Lone Star Rising: A Special Report on Texas

Texas now hosts more Fortune 500 companies than any other American state. They include AT&T, Dell and Texas Instruments; oil giants such as Exxon Mobil, ConocoPhillips and Valero; American, Continental and Southwest Airlines; Fluor, a huge construction firm (recently lured from California); J.C. Penney; Halliburton; and 52 others. Texas claims to have been responsible for 70 percent of all the net new jobs created last year in America’s 50 states, though since only a few states created any jobs at all that is not quite as astonishing as it sounds. More

Hotchkiss Insurance Agency Announces Texas Home Builders Workers' Comp Dividend for 2009

Hotchkiss Insurance Agency, LLC announced a $105,407 dividend to the Texas Home Builders Workers' Comp (THB-WC) purchasing group. The group's premium volume and loss ratio were factors in determining its dividend. The THB-WC group, formed in September 2005 exclusively for home builders in Texas, provides qualifying members with a competitive option for workers' compensation coverage. The announcement marks the second dividend payment for the group by Texas Mutual Insurance Company. More

Housing Recession Finally Hits in the Heart of Dallas

Close-in Dallas-area neighborhoods that had dodged the worst of the housing recession are now getting clobbered. Park Cities home sales plunged 37 percent in the first half of 2009. In North Dallas, sales were down 19 percent from the same period last year, and median prices are off 17 percent. Sales are down 23 percent this year in Oak Cliff and 20 percent in East Dallas. More

Report: Architecture Billings Fall in June

Architecture billings took a hit in June, dropping nearly five points after holding steady the previous month, according to the American Institute of Architects. The Architecture Billings Index rating was 37.7, down from 42.9 in May. A score above 50 indicates an increase in billings. More

Texas Jobless Rate Likely to Rise, Workforce Commission Chairman Predicts

Texas Workforce Commission Chairman Tom Pauken warned Wednesday that the state faces continued rising unemployment and blamed policies in Washington for stifling job creation and discouraging consumer spending. More

Report Says Texas Relied Most Heavily on Stimulus Funds

A new report from the National Conference of State Legislatures shows that federal stimulus dollars played a large role in allowing Texas lawmakers to balance their budget this year without tapping Rainy Day Funds. The national group asked states to say how they closed their budget gaps for the 2010 budget year, and 35 states responded. Of those, 25Â said they used federal stimulus dollars to close budget gaps, and Texas reported that it relied most heavily on stimulus dollars, using those dollars to provide 96.7 percent of the gap-closing solution. Nebraska was next at 88 percent. More

Survey: Pay Raises to Return in 2010

Lose your raise or have it trimmed this year due to the recession? Fret not -- pay raises may make a come back in 2010, according to a new survey by consulting firm Watson Wyatt. Companies are projecting median merit increases of 3 percent for 2010, according to the Watson Wyatt 2009/2010 U.S. Strategic Rewards survey report. The survey includes responses from 235 large U.S. employers gathered in May 2009. More

Unlawful Border Entry Protection Act Calls for 350 More Miles of Barriers

While construction on the border fence in Cameron County is at a standstill because of pending lawsuits, at least one local landowner is surprised by a California congressman’s introduction of legislation that calls for more fencing construction along the United States-Mexico border. The bill, known as the Unlawful Border Entry Prevention Act and introduced Wednesday by U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-California, gives Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano discretionary authority to build 350 miles of additional reinforced fencing where she deems is necessary. More

Hurricane Season Start is Slow, but We're Not Off the Hook

One year after Hurricane Dolly struck South Texas and became the Rio Grande Valley's most destructive storm in four decades, the tropics are decidedly quieter. In fact the Atlantic basin has not gone this deep into hurricane season without a named storm in five years. But don't get too cocky, forecasters say. Although the first Atlantic named storm typically forms by July 10, the real activity doesn't usually begin until August, and a lull in early season activity doesn't necessarily presage a weak overall season. More