Home Care In North Richland Hills, TX

Drone delivery is officially coming to Walmarts in North Richland Hills, marking the latest North Texas expansion for a drone service owned by Google’s parent company.

After nearly an hour of discussion, city council members unanimously approved landing spots for Wing drones at two Walmart locations — 9101 N Tarrant Parkway and 6401 NE Loop 820.

Wing, a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc., first made its way to the Dallas-Fort Worth area with two sites in Frisco, in Lewisville and with Walgreens in Little Elm.

At the beginning of the pandemic, Walmart considered transitioning to just online shopping and pick-up, said Ivan Jaime, Walmart government and public affairs director.

"The fact of the matter is, there is still a lot of people that like to do their shopping in stores," he said. "So we're really trying to invest back into the stores."

Wing drones fly away from air traffic and hover over the delivery spot from 23 feet, dropping off packages using a tether which detaches from the drone if grabbed or it catches on to something.

The drones will operate between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., but they have Federal Aviation Administration approval to expand to all daylight hours, said Bailey Edwards, Wing’s head of government and community affairs.

During a city Planning and Zoning Commission meeting this month, Edwards said the drones are built specifically for residential delivery and can deliver to a person’s front yard or backyard.

Wing drones have a load capacity of about two-and-a-half pounds and travel within a six-mile radius. When not in operation, the drones will have a fenced landing spot at the front corner of the stores’ parking lots powered by a generator. The landing spots will take up about 18 parking spaces.

Drone deliveries would include a fee of $3-$6.

The drones do not have a live video feed, but are equipped with low-quality sensor cameras, the company says.

During public comment at Monday night’s meeting, resident Tracy Bennett asked whether the camera data was saved or deleted.

A Wing spokesperson said in a statement that the low-resolution, black-and-white cameras are used for navigation, safety, and operation reliability. The cameras do not film live feed of people, including flight supervisors.

Images from the drones are saved in Wing’s servers and deleted off the drones.

Wing also posted a video explaining its drone cameras on its YouTube page.

Council member Blake Vaughn said concerns about drone video may be warranted, but it was not up to council to determine whether or not the drones would film.

"We need to recognize they're going to fly these drones regardless," he said. "We're just going to give them a landing spot here to serve the customers of our city."

Vaughn said approving the drone landing spots for one of the large retailers of the city would benefit people in the long run.

"We want those retailers to succeed and we want that convenience for the citizens of our city," he said.

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After 40 years in public service including the last 14 years as North Richland Hills City Manager, Mark Hindman has announced plans to retire from his city management role on March 31, 2024. The North Richland Hills City Council has named Paulette Hartman to serve as the next City Manager effective April 1. The appointment was made official during the Council’s January 8 meeting.

Mayor Oscar Trevino said, “During Mark’s 14 years as City Manager of North Richland Hills, his accomplishments are too numerous to list but the list includes building a great executive team that will provide continuity and stability in leadership to manage upcoming changes.”

Hartman joined the NRH team as an Assistant City Manager in July 2014 and became Deputy City Manager in October 2018. Hindman will continue to work in a support role as City Manager Emeritus until Sept. 30 to help Hartman manage the leadership transition.

“I am honored and humbled to continue serving North Richland Hills as City Manager,” said Hartman. “It is a privilege to support the City Council’s goals and vision and to lead the dedicated men and women who strive every day to provide the best services possible to the 70,000 people who call North Richland Hills home. This has been an amazing, supportive community in which to raise my family, and the future is bright.”

Mayor Oscar Trevino said the City Council is impressed with Hartman’s experience and passion for serving our community. “Paulette has been an integral part of our leadership team for nearly a decade and we are confident she can direct our organization to that next, important level.”

Prior to joining North Richland Hills, Hartman served as City Manager for the City of Joshua for seven years and as Town Administrator for the Town of Copper Canyon for two years. She also has previous service with the cities of North Richland Hills and Fort Worth.

Hartman holds a Bachelor of Arts with a major in Public Administration from Stephen F. Austin State University and a Master of Public Administration from the University of Texas at Arlington School of Urban and Public Affairs. She is a past President of the Texas City Management Association Board of Directors, and currently serves as the Chair of the Texas Women Leading Government Institute Advisory Board. She is a member of the International City/County Management Association, the Texas City Management Association, and the North Texas City Management Association.

She is a past recipient of the Linda Keithley Award for Women in Public Management by the North Central Texas Council of Governments. She has also received the Joy Sansom Mentoring Award from the Urban Management Assistants of North Texas.

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NORTH RICHLAND HILLS, Texas, Nov. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Crunch Franchise today announced the upcoming opening of Crunch North Richland Hills, a $5 million, 32,710-square-foot fitness facility, with state-of-the-art equipment. Crunch North Richland Hills is located in a newly renovated space at 6601 NE Loop 820, previously occupied by UFC FIT.

Fusing fitness with entertainment to make serious exercise fun, Crunch North Richland Hills will offer top-quality strength training equipment, extensive selection of premier cardio equipment, Group Fitness Studio, the HIITZone™, Training Hub, a Cycling Studio, Kids Crunch, Dry Saunas, HydroMassage® Tanning, spacious locker rooms, and more. Members looking for assistance reaching their goals will have access to our staff of highly experienced personal trainers.

CR Fitness Holdings LLC. is operated by Vince Julien, Geoff Dyer, Tony Scrimale, and Jeff Dotson, who combined have more than 150 years of experience in the fitness industry. The CR Fitness team currently operates 58 locations in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Texas. CR Fitness currently has 14 more locations set to open in 2023, with a goal of reaching 100 clubs by 2026.

"We are looking forward to bringing the exciting and inclusive Crunch workout experience to the community surrounding our newest location in North Richland Hills," says CR Fitness CEO Tony Scrimale. "With top-quality equipment, amazing group fitness classes and personal training, there is something for everyone at an unbeatable value."

Crunch is known for its innovative group fitness programming and will offer a wide range of classes every week, including BodyWeb with TRX®, Zumba®, Cardio Tai Box, Yoga Body Sculpt and Fat Burning Pilates. Members looking for additional guidance or motivation can utilize the HIITZone™, a proprietary high-intensity interval group training program.

Saturday November 4^th, prospective members can visit www.crunchnorthrichlandhills.com for a one day, online only sale to join at discounted rates for memberships beginning at $9.99 per month, with $0 enrollment fees and ability to save $120 annually on membership options. The first 500 founding members will also receive a free t-shirt, discounts on both small group and personal training, and more.

Crunch is a gym that believes in making serious exercise fun by fusing fitness and entertainment and pioneering a philosophy of 'No Judgments.' Crunch serves a fitness community for all kinds of people with all types of goals, exercising all different ways, working it out at the same place together. Today, we are renowned for creating one-of-a-kind group fitness classes and unique programming for our wildly diverse members. Headquartered in New York City, Crunch serves two million members with over 445 gyms worldwide in 37 states, the District of Columbia, Australia, Canada, Costa Rica, Portugal, Puerto Rico, and Spain. Crunch is rapidly expanding across the U.S. and around the globe.

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Rice starred at Richland and SMU, before becoming one of Patrick Mahomes' favorite targets

NORTH RICHLAND HILLS, Texas — They're pretty fired up at Richland High School for one of their own to play in Super Bowl LVIII.

"Number 4 Rashee Rice. Kansas City CHIEEEFS!" bellows Richland high school coordinator Derek Hinton.

"He's gonna play in the Super Bowl, his rookie year with Patrick Mahomes and Kelce, and he's their leading receiver," Richland assistant football coach Kerry Barrett said. "I mean, get you some of that. Isn't that something?"

But as proud as they are of his exploits on the field, they love Rashee Rice for the way he's stayed connected to the community.

"Raised up Richland. #RUR. That's what it means. And he's definitely a product of that," Hinton said.

And there's no one he's been more connected to than Coach Barrett and his wife Melanie.

"She was a pied piper. Kerry is the same way," Richland head football coach Ged Kates said. "The two of them together, were the most magical... they made Richland High School what it is."

"She was the centerpiece," Hinton said. "Not just for Rashee, but for a lot of our players."

On Rice's senior night in 2018, it was Melanie Barrett who walked Rashee out onto the field.

"Sometimes it's too cool to show love," Kates said. "Sometimes it's too cool. Not him and not her."

A year and a half ago, Melanie passed away at 44 years old due to colon cancer.

"You know, they say the good die young, and Melanie was one of those people, that you don't forget her," Kates said. "And you could feel the love coming from her."

Now, Rice keeps in touch with Melanie's husband Kerry on a regular basis. Barrett says it's Rashee's way of checking in on him. And Rashee sees 'Miss B' all the time. Even in the face of a flight attendant on the Chiefs team plane.

"It did look a lot like her," Kerry said. "And it's just funny, I sent him back 'man, it does look like Miss B, but she's not as hot!' And he sent back, 'Facts.'"

"It's really cool. I mean, of course it stops your heart for a second, because it does look like my wife. But then, to think that that kid, sometimes is like me there's so many things out in the world that bring back memories that remind you."

"That just goes to show," Hinton said, "he feels like she's with him all the time."

"If she's on your mind, if she's on your heart, you see her," Kates said.

"It's really cool that he thought to send that and say 'Hey coach, she's on the plane with us," Kerry said.

A coach and player, both missing a piece of their heart and taking turns making sure they're both okay.

"It's something that, they're gonna be linked forever," Kates said. "And she's the link. Melanie Barrett."

North Richland Hills native and Kansas City Chiefs rookie Rashee Rice could become a household name on Sunday.

Rice has been the Chiefs' top wide receiver during Kansas City's run to the Super Bowl.

The 23-year-old was picked in the second round by the Chiefs out of SMU.

SMU head coach Rhett Lashlee says he knew Rice was good when he recruited him out of Richland High School.

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Even though it’s not the matchup many North Texas fans were hoping for, there will still be some familiar names at Super Bowl 58.

Lashlee, who was the offensive coordinator at the time, says Rice surpassed his expectations.

"He was a big get for us in that class. We thought he was going to a good player, but really over the 4 years here he really grew into an incredible player and I think everybody is seeing that now for the Chiefs," Lashlee said.

Rice played football and basketball at Richland.

In his junior year, he caught 72 passes for 1,386 yards and 19 touchdowns, which was good enough to be named first team all-district.

"He came here to SMU at a time when we hadn't won as much as we have in the last 5 years, but he wanted to be the next great receiver to come to SMU and mission accomplished," said Lashlee.

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Rice was a standout for the Mustangs.

Lashlee got to see Rice on campus for his freshman year, but left the school to take the offensive coordinator job in Miami. When Lashlee returned to take over SMU's head coaching job ahead of the 2022, Rice had stepped up his game.

He was an honorable mention All-American Athletic Conference in his junior year.

"He played as a freshman, but to come back and see him as a senior, just physically he changed his body over the four years. He became even more explosive," Lashlee said.

Rice took things to the next level in his senior season.

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He compiled 96 catches for 1,355 yards and 10 touchdowns his senior year. He was named first-team All-ACC.

Rice was drafted by the Chiefs with the 55th overall pick in the 2023 draft.

"The first thing you think is it's a great fit. You get to play with the best quarterback in the NFL who is young and that's the best thing that can happen for a young receiver and on top of it he gets [Chiefs head coach] Andy Reid. Icing on the cake for us, Clark Hunt is the owner and he's an SMU guy," said Lashlee.

BALTIMORE, MD - JANUARY 28: Rashee Rice #4 of the Kansas City Chiefs runs the ball during the AFC Championship NFL football game against the Baltimore Ravens at M&T Bank Stadium on January 28, 2024 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Perry Knot

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Rice led the Chiefs in receiving touchdowns with 7 in the regular season. He also set Chiefs rookie records for catches and receiving yards.

"Just to see him get better and better as the year went on, I think [Chiefs QB] Patrick Mahomes said a lot of guys hit that rookie wall and he just kept getting better," Lashlee said. "I think that's just a testament to his drive, his work ethic and I think you're seeing the future is pretty bright for Rashee."