Stocks jump on bank plan, rise in home sales

By TIM PARADIS, AP Business Writer

NEW YORK – Wall Street is getting the good news it wants on the economy's biggest problems: banks and housing.

Investors reignited a two-week rally Monday after hearing the government's plan to help banks remove as much as $1 trillion in bad assets from their books and home sales showed a surprise increase. Major stock indexes jumped as much as 4 percent, including the Dow Jones industrial average, which rose nearly 300 points.

The Treasury Department said its plan would rely on the government's $700 billion financial rescue fund, the Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., as well as private investors.

Full Story March 23, 2009

Tarrant County toll road project to get $250 million in stimulus funds

By MICHAEL A. LINDENBERGER / The Dallas Morning News 3/6/09

State transportation officials voted Thursday to spend $250 million in stimulus funds to advance a major toll project in Tarrant County.

In all, the Texas Transportation Commission awarded some $1.2 billion for projects throughout Texas even as it has endured criticism from lawmakers who wanted a greater role in deciding which projects would be funded.

"Today's vote reflects four months of hard work by TxDOT staff and community leaders," commission chairwoman Deirdre Delisi said in a written statement. "Now, it's time to put Texas to work."

The North Texas work will be done on the DFW Connector, a $917 million project that mixes free and toll lanes near Grapevine and D/FW Airport.

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Weigh in on how stimulus money is spent in Tarrant County

By GORDON DICKSON
Mar. 10, 2009

The public will finally get an opportunity to speak about federal stimulus funding.

A state legislative committee will conduct a field hearing Saturday morning in Arlington to take public testimony about the American Recovery and Investment Act. In Texas cities and counties, some officials see the federal funds as a jump-start for long-overdue purchases, but others worry that the one-time of use of federal funds will create unforeseen expenses down the road.

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