WTAW - Interviews

Retired congressman Bill Flores of Bryan, who chairs the board of the ERCOT electric grid, visits with WTAW's Scott DeLucia about ERCOT's purpose, monitoring generation, demand, what they learned from Winter Storm Uri, what Trump's administration means for America's energy, energy and fuel sources, and more during his appearance on The Infomaniacs.

This podcast contains comments from the January 14, 2025 Bryan city council workshop and second regular meetings.

January's meeting of the Bryan city council included awarding $6 million dollars in contracts for two more additions at Midtown Park involving the park's lake.

Construction will be starting soon on a boardwalk and to build two water wells that will feed the lake.

Weather permitting, the boardwalk could open this August and the water wells could start operating by the end of 2025.

A $4.5 million dollar contract for a boardwalk and a support structure called a bulkhead follows the council last April rejecting more than $9 million dollars in bids.

A $1.5 million contract was awarded to build two water wells that will feed the lake to keep the water level constant. The cost is over the budgeted estimate of $950,000 dollars.

City engineer Paul Kaspar said they are still working on getting state permits to fill the lake.

Click HERE to read and download presentation materials shown at the January 14, 2025 Bryan city council meeting.

Click HERE to read and download background information about the construction contract for the Midtown Park boardwalk.

Click HERE to read and download background information about the construction contract for Midtown Park water wells.

Click HERE to read and download a map showing the location of the Midtown Park water wells.

This podcast contains comments from the January 13, 2025 Bryan ISD school board meeting.

Bryan ISD school board members approve the administration's recommendation to not return child nutrition money to the state. 

Assistant superintendent Kevin Beesaw said the Texas department of agriculture approved the district's request to spend almost $62,000 dollars in excess funds to purchase what he described as a "fancy forklift" to be used in BISD's new auxiliary services building.

Nutrition director Sandra Baxter said the district's 18 year old forklift will be used in another BISD warehouse building.

Councilman Mark Smith visits with WTAW's Scott DeLucia about his career with the City of College Station, development in the Northgate district, upcoming public meetings about Northgate, receiving no proposals for the former Macy's store building, Post Oak Mall rejuvenation, water, and more during his appearance on The Infomaniacs.

This podcast contains comments from the January 14, 2025 Bryan city council meeting.

In 2014, a Bryan High School student organization was formed to end the use of tobacco products.

Two representatives of Vikings Kicking Out Tobacco (VKOT) presented two requests at January's Bryan city council meeting.

Gabriela Garcia asked for more signage and more enforcement of the city ordinance prohibiting tobacco use in city parks.

Jonathan Ferrazas asked for the city to be a participant in a public awareness campaign about the consequences of possessing THC vape cartridges, which is a felony crime.

By state law, council members were not able to respond to the requests because the item was not on the meeting agenda.

State representative Paul Dyson of Bryan, whose district includes most of Brazos County, visits with Scott DeLucia on WTAW's The Infomaniacs January 16, 2025.

This podcast is a visit with Bryan city councilwoman Marca Ewers-Shurtleff with Scott DeLucia on WTAW's The Infomaniacs January 16, 2025.

This podcast contains comments from the January 14, 2025 Bryan city council meeting.

The end of Tuesday night's Bryan city council meeting (January 14) included public comments repeating the call for removing the Texas Avenue median.

Responding to Karen Hall's comments, mayor Bobby Gutierrez announced that will be on the agenda when he and other city officials meet next week with a member of the Texas transportation commission and TxDOT engineers.

Hall also called on Texas Avenue business owners and local first responders to share their experiences with TxDOT officials. Hall says their silence is interpreted as there is nothing wrong with the medians.

This podcast is a visit with College Station police officer David Simmons and WTAW's Bill Oliver.

The College Station police department has a third K-9 team.

Officer David Simmons says Garo and his partner recently hit the streets after four months of training.
Garo, who is a two year old Belgian Malinois/German Shepherd mix, joins Ciro and Rico. 

The K-9 officers assist with article searches, narcotics detection, tracking, and criminal apprehension.

Bryan mayor Bobby Gutierrez's visit with Scott DeLucia on WTAW's The Infomaniacs January 15, 2025 included a recap of the Bryan city council meeting the preceding night and discussing the start of the state legislative session.