climbing to the top

TCU business school ranks No. 9 for graduate earnings in new nationwide study

It pays to have a business degree from TCU.

Facebook/TCU Neeley School of Business

A new study conducted by business advice company Venture Smarter has revealed graduates from Texas Christian University's Neeley School of Business produce the ninth-highest earnings in the nation.

Four years post-graduation, TCU business alumni make an average of $93,488 per year. That salary is a huge jump from the average earnings from just one year post-grad, which amounts to $57,155.

The earnings at one year post-completion are 25 percent above the nationwide business school average, which goes up to 55 percent at the four-year stage.

The study goes on to list prominent alumni from TCU, which includes CEO of BNSF Railway Kathryn Farmer, and billionaire entrepreneur (and TCU Board of Trustees member) John Davis.

"With business school constituting an obvious step for many aspiring entrepreneurs, it’s interesting to have established the schools whose graduates are set to accrue the most wealth," a Venture Smarter spokesperson said in a statement. "The prestige and alumni of these schools speak for themselves, but this top ten is certainly something for young students-to-be to take note of."

Ahead of TCU in the rankings is cross-town rival Southern Methodist University's Cox School of Business, ranking No. 3. SMU business alumni earn an average of $51,068 one year post-completion. After four years, those graduates make $105,314 a year.

Interestingly, TCU and SMU were the only two Texas schools to make the top 10.

The top 10 business schools with the highest-earning graduates after four years are:

No. 1 – University of Virginia ($112,759)
No. 2 – Emory University ($107,945)
No. 3 – Southern Methodist University ($105,314)
No. 4 – University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill ($105,246)
No. 5 – George Washington University ($101,930)
No. 6 – Stevens Institute of Technology ($100,049)
No. 7 – Washington and Lee University ($98,403)
No. 8 – Georgetown University ($94,935)
No. 9 – Texas Christian University ($93,488)
No. 10 – Elon University ($92,616)

To determine the average earnings of business graduates from colleges around the country, Venture Smarter researched data from the U.S. Department of Education's College Scorecard tool.

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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."