melting pots

Fort Worth deemed one of the country's 25 most diverse cities by new report

Fort Worth ranks as one of the most diverse cities in America.

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The largest cities in Texas continue to be among the most diverse in the nation. Houston, Dallas, Arlington, and Fort Worth all rank among America's 25 diverse cities for 2019, according to personal finance site WalletHub.

Fort Worth, specifically, takes the 25th spot on the list, with a total score of 69.88. The site compared 501 of the most populated cities in America across five key dimensions: socioeconomic diversity, cultural diversity, economic diversity, household diversity, and religious diversity. The report drills down into metrics such as industry diversity, income, age, religious affiliation, education, language, worker class, and marital status.

"By 2050, many shifts will happen. For example, while non-Hispanic whites are expected to remain the largest ethnic group, they will no longer make up a majority of the population," the report says. "But America’s transformation is more than skin-deep — it’s economic, too. Not only have waves of immigration changed the face of the nation, they’ve also brought in fresh perspectives, skills and technologies to help the U.S. develop a strong adaptability to change."

Fort Worth stands out in a few categories, scoring best in industry diversity (No. 18) and making respectable showings in racial and ethnic diversity (No. 44), household-size diversity (No. 53), and cultural diversity (No. 61). In socioeconomic diversity, Fort Worth ranks 100th. Its worst ranking is in age diversity (No. 455).

Houston, with a total score of 71.6, is the most diverse city in the country, says WalletHub, moving up from the No. 2 spot, behind Jersey City, New Jersey, in 2018.

Not far behind Houston, Dallas, with a total score of 71.12, ranks as the fifth most diverse city in the country, with high scores in industry diversity (No. 22), educational-attainment diversity (No. 30), and racial and ethnic diversity (No. 37). Arlington comes in at No. 9, with 70.87 points. Fort Worth's neighbor scores best in racial and ethnic diversity (No. 17), industry diversity (No. 37), and cultural diversity (No. 41).

Other Texas cities landing further down the list are Austin (No. 42), Plano (No. 57), San Antonio (No. 62), Corpus Christi (No. 71), El Paso (No. 214), and Laredo (No. 463).

The least diverse city in America? The scenery apparently doesn’t change much in Provo, Utah, which comes in last on WalletHub’s list.

lists rankings reports wallethub

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."

melting pots

Fort Worth deemed one of the country's 25 most diverse cities by new report

Death Penalty

Tarrant County man gets death for murder of convenience store owner

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