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  • ❎Paxton-Cornyn in runoff; Sabre adopts rights plan; Cowtown boss is a female runner.

❎Paxton-Cornyn in runoff; Sabre adopts rights plan; Cowtown boss is a female runner.

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

With spring break around the corner, the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History announced it will open its TCU Children’s Gallery this Saturday.

Paxton-Cornyn are in a runoff for the Republican Senate seat. For a complete list of Tarrant County election results, go here. For statewide races, go here.

A substantial accumulation of shares by Constellation Software has moved the Board of Southlake-based Sabre to adopt a limited-duration shareholder rights plan to protect the interests of Sabre and its shareholders. The Rights Plan is effective immediately and expires in one year. 

Northeast food tech company Wonder is expanding to Fort Worth-Dallas, Houston, Austin and San Antonio. Wonder has virtual food hall locations that produce dishes from dozens of licensed and in-house restaurant brands for delivery and takeaway. Marc Lore controls the company alongside a syndicate of growth investors that have provided more than $1.2 billion in funding.

Significant stat: 3 hours, 33 minutes, 11 seconds = McKale Montgomery of Fort Worth made history by becoming the first woman to claim the Cowtown ultra-marathon’s overall title in its 18-year history. Dustin Darakhshan, 43, of Richardson, led the men in 3:34:02.

The long-awaited Lincoln Square re-development in Arlington has passed another hurdle and demolition is scheduled for May. Arlington approved incentives for the project located off I-30 at Collins Avenue, and Fort Worth-based developer Trademark Property says the redevelopment is fully funded. The new center will be called Anthem.

Fort Worth's Park & Recreation Department acquired 16 acres in east Fort Worth to expand and preserve the Tandy Hills Natural Area. The land directly borders the existing city-owned natural area. Approximately 11 acres will be incorporated into the park, while the remaining acreage will be part of the city's Open Space program. Development plans and a timeline for improvements have not been determined.

The Texas Rangers unveiled a permanent statue of "One Riot, One Ranger” to the left field concourse at Globe Life Field. Readers may recognize the statue as it had been on display for decades just outside the TSA checkpoint at Love Field. This is the 7th statue at Globe Life Field or Choctaw Stadium. The other six honor Nolan Ryan, Tom Vandergriff, the Rangers' first trip to the World Series in 2010, Rangers fans, Ivan Rodriguez and Adrian Beltre.

Leadership Fort Worth and Texas Wesleyan University signed a Memorandum of Understanding that offers a 15% graduate scholarship for eligible LFW alumni members.

Horn of plenty: The biggest blown call during the recent Detroit-Cleveland NBA game was a malfunctioning scoreboard horn that blared nonstop for 18 minutes, forcing players off the floor while arena staff scrambled to silence it.

Meritus Gas Partners said its subsidiary, Meritus Texas, acquired the assets of Granbury-based Greens Welding Supply, effective February 28. Greens Welding Supply is an independent distributor of industrial gases, welding equipment and safety supplies serving customers throughout southwest D-FW. Greens was founded in 2000 by Aaron Green.

Compass International Holdings agreed to a three-year partnership in which its exclusive inventory will be syndicated to Redfin. Compass’ “Coming Soon” listings, which currently appear on its brokerages’ website but are not syndicated to other platforms, will appear on Redfin. It has plans to follow with its “Private Exclusive” listings.

A message from Busey Bank:

Rick Jenkins has joined Busey Bank as Market President in Fort Worth. With nearly 25 years of experience in the industry, he will lead the development, management and retention of client relationships while delivering a seamless and exceptional client experience. Rick’s industry expertise and connections position him to drive growth and strengthen Busey’s presence in Fort Worth and Tarrant County.

Affinius Capital announced Black Mountain closed its acquisition of Chisholm 20, a three‑building, 836,601-square-foot Class A industrial facility located in Benbrook.The site features three two-way access points with direct ingress and egress to SW Loop 820 and I-20.

Southlake-based 2020 Companies, an outsourced sales and marketing organization, and Influence Retail Services, a Canadian retail, digital and experiential marketing firm, formed a partnership to expand their combined capabilities across North America. The companies will collaborate to support brands seeking seamless retail execution, sales optimization and experiential marketing solutions. Christopher B. Munday is Chairman and CEO of 2020 Companies.

Meta has signed a 3-year artificial intelligence content licensing deal with News Corp. for $50M per year. The deal allows Meta to use News Corp.'s content in the U.S. and U.K. News Corp. is the parent company of The Wall Street Journal, MarketWatch, Investors Business Daily, and Barron's. It also owns the New York Post, The Times (of London) and others.

The office of the Texas Attorney General issued a legal opinion declaring the prohibitions under S.B.14 making it illegal for health care providers to “transition” kids does apply to “mental health care providers” licensed by the Texas Behavioral Health Executive Council. 

Westlake-based Charles Schwab completed its acquisition of Forge Global Holdings. Forge provides eligible investors access to shares of pre-IPO companies through direct private share purchases, single company funds and multi-company funds.

Festival organizers at the Fort Worth Stock Show Syndicate announced the 24 participants in the 2026 BBQ Pitmasters competition for its April 18th Syndicate Smokedown & Music Festival. For the full participant list, the musical entertainment and tickets, click here

United Way of Tarrant County launched United Way Institute powered by Dell Technologies, a regional hub designed to bring together research, technology and communites to help non-profits better support families throughout the region. 

Jaws, the sequel: A Texas A&M University College of Dentistry clinical assistant professor has received a $40,000 grant to study which orthodontic expanders are most appropriate for a multitude of jaw sizes and shapes. 

Henry S. Miller III — the fourth-generation member of one of Dallas’ most influential real estate families and the developer behind West Village — died. He was 79.

Believe it or not: Burger King has introduced an AI chatbot called “Patty” that will monitor employee-customer interactions through headset microphones to track “friendliness.”

Notable and quotable: “The patience you need for big things is developed by your patience with the little things.”

—Kevin Kelly from his book Excellent Advice For Living

Daily digit: No. 3 = Ranking of Arlington among the most diverse U.S. big cities by WalletHub. Houston was ranked fifth.

Snippets:

  • Rumors are circling that Grapevine-based GameStop's "big" acquisition could be eBay. 

  • The twice-monthly Ridgmar library group -- three tables strong --  finds the writes stuff one word at a time. 

  • Free mulch! Come and get it, Fort Worth residents.

Announcements:

  • Simmons Bank: Promotes Laura Condley to Private Banking Market Executive for Texas and Oklahoma. 

  • American National Bank & Trust: Names Craig Berry President & Chief Lending Officer.

  • First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ): Selects Greg Smith as Interim Pastor. He will continue to serve as CEO of White Rock Center of Hope.

  • Tarrant County: Adds Dillon Maroney as Director of Transportation.

  • JPS: Adds Gabbie Shafer to its marketing and communications team. 

  • 1901 Royalty Partners: Hires Hunter Wrather as Associate of Acquisitions. 

  • CASA of Tarrant County: Names John Gerdes, Bank of Texas,  2026 Board President.

  • Doubletree by Hilton DFW Airport North: Hires Madi Roberts as Group Sales Manager.

  • Communities in Schools of Greater Tarrant County: Hires Jennifer Murphy as Chief Development Officer.

  • Texas Rangers Baseball Club: Promotes Sydney Teske-Arnal to Media Marketing Manager. 

  • Education Insider: Selects TimelyCare as 2026 Virtual Student Health and Wellness Services Company of the Year 2026.

  • Fulfilled Recruiting: Adds Meredith Cowling as a Senior Recruiter. 

  • HF Sinclair: CEO Tim Go and CFO Atanas Atanasov are on voluntary leave during an audit committee review.

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