Parade of professionals

Dallas-Fort Worth punches in as a top market for workers relocating during pandemic

DFW is the No. 7 market for relocating workers, says LinkedIn.

Photo by leekris/Getty Images

Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk appears to be Texas-bound. Popular podcaster Joe Rogan already has settled down here. But how many more folks are making the Lone Star State home during the coronavirus pandemic? The short answer: a bunch.

Data from job website LinkedIn indicates Austin is the main magnet for U.S. professionals seeking a new place to live, work, and play. But Dallas-Fort Worth is not far behind, landing at No. 7 on the national list.

For every person who moved out of DFW from April to October, 1.35 people moved in. That number is just slightly higher, at 1.53, in first-ranked Austin.

LinkedIn analyzed the top cities that gained the most people based on ZIP code changes across its 174 million U.S.-based LinkedIn members, CNBC reported. The analysis examined the inflow-outflow ratio, which is the number of new arrivals to an area versus the number of people who left.

According to a LinkedIn report published in early December, top sources of new arrivals in Dallas-Fort Worth over the past 12 months were New York City; Los Angeles; and Chicago. "So for every 10,000 LinkedIn members in Dallas-Ft. Worth, 4.5 workers moved to the city in the last year from New York City," the report says.

At the other end of the spectrum — and in a bit of a Texas switcheroo — Austin gained the most workers from DFW over the past year, followed by Denver and Seattle. "So for every 10,000 LinkedIn members in Dallas-Ft. Worth, 1.3 workers moved to Austin in the last year," the report says.

Places losing the most people nationwide were Hartford, Connecticut; the San Francisco Bay Area; and New York City, data shows.

Recent reports have lauded the sizzling economy in DFW, including the growth of tech jobs and commercial real estate opportunities.

“I think the DFW area will continue to be a center for growth once the pandemic is under control. The area offers a good mix of what companies are looking for, from workforce and infrastructure to a business-friendly climate,” Waco economist Ray Perryman said earlier this year.

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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."