The Hope Rotary Club heard a great, impromptu program on Thursday September 21st from Steve Harris of the Hempstead County Economic Development Corporation. Harris packed a lot of news in a short program. He noted the Hempstead County Unemployment Rate is at 3.7% compared to a national average of 4.4%. Harris also noted that Tyson recently had a major renovation of the “front end” of the plant and is back in production Also, New Millennium is finishing up a $5 million dollar office building and Hexion is also building a new office building. Harris also said the EDC is working on a $1.2 million dollar grant for the city of Hope and Southwest Arkansas Planning and Developmet to rebuild the city rail spur.