WTAW - Interviews

This podcast contains comments from the June 13, 2024 College Station city council meeting.

The College Station city council decided at the end of their last meeting (June 13), to consider in two weeks whether to get involved in Amazon drones application to increase the number of flights per day from 200 to 469.

The council was asked to oppose the application by one of the neighbors who live near the drone port, Bill Stockton.

Stockton's comments were supported by another neighboring homeowner, councilman Mark Smith.
Initiating the idea of the council discussing Amazon’s application was councilman Bob Yancy. That was followed by comments from city manager Bryan Woods, mayor John Nichols, and councilman Dennis Maloney.

The discussion and possible action will take place shortly before the end of the Federal Aviation Administration’s comment period.

Bryan Woods, College Station City Manager, visits with WTAW's Scott DeLucia about the paid parking pilot project, the Amazon drone application for more daily flights, the city's budget, Greens Prairie Road, moving forward with plans for the former Macy's store at Post Oak Mall, his takeaways from the economic development trip to Japan, the RELLIS campus, and more during his appearance on The Infomaniacs.

This podcast is a visit with the CEO of the St. Joseph Health Bryan/College Station market Kim Shaw and WTAW's Bill Oliver.

The chief executive officer at St. Joseph Health announces an expansion and some reorganization of services in the Bryan/College Station market. 

Kim Shaw says the expansion involves a new primary care clinic at St. Joseph's south College Station campus near Lowe's. The clinic, which will accommodate 12 primary care physicians, is scheduled to open around November 2025.

Shaw also announced reconfiguring services at St. Joseph's hospitals in Bryan and College Station during the next 12 months. The Bryan hospital will manage more intensive care services and complex surgeries, while the College Station hospital will focus on maternity, elective and outpatient services.

And St. Joseph's hospital in Caldwell recently received what Shaw described as a "substantial gift" to revamp the emergency room and address other medical needs in Burleson County.

Shaw says financially, St. Joseph's is making a comeback. 18 months ago, Shaw said St. Joseph's had lost quite a bit of money through an ownership transition and the pandemic. 

Today, Shaw says finances have "stabilized quite a bit", adding "we have turned around our financial position about $20.5 million dollars to the positive, so doing a lot better from that standpoint. Not quite where we need to be yet but definitely moving in the right direction."

After losing physicians to local and out of town competition, Shaw says St. Joseph's has recruited 24 new providers to start in the next year and a half. And seven new primary care doctors will be starting this summer in College Station. 

Shaw's visit with WTAW's Bill Oliver also included lessons learned during the pandemic and long range goals and projects.

Amber Guthrie, General Manager for RCI Sport Management Solution, visits with WTAW's Scott DeLucia about the upcoming Pitch, Hit, Run event at Travis Fields, how to sign up, and more during her appearance on The Infomaniacs.

This podcast is a recording of a presentation by Texas A&M athletics faculty representative Dr. Paul Batista during the June 10, 2024 A&M faculty senate meeting.

June's meeting of the Texas A&M faculty senate included a presentation from the faculty representative to the A&M athletic department.

Most of the time spent by associate professor of sport management and attorney Paul Batista was about paying student athletes.

As for the existing rules regarding N-I-L...name, image, and likeness...Dr. Batista said an unnamed A&M baseball player is receiving $500,000 dollars and multiple athletes are receiving at least $250,000 dollars.Batista also said 96 percent of N-I-L money at A&M is going to male athletes.

Batista said N-I-L had been his major focus. But it has been replaced by the impact of the recent announcement of a proposed settlement in a class action lawsuit that will result in billions of dollars going to collegiate student athletes.

He expected A&M will be spending another $20 to $22 million dollars as the result of the House vs. NCAA lawsuit. And that will result in more layoffs in the A&M athletic department, following the elimination of 18 positions six weeks ago.

As for A&M eliminating teams, Bautista said "certainly everybody in the athletic department says we do not want to do that. That would be an absolute last resort (at A&M)." But "it's going to happen on a lot of college campuses."

Batista also shared academic achievements by Texas A&M student athletes that includes the grade point average for the spring 2024 semester was the highest ever for members of A&M's football team and for student athletes as a group.

Click HERE to read and download presentation materials used by Paul Batista during the June 10, 2024 Texas A&M faculty senate meeting.

This podcast is a visit with the public information officer of Bryan Texas Utilities (BTU), Meagan Brown, and WTAW's Bill Oliver.

BTU (Bryan Texas Utilities) customers watching their pennies when they receive their bills will notice a small adjustment that is due to rising transmission costs that are charged by the operator of the state's power grid.

Public information officer Meagan Brown says BTU takes data from ERCOT to make the minor rate changes.

Brown says "in order to make sure that we are truly cost of service and we're not subsidizing that with any other portion of the rate, we're having to increase those costs for some and reduce them for others."

As of June 1st, what is called a pass through cost went down ten cents for BTU rural customers inside the College Station city limits. The charge increased 15 cents in the rural residential area outside of College Station. And BTU customers in Bryan will pay another 17 cents a month.

Click HERE to read and download background information from the May 13, 2024 BTU board meeting.

Click HERE to read and download presentation materials from the May 13, 2024 BTU board meeting.

This podcast contains the results of the Bryan/College Station chamber of commerce 16th annual Chamber Day survey, which were presented during the June 11, 2024 Brazos County commisison meeting.

At the end of March, 125 volunteers visited more than 1,000 businesses in Bryan/College Station.

Chamber of commerce president Glen Brewer presented results of the 16th annual chamber day event during Tuesday's (June 11th) Brazos County commission meeting.

Sales have increased at nearly half of the 769 businesses that responded to the survey. Brewer says that is down from 56 percent last year and 60 percent from two years ago. He said that is a reflection of increased local competition, along with inflation and employment issues.

Brewer said the biggest concern by a wide margin is the economy. That was followed by transportation, taxation, government regulations, and employment.

40 percent of businesses expect to increase employment and half expect to keep the same number.

And 46 percent of businesses rate the quality of job applicants as good.

Click HERE to read and download the results of the 2024 chamber day survey that was presented during the June 11, 2024 Brazos County commission meeting.

College Station Mayor John Nichols visits with WTAW's Scott DeLucia about the passing of former councilman Larry Mariott, the recent economic development trip to Japan, last weekend's soccer match at Kyle Field, the paid parking pilot project, tomorrow's council meeting agenda, the former Macy's store location at Post Oak Mall, the upcoming Juneteenth celebration, and more during his appearance on The Infomaniacs.

This podcast is a visit with Brazos County elections administrator Trudy Hancock and WTAW's Bill Oliver.

Elections officials around Texas are responding to an "emergency advisory" from the Texas secretary of state. 

Brazos County elections administrator Trudy Hancock says somewhere else in the state, someone revealed the name of a voter and who they voted for. 

A news release from the secretary of state says “the general custodian of election records must adopt procedures to ensure that any personally identifiable information of a voter that is contained on a ballot is redacted before making the voted ballot available for public inspection.” 

The news release also says that “these redactions must be as limited as possible in order to protect the public’s right to review and inspect election records.”  

Hancock says the changes sought by the secretary of state can be accomplished in time for this November's general election.

Hancock says the changes only affects reports given to the public. She says this does not impact the voting process.

News release from the Texas secretary of state's office:

Secretary of State Jane Nelson today issued an advisory on the urgent need to protect the privacy of Texas voters. The advisory comes at a time when there are claims of publicly disclosing ballots for political purposes.   

“Every Texan has the right to a secret ballot, and that right must remain sacred.  It is unacceptable for any voter to have their ballot choices publicized,” Secretary Nelson said. “I am issuing emergency guidance to protect the privacy of Texas voters.”  

Emergency Advisory No. 2024-20, released today by the Secretary of State, directs counties to redact any information that would connect a voter to their ballot choices. The advisory says, “the general custodian of election records must adopt procedures to ensure that any personally identifiable information of a voter that is contained on a ballot is redacted before making the voted ballot available for public inspection.”  

The advisory suggests specific categories counties should consider when evaluating a public information request that could reveal ballot choices. That information could include: the location at which a voter casts a ballot, precinct information on the ballot image, or polling place identifiers such as a ballot number either electronic or pre-printed.   

The advisory also calls for protecting transparency in elections by outlining that, “these redactions must be as limited as possible in order to protect the public’s right to review and inspect election records.”  

As a reminder, parties who choose to publicize ballot information could face legal action under state and federal law if the release of information is tied to voter intimidation, bribery or coercion.  

This podcast is a visit with Kat Gammon and Jennifer Heath of United Way of the Brazos Valley and WTAW's Bill Oliver.

Volunteers are needed for the United Way of the Brazos Valley's (UWBV) annual day of action event.

On Thursday, June 20th, volunteers will be assembling 2,000 "baby bundles" to promote early literacy.

Each bundle contains a baby book, a tactile toy for the newborn and resources for new parents.

The bundles are delivered to hospitals with labor and delivery units and some birthing centers in the service area for distribution before mothers and their newborns go home.

Volunteers are also needed to set up and tear down the assembly line at SOS Ministries in Bryan and transport the assembled bundles to UWBV's storage facility.

Click HERE to be directed to UWBV's online registration site.