Texas Business reports: SAN ANTONIO—The Witte Museum plans to open the Robert J. and Helen C. Kleberg South Texas Heritage Center, Memorial Day Weekend, Saturday, May 26, 2012.

Texas Business reports: PLANO—Avalon, the newest world in the expanding Wizard101 universe is now live across KingsIsle's U.S. servers. 

 The Weather Research Center’s 2012 hurricane season outlook predicts a quiet storm season for the Texas Gulf Coast — potentially good news for Galveston’s newest tourist attraction.

Texas Business reports:  IRVING—Panini America, the world's largest sports and entertainment collectibles company, reached a trading card agreement with Washington Redskins quarterback and 2011 Heisman Trophy winner Robert Griffin III for the 2012 season. 

Texas Business reports:  SAN ANTONIO—Pinnacle Entertainment Inc. will buy, through a wholly-owned subsidiary, a 75.5% equity stake in Retama Partners  Ltd., the owner of the racing license for Retama Park Racetrack.

Texas Business reports:  NEW BRAUNFELS, Texas— Schlitterbahn New Braunfels Waterpark, plans to open its largest development in almost 15 years with the addition of a new park area called Tubenbach. 

Texas Business reports: ATHENS—Professional angler Tommy Martin of Hemphill and lure manufacturer and angler Lonnie Stanley of Huntington will be inducted into the Texas Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame June 2, 2012, at the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center in Athens.

Texas Business reports: AUSTIN—Alamo Drafthouse Cinema is pleased to unveil its plans for its first location in New York.

Texas Business reports: STEPHENVILLE, Texas—Short films produced, edited, and acted in by students will be showcased April 19 at the 7th Annual Purple and White Film Festival. 

Texas Business reports: AUSTIN— Thomas Smith, visual effect producer for such films as "Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back" and "E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial," has donated his archive to the Harry Ransom Center, a humanities research library and museum at The University of Texas at Austin.

Filmmaker Pablo Veliz has screened his work at the Sundance Film Festival and gotten “the call” from Hollywood. But his heart and, more important, the stories he wants to tell remain in South Texas. At age 22, with nothing but a digital camera and his imagination, Veliz wrote, produced, edited and directed his first feature film, “La Tragedia de Macario,” about a Mexican peasant named Macario and his struggle to cross the U.S.-Mexico border. 

Texas Business reports:  DENTON—Reefer Madness, a satire of the 1936 cult classic film, will be presented by the University of North Texas Department of Dance and Theatre March 29 through April 1.

Texas Business reports: The movie The Hunger Games, a story about adolescents in a post-apocalyptic survival contest, opens in theaters March 23 and offers "a perfect tale of apprehension for our time" of financial upheaval and a bleak job market, says a Baylor University culture critic and author.

Texas Business reports:  CSI fans and would-be forensic investigators the world over can try their hand at solving an arson murder mystery online, thanks to a new federally funded expansion of Rice University’s hit educational game “CSI: Web Adventures.”

Texas Business reports: NEW YORK—Legacy Recordings, the catalog division of Sony Music Entertainment, entered into a historic new record deal with Texas musician Willie Nelson. 

Texas Business reports:  AUSTIN—There’s marketing, and then there’s marketing. Alamo Drafthouse launched a signature wine inspired by The Princess Bride in honor of the 25th anniversary of the film. 

Texas Business reports: Actors from the London Stage, an international touring theater troupe based in London and the University of Notre Dame, will present Shakespeare's comedy of love, "Twelfth Night," Feb. 16-18 at Rice University's Hamman Hall. 

Texas Business reports:  The Thin Line Film Fest, Texas’ only international documentary film festival, starts its 5th annual festival lineup today.

Texas Business reports:  AUSTIN—Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas plans to expand locations in the Washington D.C. metro and surrounding areas with new franchise partner Cojeaux Cinemas.

What used to be clean, white tile floors are now a smooth and deep shade of brown.  The change in color has  occurred gradually over the past 33 years as customers weeve between the high shelves of Golden’s Book Exchange.  Located at the end of a strip mall, Golden’s Book Exchange is one of two used bookstores in Waco, Texas. Started in 1978 by Donna Carroll, Golden’s has managed to survive the intrusion of large retail bookstores and other competitors over the years in a mid-sized market like Waco.

Texas Business reports:  WACO—Dina Dwyer-Owens, chairwoman and chief executive of The Dwyer Group, will appear on CBS's hit reality show "Undercover Boss," on January 22.

Texas Business reports:  SEGUIN – The 34th Texas Paddling Trail and second in Seguin will open on Wednesday, Dec. 7, along a scenic stretch of the Guadalupe River. 

Texas Business reports:  DALLAS—The LCC announces its 8th annual Posada Dallas. Festivities begin Dec. 18, 2011 at 4 p.m.

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.

The Great Gobbler Gallop, a one-and-a-half-block race between turkeys Ruby Begonia and Paycheck, is a 39-year tradition of two towns' turkey celebrations. Photo by Elena Watts.

CUERO — Training turkeys can be highly stressful work.

Texas Business reports:  DALLAS—The Dallas Film Society, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that celebrates films and their impact on society, will honor screen and theatre legend, John Lithgow at its annual fall fundraising event The Art of Film on November 18, 2011, at the Hall of State, Fair Park. 

Texas Business reports:  DALLAS and GRAPEVINE—The Gaylord Texan's new 10-acre, $13-million Paradise Springs waterpark, designed by landscape architecture and land planning firm TBG Partners, boosted the resort's leisure travel business by nearly 40 percent since its Memorial Day opening.

Texas Business reports: DALLAS- In a three-night-only appearance, iconic Hollywood actors and brothers, Dick and Jerry Van Dyke will be in Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas this September to perform Neil Simon's comedy “The Sunshine Boys.”

Texas Business reports:  AUSTIN—The Jarry Ransom Center, a humanities research library and museum at The University of Texas at Austin, acquired a collection of materials from husband-wife duo actress Carlin Glynn and writer and director Peter Masterson relating to their careers and their work on the original Broadway production and film of “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.”

 Texas Business reports:  DENTON—The University of North Texas Opera will present two performances of Handel’s Alcina in this year’s Summer Opera Workshop.

 Texas Business reports:  DALLAS—The Dallas Film Society opened submissions for the 6th annual Dallas International Film Festival.

Texas Business reports:  PLANO—One of the keys to business success is volume, volume, volume. KingsIsle Entertainment's popular online game Wizard101 will reach 20 million registered users this week. 

Texas Business reports:  SAN ANGELO—Angelo State University’s Arts at ASU program will kick off its 2011-12 season with Neil Simon’s comedy Broadway and movie classic “Barefoot in the Park” beginning Thursday, June 23 in the ASU Modular Theatre.

Texas Business reports:  A 16-year-old Egyptian girl who lived 2,300 years ago could not have imagined today's CT Scans. But because of the impact such technology has had on archeology, much has been learned about the mummified mystery teen -- all without ever unwrapping her.

Texas Business reports:  Ticket sales for the third season of Trinity Shakespeare Festival are now available online at www.trinityshakes.org or in person at the Buschman Theatre box office (located in Ed Landreth Hall.)

Texas Business reports:  Austin—The Alamo Drafthouse and Texas Monthly announced their collaboration for the 2011 Rolling Roadshow, marking the first all-Texas tour of free outdoor 35mm screening experiences pairing famous movies with famous places.

Texas Business reports:  Plano—KingsIsle Entertainment, creators of the online game Wizard101, announced that the soundtrack for its new expansion world, Wintertusk, was wholly written and produced by superstar singer/producer Nick Jonas of the Jonas Brothers.

Texas Business reports:  American Airlines claims to be the first North American airline to begin testing the new inflight streaming video.

Texas Business reports: Arlington—Six Flags Over Texas launched the New Texas Giant, a “super hybrid coaster” that claims to have the steepest drop of any wooden coaster in the world.

Texas Business reports:  The Rockport Film Festival has issued a call for entries.

Texas Business reports:  Austin’s Twisted Pixel hiring, according to a notice from the Texas Film Commission.

Texas Business reports:  Amarillo—Hastings Entertainment Inc., a multimedia entertainment superstore retailer, plans to host chain-wide midnight release parties for the new Mortal Kombat video game.

Texas Business reports:  Fort Worth—On May 14, the Amon Carter Museum of American Art presents the work of contemporary photographer Subhankar Banerjee in the exhibition Subhankar Banerjee: Where I Live I Hope to Know.

Steve James And Elmo

Texas Business reports:  Dallas--More than 150 films will be presented in the 10-day Dallas International Film Festival scheduled to start this week.

 With 157 films representing 26 countries, nine world premieres and six US premieres, the Dallas International Film Festival is heading into its 5th year with a wide-ranging slate of features and shorts that promise to appeal to film-lovers of all age-groups and ethnicities.

Photo by Rachel Schultz of Reporting Texas.

Standing atop a 12-foot board while paddling along Lady Bird Lake takes a little getting used to. This is stand-up paddle boarding which, in Austin, offers a total body workout and a new way to connect with the beauty of Austin’s downtown waterfront.

Texas Business reports:  Sugar Land— The University of Houston System   and TimeGate Studios to establish a cutting-edge motion capture studio in Fort Bend County.

Texas Business reports:  Houston Ballet's new Center for Dance will open Saturday, April 9 at 601 Preston Street in the heart of downtown Houston's Theater District. 

Texas Business reports:  A new museum under construction was “topped out” at the height of its structure.

Texas Business reports:  Austin—The concrete block structure "Circle with Towers" by Sol LeWitt (1928-2007) has been purchased by Landmarks, the public art program of The University of Texas at Austin, from the Madison Square Park Conservancy in New York.

Uncanny Fish Hunt

Texas Business reports:  Online independent gaming community indiePub, sponsored by video game publisher Zoo Entertainment Inc. and South by Southwest (SXSW) announced the finalists of the first ever video game development competition, the Independent Propeller Awards, to be held during SXSW ScreenBurn, the gaming portion of the SXSW Interactive Festival.

Texas Business reports:  Houston, America's third largest art market, will be home to the first annual Houston Fine Art Fair September 15 – 18, 2011.

Texas Business reports:  Entergy returns as a major sponsor of this year's 27th Annual Young Texas Artists (YTA) Music Competition and Entergy Finalists' Concert & Awards to be held in March.  

Texas Business reports:  Two events, including the opening of a new space-themed museum, to honor the space shuttle Columbia and the Columbia crew are planned in Hemphill on Tuesday.

Texas Business reports:  A Plano online game company now has more than 15 million U.S. players.  

Texas Business reports:  The computer and video game industry created more full time jobs in the past two years than any other moving image entertainment sector, according to a new report from the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts.

Texas Business notes this story by Jay A. Fernandez of Reuters:  "Moon" director Duncan Jones' new action thriller will make its world premiere as the opening-night movie at the South By Southwest Film Festival on Austin, Texas, on March 11.

Texas Business reports:  A Plano video entertainment firm is trying to tap into the holiday market with a Gamestop partnership.

Texas Business reports:  A Dallas technology and marketing firm bought a professional women’s football league, the company announced in a press release. 

Texas Business notes this story by Sandra Baker of the Houston Chronicle:  The first time Greg Copeland, co-owner of Texas Trace Kennel and Ranch in Hempstead, watched a pair of hunting dogs called Boykin spaniels perform, he was hooked.

TexasBusiness.com notes this story by Alice Adams for the Victoria Advocate:  Theatre Victoria's producing artistic director Charles Moster has announced the premier of an original, all-Texas production, titled "A Lone Star Night," Aug. 20-22, at the Leo J. Welder Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Victoria.

TexasBusiness.com recommends: The final construction phase of the AT&T Performing Arts Center, added last year to Dallas' Arts District, helped ratchet up arts-related construction spending in North Texas more than 80 percent, an arts support group said Friday.

Eighty-seven arts-related groups in North Texas – mostly in Dallas – spent an estimated $183 million on new construction and renovation last year, according to a nearly 40-page report on the economic impact of arts and cultural organization, reports Karen Robinson-Jacobs of the Dallas Morning News.

A McLennan County campground that attracts hundreds of Jewish youths each summer and hosts numerous other groups the rest of the year is pumping big bucks into improvements.  The Greene Family Camp, which is celebrating its 35th anniversary this summer, has spent about $4 million on facility upgrades during the past couple of years, reports Cindy V. Culp of the Waco Tribune-Herald.

A small group has since been studying and drawing plans for an upscale Disney-styled entertainment complex that would be seven times larger than Houston's original park, reports Cindy Horswell of the Houston Chronicle.