NEW BRAUNFELS — Off a dirt road connected to ever-flowing Interstate 35, a little metal sign on a wooden fence is the only indication of what lies ahead. Nearby, Buckley Powder, a mining and construction supply company, stores large quantities of ammonium nitrate, the source of the explosion at a fertilizer depot that killed at least 14 people and injured hundreds more last month in West.

Texas Business reports: Plains All American LP is building the Cactus Pipeline to transport West Texas’ Permian Basin crude to refineries in the Houston area.

Texas Business reports:  HOUSTON—KBR was selected by a major supplier of agricultural products to perform turnaround services for their ammonia furnace revamp and expansion project in Borger, Texas. 

Texas Business reports: AMARILLO—Michael David Goodwin, 63, an orthodontist who practiced in Amarillo and Crown Point, Indiana, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Mary Lou Robinson to 50 months in federal prison and ordered to pay $1,810,960 in restitution, following his guilty plea in December 2012 to one count of health care fraud related to the Texas Medicaid program. 

Texas Business reports: WACO—The Texas Hunger Initiative (THI) at Baylor University won a $3.5 million Community Partnership Program (CPP) contract from the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) that will allow THI to develop an innovative statewide public-private partnership to expand access to food and health care for low-income Texas families through community-based research and programmatic activities. 

Texas Business reports:  An Amarillo firm won a $73 million contract to repair jet fighter parts, the U.S. Department of Defense announced. 

Texas Business reports:  An Amarillo firm won a $91.6 million contract change to a military aircraft program, the U.S. Department of Defense announced. 

Texas Business reports: AUSTIN—Parallel Resource Partners LLC invested in Texas American Partners LLC, a new upstream oil and gas company. 

Texas Business reports:  An Amarillo firm won a $26.5 million contract to support Osprey aircraft, according to the U.S. Department of Defense. 

John T. Haynes of Canyon and William C. Pratt of Amarillo recently received U.S. Patent 8,282,557 for “Determining Respiratory or Circulatory Health Condition in Animals for Improved Management.”

Texas Business Patent of the Day: How the animal breathes and how its blood flows is the subject of a patent by two Texans.John T. Haynes of Canyon and William C. Pratt of Amarillo recently received U.S. Patent 8,282,557 for “Determining Respiratory or Circulatory Health Condition in Animals for Improved Management.”

Texas Business reports: An Amarillo firm won a $9.4 million contract change for deicers for military aircraft, according to the U.S. Department of Defense. 

Texas Business reports:  An Amarillo firm won a $204.9 million order for V-22 support, according to the U.S. Department of Defense. 

Texas Business reports:  An Amarillo firm won a $74 million contract to supply Osprey flight training equipment, the U.S. Department of Defense announced. 

Texas Business reports:  An Amarillo firm won a $22.2 million contract change to a aircraft upgrade program, the U.S. Department of Defense announced.

Texas Business reports:  An Amarillo firm won a $23.8 million contract for Osprey aircraft upgrade kits, the U.S. Department of Defense announced. 

Dan Nelson and Robert Nelson, both of Dimmitt, Texas, recently received U.S. Patent 8,205,676 for “Water Well Cleaning Apparatus and Method.”

Texas Business Patent of the Day:  When you drink from a water well, you sometimes forget that well is dug into dirt and earth and rubble and other stuff.  And then sometimes, things get into the well because, well, it’s a well.  That is the problem that two Castro County men are trying to solve. Dan Nelson and Robert Nelson, both of Dimmitt, Texas, recently received U.S. Patent 8,205,676 for “Water Well Cleaning Apparatus and Method.” 

Texas Business reports: CLEVELAND—CBIZ Inc. acquired the assets of Stoltz and Company LTD LLP of Midland, Texas. 

Texas Business reports: AMARILLO—Amarillo Biosciences Inc. plants to open an Asia operations center in Taipei, Taiwan.

Remember when sucking helium out of a balloon to make your voice squeak like a cartoon was funny?  That may become a bitter, expensive joke in your lifetime.

Texas Business reports:  PAMPA—Prime Healthcare Services, based in Ontario, Calif., completed a transaction to acquire Pampa Regional Medical Center, located in Pampa, Texas, from Signature Hospital Corporation, based in Houston.

Darron Phillips of San Antonio, Jeff Wright of Bulverde, Texas and Jeff Lambert of Canyon, Texas recently received U.S. Patent 8,128,408 for “Door Breach Training System."

Texas Business Patent of the Day:  Three Texas men have devised a way to train people to break down a door, without breaking doors.  Darron Phillips of San Antonio, Jeff Wright of Bulverde, Texas and Jeff Lambert of Canyon, Texas recently received U.S. Patent 8,128,408 for “Door Breach Training System."

Texas Business reports:  FORT WORTH—BNSF Railway Company (BNSF) plans to invest an estimated $199 million on maintenance and rail capacity improvement and expansion projects in Texas this year.