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Also at last night’s World Affairs Council event, I ran into Mary Anne Alhadeff, the CEO of North Texas Public Broadcasting. She said she and her team are super-excited about the launch of their new radio station, KXT (91.7 FM), on Nov. 9.

But she had some disappointing news to share. The company’s CFO, Jason Daisey — whom I had the privilege of meeting in the course of reporting a story in the latest D CEO — had just left to move back east. She tried to convince him that he should stay to see the new station launched. But he said that for him closing the financial transaction that allowed KERA to purchase the new frequency earlier this year was the exciting part, “like the Super Bowl.”

Be warned, potential chief financial officers: you’ve got some big shoes to fill. According to Alhadeff, it’s difficult to find a numbers guy who is as much fun as Daisey was.

Last night SweetCharity and DallasDirt and I represented the D Empire at at the World Affairs Council’s H. Neil Mallon Award Dinner at the Fairmont. This year’s award recipient was Dr. Kenneth Cooper of the Cooper Aerobics Center. Lots of big shots in the room. I spotted Ross Perot, Tom Leppert, and Roger Staubach without really trying.  Lots of nice things were said by and about Dr. Cooper. Congratulations to him.

In the spirit of the evening, our table was like its own little United Nations.

Yesterday Zac asked you dear, sweet FrontBurnervians to answer the above question. One of the responses so tickled me that I thought I bring it out of the comments section. It is from “I Am Spartacus”:

1977. I was 6. Star Wars (Episode IV: A New Hope) had come out that summer. Dad made an awesome R2D2 costume out of a paprika barrel (he worked for El Chico). It was spicy smelling but very cool, just hard to get up and down stairs.

1. The Highland Park Town Council doesn’t need any of your fancy studies, any of your new-fangled objective measures, or your pointy-headed cost-benefit analysis. They know the truth: Even looking at the possibility of maybe someday thinking about eventually enacting some sort of voluntary conservation ordinance to preserve houses in one of this area’s most historic neighborhoods, that alone will cause home values to plummet. Former Mayor Gifford Touchstone says so, and his word is good enough for them.

2. Dallas Police may need to review the finer points of the Lock, Take, Hide program after a SWAT supervisor’s vehicle was burgled. In related news, D CEO executive editor Glenn Hunter will no longer drive down North Fitzhugh Avenue.

3. Dallas attorney Ralph Janvey, the court-appointed receiver in the R. Allen Stanford case, is looking to recover $1.5 billion for defrauded investors. The lawyer for the investors says Janvey’s plan is “something of a fantasy.” Discussion topic: Is it more or less of a fantasy than seeing a fleet of electric cars on the roads of North Texas next year?

As Steve Earle sang, the rain came down.

I’ve done an atrocious job of following up on my post revealing that Pegasus News is soon set for its relaunch. I failed to check in to see if they posted a response, which they did last week.

So if you’re a devoted reader of Pegasus News, then the headline on this post isn’t news at all. The new name will be Wired Local.

Look, I was in on some of the early discussions when another hyperlocal site in town was planning a name change. There were a lot of bad ideas floating around the room. I mean really, really, really bad. And you can see for yourself what they settled on (after I’d left the company.) But, lord knows, I didn’t have any brilliant ideas of my own at the time.  Coming up with the right name is tough. Particularly when you have expansion to other markets in mind.

And that’s where the trouble comes.

We’ve been closely guarding the secret for weeks. Last night it was revealed. This morning you read the headline of this post, rendering my next statement redundant: Gary Kelly of Southwest Airlines is the 2009 D CEO of the Year.

A crowd of more than 250 invited guests from the local business community descended upon the Collins Executive Education Center at SMU last night for the big announcement. Kelly said it’s been awhile since he received any kind of award. “I had to go all the way back to the third grade. In third grade, I was the Good Citizen of the Year.”

1. I don’t have kids, so I don’t know how one goes about teaching the birds and the bees. However, I’m guessing that waking children in the middle of the night and showing them porn is not the way to go about it. But, apparently, that’s legal.

2. Since moving downtown, a couple co-workers have had some problems with vandals and their cars. We all know about Glenn’s fiasco. Another co-worker had her plates stolen while her car was at a West Village garage. Maybe these new security cameras in Uptown will bring peace of mind to anyone who parks there. If nothing else, they look pretty snazzy.

3. Tim told you about Newt Gingrich’s group awarding the owner of The Lodge with an “Entrepreneur of the Year” award. Well. Here’s the latest news on that. The award was revoked, and the entry fee money ($5,000) goes back to the owner, Dawn Rizos. Rizos has decided to take that money and donate it to an animal group in Celina. They’re naming it Newt’s Nook — A Home for Pit Bulls.

Why am I at a D Weddings shoot? Because I like chihuahuas. And models.

Boone clearly has too much money. An alert FBvian sends along this picture of the latest building he has bought. Oh, wait. Hang on. The Internet is talking to me. Oh! I see that Boone donated $5 million to the YMCA. Good on him. (Note to FTC: I work out at that YMCA. But I pay full price for my membership. And T. Boone Pickens and I have only gone on vacation together twice. So there.)

1. What’s up, La Familia FrontBurnervians? It’s been a rough week, hasn’t it? After the nationwide Project Coronado sweep of your cartel that netted 729 pounds of meth and 300 arrests, cops then found an additional 300 pounds of meth in one of your stash houses in Mesquite. My advice: be careful with the rest of your meth! A good real estate agent can help.

2. What would you do if you won $1 million? Willis Willis — a man whose parents either lacked imagination or had an odd sense of humor — says that with his $1 million, he’ll send his daughters to college, get a root canal, and, if there’s anything left, buy a set of golf clubs. Problem is, Willis is the guy whom a convenience store clerk tricked out of his winnings before going on the lam. He’s speaking for the first time about the episode. My advice: be careful with your winning lottery ticket! A good lawyer can help.

3. Today, Dallas County will announce where it will hold its first public vaccination clinic for the virus. My advice: be careful around all humans and wash your hands like a madman. A good doctor can help. Or a good priest. (Wick, I couldn’t find a link to our Best Priests in Dallas issue. I’ll ask the web team about this when I get into the office.)