To veterans, we salute your efforts; Does Austin have your $3 million? AA eases "goodbyes"; SW saying bye-bye.

The Texas Lottery website says a Mega Millions ticket bought at the El Rio Grande Latin Market at 3037 S. Freeway in Fort Worth is paying approximately $3 million. If you had numbers 25, 28, 42, 64, 69 and 19, get a police escort to Austin within six months.

Southwest Airlines announced plans for a voluntary separation program that will impact employees at 18 airports across the U.S., including its Dallas base. The option is available mainly because of delivery delays by Boeing.

Clay Cooley Auto Group has acquired Don Davis Nissan in Arlington.

American Freight is closing its furniture stores (328), including two in Tarrant County. Big sales are in progress at 1265 Town Square Drive in Fort Worth and 401 Southwest Plaza, Suite 105, in Arlington. 

During the third quarter, activity on Fort Worth-based Kimbell Royalty Partners acreage "remained strong with 90 rigs actively drilling, which represents 16% market share of all rigs drilling in the lower 48.” In addition, lease bonuses during the quarter were the highest in Kimbell's history and reflect increased operator interest in developing Kimbell's acreage.

Moses Tucker Partners and Equity Partnership Holdings have made their second joint acquisition in D-FW. The most recent is Northpoint Villas, a 276-unit apartment complex at 8100 N. Riverside Drive in Fort Worth for $52.5 million.

American Airlines' updated staff guidance on when passengers can be asked to leave the plane states that any "non-safety and non-security concerns" should be resolved in a way that "avoid passenger removal."

A U.S. appeals court rejected American Airlines' bid to overturn a judge's decision that sided with the U.S. Department of Justice and declared that its now-scrapped U.S. Northeast partnership with JetBlue Airways was anti-competitive.

Shares of electric vehicle car maker Tesla climbed over the $1 trillion valuation on Friday, more than the combined value of the next ten auto manufacturers. Tesla founder Elon Musk's fortune has reached $300 billion.

Texas Wesleyan University announced a memorandum of understanding with Girls Inc. of Tarrant County to prepare more girls for college. TWU students and faculty will foster academic achievement and critical reasoning working with the girls.

Collaborative Combat Aircraft -- essentially robotic drone wingmen to fly alongside or ahead of manned aircraft in combat operations -- has become quite popular with U.S. military operators. Lockheed Martin's secretive Skunk Works division is at the forefront. 

P.A.W.S. for Patriots, organized by Fort Worth Animal Care and Control to honor military veterans and service members through impactful volunteer opportunities with shelter animals, is Saturday noon-5 pm at North Animal Campus, 350 Hillshire Drive, Fort Worth.

Post-election listicle:

• Did you know? President-elect Donald Trump's new White House chief of staff, Susie Wiles, is the daughter of former NFL player and announcer Pat Summerall.

• Crypto rallied after President-elect Donald Trump’s victory, with bitcoin at a record high of $77,000. Anticipation is that Trump is crypto-friendly and there is potential for deregulation. 

• With straight faces (?), Saturday Night Live is in step and on board with President-elect Donald Trump.

• No Democratic presidential candidate has won Texas since Jimmy Carter in 1976. No Texas Democrat has won a statewide election since 1994. The last Democratic U.S. senator was Robert Krueger, who was defeated by Kay Hutchison in a 1993 special election.

The Tarrant County Medical Examiner's Office has ruled that CrossFit Games athlete Lazar Djukic died of drowning in Marine Creek Lake. The 28-year-old Serbian was completing the swimming portion of the event Aug. 8 when he went under the water and did not re-surface.

More than 1.2 million apartment units were built in the U.S. the past two years. The vacancy rate stopped rising for the first time in three years last quarter and demand for apartments rose to its highest level since 2021, according to CoStar. If that demand is sustained, if the economy remains strong and housing prices remain near record highs, landlords will likely have more pricing power during 2025. (WSJ)

Daily digit: Nearly 900,000 people relocated to Texas in 2023, with 272,000 coming from a different country, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. More than 600,000 people moved to Texas from a different state, including 100,000 from California.

Significant stat: The main three cable news channels on election night were down 32% in viewership collectively compared to 2020, to around 21 million, with CNN losing nearly half its audience. (WSJ)

Snippets:

• The Australian government announced world-leading legislation that would institute an age limit of 16 years for children to start using social media and hold platforms responsible for ensuring compliance.

• The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is proposing to end the use of oral phenylephrine for the temporary relief of nasal congestion because the agency determined it is not effective.

Announcements:

• Baxter Health Heart and Vascular Clinic: Hires Blake Throne, a board-certified family nurse practitioner.

• United Way of Tarrant County: Names Lauren Team Chair of Women United.

• Lone Oak Trust Company: Promotes Phil Hartigan to Chief Strategy Officer.

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