Austin, American Airlines, pecans, Rick Perry: Thursday's Business Briefing

Your lunchtime look at D-FW business [Your lunchtime look at D-FW business] October 26,  2017  Prefer the online view? It's [here](. Follow us on Twitter: [@DMNBiz]( Real estate investors and relocating businesses all have Austin on their radar (Helen Anders / Austin American-Statesman) The Big story It's getting weird: Laid-back Austin rising as a worthy business rival for Dallas Texas' capital city has long been a regional favorite with its Hill County location and laid back lifestyle. Now it seems that those attributes are a hit with millennials who are driving the employment sector these days. [Austin was picked by several analysts]( as the best location for Amazon's coveted second headquarters -- never mind that the 50,000-job office campus would overwhelm Austin's employment market. During the last year, Austin has added just more than 21,000 new jobs. That's about a fifth of the increase in employment in North Texas. "Anecdotally, the quality of life is high, and many want to live in the 'Silicon Hills,' " analysts at Moody's Analytics said in rating Austin the best choice for Amazon HQ2. "Further, being in Texas, Austin resides in a business-friendly state that seeks to attract and keep companies." -[Steve Brown]( Plus: [Find more on D-FW real estate]( Advertisement [TREC shark tank]( The Latest - Retail: [Dean & DeLuca]( isn't coming to Legacy West after all, and here's why - Energy: [Texas regulators]( ask hard questions in Sempra's $9.45 billion deal for Oncor - Airlines: [Southwest Airlines]( earns $508 million in third quarter profit - Real estate: [Common Desk]( shared office firm growing its Plano operation - Travel: [Mexico resorts](see 35,000 canceled bookings in wake of U.S. warning about violence SPECIAL OFFER [special offer unlimited digital access]( The NAACP is warning African-Americans that if they fly on American Airlines they could be subject to discrimination or even unsafe conditions. American said Wednesday that it's disappointed by the announcement and will invite the civil rights group to meet and talk about the airline. (Lynne Sladky / AP) Airlines NAACP says advisory triggers more racial mistreatment stories; AA to meet group A travel advisory warning black Americans about the risk of “disrespectful, discriminatory or unsafe conditions” on American Airlines has sparked new dialogue about increasingly tense U.S. race relations and about [growing consumer frustrations with treatment by the nation’s airlines](. Within hours of the NAACP’s warning posted Tuesday night, American Airlines CEO Doug Parker sent a note to it’s 120,000 employees saying the airline does not tolerate discrimination. He expressed disappointment about the travel advisory, but said the airline supports the mission to remove barriers of discrimination. “That’s a mission that the people of American Airlines endorse and facilitate every day,” he said in the letter to staff. The NAACP said “wheels are in motion” to set up a formal meeting with the Fort Worth-based carrier soon. -[Sabriya Rice]( More on American Airlines - NAACP issues national [travel advisory]( for fliers on American Airlines - [AA passengers]( filed 29 racial discrimination complaints in last 20 months - American Airlines reports [third-quarter profit]( of $624 million - Find the [latest stories]( about the Fort Worth-based airline Elsewhere in Texas - Jobs: [Five Houston lawyers]( leave Andrews Kurth for Sidley Austin (Houston Chronicle) - Technology: City leaders say no [local incentives dollars]( included in Austin’s pitch for Amazon HQ2 (512Tech.com) - Economy: [Telecheck](to close shop locally after half-century in business (Houston Chronicle) - M&A: [Austin’s Magnitude Software](, which raised $100M for acquisitions, does another deal (512Tech.com) - Energy: [BP MidstreamÂ](goes public below expectations (Houston Chronicle) In One Chart Texas growers turn to Ted Cruz for bigger slice of export pie The pecan accords are more of a food fight when compared to weightier battles over the North American Free Trade Agreement and the Trump administration’s broader worldview on trade. But when Texas Sen. Ted Cruz last month rallied senators to press U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to work with India on its 30-plus-percent tariff, [he entered a world of intra-nut and inter-nut rivalries, bizarre trade rules and the complexities of an increasingly globalized market](. It’s a world, in truth, where the pecan is trying to break out of its shell. -[Tom Benning]( and [Katie Leslie]( Plus: [Find more stories on trade and their impact on Texas]( U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry spoke at the Energy Policy Summit at the National Press Club this month in Washington, D.C. The event was organized by the American Association of Blacks in Energy. (Drew Angereer / Getty Images) ENERGY Rick Perry's power grid plan gets pushback from Texas energy companies WASHINGTON — Irving-based Exxon Mobil Corp. predicts it will "unravel the competitive market structure." Houston-based NRG Energy says it could "needlessly cost consumers billions." Kinder Morgan in Houston calls it "unsubstantiated," "wholly inadequate" and "legally infirm." Not exactly a warm Texas welcome this week for [Energy Secretary Rick Perry's contentious plan to overhaul America's power grid](. Perry, the former Texas governor, has rattled the energy industry by asking the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to consider new rules that would boost the struggling coal and nuclear power industries by giving them extra compensation for the fuel they store on site. -[Tom Benning]( Plus: [Find more on how energy companies affect North Texas]( Jeffrey Weiss, photographed at his home in Dallas on Dec. 27, 2016. Jeff said he was fond of this photo, which includes his father's typewriter in the background. (Louis DeLuca / Staff Photographer) In memoriaM: Jeffrey Weiss (1955-2017) News reporter who shared with readers his battle with cancer dies at 62 Jeffrey Weiss, a career journalist whose openness about his struggle with brain cancer resonated with readers of The Dallas Morning News, died Wednesday. [He was 62](. “He was able to take anything controversial, scientific or complicated and put it in terms we can all understand,” Dale said. “That was his gift. Whatever it was, he could make it understandable and interesting. He was a storyteller.” His gift for storytelling extended even to a terminal diagnosis for brain cancer. As Weiss wrote in 2016: “Most people with my illness — glioblastoma — live less than a year and a half. That means my life has changed. So have the lives of my wife, my family and some of my friends. How can I help them do well when I’m gone?" Near the end of his life, Weiss enjoyed "kibitzing" with friends and colleagues, wearing a hat that proclaimed in all capital letters: “CANCER SUCKS.” “Jeff was a perpetual student who brought a sense of wonder to every story he covered, including the story of his own terminal illness,” said Mike Wilson, editor of The News. “People will say he was brave, and he was, but more than anything he was curious. His fascination with just about everything was his greatest gift to his readers and to us." -[Michael Granberry]( Plus: ['Privacy ain't me': Jeffrey Weiss' personal health narratives]( Follow DFW stocks: [See how top North Texas stocks performed](, as well as the oil and gas markets and major stock exchanges. DFW Top 100 Places to Work 2016: The Dallas Morning News and Workplace Dynamics partner each year to feature the [Top 100 workplaces](, based on ratings by the people who work at them. The 2017 ranking is in progress. Advertisement [TREC shark tank]( 👋  That's all for today! 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