💰$75 million payout; A Timely solution; Cuban & biggest mistake

The Bell 525 Relentless, a twin-engine, super-medium helicopter, is on the cusp of a major milestone: it has reached 95% completion of flight testing for Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certification by mid-year. It is expected to redefine passenger travel, especially in the demanding offshore oil and gas sector. 

American Airlines is close to placing an order for about 100 narrow-body jets split between Airbus SE and Boeing, with Airbus likely to secure the larger part, Bloomberg News reported. A deal could be announced shortly, although the final mix of Airbus A321 and Boeing 737 Max 8 jets is still being negotiated.

BNSF has agreed to pay $75 million to resolve a class-action suit accusing it of violating an Illinois law that restricts collecting biometric information such as fingerprints and eye scans. Attorneys for 46,500 truck drivers disclosed the proposed deal. The claims against BNSF were tested last year in federal court as the first trial under the stringent Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act.

The Sid W. Richardson Foundation has gifted $2.5 million to Texas A&M-Fort Worth for engineering programs, according to A&M. The university is building a $150 million, eight-story building in downtown Fort Worth for the law school and courses focused on engineering, health care and nursing. Completion is expected during 2025.

Fort Worth-based TimelyCare is a health and well-being provider serving more than 2.3 million students, faculty and staff at U.S. colleges and universities. Now, it will expand that virtual care coverage to K-12 teachers, administrators and support staff. States, districts and schools can provide faculty and staff a menu of virtual care options, including 24/7 live counseling and medical care from licensed providers in all 50 states, on-demand emotional support, self-care resources and a peer community. There is no cost or co-pay for users.

With the Major League Baseball All-Star game in Arlington July 16th, baseball and Fort Worth Sports will host a party for the opening night of its MLB Draft Sunday July 14 at Cowtown Coliseum in the Fort Worth Stockyards. The draft will be open to the public, with more details coming soon.

Fort Worth's Palm Primary Care Texas has acquired the assets of two primary care practices in Dallas and Duncanville from Texas Health Physicians Group. Palm has opened or acquired six primary care clinics in Tarrant and Dallas counties since June 2023 with a plan to have a meaningful impact on the health of Medicare beneficiaries. 

Why are there suddenly so many car washes? The industry is experiencing a five percent annual expansion in the U.S. and a market that could double by 2030. Americans no longer wash their car; the number of washes done professionally is a 79 percent market share as of 2021, up from 50 percent in 1996. Revenues average $1.5 million per location. (BBG gift article)

Believe it or not: Airplane tires have a remarkably short lifespan, expected to stop a 164,000-pound object landing at 130 miles per hour, with 200 pounds per square inch of pressure. Tires last between 300 and 450 landings on average. Airlines don’t even bother to buy the tires; they’re leased from the manufacturers on a per-landing basis, and after it’s reached the end of its run they’re returned and re-treaded again up to seven additional times before eventually being tossed.

Own a piece of Hollywood from the Treasures of Planet Hollywood auction March 20-24. Planet Hollywood launched in 1991, backed by Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis. By the early 2000s, most of the nearly 100 restaurants had closed; all the props and costumes have been in storage for the last 20 years. Here are some of the 1,600 items to be auctioned:

• The flag motif top hat and coat Apollo Creed wore in Rocky IV

• The bullwhip from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

• The correct Holy Grail from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

• The embryo-smuggling Barbasol can from Jurassic Park

• The sports almanac from Back to the Future

• Leia’s blaster from Return of the Jedi

• The wood panel from Titanic that saved Rose

People on the move:

• Fort Worth Botanic Garden: Hires Ashton Faulds as Vice President of Marketing and Communications.

• Tarleton State: Hires Steve Uryasz as Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics.

• Clearfork Strategies: Founder Greg Cox elected to membership in the Fellows of the Texas Bar Foundation.

• Dallas YMCA: Hires long-time Fort Worth and Granbury YMCA executive Jeff Thomas to Executive Director for the T. Boone Pickens YMCA.  

• Frost Bank: Adds Noah Weatherly as Assistant Vice President-Business Banking.

• Standard Meat Company: Appoints Trever Schatschneider to Director of Information Technology; promotes Taylor Stephenson to Senior Director, Business Development; promotes Heather Irby to Senior Director, Human Resources and Safety.

Snippets:

• Boss Warren Buffett of Berkshire Hathaway writes about his expectations for BNSF in the next century in his annual letter to investors.

• Pay attention to lane changes on the highways in northeast Tarrant as 820 and 121 are undergoing re-design.

• According to Mark Cuban, this is the biggest mistake that entrepreneurs make.

Last poll results: Should athletes be allowed to take performance-enhancing drugs? Yes (16%), No (63%), Undecided (21%).