Magazine picks Fort Worth's Fairmount as one of 'South's Best Comeback Neighborhoods'

Southern Living magazine "scoured the South to find neighborhoods that were once down on their luck but are now resurging with community pride."

The search led to 17 cities, including New Orleans, Nashville, Baltimore and Chattanooga, Tenn.

But also featured is a neighborhood on Fort Worth’s near south side.

Established in the 1880s and once a fashionable neighborhood, Fairmount fell into disrepair after World War II. But in recent years, the efforts of property owners have brought renewed vitality and made it, according to the magazine, one of the "South’s Best Comeback Neighborhoods."

"Families move here for the sense of place and belonging," said Fran McCarthy, who relocated to Fairmount seven years ago. "Who knew suburban flight would be a round trip?" — Tim Madigan


Source: Fort Worth Star Telegram

Bride marries arriving groom at Corpus Christi airport

The Associated Press

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — A woman in a wedding gown surprised her fiance by greeting him at a Texas airport along with a justice of the peace. Robyn Moore and William Acosta exchanged vows Monday at Corpus Christi International Airport after he got off a plane arriving from Toledo, Ohio.

Photos were taken near a Christmas tree at a security checkpoint.

Acosta, who was wearing jeans and a sweater, says he was speechless and thrilled by the wedding Moore planned.

Moore says she and Acosta "spent half our relationship in airports."

The couple got a marriage license last week and planned to tie the knot this month, at a site to be determined.

Moore and Acosta met in 2008 in Dallas, where she lived and he was on a business trip. They plan to live in Toledo.


Full Story: Fort Worth Star Telegram

Fans at Cowboys Stadium's first basketball game wowed by size of venue, but they say arena lacks intimacy

09:43 PM CST on Saturday, December 19, 2009
By ERIC AASEN / The Dallas Morning News
eaasen@dallasnews.com

ARLINGTON – Pigskin was kicked to the curb at Cowboys Stadium on Saturday, replaced by the sounds of squeaking tennis shoes, the thud of a bouncing basketball and a blaring basketball buzzer.

A gleaming maple hardwood court took center stage as the University of Texas defeated the University of North Carolina, 103-90, in the stadium's first basketball game.

The weekend battle was a dress rehearsal for February's NBA All-Star Game, and NBA and stadium officials were on hand to study the scene.

From the stands, basketball fans said a wide seating bowl designed for football can't replicate the intimacy of a basketball arena. Some thought the size of the stadium drowned out their cheering and screaming.

But the $1.15 billion stadium's grandeur is impressive, and the huge video screens make up for any bad seats in the house, fans said.

"I feel like we're in a big arena, it's so spread out," said Jesse Allen of Duncanville. He left his lower-level seats to stand at a table to get a better view. "I don't feel like the sixth man."



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Super Bowl XLV Kick-Off Concerts to feature Faith Hill, Sting

Super Bowl XLV Kick-Off Concerts to feature Faith Hill, Sting
By Jeff Mosier / The Dallas Morning News

Details about two of the three Super Bowl XLV Kick-Off Concerts have finally been made public.

Host committee officials said country singer Faith Hill will perform March 6 at Bass Performance Hall in Fort Worth, and pop star Sting is booked for May 22 at the Winspear Opera House in Dallas.

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Tarrant County College serves record number of students

Tarrant County College serves record number of students
Star-Telegram
September 20, 2009

In 1965, when Tarrant County voters were going to the polls to decide whether they should create a "junior college" and a taxing entity to support it, they probably didn’t envisioned the institution that today rivals major universities in terms of enrollment.

After starting with just one campus, Tarrant County College opened its fifth campus last month, and the combined enrollment now makes it the sixth-largest college or university in Texas.

In recent years, the college district was embroiled in controversies about cost overruns on its new downtown campus, an ambitious and controlling chancellor who changed gears on the location of that campus, and a board that did not always conduct business with the transparency and accountability that taxpayers desired and deserved.

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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.

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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.


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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.


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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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.

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