Defense Manufacturing: L3Harris broke ground on two new PAC-3 propulsion facilities at its Arkansas Advanced Propulsion Facilities campus in Camden, adding a 75,000-square-foot cast/cure/final assembly building and a 70,000-square-foot case prep facility, with AI-assisted automated X-ray inspection and plans to be operational next year. Critical Minerals & Energy Infrastructure: Z Squared acquired a majority stake in Paradox Data’s Union County campus near El Dorado to build an AI/HPC data center using immersion cooling, with an 8MW start and a path to much larger power requests. Mining for Batteries: Titan Mining’s subsidiary Empire State Mines received conditional U.S. Army enhanced-use lease selections tied to graphite purification at Pine Bluff Arsenal (Arkansas) and Anniston Army Depot (Alabama), aiming to expand domestic processing capacity. Local Transportation: ARDOT is advancing Jonesboro projects including a $61M eastern bypass (targeting 2028) plus widening and drainage work on Highway 49 corridors to handle growth and congestion. Agriculture Policy: GOP governors, including Arkansas’ Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, urged Congress to reauthorize the farm bill instead of extending the 2018 version again, calling it outdated. Workforce & Education: Southern Arkansas University reported progress on its workforce development push, including a new Workforce Development Center under its Next Step initiative.