.8 billion range.
339 voters cast early ballots for today’s special election in Fayetteville to select a new Ward One city council member. Four people are seeking the seat left vacant after former council member Sonia Harvey moved out of the ward. She says she was unable to find a home in the ward her family could afford. Ward One covers much of South Fayetteville. Polls remain open today until 7:30. Yesterday was the busiest of the early voting days, with 129 early votes at the County Clerk’s office.
21.1% of adult Arkansans smoke cigarettes, much higher than the national average of 13-point-five percent. The numbers are included in today’s annual “State of Lung Cancer” report from the American Lung Association. The smoking rate is the second-highest among the fifty states and the District of Columbia. The report also finds Arkansas ranks in the bottom third of states when it comes to lung cancer survival and lung cancer screening. The report does find that nationally, rates of surviving lung cancer are increasing. The full report can be found at lung.org.
34 home games will be played by a yet-to-be-named baseball team in Fort Smith next year. The squad will be part of the six-team Mid-America League that will feature college baseball players not yet planning to turn professional. The long-term goal is to have a new stadium built for the team near the Arkansas River.
Nearly $5.5 million will be earmarked by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation for restoration projects in the Ozarks. The grants come through the America the Beautiful Challenge. Nearly $4 million will be funneled to the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission to remove aquatic organism barriers to reconnect more than 400 miles of War Eagle Creek and restore 5,500 linear feet of streambanks. Another one-and-a-half million dollars will be directed toward glade and woodland restoration in Ozark and Mark Twain National Forests. The grants announced today will support landscape-scale conservation projects across 46 states, three U.S. Territories, and 21 Tribal Nations, and will generate at least $12 million in matching contributions for a total conservation impact of more than $153 million.
It’s four days until the 8th-ranked JBU soccer team hosts an NAIA Tournament game at Alumni Field in Siloam Springs. JBU will meet the winner of Thursday’s first-round contest between Friends and Olivet Nazarene, also to be played at Alumni Field. Soccer fans can have fun in northwest Arkansas this week with that first-round NAIA match in Siloam Thursday night, two NCAA matches Friday in Fayetteville, including Arkansas facing Pittsburgh Friday night, the JBU match Saturday and another NCAA Tournament game in Fayetteville Sunday.
86 points was enough for the Arkansas Razorback men’s basketball team to defeat Old Dominion last night. The final score was 86-77, and the Razorbacks improved to 3-0 with the win. The Razorback women host Little Rock tonight in Bud Walton Arena.
