💼Airlines pressured on refunds; Bell loses $16M instead of $100M; Wrong scratch-off ticket is worth $1M.

A major U.S. Department of Transportation rule went into effect this week that requires airlines to give automatic refunds for passengers whose flights get canceled or significantly delayed. If this rule had been in effect last year, United, American, and Delta would have each issued an estimated $1 billion in refunds.

A Fort Worth jury ordered Bell Helicopter Textron to pay $16 million to a California company that claims Bell gave proprietary information that the companies developed to a rival supplier of cockpit display systems. The jury decided that Bell engaged in unfair competition, but it rejected Rogerson Aircraft Corp.'s claim that Bell stole trade secrets. Rogerson made avionics and display systems for Bell helicopters for more than 25 years. It sued in 2017, seeking more than $100 million in damages.

Arlington Mayor Jim Ross shares his dreams during his State of the City, from flying taxis to new hotels to business relocation. Also key are transportation, roads and development to make the entertainment district, UT-Arlington, and downtown more connected and walkable.

The Japanese military will be installing a Lockheed Martin electronic warfare anti-ship missile capability on its vessels, a first international sale for Lockheed as part of a $113-million contract.  “Japan is a critical ally in the Western Pacific. Having [Surface Electronic Warfare Improvement Program] provides the same state-of-the-art system for detecting and identifying threats that the U.S. Navy uses, enhancing shipboard capabilities, and increasing interoperability with the U.S. Navy.”

The UNT Health Science Center at Fort Worth has received a two-year $500,000 grant to investigate how social media consumption influences adolescent mental health and substance use. Dr. Karrie Curry, an assistant professor in UNTHSC’s Master of Science in Lifestyle Health Sciences and Coaching program, will lead the study, which will monitor 250 adolescents to assess how social media use affects behaviors such as self-harm, disordered eating, and alcohol and cannabis use. The grant is from the Texas Children’s Mental Health Care Consortium.

The V-280 tilt-rotor will offer the U.S. Army a strategic advantage, and Bell Flight is working out the details at its Weapons Systems Integration Lab opened in March at Arlington Municipal Airport.

Marketing madness: The price of a 30-second ad on Fox during the World Series was approximately $500k. In five games, the network's revenue from ad sales was estimated at 221 million.

Gallup’s annual Work and Education survey for 2024, released last week, asked Americans about their feelings toward U.S. industries, and found that grocery and restaurant are now rated much lower than a year ago. It also found that America loves farmers, but hates pharma.

A 1,400-acre ranch abutting the Rio Grande has been acquired by the General Land Office of Texas to build a wall along the Mexico border. Bulldozers already are at work. Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham said it was done because "the federal government has abdicated its job to secure our southern border."

American Airlines is partnering with the Transportation Security Administration to make going through security easier. TSA PreCheck Touchless ID works this way: After an identity match that compares a traveler's image to their existing passport photo, the traveler will be able to move through the security checkpoint without needing to pull out their boarding pass or driver's license.

Fort Worth approved a 5% increase to the stormwater utility fee to begin Jan. 1, 2025. The stormwater system includes 1,059 miles of drainage pipe, and 59 miles of main lines are at high risk. The basic rate will increase from $6.61 to $6.94 per month per billing unit. The fee increase would provide revenue of $5.04 million during the next two years.

Adolfson & Peterson Construction announced it has completed construction for Transwestern’s Mid Cities Logistics, a 65-acre logistics hub at Buttercup and Boswell Drive in southeast Fort Worth. The property contains five structures totaling 908,300 square feet of core and shell distribution buildings.

Governor Greg Abbott announced a grant totaling $1,272,322 to Tarrant County College to support workforce training and help businesses upskill their new or incumbent workforce. The grant is from the Texas Workforce Commission to provide customized training for more than 630 new and incumbent employees of Cummings Electrical for high-demand occupations as electrical contractors.

Believe it or not: A carpenter from North Carolina won a million-dollar lottery with a $20 bill he found on the ground in a convenience store parking lot. He picked it up, went into the store and bought a scratch-off, and won $1M. Even more unbelievable is that the ticket he wanted wasn’t available, so he bought the winning one instead.

Snippets:

• Ford is idling production of the F-150 Lightning electric vehicle for seven weeks.

• The Texas law requiring hospitals to ask for citizenship status goes into effect today.

• Neiman Marcus is under fire for swapping ‘Christmas’ for ‘Holiday’ in the title of it’s annual shopping guide.

Today’s trivia: The D-FW area went 34 consecutive days without any precipitation, a streak that ended Tuesday. It was the eighth-longest period in D-FW without rain, per the National Weather Service.

Daily digit: According to the latest counts, an estimated 346,309 EVs were sold in the U.S. in Q3 2024, a 5% increase from Q2. The EV share of sales in Q3 hit 8.9%, the highest level recorded and an increase from 7.8% in Q3 2023. EV incentives and discounts were elevated in Q3, which helped fuel higher sales.

Announcements:

• Thrust Flight: Adds Travis Tauzin as a Certified Flight Instructor.

• Visit Fort Worth: Promotes Tom Martens to Vice President of creative, film, and music, and Taylor Hardy to Film Commissioner and Director of Video Content.

• Tegna: Promotes Carolyn Mungo to President and General Manager of WFAA-KFAA Dallas-Fort Worth. She had been WFAA’s Vice President and General Manager.

• ECI Software Solutions: Six of its products received a 2024 Buyer’s Choice Award from TrustRadius, a platform for independent business technology reviews.

• Avid Golf Media Ventures: Names Mark Baumann Director of Sales.

• Texas Historical Records Advisory Board: Honors Krishna Shenoy at Fort Worth Botanic Garden with its Archival Award of Excellence. 

• TeachMe.To: Adds Goran Krndija as a Growth Consultant.

• Underwood Law Firm: Adds Angelica Farinacci and Clint Davis to begin a Fort Worth office practice area concentrating on probate, estate planning and guardianship.

• HTeaO: Names Shane Clark Chief Development Officer and Michael Stoddard Vice President of IT.

❎ 817 Biz is formatted for viewing on mobile devices. If this email doesn’t look right, click the link at top right. Some links may expire after initial posting or be paywall protected.