ONEOK Increases Dividend -- January 14, 2015; Reason #45,698 Why I Love To Blog

From a press release:

The board of directors of ONEOK, Inc. today increased ONEOK's quarterly cash dividend by 1.5 cents per share, or 3 percent, to 60.5 cents per share, effective for the fourth quarter 2014, resulting in an annualized cash dividend of $2.42 per share. The dividend is payable Feb. 13, 2015, to shareholders of record at the close of business Jan. 30, 2015.

Tweeting now:  Blackberry shares plummet 12% after company says it's not engaged in discussions with Samsung.

Tweeting now: UK's Northampton General Hospital confirms it is treating a woman who is suspected of having Ebola  -- at least it's hard to catch.

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site. Do not make any investment, financial, or relationship decisions based on anything you read here or think you might have read here. If this stuff is important to you, go to the source. 

Behind the scenes: unbeknownst to most Americans, there may, in fact, be a race between two states to have the first "bullet train": Texas and California. Regular readers are aware of the $100 billion bullet train proposed by Governor Jerry Brown (won't happen in my lifetime), but few Americans are probably aware of the "bullet train" that is actually moving along in Texas, one that would go from Dallas to Houston. The Texas proposal actually has a fair amount of support and is financially doable. It's very possible this thing could be built within the next 20 years. Texans generally support growth. Except for Sam Houston National Forest there's not much in the way, and the train could easily follow the interstate corridor. The distance is only about 240 miles and there would be very few cities along the route that conflict with the "bullet train." Should be fun to watch. 

Reason #45,698 Why I Love To Blog: a couple of hours after posting that note about the proposed bullet trains in Texas and California, Don sent me a link to this article:

Mexico began accepting new bids on a multibillion-dollar high-speed rail project Wednesday, two months after the concession was abruptly canceled amid allegations of favoritism.

The planned 130-mile (210-kilometer) line between Mexico City and the central city of Queretaro would be the first of its kind in Latin America, reaching speeds of up to 186 mph (300 kph).

Officials say it will cut what is now a 2 1/2-hour trip by car to just under an hour and carry 27,000 passengers daily.

A decision is expected in late July.

The original winner of the $3.7 billion concession was a Chinese-led consortium that had submitted the only bid and included a subsidiary of Mexico's Grupo Higa. But days after the announcement in early November, the government cancelled the concession.

So, now we have three "bullet train" projects we can watch: a) the train to nowhere in California, b) the  240-mile rail from Dallas to Houston; and, c) the Mexican "bullet train." Anyone want to guess which one is likely to win?