WTAW - Interviews

Lina Adams of the Destination Bryan tourism office previews May 2026 events with WTAW's Bill Oliver.

Retired Texas A&M head football coach and athletic director Jackie Sherill visits with Scott DeLucia on WTAW's The Infomaniacs April 30, 2026 about the start of the Bryan Youth Sports Association's first football camp for fourth through sixth graders and the future of division one college athletics.

College Station mayor John Nichols visits with Scott DeLucia on WTAW's The Infomaniacs April 29, 2026. Topics includes the upcoming appearance of the Savannah Bananas baseball team at Kyle Field and the city council's future review of license plate reading cameras.

This podcast contains comments from the April 28, 2026 Texas A&M system board of regents meeting from Texas A&M interim president Tommy Williams and regents Jay Graham of Bryan and David Baggett of Houston.

The Texas A&M system board of regents hear from the presidents of the system's 12 universities about their proposals for the 2027 fiscal year.

No action was taken after the presentations that were made in College Station on Tuesday (April 28).

Texas A&M interim president Tommy Williams spent nearly 40 minutes with the regents. More than one-third of the time was about capital projects.

First, 
Williams brought up asking the legislature in 2027 to approve the first increase in A&M's student health fee since 1995, from $70 to $100 dollars. Williams said the revenue would in part go towards building a new health center. The Beutel health center opened in 1973 with a vision of serving up to 22,000 students; a number that was surpassed in 1975. When the student health fee was last increased, student headcount was 41,790. The projected Fall 2026 enrollment is over 76,000. 
Williams says student health clinic visits have increased 21 percent since 2013.

Williams brought up proposed projects where design plans will start in FY 2027: College of Veterinary Medicine Animal Housing Facility, Reynolds Medical Sciences Building, upgrades to HVAC systems (heating/ventilation/air conditioning), and multiple infrastructure projects.

Williams also listed seven projects that the regents will be asked to proceed with construction during FY 2027: Biology Teaching and Research Building, West Campus Learning Commons, Mays Business School Building 3, and the Poultry Science Center.

Williams also brought up unfunded west campus projects which includes a student services and library building, the first of a three phase housing complex, and another parking garage.

And Williams listed long term strategic projects that includes expanding the Allen Building, a power supply for a west campus data center, renovating the interior of the Academic Building, renovating the third and fourth floors of the Reynolds laboratory building, and an architecture building.

The interim president's budget presentation also included increasing personnel spending by six percent or $93.9 million dollars. Williams said that's a reflection of having 12,000 staff and 4,200 faculty and his intent for A&M to "become the employer of choice in the Brazos Valley".

Williams was one of the A&M system presidents who proposed a three percent pay raise based on employee performance. 

After some other presidents proposed increases of one or two percent, that led the chairman of the regents finance committee to propose all universities receive enough money to provide a three percent increase. The additional expense that Baggett estimated at $3 million dollars drew no opposition from other board members or the system chancellor.

Click HERE to read and download presentation materials about the proposed 2027 fiscal year budget at Texas A&M.

This podcast contains comments from the April 23, 2026 College Station city council meeting.

The College Station city council agrees to pursue the second year of grant money to renew the contract with the provider of license plate reading cameras at various locations around the city.

Click HERE to read and download background information about the grant application that was approved at the April 23, 2026 College Station city council meeting.

The unanimous vote at the council's April 23rd meeting followed the council hearing from opponents. 

And after the vote, a council majority agreed to hold a future workshop discussion to consider what councilwoman Melissa McIlhaney described was a "risk benefit analysis" of using cameras in the future.

Opponents say the cameras violate their constitutional privacy rights that they have in public places. City attorney Adam Falco said "It's pretty well established that license plates is something that a reasonable person doesn't have an expectation of privacy to because you're out in a public roadway and it's been pretty long held that license plate information, what it says, is not confidential."

Police chief Billy Couch who promoted the benefits of license plate reading cameras in solving crimes. Couch also explained CSPD's protocol for using the cameras and who has access to the data.

College Station mayor John Nichols made multiple references during the discussion to an e-mail that council members received from the city attorney about license plate reading cameras. When WTAW News asked for a copy of the e-mail, a city spokesman says the e-mail will not be made public, citing attorney client privilege.

This podcast contains comments from College Station ISD facilities director Paul Buckner at the April 21, 2026 CSISD board meeting.

There are still unfinished projects in College Station ISD funded by voter approved bond issues in 2021 and 2023.

At the April CSISD board meeting, approval was given to rankings recommended by facilities director Paul Buckner that will eventually lead to replacing mechanical, electrical, and plumbing equipment around the district.

Buckner says there are six firms who are interested in among other things, adding LED lighting, replacing equipment used in heating and air conditioning systems, and adding equipment to control temperatures and the humidity in computer server rooms.

Following the board's unanimous vote, which followed no board comments, Buckner said another round of rankings will be done, then the board will take action to negotiate a contract.

Click HERE to read and download a memo from CSISD facilities director Paul Buckner.

Click HERE to read and download a memo from CSISD assistant superintendent Josh Symank.

This podcast contains comments from Bryan city councilman Jared Salvato during his April 16, 2026 visit on WTAW's The Infomaniacs.

Bryan residents are invited to participate in the development of the city's next comprehensive, or long range plan.An open house is taking place Tuesday, April 28th, from 5:30 until 7:30 p.m. at Phillips Events Center.

According to the city of Bryan's website, the come and go event allows residents to provide opinions on key topics that includes:

• Land Use & Development: How Bryan reinvests in existing parts of town and grows wisely
• Mobility: Making it safer and easier to get around town
• Housing: Supporting strong neighborhoods and new housing choices
• Economic Development: Helping businesses thrive and strengthening the workforce
• Infrastructure: Planning for roads, utilities and other community needs
• City Services: Ensuring residents are safe, supported and have access to parks and recreation
• Downtown & Tourism: Creating vibrant experiences that celebrate Bryan’s unique character

The city's website describes the comprehensive plan as "a roadmap that will guide how Bryan grows over the next 10-20 years. It will give City Council and city staff direction, helping them make small and big-picture decisions for the improvement of Bryan. The updated plan will support smart land usage, future business development and jobs, and enhanced parks, mobility and quality of life."

Councilman Jared Salvato during a recent visit on WTAW's The Infomaniacs, said "we want the community there, we need the community there so that can we really get their get their input, get their insight. This is a group project. It is not something that is done behind closed doors. It is public, it is transparent. And we need to have those people show up so that they can give their input and have their voices heard on the direction of our city."

This podcast contains comments from the April 21, 2026 Brazos County commission meeting.

Brazos County's elections administrator reviews the March primary election at the last county commission meeting (April 21).

Click HERE to read and download statistics from the March 2026 primary election that were given at the April 21, 2026 Brazos County commission meeting.

Among other things, Trudy Hancock said 45 voters walked away from voting without placing their ballots in the machine which counts ballots. She suspects those voters were women who placed ballots in their large purses. She also told commissioners election workers will increase their effort in future elections to watch people leaving voting locations to ensure ballots are placed in counting machines.

Hancock finished her update by questioning why residents are going to commissioners about complaints instead of contacting her. Hancock specifically brought up commissioners being asked to look into 200 ghost voters, deceased residents who remain on voter rolls, and ballots without numbers. She went on to say that she has "never given a list of the ghost voters or the deceased nor have I been given proper documentation to review for these asks. If there is a true concern, why are these asks and questions not being directed to the person who can review and answer those questions. Why are they asking made of the court who has no means of answering these questions posed?" She told commissioners she wanted "to assure the (commissioners) court that we follow the strictest policies, procedures, and best practices when it comes to our voter rolls and those that vote in our elections."

Hancock says they have started sending mail ballots for the runoff. The last day to request a mail ballot is May 15th.

This podcast contains comments from the April 23, 2026 College Station city council meeting.

The College Station city council plans to discuss a request made by a local political action committee in an attempt to improve conditions in residential neighborhoods.

Charles Barr of the College Station Association of Neighborhoods (CSAN) said during the public comment period of the last city council meeting that they want to require owners of traditional rental homes and short term rentals to post city ordinances related to parking, noise, and trash violations among other things.

At the end of the council meeting, when a majority of members said they supported a workshop discussion, members also stressed the discussion would not include revisiting the idea of mandatory inspection of rental housing.

Click HERE to read presentation materials from the College Station Association of Neighborhoods, provided to WTAW News by the city of College Station.

This podcast contains comments from the April 21, 2026 Brazos County commission meeting.

Brazos County commissioners reluctantly approve tripling the payment for transporting the deceased to medical examiners offices in Austin and San Antonio, from $500 to $1,500 for reach round trip.

The county's purchasing agent, Charles Wendt, says the local funeral home that has had the contract was the only one interested in continuing the service...but only if their price increased for the first time in several years.

Commissioners were told the purchasing office is rebidding the service and contacting providers again who are local as well as out of town.

The price increase comes about two months before the opening of Brazos County's new medical examiners office.

Click HERE to read and download the amended contract that was approved at the April 21, 2026 Brazos County commission meeting.