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  • 🐾Panther Island RFPs are out; D-FW Airport fire trucks are hot; Blaylock, French exit; Coinbase DExits.

🐾Panther Island RFPs are out; D-FW Airport fire trucks are hot; Blaylock, French exit; Coinbase DExits.

Plus, more bite-size news about business in Tarrant County.

An 86-foot-tall Christmas tree arrived at Sundance Square Thursday morning. This year’s tree continues Fort Worth’s tradition of displaying the tallest live Christmas tree in Texas and is 11 feet taller than this year’s tree in Rockefeller Center. The tree lighting ceremony is December 2. (Images courtesy City of FW)

Tarrant Regional Water District has issued a Request for Qualifications seeking development partners for the first phase of the 300+ acre Panther Island redevelopment district near downtown Fort Worth.

U.S. officials are raising China espionage concerns with Saudi Arabia’s bid for 48 F-35 jets. The F-35 is manufactured by Lockheed Martin and assembled in Fort Worth.

Bo French, the Tarrant County GOP Chair the last two years, has resigned and said he plans to run for a spot on the Texas Railroad Commission.

A Smith & Wesson Model 29-2 presented to music legend Frank Sinatra in 1976 after his return to live performing will be offered in Rock Island Auction Company's Dec. 5-7 Premier Auction in Bedford.

Two Mansfield ISD seventh graders have made it to Hollywood. Aeiress Jones and Raymond Ware auditioned and landed parts on Abbott Elementary, a hit ABC show that has won Emmy, Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild and NAACP Image awards since it arrived in 2021.

Audrey Adkison, a junior wildlife biology major from Mansfield, was named the West Texas A&M University Intern of the Year following a summer at the Fort Worth Nature Center and Refuge—where, among other tasks, she wrangled and helped collect data on alligators. 

Bring back Dickies (and Luka): VF Corp completed the sale of Dickies to Bluestar Alliance for $660 million. It had purchased Fort Worth-based Williamson-Dickie in 2017 for $820 million and completed the move of the company to California earlier this year. 

DExit (the trend of companies relocating from Delaware to other states) is real and is increasing. Coinbase, the largest U.S.-based crypto exchange, is following Tesla and SpaceX out of Delaware as Texas recruits with its Business Court and stronger director protections as a business-friendly alternative.

Fort Worth-based SEGG Media Corporation signed a binding Letter of Intent to acquire Triggy.AI, an artificial intelligence technology company specializing in ad‑revenue formats and gamified engagement solutions. The acquisition is scheduled to close by November 28 and enables SEGG to strengthen recurring revenue, deepen audience engagement and scale monetization across its ecosystem.

During the 2026 FIFA World Cup games at Texas Stadium, there may be as many (security) drones around the stadium as there are fans in the stadium. 

Shawn Taikratoke has a problem most entrepreneurs would envy—he can’t keep up with demand. His company, Mozee, is racing to deliver autonomous shuttles within the city of Arlington before the FIFA World Cup comes to north Texas next summer. As the vehicles move fans across the region, he hopes to change the way people view transportation.

A MESSAGE FROM BURT LADNER REAL ESTATE:

On an expansive lot that backs up to Foster Park, this updated residence at 4237 Ranier Court is within the sought-after Overton Park Elementary zone. The 2,617 sq ft home has abundant natural light, with a family room anchored by a wall of windows overlooking a two-tiered backyard. The kitchen has leather-finished granite countertops, a farmhouse sink, and a stainless dual-fuel stove. Additional upgrades are found throughout. Offered at $969,000 by Suzanne Burt and Laura Ladner.

Sports Business Journal takes a look at how well the Texas Rangers' in-house media did in its first season. Hint: It had more slug than the Rangers batters. 

Professional Bull Riders announced a new brand -- Premier Women’s Rodeo -- built to become the pre-eminent platform for women’s rodeo. Its marquee event -- the 2026 PWR Championship -- will be May 12-15, 2026 at Cowtown Coliseum in Fort Worth. PBR is pursuing media rights partnerships for the event.

LO3 Capital, a private investment company, announced a senior debt investment in Fort Worth-based CCRA International, a technology-enabled travel services platform. The investment enables CCRA to complete its acquisition of ABC Global Services, creating one of the largest travel network consortia in North America.

Southlake-based Ancor Capital Partners, a private investment firm, announced a new investment in Vapor Systems Technologies. VST is a premier designer and manufacturer of vapor recovery and fuel dispensing solutions for gasoline dispensing facilities.

Elbit Systems of America, which is headquartered in Fort Worth, will expand a Roanoke County, Va., manufacturing facility that produces low-light night vision devices for the defense industry. The $30-million expansion will add 288 jobs, bringing the site’s workforce to more than 1,000. 

JOLT is entering the U.S. electric vehicle charging station market with its purchase of Volta Media Network from Shell. The deal will add thousands of EV charging and digital media sites across the country. Dallas-Fort Worth is one of the markets included in the purchase. 

Oshkosh Airport Products Corporation delivered six new Striker Volterra Electric Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting (ARFF) vehicles to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. D-FW is one of the first airports to adopt electric drive ARFF technology.

The charitable organization associated with Colossal, the Texas-based de-extinction company, pledged a $500,000, 5-year commitment to the Turner Endangered Species Fund to advance the recovery and re-wilding of the Bolson tortoise, one of North America’s largest and rarest tortoise species. The Bolson tortoise went extinct in the U.S. more than 10,000 years ago.

Chuck E. Cheese opens its first of a possible 1,000 Adventure World Indoor Playgrounds in Arlington. The active-play concept is designed for families with kids 3-to-8-years old.

President Donald Trump hinted at one of the key changes he would like to see made to the Affordable Care Act, which guarantees health insurance coverage for all Americans. Click here to read Trump's money maneuvering.

Was there ever a question? The team at Travel + Leisure has named Fort Worth the No. 1 best place to live in Texas.

Arlington-based D.R. Horton has contracted with AI property technology company Prophetic for insights to speed up land acquisition.

Nothing to do with business: Scientists discover the optimal strategy for winning multiple rounds of rock, paper, scissors.

Notable and quotable: “The longer your memos, the less likely they are to be read by men who have the power to act on them.”

—David Ogilvy (1911-1999), British advertising tycoon, founder of Ogilvy & Mather, and known as the “Father of Advertising”

Snippets:

  • Frost Bank offers clients a clever update on the State of the Penny.

  • The bill to re-open the federal government could send the hemp industry up in smoke within a year.

  • Y'all Street is getting crowded. The Nasdaq exchange says it is going to have a Nasdaq Texas Exchange. 

  • Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor: He once was a Prince of a man. Today, all he has to his name is a once-popular hyphen. 

“Why is the arts budget always the first thing to be cut, when you know damn well it’s the only thing that separates us from the monkeys?”

Daily digit: 26% = Number of homebuyers who paid cash, up from 20% the year before, according to a study from the National Association of Realtors. 

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Announcements: 

  • Tarrant Appraisal District: Accepts resignation of District 10 Fort Worth Councilmember Alan Blaylock.

  • FWISD: Hires Christina Vela as Director of Special Projects and Community Engagement.

  • Richland Hills: Appoints Wes Rhodes Fire Chief.

  • Cleo Hearn: The founder of Cowboys of Color Rodeo has died at 86.

  • Southside Bank: Appoints Justin Holt as Fort Worth market president.

  • Valor: Appoints Jarod Cox President.  

  • Superior Hydrovac: Adds Todd McCann as Project Coordinator.

  • Fort Worth Vaqueros Futbol Club: Names Chris Spinks Partnerships Manager.

  • BZZR: Names Troy Miller Head of Partnerships - Sports & Media. 

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