Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
WEHCO Media’s digital chief resigns
Article, 1A
Conan Gallaty, president of WEHCO Media’s digital division, has resigned to take a similar position with the
in Florida.
Gallaty will begin his new role in April.
During his nine years with WEHCO, the parent company of the Gallaty has been instrumental in starting many successful digital initiatives, including Flypaper, the company’s digital agency, said Nat Lea, president and chief executive officer of WEHCO Media.
“It has been a privilege to work for such a great company and with great people,” Gallaty said in a statement. “Moving to Florida gets me closer to family.”
WEHCO will begin immediately searching for the right person to take the new initiatives into the future, Lea said.
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PANAMA CITY — Workers pried President Donald Trump’s name from signs outside his family company’s luxury hotel in Panama on Monday, as Trump’s executives were ousted from their management offices in a business dispute under orders from Panamanian officials. Trump’s security guards also left.
The end to a 12-day standoff over control of the property came early in the day when a Panamanian judicial official and police officers backed the hotel’s majority owner, Orestes Fintiklis, as he took possession of the offices. The Trump-affiliated management and security officials then left the 70-story, waterfront high-rise.
“This was purely a commercial dispute that just spun out of control,” said Fintiklis, a Miami-based privateequity investor and head of the hotel owners’ association. “And today this dispute has been settled by the authorities and the judges of this country.”
The Panamanian Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment. U.S. government officials referred questions to the Trump Organization, which did not respond to phone messages and emails requesting comment. —
Martin Shkreli must turn over almost $7.4 million to the U.S., a judge ruled in a win for prosecutors who say the hedge-fund manager turned pharmaceutical executive cheated his investors.
He also wanted to pay other creditors, including his lawyers, before forfeiting any money — a notion rejected Monday by U.S. District Judge Kiyo Matsumoto in New York’s Brooklyn borough.
Shkreli’s assets — a Picasso, $5 million in cash in a personal trading account, a one-of-a-kind special edition album by the Wu-Tang Clan, an unreleased Lil Wayne album and shares in Vyera Pharmaceuticals, formerly Turing Pharmaceuticals — can be used to fulfill the forfeiture, Matsumoto said in a separate order.
She ordered Shkreli to tell the government within 10 days where the assets are and to ensure they’re not diminished, damaged or dissipated in any way.
Prosecutors argued last month that Shkreli cost his investors more than $20 million by inducing them to put millions of dollars into his two hedge funds, which operated essentially like Ponzi schemes. They said he spent investor funds on personal expenses “to maintain the image of a successful hedge-fund manager.” —
BRANSON — A $446 million indoor-outdoor water park and resort is being proposed as a new attraction for a city in southwestern Missouri.
The Branson Adventures project would include a 100,000-square-foot water park and resort in Branson, including restaurants, a spa, alpine bike and rope courses, along with a whitewater rafting course.
Project developer David Cushman told the
that an indoor water park resort with a whitewater rafting course would be the first of its kind in the United States. He said the park could accommodate 200,000 people per year on site.
Cushman’s company will meet with a commission to determine whether the project could receive tax-increment financing. A so-called TIF plan would help pay for the project with tax abatements over a 23-year period, though some community members oppose the idea.
“It doesn’t seem to me that [Branson Adventures is] offering a lot of new things. Lodging and indoor water parks, I mean, we have those,” said Peter Marcellus, president of Branson’s School Board.
Branson Mayor Karen Best supports the project, saying she believes the city is balancing economic development with protecting taxpayer interests.
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