WTAW - Interviews

This podcast is a visit with retired Marine general Jim Lukeman, who is the CEO of the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation, and WTAW's Bill Oliver.

A retired Marine general who leads the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation will be in College Station this weekend (September 9, 2023).

Jim Lukeman is thanking the Bush Library and Museum and the George and Barbara Bush Foundation for hosting an exhibition of combat paintings and sculptures created by Marines.

Lukeman says the Bush Library and Museum is the perfect place to host the exhibition. That is because much of the timeline of the exhibition...from 1975 through 2018...is when Bush served as vice president and president.

Lukeman says it is very appropriate for a Marine art exhibition to be in the museum for a president who served in the Navy.

The exhibition, which has been at the Bush Library since Memorial Day weekend, continues through January.

Jennifer Prochazka, Assistant City Manager, visits with WTAW's Chelsea Reber about upcoming events, water restrictions, takeaways from the 2024 budget, a sewer line project update, and more during her appearance on The Infomaniacs.

Jeanelle Johnson, Emergency Management Coordinator, visits with WTAW's Chelsea Reber about the Brazos County Hazard Mitigation Action Plan, a public survey, resources available to the public to plan for emergencies, and more during her appearance on The Infomaniacs.

This podcast contains comments from the August 16, 2023 meeting of the Texas A&M system board of regents.

The Texas A&M system board of regents receives a report on an audit and a consultant's study of Texas A&M's police department.

A&M's chief operating officer, Greg Hartman, and police chief Michael Johnson said there is a need to add officers and increase pay to improve retention and recruitment.

Hartman also brought up creating more space for the police department at its current headquarters building by moving out other offices, and upgrading security of the existing station.

Hartman also said work has started on updating the network of security cameras in order to be able to track someone anywhere on campus.

Click HERE to read and download presentation materials from the August 16, 2023 Texas A&M system board of regents meeting.

College Station Mayor John Nichols visits with WTAW's Chelsea Reber about the grand opening of 1207 Texas Avenue, parking during Aggie football games, the Wellborn community area plan, the recent meeting about commercial truck parking, water conservation, and more during his appearance on The Infomaniacs.

This podcast contains comments from the August 24, 2023 College Station city council meeting.

Customers of Atmos Energy in College Station and Bryan will pay more for getting natural gas starting October 1.

City councils in both cities approved the increases.

Both cities are part of a group of cities that make up the Atmos Mid-Tex division.

The College Station city council was told at their August 24 meeting by Ross Brady of the city manager's office that the increase is less than it could have been.

Bryan city council members did not discuss the increase in public before giving its approval during their August 22 meeting.

The average increase for residential customers in the Atmos Mid-Tex customers is $6.47 a month, for commercial customers $24.72 a month, for industrial customers $649.04 a month, and for transportation customers $494.04 a month.

According to background information given to the Bryan council, Atmos will receive an additional $142 million dollars. That is $24 million dollars less than their original request.

Click HERE to read and download background information from the August 22, 2023 Bryan city council meeting.

Click HERE to read and download background information from the August 24, 2023 College Station city council meeting.

This podcast is a visit with the city of College Station's water resources director, Jennifer Nations, and WTAW's Bill Oliver.

The visit is about the city of College Station reminding water customers about water restrictions after three straight days of record consumption.

Jeremiah Cook, Tourism Manager, visits with WTAW's Chelsea Reber about the new visitor center, Aggie football weekends, bringing more visitors to College Station, and more during his appearance on The Infomaniacs.

Caden Jones of the Destination Bryan tourism office visits with WTAW's Bill Oliver about September's First Friday in downtown Bryan, the free shuttle for Texas A&M football games between the memorial student center and downtown Bryan, and the upcoming Hullabaloo music festival.

This podcast contains comments from the August 29, 2023 Brazos County commission meeting.

A manufacturer of cold storage equipment located just outside the Bryan city limits north of Coulter Field airport is expanding.

That is after Brazos County commissioners approve an economic development agreement to allow EVAPCO to build a $9 million dollar addition that will host a newly acquired Canadian company.

The expansion will create at least 90 full time jobs by the end of 2026 with an average annual salary of at least $65,000 dollars.

The agreement calls for the county to receive for five years, a payment equal to 50 percent of the property taxes associated with the expansion.

Click HERE to read and download a copy of the agreement approved at the August 29, 2023 Brazos County commission meeting.

Charles Martinez of the Brazos Valley economic development corporation says EVAPCO has 85 percent of the U.S. market in industrial refrigeration.

Martinez also says the equipment manufactured by EVAPCO applies to harvesting, packaging, distributing, and consuming a variety of products.

EVAPCO general David Mason shared the company' history and their relationships with Bryan ISD, Blinn College, and Texas A&M.