Political figures make lots of promises during their campaigns. I’m no exception and the Texas Rangers World Championship reminds me of one of those commitments I made more than 30 years ago. I’m really not sure I made this exact vow but maybe I did. If so, it’s finally been delivered as a terrific Christmas present. Here’s the story. Leading the 1990 campaign to win voter approval for developing a permanent home for the Rangers, I constantly talked about what it would mean to us to achieve that outcome. I emphasized the importance of maintaining our city’s unique privilege of being only one o ..read more

David K. Sargent and his sister, Ashlee Jones, were not close growing up. A 15-year age gap and the fact that David got his driver’s license when Ashlee was only a year old meant the two didn’t spend much time together. Now, they are forever linked, after Ashlee literally gave David a part of herself, a kidney named Betty. “I prayed about what was happening,” said Ashlee, 29, a stay-at-home mom to a busy 3-year-old daughter who lives in Aubrey. “I talked to my husband and he was very supportive. I was at peace with it.” David, 44, was overwhelmed. “It was very touching,” he said. “It was hard ..read more

Dr. Jamy Bulgarelli has only been in practice for three months, but she’s already delivered three babies in the same family – and she’s getting ready for a fourth. Bulgarelli, 32, did her residency at John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth, where she met Maryam, who was struggling with infertility and a wayward cycle of periods. With infertility treatments, Maryam was pregnant within months. Bulgarelli cared for her during her pregnancy and then delivered her daughter. “She referred her sister-in-law,” Bulgarelli said. “I delivered her baby on September 22, 2021. She got pregnant again. I tol ..read more

Vivian Nguyen was only 15 years old when we met, an ambitious sophomore at Martin High School who had stumbled upon the idea of making tie-dye shirts and peddling them online.  She called me multiple times to get some kind of coverage, wondering if I’d take a peek at her Dyenosaur Apparel (cute name, I thought) website, which I did, and was, of course, impressed that such a young person would have the creativity and grit to do such a thing while tackling AP classes and extracurriculars and being, well, a teenager. After speaking with her for about 45 minutes – she did most of the talking ..read more

Pictured in these two images is the same spot in the world – just 66 years apart. Collage created using TurboCollage software from www.TurboCollage.com Many long time residents reading this have their own experiences with this once relatively simple intersection. Now its being transformed into one of the region’s most complex Interstate Highway interchanges.   Here’s some history. And a little personal perspective.   The aerial photo on the left was taken in 1957 at the opening of the Dallas-Fort Worth Turnpike that connected the two big cities across the expanse of the prairie that ..read more

Some Arlington golfers are getting free professional instruction in an exclusive clinic. The catch? You need to be a veteran or active-duty military.  PGA Hope, a joint effort of the Veterans Administration and the PGA, requires instructors to go through specialized training, learning about teaching to a very special class of golfers. PGA Hope (Helping Our Patriots Everywhere) provides a six- to eight-week golf clinic to all levels of golfers, from those who have never held a club to those who have been out of the sport for awhile. “You deal with individuals of varying skill levels,” exp ..read more

Bryant Griffith knows about seeking an identity after years in military service, and he’s sharing that insight with other veterans.   Griffith, 35, a Marine who served 10 years – including two tours in Afghanistan – is the owner of Arlington-based Junk and Waste Solutions (JAWS) and won a recent Second Service Foundation Military Entrepreneur Challenge pitch competition.    JAWS is a junk-removal business that not only hauls away unwanted materials, but repurposes and recycles much of what is removed, keeping it out of landfills.    “We put a lot of energy into that pa ..read more

Houston, we have a problem! The oft quoted phrase from the Apollo 13 crew may undergo some changes after the American League Championship Series. Guess what Houston this is not our problem, this is your problem. The Astros best days are behind them and the Rangers are just beginning. Still, this is how rivalries are born. For a decade the Rangers and Astros have played in the same division. For much of that decade they played each other nineteen times per year. For some two decades the teams have battled for the Silver Boot where the team that wins the season series wins the coveted Silver Boo ..read more

“Every day is a good day, full of opportunity,” said Asli Hassan Abade Parker when she recently spoke at a Greater Arlington Chamber of Commerce networking lunch.  To say that Parker has lived every day to the fullest and maximized its opportunity would be an understatement. She was the first and only female Air Force pilot in Somalia, and she was the first in Africa. And that was just her early career. Parker loves to help people and be a “voice for the voiceless,” and she has worked as a translator of seven languages. Using her background as a physician assistant and a social worker, s ..read more

Jessica Carpenter knows a thing or two about school dropouts. She almost was one. High school wasn’t the easiest for her. She went to school at a time when learning differences went largely undiagnosed.  You had to either swim academically or sink. “I used to skip school – a lot,” Carpenter told me.  Her way of dealing with the learning disability was staying out of class and away from those dreaded teachers. Seems not taking education seriously was my way of coping. Now, Carpenter is a data clerk in charge of posting transfers of student transcript information as those students head ..read more