Report card time

Fort Worth's TCU makes the grade on list of top Texas schools for 2022

Horned Frogs are the coolest.

Facebook/TCU

Back-to-school time means back-to-college-rankings time, and here they are.

Neighborhood review site Niche.com has just released this year's college rankings, which rely on U.S. Department of Education data coupled with reviews from current students, alumni, and parents to judge American colleges on 12 factors, including academics, campus, dorm life, and professors.

In results that look strikingly similar to last year's list, three Dallas-Fort Worth universities have made the grade among top 10 Texas schools this year.

Southern Methodist University came in at No. 4 (same as 2021), Fort Worth's Texas Christian University ranked No. 6 (same as 2021), and University of Texas at Dallas landed at No. 9 (up one spot from No. 10 in 2021).

Once again, Houston's Rice University was named the best school in Texas (and sixth best in the United States, up from No. 7 last year).

The complete top 10 in Texas (with national rankings included) looks like this:

Rice University, No. 6 in U.S.
University of Texas at Austin, No. 46 in the U.S. UT also ranks eighth on the list of best public colleges in the U.S. and first in Texas.
Texas A&M University in College Station, No. 75 in the U.S.
Southern Methodist University in Dallas, No. 82 in the U.S.
Trinity University in San Antonio, No. 99 in the U.S.
Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, No. 104 in the U.S.
Texas Tech University in Lubbock, No. 148 in the U.S.
Baylor University in Waco, No. 172 in the U.S.
University of Texas at Dallas, No. 220 in the U.S.
University of Houston, No. 232 in the U.S.

Proving that the Horned Frogs can party it up and then get down to work, TCU earned an A in both Party Scene and Academics. It got an A+ for Campus, A in Athletics, A- for Diversity, and B+ for Value. Find its whole report card here.

Crosstown rival SMU earned an A+ in both "Party Scene" and Academics. It also earned an A+ in Campus, A in Athletics, A- in Diversity, and A- in Value. Find the school's complete ranking here.

University of Texas at Dallas' highest grade was an A, in the category of Diversity. It earned an A- in Academics and Value; B- in Campus, and a C in both Party Scene and Athletics. Complete rankings are here.

The rankings compare more than 1,000 colleges and universities across the country.

“We know that choosing where to go to college is a major life decision, and we’ve always been committed to helping students and their families make their choice with as much information as possible,” says Luke Skurman, founder and CEO of Niche. “With a mix of comprehensive data and millions of reviews, our 2023 best colleges rankings are a guide to the thousands of excellent institutions across the country.”

So, what is the best college in the United States this year? The Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston holds the top spot nationally.

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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."