🏈Cowboys still prime-time darlings; FW's fast-growing zip code; This company is a 'Phantom'.

The Dallas Cowboys open their 2026 NFL season visiting the New York Giants Sept. 13 for a Sunday Night Football matchup. Other highlights are a road game in Rio de Janeiro to host the Baltimore Ravens in Week 3, the Philadelphia Eagles at home Thanksgiving day, and five other Thursday, Sunday or Monday night games. 

Crowded highway? U.S. Sen. John Cornyn of Texas has proposed legislation to upgrade U.S. 287, which runs from south Texas to Montana, to an interstate named after President Trump. His plan would re-name it Interstate 47, also known as Trump Interstate. That road in Fort Worth is called Martin Luther King Freeway. 

Two manufacturers have been granted tax breaks by Fort Worth as an incentive to expand their operations. Combined, their plans could mean nearly $1 billion in investments and 1,865 jobs. The tax deals are for Toronto electronics manufacturer Celestica, which could take two buildings at Alliance, and Lockheed Martin supplier Marand, which has a presence in southeast Fort Worth.

Significant stat: Based on 2025 census data and more than 20,000 new residents last year, Fort Worth, with 1,028,117 people, has passed Jacksonville to become the 10th most populous city in the U.S. In Texas, it is fourth behind Houston, San Antonio and Dallas.

North Fort Worth zip code 76177 ranks No. 7 in RentCafe's study that analyzed the 50 fastest-growing new neighborhoods in the U.S. that barely existed a decade ago. Texas had 17 of the top 50. Prosper (75078) and Melissa (75454) ranked ninth and 10th.

Westlake-based Charles Schwab rolled out spot bitcoin trading to retail clients in the U.S., allowing direct access to trade on its platform, Schwab Crypto. Customers can buy and sell while maintaining a separate crypto account connected to their Schwab brokerage profile. Charles Schwab Premier Bank will act as Custodian.

Schwab CEO and President Rick Wurster said artificial intelligence will become a “front door” for clients to interact with the firm, with the potential to serve a mass volume of affluent investors with less than $1 million in assets. 

PwC, a tax, audit, assurance and advisory firm, is offering cash awards up to $5,000 to employees who can demonstrate they have used AI successfully. The ‘[A]mplifying [I]mpact Awards,’ requires employees to show how they applied AI to drive measurable, “truly impactful” results.

Colleyville has approved golf carts on neighborhood streets by a 4-2 vote with Mayor Bobby Lindamood and Mayor Pro Tem Brandi Elder in opposition. The ordinance allows golf carts on neighborhood roads with a speed limit of 35 miles per hour or less. When crossing multi-lane intersections, golf carts must do so at a four-way stop. 

A requirement that foreign visitors with tickets from countries that have qualified for the World Cup to pay as much as $15,000 in bonds to enter the U.S. has been suspended. The State Department imposed the requirement last year for certain countries as part of a broader crackdown on immigration. Read more.

Fort Worth startup Otto Aerospace has moved into detail design of the Phantom 3500 business aircraft, exploiting its drag-reducing laminar flow technology to develop a light jet with the cabin size and performance of a super mid-size jet. Plans are to fly the first Phantom 3500 test flight late in 2027, according to Otto CEO and President Scott Drennan. Otto was founded in 2008 by Bill Otto. Last July, it secured an almost $500-million incentive package from Florida to locate its manufacturing facility to Jacksonville.

After this weekend's event and three years in Fort Worth / Arlington, the 2027 Professional Bull Riders (PBR) World Finals Championship will be going to Glendale, AZ. Organizers want to have rotating city sites similar to Super Bowls. 

Swiss performance brand ON Running is expected to open its first Tarrant County storefront later this year in Southlake’s Town Square. Its lightweight performance shoes have a growing presence in running and lifestyle fashion worlds. The 6,000-square-foot location will sit between Alo and Sunglass Hut. Also coming soon are Reformation and Crate & Barrel.

Is Whataburger getting a new look? The new prototype blends retro aesthetics with modern tech. Check out the iconic orange-and-white stripes and new efficiency standards.

Netflix is hiring for an AI-driven animation studio called INKubator, according to technology and entertainment newsletter Lowpass. The job listings classify INKubator as a “next-generation, creative-led, GenAI-native animation studio to bridge innovation with imaginative storytelling.”

Lockheed Martin won a $212.74M modification contract for PATRIOT Advanced Capability-3 support. The work includes logistics support, missile repair and launcher repair/return services.The modification takes the total contract value to $875.63 million.

Community Design Fort Worth received a grant from the Sid W. Richardson Foundation to launch the Historic Northside Cultural Asset Mapping Initiative. Employing a "go-along" interview methodology, the project centers on residents as the true experts of their own streets. Collaborators include Dr. Brian Christens (Vanderbilt University), Randy Hutcheson (Community Design Fort Worth) and Danaydae Lara O’Neal (Historic Northside District Main Street).

Constellation Real Estate Partners acquired 44 acres at 5933 S. Freeway in Fort Worth for the development of Constellation Summit 35, a 492,000-square-foot speculative industrial building. Construction is expected to be complete by the third quarter of 2027. The facility will feature 40-foot clear height, 296 car parking spaces, 194 trailer parking spaces, and freeway frontage.

Colin Angle led Roomba maker iRobot for more than three decades. He updated Business Insider about moving beyond the purely useful automated vacuum to a pet-inspired robot you can give a forever home.

Buc-ee's, the Texas-native, super-sized convenience store, plans to expand to six additional states by the end of 2027. Arizona and Arkansas locations should open this year, and Wisconsin, Louisiana, Kansas and North Carolina by the end of 2027.

MP Materials' first-quarter earnings topped analyst expectations, though planned maintenance activity is expected to weigh on near-term rare earth production before output rebounds later this year. MP posted first-quarter earnings per share of $0.03, exceeding consensus estimates by $0.06. MP operates a 250,000-square-foot facility at AllianceTexas.

The Supreme Court ruled a widely used abortion medication could continue to be prescribed by telemedicine and mailed to patients in the U.S. The court overturned a lower-court ruling that made it impossible for women in states with abortion bans to access the mifepristone. 

K-pop super group BTS,  Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Madonna and Columbian singer-songwriter Shakira will headline the July 19 FIFA World Cup final halftime show, the first in the tournament's nearly 100-year-history.

Snippets:

• Life Flight Network, the largest non-profit air medical program in the country, has added three Bell 407GXis. Life Flight already has 35 Bell helicopters in its fleet. 

• Retail sales rose for the third consecutive month in April, gaining 0.5% from March and rising 4.9% year-over-year, according to the Census Bureau. 

• Memorial Day weekend, May 23-25, is a sales tax holiday for qualifying water-efficient products. See what is included here. 

• Do you want a joyful message 😆 with your coffee order? Starbucks baristas and bosses disagree. HR is caught in the middle. 

• Defense Under Secretary Comptroller and CFO Jules Hurst said the cost of the Iran war increased from the $25 billion he said in testimony April 29 to $29 billion. 

Daily digit: 25% = Percentage of currently registered federal lobbyists now involoved in pushing AI interests. That’s more than double what it was in 2023 (11%). AI companies are amping up their spending in Washington as they push for federal approval for more data centers and industry-friendly rules regarding their use of copyrighted material, among other asks, The New York Times reports, citing data from nonprofit watchdog Public Citizen.

Announcements:

• Worthington Bank: Hires Keller Harbuck as Vice President-Commercial Banking.

• Capital One: Selects Bob McCarrick as Market President for North Texas.

• The Women's Center of Tarrant County: Hires Brenda Rios as Chief Operating Officer. 

• NextHome NTX Real Estate: Adds Amy Steele. 

• Scouting America (National): Hires Mike Brown Jr. as Principal Gift Officer.

• ACHE of North Texas: Executive Director, John Whittemore, announces retirement after more than a decade of leadership.

• Tarleton State: Director of Athletic Performance Bryan Klobucar earned the highest honor in the strength and conditioning coaching field -- Master Strength and Conditioning Coach. He is one of only 380 global designees. 

• HUMAN: Hires Alex Pathan as Senior Account Executive.

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