Texas Business Report: Prison Phone Calls Break the Bank
Thanks to a near monopoly on inmate calling services. Plus: shipping strikes, SeaWorld’s IPO, and stalled stem cell therapy.
Thanks to a near monopoly on inmate calling services. Plus: shipping strikes, SeaWorld’s IPO, and stalled stem cell therapy.
If the slate of federal budget cuts goes into effect on January 2, NASA's budget will be slashed by 8.2 percent, and some 5,600 jobs could be lost at Johnson Space Center.
And Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson will get a $4.59 million bonus.
The home of the Houston Texans, which hopes to host the 2017 Super Bowl, may install a $10 million to $30 million high-definition digital scoreboard. Every other NFL team already has one.
The feds arrested the CEO of Houston’s Riverside General Hospital and six other hospital employees Thursday, accusing them of bilking $158 million from the Medicare program over the past seven years.
Taxpayers, who footed a large chunk of the bill for the new $1.2 billion Cowboys Stadium, got a raw deal, according to a new story in Bloomberg Businessweek.
A University of Texas study found that natural gas drilling may have led to seventy earthquakes in the Barnett Shale region.
A Texas judge has decreed that the atmosphere and air are a "public trust," just like water.
The Texas Public Utility Commission decided Thursday to raise the price of wholesale energy by 50 percent.
Chesapeake Energy put 57,000 acres of crude oil and liquid natural gas fields in the Woodbine Sand area up for sale this week.
In addition to announcing a $163 million first-quarter loss this week, the ailing retailer, which has recently tried to reinvent itself, will no longer pay quarterly dividends.
With demand for beef high and herd sizes still low, ranchers are looking to buy more cows.
The University of Texas Board of Regents approved plans for a medical school in the city, which could generate up to $2 billion for the local economy.
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott scored a victory over the EPA this week over when a federal appeals court ordered the federal agency to take more time to consider Texas's pollution control measures.
But the Emerging Technology Fund has added 820 jobs, and Houston has two of the top-selling subdivisions.
Apple nearly nudges Exxon out of the top spot for most valuable company, JC Penney unveils a new logo, and H-E-B tries to buy its .xxx domain name.
Johnson and Johnson sheds tears over Texas lawsuit, Houston stomps Silicon Valley in tech job growth, and the sour finanial condition of Imperial Sugar.
The Spinning Spur Wind Project generates enough electricity to power more than 60,000 homes.
According to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, the state's struggling power system would likely support even a widespread adoption of the vehicles.
Visa would create nearly 800 jobs in Austin over 10 years.
The energy giant agreed to pay the Department of Justice and the SEC the hefty sum to settle the criminal cases associated with the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
The basketball team's general manager plans to hire two statistical analysts to help build a winning team around Jeremy Lin.
The chain's parent company's strategy of investing more in a digital media campaign targeting moms seems to have backfired, with profits dropping 33 percent.
Southwest Airlines announced it will slash spending by at least $100 million after the airline's third-quarter numbers were lackluster.
Dell's stock hit a three-year low this week.
A Disney cruise set sail from Galveston under new a deal that is “guaranteed to create a minimum of $2.4 million in gross revenue for the Port of Galveston.”
"Damage to fixed, floating and underwater assets” including offshore platforms and pipelines could shut down 95 percent of production in the Gulf.
The technology giant's investment is “the largest in size to be made by a foreign company in Texas.”
The New York Times took note of the dozens of hotel, retail, office, and residential projects underway in downtown Austin.
The State National Bank of Big Spring claims that the controversial law is unconstitutional.
Texas came in last place for health care delivery in a new federal study.
The Plano-based company will be adopting a "1 percent-99 percent strategy" by emphasizing both high-end products, like Stacy's Pita Chips, and "value" items, like Cracker Jack.
The Lewisville-based company agreed to pay $42 million for accepting "overpayments by federal programs," U.S. Airways dances the acquisition tango with American, and more Texas business news.
The giant of internet retail will start collecting taxes on Texas purchases in July, and has promised Comptroller Susan Combs it will make $200 million in capital investments in the state.
The Texas Association of Business criticizes the State Board of Education's math curriculum and working in Texas pays off for women.
Texas joins fourteen other states in a lawsuit against Apple, AT&T dumps the Yellow Pages, and Mattress Firm will get a great night's sleep after it becomes the largest bedding chain in America.
Dallas insurers say claims are lower than expected, the home construction slump adversely affects the ice-production industry, and other business news.
The first fleet of Lockheed Martin’s F-35 fighter jets, which are produced in Fort Worth, are roughly $1 billion more expensive than anticipated.
The state pays big bucks to bring Apple (and 3,600 jobs) to Austin, Texans eat out more often than residents of any other state, and the Capitol City will bring in $264 million this month.
Blockbuster shuts down one-third of its locations, international business out of Texas goes gangbusters, and home prices increase in San Antonio and Houston.
BP has invested more than $1 billion in wind energy in Texas, Dell's stocks take a dip, and every minute spent waiting in line at the border costs companies $116 million.
A Tyler man says he invented the technology that laid the groundwork for the web, Frito sales are on the rise, and Rice could help offer open-source textbooks.
A hedge fund scandal revolves around Dell, AT&T turns its gaze on Dish Network, and Houston executives rake it in.
Another hiccup for AT&T, American Airlines's parent company gets delisted, and San Antonio will now be the mechanic for America's most famous plane.
Valero doesn't get a break, Southwest lands a new fleet, and Star Wars fanatics rejoice.