Hutchinson says Sun Paper to be exempt from tariffs
ARKADELPHIA — Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson says newly imposed tariffs by the Trump administration shouldn’t affect plans for a new Chinese-owned paper mill in the state.
The Republican said Friday the state is working with federal officials to exempt Sun Paper from tariffs for the planned Arkadelphia facility. It comes amid
an escalating trade dispute between China and the U.S.
Michael Preston is executive director of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission. He says tariffs on imported equipment would cost about $150 million and that concerns have already delayed the project for three months.
Sun Paper announced the mill in 2016. It has pledged to invest $1.8 billion and create 350 jobs.
Preston also says “a handful” of additional Chinese companies have halted possible plans to build in Arkansas because of tariff concerns.
Gurdon man, 19, arrested in deadly shooting
GURDON — A 19-year-old Arkansas man has been arrested and charged with capital murder in the shooting death of another man last month.
Clark County Sheriff Jason Watson says Bryson Deaton was arrested without incident Thursday at his home in Gurdon, in southwestern Arkansas. He was being held without bond Friday at the Clark County jail.
Deaton was wanted in the shooting death of a 19-yearold man identified by Watson as Charles Alden Niederbrach Jr. of Gurdon.
Niederbrach’s body was found June 16 with multiple gunshot wounds.
Watson on Friday declined to provide a motive in the killing or explain the relationship between the two men.
It’s not clear if Deaton has an attorney to speak on his behalf.
Rescue rekindles memory of Arkansas incident
FIFTY-SIX — An ongoing rescue effort to get a dozen boys and their soccer coach from a flooded cave in Thailand is rekindling memories of a similar event that occurred in Arkansas more than 50 years ago.
Four spelunkers were trapped for more than a day by floodwaters in Stone County’s Rowland Cave in 1965. The explorers hoped to see whether the cave was connected to Blanchard Springs Cavern. But when they turned around, the entrance was blocked by rising waters, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported.
Rescuers helped the stranded men scuba dive out. A U.S. Navy diver died of a heart attack soon after taking Wilson to shore, exhausted by hours of swimming.
“I had friends trapped in the cave, so it was one of those surreal moments when I read about the children in Thailand,” said Skip Rutherford, dean of the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service. “When I first saw that story, I remembered a similar story in the hills of northern Arkansas. It brought it all back.”
The rescue operation continues for the Thai soccer team, who’ve been trapped for nearly two weeks. A former member of the Thai navy’s SEAL team died early Friday while volunteering on the mission.