Blue Ridge Spirits & Wine Marketing and Proximo Spirits are pleased to announce a new partnership to accelerate the growth of a select portfolio of Proximo’s nurture spirits brands across the United States.

Blue Ridge will act as Proximo’s marketing, sales and distribution management partner for the following group of Proximo brands: Hangar 1 Vodka, Boodles British Gin, Matusalem Rum, Owney’s Rum, Old Camp Whiskey, Wolf Moon Bourbon and Agavero Liqueur. This new relationship creates a mutual opportunity to broaden Blue Ridge’s existing premium portfolio and to accelerate the growth and penetration of these unique Proximo brands.

“We are looking forward to our partnership with Proximo in the United States” says Carlos Carreras, Chief Executive Officer of Blue Ridge. “It has always been part of Blue Ridge’s mission to grow brands and build legacies for the future, and together with Proximo’s leadership team, we are excited to cultivate this portfolio of spirits brands to meet their full potential.”

The Blue Ridge team has decades of experience in the spirits and wine industry and is committed to quality brand building nationwide. With a company focused on personal relationships with suppliers, distributors and retailers as the key to achieving success, the Blue Ridge team will dedicate its resources to maximize the growth potential of the Proximo nurture brand portfolio.

“Proximo prides itself on innovating brands to meet the varied consumer needs and trends across the U.S. and the world,” says Luis Felix, President & Chief Executive Officer of Proximo. “This new partnership with Blue Ridge will ensure focused attention and programming with our distributor network, and an evolution in the sales and marketing efforts we place behind our nurture brand portfolio.”

Effective Immediately, Blue Ridge will begin working to assess market opportunities in order to plan and execute programming with distributors. The goal is to effectively increase the brands’ visibility and engage with on- and off-premise retailers to drive awareness and velocity.

For More Information: https://www.blueridgespirits.com/proximo-partnership

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The UT Health San Antonio School of Dentistry has been ranked first in Texas, No. 7 in the country, for National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding among 48 public and private dental schools, according to the Blue Ridge Institute for Biomedical Research, an independent nonprofit organization.

Blue Ridge rankings are generated annually to report health science research funding from the NIH, the largest public source of health sciences funding to biomedical research institutions in the world.

The school received $11,258,229 in federal funding from the NIH in 2022, which contributed to its nearly $35 million in total research grants awarded during that fiscal year.

Climbing nine spots from 16th in 2021, the School of Dentistry now holds the top spot among all Texas dental schools.

“I am extremely proud of our faculty,” said Brij B. Singh, PhD, associate dean for research. “Every day our faculty work hard to improve the research and scholarly activity at our school. Increasing in the NIH ranking is a testament of their success and how far we have come as a group.”

The leap in ranking can be attributed in part to a major five-year $9.8 million grant investigating how the jaw joint and surrounding facial muscles influence and create pain. The study, led by Armen Akopian, PhD, professor of endodontics, could help lead to safer drug alternatives to opioid painkillers, helping to curb addiction.

Notably, the school was awarded 32 NIH grants in total, 17 of them were R01 grants and, for the first time in its history, the school received a highly competitive K99 NIH Pathway to Independence Award to support the postdoctoral research of Audrey Rakian, DDS, PhD.

“The achievement of the School of Dentistry in obtaining funding, from the NIH and many other funding entities, is an acknowledgement of the impactful research our faculty, students and staff are conducting that is improving oral health and making lives better,” said Dean Peter M. Loomer, DDS, PhD. “I congratulate our exceptional researchers for this success.”

“How many people can rely on every single one of their children and grandchildren to drop everything and come help? Not a lot of people," said Elizabeth Diehl.

BLUE RIDGE, Texas — The tornado that struck Blue Ridge in rural Collin County Tuesday morning damaged or destroyed every building on the properties shared by the Reising-Diehl families along FM 545. But the same tornado also showed how quickly a family like theirs jumps into the act of rescuing each other.

The home Donald Reising and his wife have called home for more than 20 years was heavily damaged: much of its roof and the back porch ripped away. Next door a garage/shop that belongs to a son and daughter-in-law took a direct hit. The tools and appliances and boats and pieces of the walls and roof were scattered to the northeast in an adjoining pasture. Sheet metal, insulation and sheets of plywood clung to trees and power lines along FM 545 hundreds of yards away.

And to the west, Reising’s son-in-law and daughter suffered the collapse of a garage with a Camaro inside. Next to that garage debris also hit a 5th wheel trailer that granddaughter Mary Jane Newman called home.

“Me and my husband, we live in the trailer. We actually moved in two days ago,” she said. Parked behind her parent’s home, she took shelter during the tornado in her parent’s bathtub along with her dog.

“Honestly, I didn’t think about going to get in the bathtub. Tornadoes hit all the time. We’re gonna be fine,” she said of the pre-tornado attitude that quickly changed as it approached.

But as much as the tornado tore their homes apart, it also showed how closely knit this extended family is.

“How many people can rely on every single one of their children and grandchildren to drop everything and come help? Not a lot of people, said Mary Jane’s sister Elizabeth Diehl.

“It won’t take too long to get it all cleaned up. Hopefully we can still have a good Christmas because we usually have it here,” Mary Jane Newman said. “So, we’ll have to figure out a new plan for that. I’m just glad we’re all safe.”

“I knew it was coming,” said their grandfather Donald Reising who rode out the tornado inside his home. But he couldn’t hide his emotions when talking about his children and grandchildren.

“Scare you a bit?” I asked him.

“Oh yeah,” he said.

As Reising and his family began salvaging what they could and started temporary repairs on damaged roofs, they learned that the tornado damage that appears to have started on their property extends all the way through the town of Blue Ridge where additional homes were damaged, Blue Ridge High School and Blue Ridge Middle School suffered minor damage too, and trees were snapped and tombstones overturned at the Blue Ridge Cemetery.

“I don’t know what to say,” Donald Reising added as he watched his sons and daughters and grandchildren working together to clean up the tornado damage. “It can wake your spirit up,” he said of the brief but powerful twister.

But he could also celebrate, as he watched his little army get to work, that this momentary crisis also brought them all together.

Multiple tornadoes occurred in North Texas on Tuesday. 14 have been confirmed so far with potentially a couple more to be confirmed on Thursday.

DALLAS — Multiple tornadoes occurred in North Texas on Tuesday.

14 tornadoes have been confirmed so far. Other damage areas continue to be surveyed in Parker County, so that number could increase.

Here's a look at the confirmed tornadoes and the areas being investigated:

Credit: WFAA

14 Confirmed tornadoes:

- Two tornadoes were confirmed in Grapevine. Both were EF-1s with winds of up to 110 mph. The first tracked through most of Grapevine and the second was short-lived but did damage to the mall.

- 3 short-lived tornadoes happened in Northwest Fort Worth near Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base. They were an EF-0, EF-0, and EF-1. Video showed a tornado lifting and reforming 3 times, so they count as separate tornadoes.

- Near Decatur in Wise County. An EF-2 tornado has been confirmed with wind speeds up to 125mph.

- Blue Ridge to Leonard from Collin to Fannin county an EF-2 tornado occurred with max winds of 125 mph.

- Near Wolf City in northern Hunt County an EF-1 tornado did damage with max winds of 90 mph.

- From near Petty to Hopewell in Lamar County west of Paris. Tornado was rated an EF-2 with winds up to 115mph.

- Callisburg in Cooke Co. Damage to a home is consistent with an EF-0. Max winds of 85 mph.

- North Richland Hills in Tarrant County. 1.5 mile long track. EF-0 with max winds of 90 mph.

- Near Santo in Palo Pinto County. An EF-1 with winds up to 110 mph.

- South of Ranger in Eastland County. An EF-2 with winds up to 135 mph.

- EF-1 tornado with winds of 95 mph south of Bluff Dale in Erath County. Damage also occurred closer to Tolar in Hood County, but it was determined that happened because of straight-line winds.

Possible tornadoes (surveys ongoing):

- Near Hudson Oaks in Parker County

Firstly, while tornadoes are certainly not as common as they are in the spring, North Texas can see tornadoes in December and has before.

Mother Nature does not care what the calendar says. If ingredients are right, severe weather can happen any time of year.

- Most North Texans remember the events of December 26, 2015. On that day 12 tornadoes occurred in North Texas with the strongest being an EF-4, which moved through Sunnyvale-Garland-Rowlett. Unfortunately, 13 people lost their lives as a result of that day's storms.

- Another significant event happened on December 29, 2006. 23 tornadoes happened across Central into North Texas. While most tornadoes were south of D-FW compared to 2022 and 2015, it continues to show significant events can happen this time of year.

- Tornado records in North Texas do become less reliable going back in time. But since 1950, 73 tornadoes have occurred in North Texas during the month of December with another very active month in 1971 when 21 tornadoes happened during the month.

UPDATE 11/1: The Disc Golf Pro Tour has announced the inclusion of four additional Silver events along with some slight schedule adjustments. Those changes are reflected in the list below. The graphic above shows the originally released schedule.

With just a few weeks to go in the 2022 season, the Disc Golf Pro Tour has announced the 2023 season schedule. Here is next year’s professional disc golf schedule:

Broadly, the schedule is similar to the 2022 schedule, with the tour beginning in the Southwest at the Las Vegas Challenge and traveling through Texas towards the Southeast for the first major of the season at the PDGA Champions Cup. Then, the tour heads back West through Arkansas at the Jonesboro Open towards California and the OTB Open before heading up the Pacific Coast towards Oregon. After stops in the Midwest, the tour heads overseas to Europe in July before coming back for Ledgestone and Idlewild and the late season playoff events and Majors.

“We’ve got another exciting end of the season lined up with the PDGA Pro World Championships at Smugglers’ Notch Resort happening in concert with the 2023 playoff events,” said DGPT CEO Jeff Spring in a statement. “With PDGA Pro Majors maintaining heavyweight status on the 2023 points scale, the last three months of next year’s season will provide ample opportunities for movement around the cut line for the Tour Championship.”

There are a number of tournaments that are being added, elevated, downgraded, or removed from the tour. Here’s a look at the changes:

NEW

The Open at Austin: A new event for the Texas swing that coincides with South by Southwest, the huge music, tech, and film festival in Austin every year. The TDs and leadership of The Open at Belton are moving the event to Austin and giving it a new name.

Blue Ridge Championships at North Cove: A new Silver event that is held on the well-regarded North Cove disc golf course that will play host to the College Championships just a week prior to the DGPT stop.

Discmania Open: A brand new tournament with $40,000 added cash joining as a Silver event on the fabulous courses on Prince Edward Island in Canada.

Rochester Flying Disc Open: The longest running PDGA event in the world will be celebrating its 50th anniversary by joining the DGPT as a Silver event. Don’t be surprised if it goes back to its original name, the American Flying Disc Open.

ELEVATED TO ELITE STATUS

Music City Open: The long-standing Nashville event used to be a PDGA National Tour event but debuted on the DGPT in 2022 as a Silver Series tournament. It will rejoin the Elite ranks in 2023.

PCS Sula Open: The first DGPT event in Europe will move from Silver to Elite after a strong debut in 2022.

DOWNGRADED TO SILVER STATUS

Texas State Championship: The migrating tournament had been a common stop on the DGPT Elite Series but was dropped this year as The Open at Austin took its place. Texas States will be in Houston this year as a Silver event.

REMOVED FROM TOUR

No Elite Series events from 2022 were fully removed from the tour. The Texas State Championship was downgraded to Silver but remains a part of the DGPT. A number of Silver Series tournaments from 2022, however, will not return (although the DGPT says that some additional Silver Series events are likely to be added). Here are the tournaments that won’t be back (for now):

The Open at Belton: The Open at Belton doesn’t have quite the ring as The Open at Austin, does it? Bigger markets are important for the tour. This isn’t really being removed from tour as much as it is getting moved.

Open at Tallahassee: No Florida tournaments are on tour in 2023, although November 2022’s New World Championship in Jacksonville does count towards the 2023 standings as a part of the wraparound tour.

Masters Cup: The legendary tournament at Delaveaga could be left off the professional tour for the first time since the start of the National Tour in 2003.

Mid America Open: Harmony Bends is a beautiful course, but it’s flood prone. Perhaps that’s why it won’t return in 2023. (The Mid America Open was announced to be returning to the Tour after the initial schedule release).

Butler County Disc Golf Classic: The most recent Silver Series event only got a year on the tour.

The DGPT is debuting a new designation for specific events that they are calling Elite+, which they say will apply to tournaments that “feature bigger purses, additional media focus, and elevated spectator experiences.” Like the Playoff events, they will also be four-round tournaments. In 2023, the Ledgestone Open and Portland Open will be designated as Elite+ events.

“Basically, we’re looking at a number of different variables where we can look at events that are already successful and get extra traction with them for national media attention,” said DGPT Communications Manager Charles McCracken. Whether that means there will be tournament coverage from bigger media outlets like ESPN or simply an effort to get articles written about the tournaments is unclear. McCracken said that Ledgestone and Portland were good fits because the former already has the biggest purse among DGPT Elite events and the latter is in one of the best disc golf markets in the country. Elite+ and Playoff events should be expected to have among the highest purses on tour.

Silver Series events are being rebranded to simply Silver events. They will count for more than 25% of an Elite tournament’s points in 2023, though the specifics of the points earning structure for next year has not been announced. It is also possible that more Silver events will be counted towards a player’s point total (in 2022, just the top three Silver events for each player counted towards their total).

More information about the 2023 tour is expected to be released in the coming weeks.

TAGGED: 2023 Beaver State Fling, 2023 Blue Ridge Championships, 2023 Champions Cup, 2023 Des Moines Challenge, 2023 DGPT All-Star Weekend, 2023 DGPT Championship, 2023 Discmania Open, 2023 Dynamic Discs Open, 2023 European Open, 2023 Great Lakes Open, 2023 Idlewild Open, 2023 Jonesboro Open, 2023 Ledgestone Open, 2023 Music City Open, 2023 OTB Open, 2023 PCS Sula Open, 2023 PDGA Pro Worlds, 2023 Portland Open, 2023 Preserve Championship, 2023 Rochester Flying Disc Open, 2023 Season Schedule, 2023 Texas State Championship, 2023 The Open at Austin, 2023 US Women's Disc Golf Championship, 2023 USDGC, Schedule