School pride

Here's how TCU scores in new ranking of best universities in Texas

TCU is in the top 12.

It's report card time, and Fort Worth's Texas Christian University makes the grade — sort of.

Personal finance website WalletHub has ranked TCU No. 12 in Texas on its new list of best colleges and universities for 2022.

A ranking of 12th is not bad — inside the coveted top 15, after all — but outside the top 10 and several spots down from cross-town rival Southern Methodist University, which comes in at No. 7. Hey, at least TCU beats Baylor, which is No. 13.

University of Dallas is the highest-ranked DFW school on the list, coming in at No. 6.

To determine the top-performing schools, WalletHub compared more than 1,000 institutions in the U.S. across 30 key measures, including student-to-faculty ratio, graduation rate, and post-school median salary.

Texas' top 15 look like this:

Rice University, No. 6 nationally.
University of Texas at Austin, No. 45 nationally.
Trinity University in San Antonio, No. 61 nationally.
Texas A&M University in College Station, No. 127 nationally.
Southwestern University in Georgetown, No. 144 nationally.
University of Dallas, No. 152 nationally.
Southern Methodist University in University Park, No. 178 nationally.
Austin College in Sherman, No. 192 nationally.
LeTourneau University in Longview, No. 231 nationally.
University of Houston, No. 238 nationally.
University of Texas at Dallas, No. 252 nationally.
Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, No. 253 nationally.
Baylor University in Waco, No. 357 nationally.
Texas Lutheran University in Seguin, No. 375 nationally.
Southwestern Adventist University in Keene, No. 407 nationally.

Nationally, TCU ranks highest in the categories of "student selectivity" (111 nationally), "education outcomes" (123), and "career outcomes" (136).

SMU also ranks highest in the categories of "student selectivity" (98 nationally), "career outcomes" (114), and "education outcomes" (115).

The surprise on the list is Southwestern Adventist University in the tiny nearby town of Keene. Its highest ranking came in the category of "campus experience" (293) — compared to TCU's ranking of 427 in the same category. What's up with the campus experience, TCU?

Once again, though, Houston's Rice University was named the best school in Texas. WalletHub deemed it No. 1 in Texas and No. 6 nationally among colleges and universities.

In Texas, Rice appears at No. 1 for admission rate, graduation rate, gender and racial diversity, and post-school median salary. Not every ranking is that stellar, though. Rice ranks 50th for on-campus crime among 55 Texas schools and 52nd for net cost.

More students soon will be able to take advantage of Rice’s top-tier education. In March, the school said it would enlarge its undergraduate enrollment by 20 percent — to 4,800 — by the fall of 2025, up from more than 4,200 in the fall of 2020.

“Expanding the student body now will also expand Rice’s future alumni base across the nation and around the world,” said Robert Ladd, chairman of the Rice Board of Trustees, in a release. “Welcoming more students to the Rice campus today will have an impact on the university for generations to come.”

lists colleges education rankings 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."