⚡Taiwan puts chips on the table; Bedford company gets $2.35M grant; FW Zoo debuts baby tigers.

A 650-acre ranch, owned by an East Texas family for more than 80 years near Lake Palestine, is expected to be transferred to the state next year for development into Texas' next state park. (Photo courtesy of TexasLand)

Over the next few weeks, American Airlines is rolling out a cash-plus-AAdvantage miles option to purchase tickets. Once logged into the AAdvantage account, members will select their flights with cash. At checkout, and after the flight insurance pitch, available cash and miles options will be displayed. Members use a slider to choose the combination of cash and miles, and the adjustment is made at checkout.

Aeternz Semiconductor Testing, a subsidiary of Taiwan's King Yuan Electronics Co., is eyeing Fort Worth for a $1.3-billion chip testing plant that would become the largest electronics manufacturing operation in the city. It is considering a 23-acre site at 273 W. Everman Parkway, and City Council members will consider a tax abatement at its October 27 meeting, according to the Fort Worth Report. 

In an apparent effort to win public support, data center companies have donated or invested more than $343 million across Texas for various community needs, including school programs, infrastructure repairs and emergency services, according to a Texas Tribune analysis.

Ospin Biotherapeutics, a Bedford company formed by TechFW program graduates Nanoscope Technologies and DesignPlex Biomedical, has been awarded a non-dilutive, two-year $2.35 million Phase II Small Business Innovation Research grant. Funding from the National Institutes of Health will help continue development of a breakthrough therapy designed to replace traditional electrical spinal cord stimulation. Ospin combines Nanoscope's mutation-agnostic gene therapy research and DesignPlex' advanced medical device engineering.

CeeDee Lamb's 17 receptions in Sunday's 34-30 victory over the Houston Texans is second in Dallas Cowboys history. Tight end Jason Witten had 18 in 2012 and also has the third and fourth spots with 15 and 14. The Cowboys play at home against Tampa Bay Thursday night at 7:15 p.m.

Betting that Abbott will soon restore funding, some Texas cities and agencies accepted Flock’s offer to keep cameras free of charge. They are predicting Gov. Abbott will reinstate funding after the elections.

Two female critically endangered Sumatran tiger cubs have been born at the Fort Worth Zoo. The births bring a lot of firsts: the first Sumatran tiger cubs born at the Fort Worth Zoo, the first tiger cubs born in the renovated Predators of Asia & Africa tiger habitat, which opened in 2023, and the first tiger cubs born at the Zoo in nearly two decades.

A movie tracing Jimmy Stewart's World War II service and how it shaped his unforgettable turn as George Bailey in It's a Wonderful Life is set for a red-carpet moment in Fort Worth Nov. 4. The film, titled Jimmy, stars KJ Apa as the legendary actor. It will be the opening night selection for the 20th Lone Star Film Festival. Stewart, in Fort Worth in 1977, called it the "unexpected city." He also was a big supporter of the Fort Worth Zoo. 

Before the factory with hundreds of workers within Hillwood, before the major deals with iPhone maker Apple and the Pentagon, employees at MP Materials worked out of a warehouse behind a 7-Eleven north of Fort Worth. Here, Hillwood is sharing its insights behind the deals and the move. 

Sometime next year, the radically modernized Terminal F will open at D-FW International Airport. At the center of the 400,000-square-foot expansion is a design element long considered an impossibility because of regulations — the building of glass-walled jet bridges. Simple Flying explains how it happened. 

Back Nine Golf, with multiple locations in the Tarrant metro area, is planning a location at 4200 Heritage Trace Parkway in north Fort Worth. It features the chain's Full Swing simulator technology, which tracks swing speed, launch angle and ball speed. The opening is projected for January.

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Already preparing for a previously announced Arlington restaurant, Vietnamese concept 286 Noodle House announced a second location at 2201 E. Broad St. in Mansfield. It projects to open in April. 

MAD Concepts Group, the Addison-based parent to Jakes and Tacos & Avocados, is close to debuting both at 5301 Davis Blvd. in North Richland Hills. According to a release, Jakes will open in mid-to-late October, with Tacos & Avocados coming online in the following weeks.

While his work winds down with the Rainwater Foundation, Carlo Capua is looking at speaking engagements and emceeing and/or facilitating discussions. He just booked his first international speaking engagement — for the U.S. Department of State — which will take him to Almaty, Kazakhstan in February to lead workshops for emerging professionals from across Eastern Europe and Central Asia. All this before he signed for representation by Speaker Exchange Agency in Overland Park, KS.

U.S. News & World Report has released its 2027 national university rankings, with Rice at No. 16, followed by UT-Austin at No. 34, Texas A&M at No. 59, SMU at No. 85, and Baylor and TCU tied at No. 90. UT-Dallas ranks No. 121, the University of Houston No. 137, Texas Tech No. 186 and UT-Arlington No. 236.

The DFW Car & Toy Museum has been named a Best of Texas winner in the Museum category, recognizing the unique Fort Worth attraction in the Guide to Texas. Founder Ron Sturgeon began collecting toys in the 1980s and eventually expanded his collection to full-size automobiles. What started as a personal passion eventually became a collection of more than 200 cars and 3,000 toys and collectibles.

Starbucks shuttered its location at 6115 Camp Bowie Blvd in Fort Worth after approximately 30 years. It was one of 250 of the chain's coffeehouses closed nationwide because of financial performance.

The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles granted parole to Amber Guyger seven years after a jury convicted the former Dallas officer of murdering Botham Jean in the apartment she said she mistook for her own. 

Snippets:

• Toyota is fewer than 38,000 vehicles from overtaking General Motors for the U.S. sales crown. What is fueling the change? 

• American Airlines union of pilots says Spirit’s data sale to Google could undermine aviation safety. 

• Eight cities, one in Tarrant, are on World Atlas' list of the safest smaller cities in Texas.

Monday mansion: Tarrant County’s most expensive home listing is a $27.75 million Westlake estate in the gated Vaquero community. The 12,076-square-foot, five-bedroom home at 1112 Post Oak Place sits on 1.5 acres with lake and golf-course views and includes eight baths and a five-car garage. The European-inspired property, known as Philoxenia, is described as a completely re-envisioned estate.

Today in history: 1921 = The first radio broadcast of a World Series game aired, as the New York Giants faced the New York Yankees. Announcer Tommy Cowan worked from a studio while a newspaperman at the Polo Grounds relayed the action by telephone.

Significant stat: $12.26 million = Auction sale price of Michael Jordan's Game 3 jersey from the 1998 NBA Finals between Chicago and Utah, a record for a basketball jersey. It beat the previous high — the Game 1 jersey from that same series.

Daily digit: 2,819 pounds = Weight of the heaviest pumpkin ever grown.

Announcements:

• Plotsy: Hires Crystal (Mayor) Cardwell as Chief Marketing Officer.

• Paslay Group: Adds transportation executive Michael Schneider to expand its advisory services beyond aviation. He will develop a practice serving road, highway and public transportation infrastructure owners.

• Ameriflight: Names David Harvey President and CEO.

• TCU: Promotes Lindsay Klatzkin to Assistant Director at Neeley Fellows. 

• DFW International Airport: Selects Alana Hosey Vice President of Planning. She had been in an interim role. 

• Transform 1012 N. Main St.: Names Kelly Allen Gray Interim Executive Director. 

• NGS: Hires Greg Wright as Director of Investor Relations.

• Axios: Hires Will Maddox as health tech reporter. 

• BECI: Hires Whitney Gryfinski as Business Development Consultant.

• Winstead P.C.: Adds associate attorney Jarrett Mendoza to its Real Estate Development & Investment Group.

• Fort Worth Sister Cities International: Adds Pat Alva-Kraker, Julie Butner, Jason Byrne, Julian Castillo, Lauren Findley, Zoran Gutic, Stae Hall, Anthony Hill, Rosalinda Martinez, Peter Reilly and Gary West to its Board of Directors.

• Boehringer Ingelheim: Hires Teresa Ballard as System Account Executive.

• Sabre Corporation: Elects Rochelle Boas as Executive Vice President – Chief Legal and Administrative Officer.

• CBS Sports: Agrees to a mutual disengagement with announcer and former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo.

• Young Women's Leadership Academy (YWLA): The Foundation adds Antonese Davis as Director of Programs and Development.

• Texas Assisted Living Association: Selects Stephanie Vacanti, Health Care Director at Legend of Mansfield, as a 2026 TALA Hero Award recipient.

• Holt Lunsford Commercial: Promotes Reilly Clark to Market Director.

• Lindsey Law Texas: Fort Worth and Granbury offices launched by Managing Partner Scott Lindsey.

• GoVision: Promotes Brad Merriman to Senior Vice President of Business Development.

• Freedom Alliance: Adds Mark Mourer as a Major Gift Alliance. 

• Correction: Christine Henry Gillett is not leaving her sales & events position with Will Rogers Memorial Center. What did happen is that she has a new boss as Gendy Street Management Corporation officially assumed private management of WRMC from the city of Fort Worth. 

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