⌚ The Week’s Top Stories in 60 Seconds

Here are the top five stories that resonated most with Arkansas Business readers this week.

1. Historic Hotel in Downtown Little Rock Set to Reopen Under Marriott Flag

• The former Hotel Freiderica, which closed in 2019 due to unpaid state taxes, is the second oldest hotel in Little Rock behind the Capital Hotel
• The hotel’s new owner said renovations are underway and he already has a target date for reopening

2. $1.4B Arkansas Lithium Plant Draws Closer to Reality

• Smackover Lithium‘s definitive feasibility study has cleared the way to a final investment decision on the company’s South West Arkansas Project
• The joint venture with Equinor would be the first commercial plant in the nation to directly extract lithium from underground brines

3. Amazon Awards $83.2M Contract for Hub in Little Rock Port

• The contract to install a material handling system and associated support systems went to a firm based in Louisville, Kentucky

4. Micro-Hospitals Arrive in Arkansas as Patients Seek Faster, Local Care

• The niche approach that somewhere between urgent care and a full-scale ER at a major hospital
• A Houston-based company behind a micro-hospital in Cabot now plans to open one of the facilities in west Little Rock

5. H1B Visa Changes Could Impact UAMS’ Recruitment of Physicians & Researchers

• President Trump in September signed a proclamation adding a $100,000 fee for workers under the visa program
• UAMS has hundreds of employees who are in the U.S. on H1B visas,  primarily physicians and researchers