Author: harrisondfw

Dallas has snagged its second federal innovation hub in two months. After clinching the ARPA-H health hub headquarters last month, the Texoma Semiconductor Tech Hub has now landed in the city. Southern Methodist University (SMU) will lead the Dallas-based hub, which is part of 31 tech hubs nationwide designated on Monday by the Biden-Harris administration. The first step of the new Tech Hubs program is already rolling out. Administered by U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration, the plan is to boost local innovation and job growth across the country. Each region will build capacity to manufacture, commercialize, and deploy…

Dallas is moving toward housing homeless people. But councilors were frustrated Monday that they spent millions of dollars buying properties for homeless housing years ago, but still no one lives in them. As the need for homeless housing grows in Dallas, there have been calls for outside experts to take over the job. The former Miramar Hotel on Fort Worth Avenue had 73 rooms. It was purchased in 2020 for $3.6 million as a COVID-19 prevention housing project. The plan was to renovate it into 40 housing units that could actually be used by homeless people. Forth Worth Avenue Update…

A Dallas technology company that built a secure Internet browser for businesses has raised an additional $100 million from investors, pushing its valuation further up the unicorn chart to $1.5 billion.The new investment in Island brings the company's total funding to more than $325 million. This funding round was led by Prysm Capital and Canapi Ventures Fund, along with existing investors Insight Partners, Stripes, Sequoia, Cyberstarts, and Georgian.Island is one of seven privately held North Texas companies thought to be valued at more than $1 billion, a mark that should be classified as a unicorn, according to tracking site Crunchbase.…

Soothing lullabies play faintly in the background as Tobitha Holmes talks about the pandemic-era federal funding her W.I.S.E. Academy child care center in Cedar Hill received.“They had to provide us with the federal funding to keep us from closing our doors,” she said, crediting the aid with letting her keep teachers on her payroll to serve the 88 kids in her day care and before and after school programs.Holmes is one of 220,000 providers across the country who benefited from the $24.5 billion in relief funding the federal government pushed out to child care businesses between 2021 and 2023. Just…

Tonight is Game 6 of the League Championship Series between the Rangers and the Houston Astros, and we're on the hook. But we need a more productive way to transfer this neural energy. Well, we at CandysDirt.com love celebrity real estate, so why not take a peek at the homes owned by the Texas Rangers? Let's start with the retired Rangers second baseman who recently rejoined the club's front office. Ian Kinsler (Wikimedia) when Ian Kinsler When he was traded to the Detroit Tigers in 2013, we wondered if he would sell his home on Greenbrier Drive in University Park.…

taylor stearns [Image sources: Courtesy photo; DI] Real estate investment firm CapRock Partners is expanding in the Texas market, bringing on new executives to lead acquisitions in the state. The California-based company announced it has hired Taylor Stearns as vice president of acquisitions for its central region, with a focus on Texas. In his new role, Stearns will oversee all acquisition activity in the Lone Star State as CapRock looks to “begin expanding its strategic portfolio” in Texas, according to company president John Farris. He will be supervising. “We were looking for an acquisition leader with deep local knowledge of…

“Good evening, Dallas, it’s been a while,” said Peter Gabriel, who appeared on stage in North Texas for the first time in more than a dozen years Thursday. “Talk about time. Maybe time is the big boss that nails us all. Maybe he has one way to escape from its claws, and that's imagination.”Gabriel opened Thursday night with a delightfully off-kilter tale that includes, among other things, a meteorite, the evil of artificial intelligence, an apple tree, creating visuals from an MRI scan, and half a dozen others. Although I used it as a starting point (a topic that makes…

The Federal Trade Commission has asked a federal judge to force Total Wine & More to comply with its ongoing antitrust investigation into Dallas-based Southern Glazer's Wine & Spirits.Southern Glazers, the largest wine and spirits distributor in the United States, has violated the Robinson-Patman Act and is accused of possible discriminatory practices and other unfair practices in its sales to retailers such as Total Wine. The company is currently being investigated for its involvement in unfair competition methods. Under the FTC Act.The filing late Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia seeks to compel Total…

A comprehensive bill in the Texas House that would set up a limited school choice program with the potential for future expansion falls short of what Gov. Greg Abbott would like.The proposal would increase funding for public schools and create hotly debated voucher-like programs that would allow families to use state funds for private schooling.Rep. Brad Buckley, the Republican chairman of the House Public Education Committee, introduced limited education savings accounts (ESAs) for 25,000 students starting next school year in a bill introduced late Thursday. , with plans to double the size of the program. following year. The program's size…

nicole small [Photo: Adam Lee/ARPA-H] nicole smallCEOlida hill philanthropy… speaking at the launch of the ARPA-H Customer Experience Hub at Pegasus Park on Thursday. Based in Dallas, Advanced Research Project Health Agency It was officially announced yesterday Pegasus Park. The Hub's first mission is to make it easier for Americans across the country to participate in clinical trials. Advance clinical trial readiness initiatives. At the launch event, Small said ARPA-H is “all about high-risk, high-return opportunities.” And we know that with the assets we have, not just in Texas but across our spoke network, we can reduce risk and increase…