Dignitaries including Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price attended the kickoff of Panther Island bridge construction in 2014. The $1.14 billion project is years behind schedule and there are questions about whether it will receive the federal funding it needs.
Max Faulkner
Star-Telegram
Former U.S. Rep. Kay Granger of Fort Worth, who spent nearly three decades in Congress championing the local defense industry and the Panther Island riverfront project, has died at 83. She rose from Fort Worth’s first female mayor to chair the powerful House Appropriations Committee, leaving a deep imprint on the city’s economy and skyline.
Here are key takeaways:
Granger joined the U.S. House in 1997 representing Texas’ 12th Congressional District and was the first Republican woman to represent Texas in the chamber.She championed the defense industry, particularly Lockheed Martin’s F-35 fighter jet built in Fort Worth, and the Panther Island flood control and development project.At a 2021 press conference at Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth, Granger announced the base would receive 26 Lockheed Martin F-35s to replace the aging F-16s of the 301st Fighter Wing, along with new C-130J cargo aircraft and an aeromedical evacuation squadron.Granger listed national defense as a top funding priority after being named appropriations chair, and Fort Worth is home to Bell and Lockheed Martin, both federal contractors.Fort Worth Chamber President and CEO Steve Montgomery said Panther Island, the development and flood control project north of downtown, may not have existed without Granger’s leadership, as recounted in coverage of her congressional legacy.Her son, JD Granger, served for 16 years as executive director of the Trinity River Vision Authority and led the Panther Island project before stepping down in April 2022 to start a consulting firm.The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers allocated $403 million in January 2022 to construct the 1.5-mile bypass channel at Panther Island, with Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker and Granger joining Tarrant Regional Water District officials to mark the milestone.Granger voted against a $1 trillion federal infrastructure bill in 2022 that included money for Panther Island, saying she favored the project but opposed other parts of the legislation.U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson said Granger “devoted her life to serving her Fort Worth, Texas community — as a teacher and businesswoman, on the Fort Worth Zoning Commission and City Council, as Mayor, and in Congress for nearly three decades,” in a social media tribute Sunday evening.
The summary points above were compiled with the help of AI tools and edited by journalists. The source reporting referenced above was written and edited entirely by journalists.