NYE Bummer

Fort Worth dissed as one of the worst places to spend New Year's Eve

WalletHub says you want to be almost anywhere but here when the clock strikes midnight.

Courtesy photo

We think Dallas-Fort Worth is a pretty great place in which to celebrate New Year's Eve, but apparently WalletHub doesn't agree.

Despite lots of places serving up special menus and the "first-ever social networked New Year's Eve block party" planned in Uptown Dallas, the personal finance website places Fort Worth and a handful of other North Texas cities near the bottom of its list of the best and worst places to spend New Year's Eve.

Using 17 key metrics, WalletHub analyzed 100 of the nation's biggest cities to produce the list. Things like the cost of party tickets and hotel room rate hikes were factored in, along with the amount of nightlife options, forecasted precipitation, and safety and crime rates.

Fort Worth ranks a dismal 96 out of 100, with Garland (No. 94) and Arlington (No. 92) not far away. Dallas shows up at No. 44; Plano comes in at No. 72, Irving at No. 77.

Fort Worth is one of the most consistently low-ranked cities on the list: 88th for entertainment and food, 83rd for costs, and 86th for safety and accessibility. To add insult to injury, it also pops up on the worst luxury shopping list, which we didn't know was a factor for a fun New Year's Eve until now.

Other Texas cities fare only slightly better, with Austin all the way up at No. 27, Houston at No. 50, and San Antonio at No. 63.

So where should you be when the clock strikes midnight? You can usher 2016 in with style in Orlando, San Francisco, and Atlanta. But avoid North Las Vegas, which came in dead last.

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Death Penalty

Tarrant County man gets death for murder of convenience store owner

Tarrant County Sheriff's Office

Christopher Turner

A man received the death penalty for his 2020 cold-blooded execution of a convenience store owner.

According to a release from the office of Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney Phil Sorrells, a Tarrant County jury sentenced Christopher Karon Turner, 48, to death on November 20 for executing convenience store owner Anwar Ali during a robbery. Tarrant County Assistant District Attorneys Charles Boulware and Allenna Bangs represented the state.

On March 27, 2020, at around 6:15 am, Turner, a convicted felon, wore a surgical mask and a glove and entered the Super Big Country Mart in an unincorporated area of Tarrant County south of Fort Worth. There, he held a gun to the back of Anwar Ali, the 62-year-old store owner, and walked him through the store.

Ali did everything Turner demanded, including opening the cash register to give him money. And yet Turner forced Ali into the bathroom and onto his knees, and shot him in the neck. Ali was discovered, dead in the bathroom, about an hour later.

Turner fled the store in Ali's Toyota minivan with the money from the register and Ali's wallet. In the van, he found more than $50,000 cash in a black bag. Over the next few days, Turner went on a shopping spree, buying cars, jewelry, drugs, clothes, and more. He and others used cash and a credit card that belonged to Ali.

Turner fled to Colorado where U.S. Marshals arrested him. On his body they found a firearm which was determined to be the murder weapon.

"This was a premeditated, cold-blooded murder," Boulware told the jury. "From the moment he was charged with this crime, he has tried to escape responsibility."

Bangs noted that before this trial began, Turner obtained the names of jurors and their telephone numbers, and gave them to an inmate charged with murder. At the trial on November 20, as Bangs addressed the jury, Turner tried to hold up a sign to the jury but was handcuffed by Sheriff's deputies who removed him from the courtroom, while he yelled out "she lied."

Ali came to the United States from Pakistan decades ago to pursue the American dream. Ali's son, Hussein, spoke in the courtroom after the death penalty was announced. "Thank you for giving us justice," Ali said. "I hope there are no more devils like this person."