Thursday morning summary

Bank of America is planning to cut as many as 13,000 jobs as it completes its acquisition of FleetBoston Financial Corp., people familiar with the expense cuts told The Wall Street Journal. The job cuts would come through layoffs and attrition from the operations of both banks and will begin in April to coincide with the expected completion of Bank of America’s $48 billion purchase of Fleet. The job cuts, which range from 12,000 to 13,000, amount to about 7% of Bank of America and Fleet’s combined work force of 181,000.

A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit in which Arkansas Court of Appeals Judge Wendell Griffen challenged the rules about what a judge can say in public, finding that Griffen lost his standing to sue when the Arkansas Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission dropped its charges against him.

Wanting to guard against the chance of bad doctors operating on Arkansans, Gov. Mike Beebe suggested possibly allowing the state’s medical school to waive geographical quotas when judging applicants. Medical schools in other states contacted by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette said later that they have no geographical quota system in law, or as a matter of policy, such as at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock.

Doctors and hospitals need better access to patients’ medical histories, and health care insurers and consumers need more information about who is providing good medical care, according to Arkansas’ top Medicaid official. The health care system in Arkansas and the nation is “not making good use of our resources,” said John Selig, director of the Department of Human Services, which runs the state’s Medicaid program.

A $104,000 increase in the amount Pine Bluff would pay as its share of funding for the Metropolitan Emergency Communications Association next year had Mayor Carl Redus Jr. seeing red during a MECA committee meeting.

Fayetteville Finance Director Paul Becker says the 2008 general fund budget is $2.3 million short of what it needs. Services like parks maintenance, Fayetteville’s administration, and police and fire depend on the fund. Becker proposes a 0.9 mill increase in the city’s property tax rate. The increase would raise roughly $1 million.

More than 100 educators gathered at a meeting of the Fort Smith Classroom Teachers Association, where they expressed concerns to area legislators about constant testing, special education teacher requirements and retired health insurance benefits.

A small electrical fire at Arkansas Nuclear One near Russellville prompted an alert late Tuesday, according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Entergy Arkansas Inc., which owns the plant.

Murphy Oil Corp. reported an 11 percent fall in third-quarter earnings Wednesday, citing lower profitability in refining operations because of the high cost of oil.

Acxiom Corp.’s financial performance for the quarter ending Sept. 30 reflected the turmoil of a doomed attempt to be sold, the company said Wednesday. Earnings were half of what they were a year earlier and chief executive Charles Morgan conceded in a conference call with analysts that “thousands of hours of meetings and analysis certainly did nothing to help results in the first half of our fiscal year.”

A woman who suffered a severe wrist fracture in a fall at her apartment complex was awarded $200,000 last week in a jury trial ordered by the Arkansas Court of Appeals. Rachel Tennell of Tulsa, formerly of Fort Smith, brought suit against Midtown Apartments in Sebastian County Circuit Court after falling in the parking lot of the complex in August 2004. Tennell tripped over a large steel plate that had formed the base of a pole or post previously removed by apartment managers.

Two Hot Springs police officers have resigned in connection with an undisclosed occurrence that reportedly happened shortly after a high-speed pursuit ended in Garland County on Sept. 26. Officer First Class Scott Lampinen and officer Josh Heckel both submitted their resignations. An investigation continues.

A man who was arrested on suspicion of a series of misdemeanor offenses and transported to the Pope County Detention Center was later rushed to Saint Mary’s Regional Medical Center after he was found unconscious in his cell by corrections officers. By nine o’clock, Price was pronounced dead, apparently the result of a cardiac arrest.

A Realtor was arrested in a sting operation, concluding an investigation into reports of prescription medications stolen from homes for sale in Crawford County. Clovis Kyle Satterfield, a 37-year-old Alma resident and Realtor for his mother’s company, Satterfield Realtors, was arrested after surveillance footage recorded him stealing prescription medication from a Van Buren residence. Satterfield is suspected of using his Realtor access code to gain entry into houses for sale in Alma and Van Buren, and stealing pain killers,

A former North Little Rock pastor’s history of defrauding his flocks in Arkansas and elsewhere caught up with him Wednesday when U.S. District Judge G. Thomas Eisele sentenced him to 50 months in federal prison. Although sentencing guidelines recommended a sentence of 33 months to 41 months, Eisele said he believed that Robert David Keith deserved more time because of his history and the position of trust that he abused to steal from members of the tiny Warren Hill Missionary Baptist Church.

A Bentonville jury found a Maysville man guilty of raping a 9-year-old girl in August 2006. The seven-woman, five-man jury will return this morning to deliberate how long Doyle Dewayne Frye, 41, should spend in prison for digitally and orally raping the girl when she visited his home.

Filed under: Arkansas