Archive for the ‘News’ Category

The city collects trash twice a week for most Dallas residents; however, with the new budget being released, the rest of the city is expected to also segue to once a week pick up which will affect 240,000 customers effective October 1.

Far North Dallas and Northwest Dallas are already on this schedule with good results.

Additional benefits is that monthly trash fees will decrease and there is less fuel utilized so that is financially and environmentally good for the city.

Ft. Worthbased RadioShack Corp. announced today that it will sponsor Lance Armstrong’s new cycling team.

Beginning in 2010, Armstrong will compete for Team RadioShack as a cyclist, runner and triathlete in events around the world, including the 2010 Tour de France.

As part of the deal, RadioShack will also use its 35,000 employees and 6,000 stores to promote the cancer survivor’s Livestrong message. And RadioShack will sponsor the Livestrong Foundation’s signature fundraising event, the Livestrong Challenge Series, a 5K run/walk and bike ride held in four U.S. cities.

The Web site domain teamradioshack.com has been registered by Armstrong’s Austin-based management company, Capital Sports & Entertainment.

Wasserman Media Group managed the partnership process on behalf of Capital Sports and Armstrong.

Armstrong, riding for Kazakhstan’s Astana team in this year’s Tour de France, slipped to fourth place Wednesday. His teammate Alberto Contador of Spain retained the leader’s yellow jersey. The race will end Sunday.

Contador probably will not be Armstrong’s teammate for 2010; the Spaniard’s contract with Kazakhstan-based Astana runs through next year.

It’s likely that Johan Bruyneel, the Astana team director, who was with Armstrong for his seven Tour de France victories, will lead the new squad. Bruyneel declined to comment Tuesday.

After a controversy that raised tempers throughout the country, Jenny the elephant has received an introduction to her new companion at the Dallas Zoo.

Jenny’s companion, KeKe, died last year and Zoo officials fancied schlepping Jenny off to a questionable facility in Mexico. Advocates wanted her moved to a sanctuary in Tennessee. City officials even got involved and the decision was made to not take either option and instead get Jenny a companion.

The new companion is Gypsy and she arrived at the Zoo in March but has been in quarantine - which is normal procedure.

Jenny & Gypsy were introduced to one another yesterday though a fence was between them. They stuck their trunks through the gaps and seemed to get along well. The Zoo anticipates bringing the fence down by the end of next week.

The fantastic crew from Extreme Makeover: Home Edition is in Dallas this week to build a new home with barrier free access for former Dallas SWAT officer, Carlton Marshal, who was shot during a raid a couple years ago.

If you are heading out to the construction site to gawk at Ty Pennington, be sure to be WELL PREPARED by taking lots of water, hats, sunscreen, etc. There are paramedics on the scene but they need to be available to take care of the building team.

With 100+ degree temps expected for most of the next week, there will be precious little relief for the builders.

For as long as anyone can remember, there has never been an earthquake in Cleburne - yet they have experienced THREE in just the past week - with the most recent one just this morning and registered 2.3 on the Richter scale. Some people are speculating that the drilling from the Barnett Shale could be the culprit.

Those learned geologist types are saying, “not so fast”. They feel that since the drilling is happening at 5,000 - 6,000 feet, it has nothing to do with quakes happening at 17,000 - 18,000 feet.

Just to cover their bases, the city leaders are putting together an emergency preparedness plan. Thankfully, so far there haven’t been reports of damage or injuries.

As luck would have it, on the day the new robust Dallas non-smoking ordinance kicks in, Ft. Worth and several counties to the west have had major fires to contend with since yesterday. The haze in Dallas was thick last night and the smoky smell was prominent.

In other smoke-related news, the new smoking ban is in effect! While there are some die-hards that are miffed about the ban, far more are looking forward to going out to the clubs to embrace socializing without having to deal with the second-hand smoke haze, stinky hair & clothes at the end of the evening, etc.

A great article about the perks to the smoking ban can be found in this Dallas Voice article.

The Dallas-Fort Worth area was one of four major metropolitan areas that grew by more than 100,000 people between the years of 2007 and 2008, according to a new U.S. Census Bureau Report.

The report says in the span of a year, the D/FW metro area added 147,000 people, while Houston added 130,000 people. Phoenix and Atlanta followed, adding 116,000 and 115,000 people, respectively.

Dallas-Fort Worth also was home to the ninth-ranked fastest growing county: Rockwall.

When evaluating the fastest growing counties, 94 of the top 100 were located in either the south (71 counties) or the West (23 counties), with the remaining six counties located in the Midwest.

Fort Worth is credited for growing by 41,000, which accounted for a significant portion of the Metroplex’s population gain.