Texas Business reports:  AMARILLO—EnergyNet promoted Chris Atherton to vice president of business development.

Texas Business reports:  ASCO Equipment acquired the Case Construction Equipment distributorship from Heritage Equipment for the Lubbock and Amarillo markets.

Texas Business reports:  HANOVER, Md.—Conmed Healthcare Management Inc.,  it has purchased the assets of Panhandle Correctional Care, Inc., a Texas Corporation, including its three medical staffing contracts in the Texas panhandle.

Texas Business reports: AMARILLO – As the water goes, so goes agricultural production, especially corn production in the Texas High Plains. 

Texas Business reports:  AMARILLO—enXco, an EDF Energies Nouvelles Company, and Cielo Wind Power LP announced that enXco signed a purchase agreement to acquire from a Cielo affiliate the development assets for the Spinning Spur Wind Project.

Texas Business reports:  An Amarillo firm won a $7.2 million contract modification on parts for V-22 jets.

Texas Business reports:  BORGER—Mercuria Energy Trading Inc., based in Chicago, has developed a terminal to ship crude oil on the Panhandle Northern Railway (PNR), which operates on 31 miles of track between the towns of Panhandle and Borger, Texas.

Ernie D. Sheets and Julie A. Neusch of Amarillo received U.S. Patent 8,083,600 for “Swing Seat.”

Texas Business Patent Of The Day: Two Amarillo residents have devised a better, safer swing for children. Ernie D. Sheets and Julie A. Neusch of Amarillo received U.S. Patent 8,083,600 for “Swing Seat.”

Texas Business reports: An Amarillo firm won a $33.3 million order to work on Osprey avionics.

Texas Business reports:  An Amarillo firm won a $34.4 million contract change on Osprey flight controls, the U.S. Department of Defense. 

Texas Business reports:  An Amarillo firm won a $72.9 million contract to support and development of  Osprey aircraft, the U.S. Department of Defense. 

Texas Business reports:  SAN ANTONIO—Rush Enterprises Inc. acquired certain assets of West Texas Peterbilt, a Peterbilt dealership group with five locations in Texas. 

Texas Business reports:  COLLEGE STATION--Sales of existing single-family Texas homes in November were up 9 percent from a year ago, according to the most recent Multiple Listing Services (MLS) data compiled by the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University. 

Texas Business reports:  An Amarillo firm won a $37.5 million order for military aircraft repair.

Texas Business reports:  An Amarillo firm won a $7 million order for upgrades to tilt rotor aircraft upgrades, the U.S. Department of Defense announced.

Texas Business reports:  AMARILLO—Hastings Entertainment Inc., a multimedia entertainment superstore retailer, plans chain-wide Midnight release parties for the movie Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 and the video game Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

Texas Business Patent Of The Day: When a case of Mad Cow disease arises, how do you track down out of the millions of cattle and tens of thousands of herds the cow where that steak originated from?  Now that’s feasible with an invention by a West Texas man.  William C. Pratt of Amarillo received U.S. Patent 8,037,846 for “Method and System for Tracking and Managing Animals and/or Food Products.”

Texas Business reports:  DALLAS—Odyssey Pictures Corporation, a publicly traded media and entertainment company, has acquired the screenplay and feature film rights of the children's literary franchise, "Hank the Cowdog," from Rising Star Studios. 

Texas Business reports:  AMARILLO – The Texas Attorney General’s Office resolved the state’s enforcement action against a Potter County consultant who unlawfully provided immigration-related services – despite the fact that she was not licensed to do so. The defendant is charged with violating the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act (DTPA) and Notary Public Act.

Texas Business reports:  LTC Properties Inc. acquired, in a sale-lease back transaction, a skilled nursing property built in 2005 with 196 licensed beds in Pasadena, Texas, for a purchase price of $15,500,000.   Additionally, the company bought a vacant parcel of land in Amarillo, for a purchase price of $844,000 and entered into a commitment, in an amount not to exceed $8,250,000, to fund the construction of a 120-bed licensed skilled nursing property.

The High Plains has taken the lead in Texas dairy production in the past month. (Texas AgriLife Research photo by Kay Ledbetter)

Texas Business reports:  DALLAS – A new leader of Texas’ $1.5 billion dairy industry has emerged. Castro County displaced Erath County as the No. 1 milk producing county in the state in August, a Texas AgriLife Extension Service specialist said.

U.S. Patent 8,016,127 for “Device for Storage of Shoes.

Texas Business Patent Of The Day:  Got shoes? Got more and more shoes? Got as many shoes as Imelda Marcos?  A Texas Panhandle man devised a way to store each pair of your shoes in minimum space and inexpensively.

Stanley G. Crump of Amarillo received U.S. Patent 8,016,127 for “Device for Storage of Shoes.

Texas Business reports:  An Amarillo firm won a $34.1 million order to upgrade CV-22 training devices, the U.S. Department of Defense announced.

U.S. Patent 7,959,404 for “Wind turbine.”

Texas Business Patent Of The Day:  A Borger man has invented a new type of wind turbine for generating electricity. Dennis P. Caldwell of Borger received U.S. Patent 7,959,404 for “Wind turbine.”