Arkansas jobless rate climbs

DWS Communications Director Kimberly Friedman said, "The increase in Arkansas' unemployment rate is related in part to layoffs and contractions in manufacturing. In addition, the state posted a decline in temporary Census workers. These losses, along with decreases in other sectors, were enough to cause an increase in the unemployment rate."

Aristotle Inc. President Elizabeth Bowles, who will manage the new LLC, says that CLEC â€" Competitive Local Exchange Carrier â€" status will help diversify the 15-year old Little Rock-based Internet service, e-mail and web development company.

Lot of advantages that come with that status

"There are a lot of advantages that come with that status," Bowles said. She added that Aristotle Telecomm will explore residential and business service for customers where it makes sense as well as a voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) product.

——-Roby Brock, a freelance journalist based in Little Rock, writes weekly for the Arkansas News Bureau. His weekly television program airs at 10 p.m. Sundays in Central and Northwest Arkansas. His e-mail address is roby@talkbusiness.net; his website address is www.talkbusiness.net.