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- 💥Goff missile debut: From FW to Iran; Double booked: Eagles fly, prom flees; Țhanks for your service, USS Fort Worth.
💥Goff missile debut: From FW to Iran; Double booked: Eagles fly, prom flees; Țhanks for your service, USS Fort Worth.
Plus, more bite-size news about business in Tarrant County.

The USS Fort Worth will be decommissioned July 29 at Naval Base San Diego. “As bittersweet as this moment is, Fort Worth can be proud of the support that the community provided the sailors who served on our ship since her commissioning,” said USS Fort Worth Support Committee President J.R. Labbe. Former Fort Worth mayor and U.S. Rep. Kay Granger initiated the push for a namesake ship in 2006. The ship’s commissioning took place Sept. 22, 2012 in Galveston.
America’s next generation missile, with an assist from a Fort Worth company, made its combat debut during Operation Epic Fury in Iran this past weekend. Goff Aerospace Holdings’ Alec Happel, Head of Corporate Development and Strategy, posted the company “is proud to support the Precision Strike Missile from initial development to now combat deployment and use by the U.S. Army.”
President Donald Trump again has launched attacks on a foreign country without Congressional approval. The House and Senate will meet this week to discuss who has what powers to engage in war.
Photos show US-Israeli strikes and Iran's response.
Elbit Systems of America, headquartered in Fort Worth, was awarded a bid contested, $450,602,778 firm-fixed-price contract for the development, production and testing of its Binocular Night Observation Device. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order from the U.S. Army with an estimated completion date of Feb. 27, 2033.
The recently announced Eagles concert at Globe Life Field has forced a Northwest ISD school to find a different venue for its prom. Eaton High School said it found out via advertising for the concert. Suggested settlement: Prom moves to a different night and all prom attendees get free tickets to the concert.
Texas’ new Education Freedom Account program hit another milestone as it reaches the halfway point of its six‑week application window. More than 130,000 student applications have been submitted and more than 2,000 schools have signed up to participate. Estimates are that 100,000 students might get funds.
The U.S. House signed off on Fort Worth’s Craig Goldman’s push to scrap key pieces of the Inflation Reduction Act tied to home electrification and building codes. Supporters say it could make it easier to put gas stoves and conventional water heaters into new homes, making them less expensive, and would leave building rules up to local officials rather than federal incentives. If not, builders have estimated increases as high as $31,000 per new home.
Lockheed Martin was awarded a $17,857,824 modification to a previously awarded contract that adds scope of management and processes in support of the ongoing development and integration efforts for the government of Israel as an F-35 Foreign Military Sales customer. Work will be performed in Fort Worth (80%), and undisclosed locations outside the U.S. and is expected to be completed in December 2027.
Fort Worth-based MP Materials is advancing its role in the country’s plan to build a domestic rare earth supply chain, including progress toward full scale magnet manufacturing. Its move toward vertical integration, from mining to finished magnets used in electric vehicles and other advanced technologies, is a key element in gaining less reliance on the need for outside suppliers. Simply Wall St. takes a look.
A federal judge declined to dismiss American Airlines from a civil lawsuit tied to the January 2025 mid-air collision that killed 67 people on a PSA flight near Reagan National Airport. PSA is wholly-owned by AA, operating as a regional carrier. However, lawyers for AA and PSA Airlines argued they are separate entities with different manuals and training procedures, and because PSA operated the flight, American Airlines does not bear liability.
American Airlines up: D-FW International Airport is the airline’s largest and busiest hub. Forever Forward is a new short‑form video series that takes viewers behind the scenes of the multi-year modernization at D-FW. American is investing billions to modernize and strengthen its flagship hub, to provide smoothness and more certainty with schedules and connections, and to improve D-FW’s resilience to handle severe weather and other disruptions.
American Airlines down: James Blair, Deputy Chief of Staff at the White House, threatened to “take a new interest in the airline industry,” after he and his wife separately had flight delays on American Airlines, just one day apart. Blair took to social media to complain: "Today, American Airlines delays me 2.5 hours because someone failed to notice empty hydraulic fluid before it was time to go down the runway. Yesterday, they apparently forgot to BOOK A PILOT for my wife’s flight. I’m going to take a new interest in the airline industry."
Outdoor Lighting Concepts has opened its 14th store in the Tarrant County market, but the first in Fort Worth. The company promotes expertise in high-end residential and commercial lighting design to homeowners and businesses. The franchisee is Mike Hackemack.
Bottlecap Alley filed plans for an icehouse-style spot at Glade Parks in Euless. The filing shows a 6,692-square-foot standalone building at 2411 Airport Freeway, near the Dave & Buster’s entertainment complex. Estimated cost is $2 million with an expected finish in November.
Arlington and the North Texas FIFA World Cup Organizing Committee reached a contract agreement. The city will receive reimbursement for estimated expenses not to exceed $8.1 million to cover hosting matches and related activities, including public safety coordination, traffic management and transportation planning, and event operations and logistics.
The Women's Business Council - Southwest signed a strategic partnership with the Fort Worth Hispanic Chamber of Commerce that will expand access to certification education, supplier diversity connections, and contract preparedness resources for entrepreneurs and established businesses throughout D-FW.
Walmart agreed to pay $100 million to settle allegations from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and 11 states that it caused its delivery drivers to lose tens of millions of dollars by deceiving them about their pay and tips they could make.
FIve Iron Golf, a franchise offering day or membership indoor golf activities, including high-tech simulators, lessons, food and sports bar, and event space, has begun advertising for its Near Southside facility at 824 Daggett Avenue (former home of Stump's Hatchet House). No opening day has been listed.
Notable and quotable: “Every artist is only showing you his best. When you watch a movie, every scene—they only show you the one take that worked. Seventeen times, they missed it. You’re only seeing the peak of it.”
Significant stat: 4.3 million = Number of checkouts in fiscal year 2025 by the Fort Worth Public Libary, the highest in the institution’s history. Growth was driven by a 10 percent year-over-year increase in digital checkouts, which peaked at 2 million.
Daily digit: $218 billion = What OpenAI expects to burn through between 2026 and 2029, about $111 billion more than the company’s internal projections from just two quarters ago. For context, that’s 23x what Tesla burned in its cash-incinerating phase from 2007 to 2018.
Snippets:
Fort Worth-based Kimbell Royalty Partners, LP, owner of oil and natural gas mineral and royalty interests in more than 17 million gross acres in 28 states, filed its annual report.
No FOMO: Brooks and Dunn add second Fort Worth show during October visit to Dickies Arena.
March 10: Who knew that day is the annual Super Mario day? New Yorkers do and will join GameStop to set a record turnout.
BOOM!Town of Denton is the next great development area in north Texas. BIsnow D-FW has a look.

“I won’t be able to handle your account anymore, as it suddently appears that you’re a small investor.”
Announcements:
Community National Bank: Hires Brad Schneider as Market President.
Huntington Bank: Hires Henry Johnson as Regional Sales Advisor-Commercial.
BioNTX: Hires Gina Ford as Chief Executive Officer.
JLL: Promotes Madison Hornisher to Senior Vice President.
Airlines for America: Selects Stacy Morrissey, American Airlines’ Vice President of Engineering and Quality, as its Nuts and Bolts Award recipient, only the third time a female has been honored in its 60-year history.
Concord Summit Capital: Names Michael Laurencelle Senior Managing Director and Tom Laurencelle Managing Director-Capital Markets.
Rogers Healy and Associates: Residential real estate firm will join Compass, and founder Rogers Healy is turning his attention full-time to his Morrison Seger Venture Capital Partners.
Sunday Wash: Launched by David Deering. It is a laundry powder “for people who care what touches their skin.”
BusinessRate: Selects Apex Capital Corp for its "Best Financial Institution in Fort Worth 2025" award.
American Stroke Association and the American Heart Association: Name Teresa Huffman, CEO of Texas Rehabilitation Hospital of Arlington, Chair of its May 7, 2026 CycleNation competition fundraiser.
CIty of Venus: Hires James Hawthorne as Interim City Administrator.
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