Friday, June 19, 2009

Tarrant County Hospital Takes Top Quality Award in Texas

PR Newswire
June 17, 2009

Quality Texas Foundation Names 2009 Recipient of the Texas Award for Performance Excellence

GRAPEVINE, Texas, June 17 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Baylor Regional Medical Center at Grapevine is the 2009 recipient for the Texas Award for Performance Excellence (TAPE). The hospital received this honor from The Quality Texas Foundation, a non-profit Texas corporation that administers the Texas Award for Performance Excellence.

Patterned after the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award criteria and process, the Texas Award for Performance Excellence is an annual recognition of Texas organizations that have achieved performance excellence and applied outstanding quality principles in their day-to-day operations. The award is presented to organizations that serve as role models for quality, customer satisfaction, and performance excellence in the state of Texas.

Full Story

Tarrant County cities offer emergency-weather systems to alert residents

By Elizabeth Zavala / Star Telegram
June 11, 2009

As severe thunderstorms approached Fort Worth on Wednesday night, sirens blared, but it’s likely not everyone could hear them.

To get the word out to those who don’t hear outdoor warnings or radio or television broadcasts, a number of Tarrant County cities are offering systems that will alert residents by phone, text messaging and e-mail to bad weather. Residents can sign up for the free alerts on their city’s Web site.


Full Story

Tarrant County task force works on stimulus funds

BY Leslie Wimmer / Fort Worth Business Press
June 1, 2009

A number of Tarrant County organizations have come together on a task force to work on both receiving and spending funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

President Barack Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment act, more commonly known as the federal stimulus package, in February. The act aims to move federal money into state and city governments and community organizations to fund projects that will create jobs and have a positive economic development effect.


Full Story

Upscale apartment developer plans Tarrant project

By SANDRA BAKER / Star Telegram
June 18, 2009

Gables Residential, an Atlanta-based developer of apartment communities with several in downtown and uptown Dallas, is expanding in Tarrant County with a complex at Presidio Junction in far north Fort Worth.

Construction has begun on 348 apartments in a gated community west of Interstate 35W and north of North Tarrant Parkway. The community will include a clubhouse, business and fitness centers, a pool and a dog park. Leasing is expected to begin this summer.

Full Story

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Dallas-area home foreclosure filings jump 31% from last year

May 14, 2009 By STEVE BROWN / The Dallas Morning News

The number of Dallas-Fort Worth area homes scheduled for foreclosure next month jumped by almost a third from a year ago.

But foreclosure filings inched down a bit from the record highs recorded last month.

More than 5,000 homes in the four-county area are threatened with foreclosure at next month's auctions, a rise of 31 percent from a year ago, Addison-based Foreclosure Listing Service said Thursday.

The biggest jumps were in Tarrant and Collin counties, where the volume has risen about 40 percent since last June.

Full story

Rise in Tarrant County property values puzzles some homeowners

By ANTHONY SPANGLER May. 16, 2009

FORT WORTH — A reeling economy plus rising foreclosures plus a faltering housing market equals higher home values.

Sound like fuzzy math?

Thousands of property owners in Tarrant County may be asking that question. Roughly the same number of homeowners’ values increased as fell, but overall property values rose 4.6 percent in Tarrant County in the past year, according to preliminary data.

Full story

Friday, October 31, 2008

Nobelist sees US accepting universal health care

Oct. 31, 2008

GENEVA -- Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman believes universal health care may soon become an accepted feature of American life.

In an interview with the Bulletin of the World Health Organization, the Princeton University professor says the U.S. has retirement and social security systems that are "in some ways more comprehensive" than many European countries.

DK

Full Story

Silver lining to travel slowdown: Better prices

By TREBOR BANSTETTER

Oct 31, 2008

Americans will be traveling less for business and pleasure next year as the economy cools, according to a new forecast from an industry trade group.

That’s bad news for airlines, hotels, rental cars and other businesses that rely on travel. But it may have a silver lining for consumers: cheaper prices. One travel analyst suggested that the airlines have already launched an earlier-than-usual fare sale for the holidays on worries about demand.

"The airlines have traded the yearlong oil crisis for a global economic crisis," said Rick Seaney, chief executive of FareCompare.com, a Dallas-based travel firm that tracks airline ticket prices. He said consumers are "pulling back as they worry about the ramifications of the downturn in the U.S. economy."

DK

Full Story

Lawsuit ruling edges Tarrant, Dallas districts closer to Oklahoma water supply

October 28, 2008

By RUDOLPH BUSH

North Texas' quest to tap Oklahoma water as a major source of future supply took an important step forward Monday, thanks to a ruling from a federal appellate court.

The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver ruled that a lawsuit filed by the Tarrant Regional Water District may proceed in federal court in Oklahoma.

If the suit is successful, the Tarrant water district will have the same ability to apply for water rights as any local entity in Oklahoma.

DK

Full Story

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Vinyl records making a comeback

Tue, Sep. 23, 2008
By BILL HANNAbillhanna@star-telegram.com

Sales jumped 77 percent in the first half of this year compared with last year, according to Billboard

Given the turbulent state of the music industry, Record Town probably shouldn’t be in business anymore.

But the family-owned music store across the street from Texas Christian University has received an unexpected lifeline from what it has been selling since it opened 51 years ago: vinyl records.

DK

Full Story

Mortgage rates drop, and demand goes up

Tue, Sep. 23, 2008

By ANDREA JARESajares@star-telegram.com

The phones are busy at local mortgage companies.

The average rate for a mortgage loan dropped suddenly two weeks ago after the government stepped in to take over mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and for much of last week, buyers could get loans under 6 percent.


DK

Full Story

Rufe Snow options come with a price

Friday, Sep. 05, 2008

By SARAH JUNEK

Less could mean more when it comes to Rufe Snow Drive.

Funds to pay for half of the cost to expand Keller’s north-south Rufe Snow to six lanes were approved by voters in the 2006 Tarrant County bond package. Bringing the number of lanes between Barbara Lane and Rapp Road to four, an option favored by the Keller City Council, will likely reduce the amount of county money the city could receive, leaving Keller taxpayers shouldering more of the cost over time.

DK

Full Story

Thursday, September 04, 2008

New Texas law: Get marriage counseling or pay up

For those planning to get married anytime soon, prepare to pay a lot more for a license or else spend time in a relationship class.

full story

Friday, August 15, 2008

Northeast Tarrant police suspect drugs in three teens’ deaths

Star Telegram - August 13, 2008

Police are investigating whether illegal drugs such as heroin or LSD, prescription drugs such as hydrocodone or a mixture of the two were involved in the deaths of three teens in the Grapevine area in the past two weeks
An exact cause of death on the teens is pending toxicology results, which could take several weeks, police said.
But evidence at the scene and interviews with friends of the victims have led investigators to believe that drugs may have been involved in their deaths, police say.
The first death was reported on July 28, when a 15-year-old boy was found dead by his grandmother in their Euless

Full Story

Friday, July 18, 2008

Man falsely accused of delivering drug-laced cookies says his character was assassinated

July 12, 2008 - The Dallas Morning News

Christian Phillips endured derisive comments and cruel jokes from around the globe about his intelligence, spent 54 hours in jail and had his arrest "mug shot" plastered across newspapers and television – all for an alleged crime that police now acknowledge he did not commit.

The 18-year-old Watauga man was cleared Thursday of allegations that he delivered drug-tainted chocolate-chip cookies to the Lake Worth police station.

Full Story

As gas prices increase, so do crowds at park-and-ride lots

July 12, 2008 - The Dallas Morning News

Along the DART Red Line north of Dallas, commuters are parking at big box stores or along curbs up to a half-mile from the station.

In Tarrant County, Trinity Railway Express riders are bicycling to train stations to avoid parking headaches, and transit officials are paving over landscaping to squeeze in extra parking spots.

“If you’re not here early, you’ll have trouble,” said Rob Roselle of Murphy, who catches the Red Line at the Bush Turnpike station in Richardson.

Full Story