WTAW - Interviews

This podcast contains comments from the February 2, 2026 Bryan ISD school board meeting.

Five Bryan ISD school kitchens have been dealing with equipment that quit working.That led to the BISD school board at its last meeting buying more than $141,000 of steamers, warmers, and coolers.

After board member David Stennis asked for the prices from the 11 companies that submitted bids., assistant school nutrition director Sandra Baxter said the winning bid was based on price and five other factors.

The bid sheet showed price made up 55 percent of the overall score. 30 percent of the overall score was based on the extent to which the equipment met BISD's needs.

Click HERE to read and download the bid sheet that was presented at the February 2, 2026 Bryan ISD school board meeting.

Superintendent Ginger Carrabine explained how federal funding is spent on school meals, and how BISD has money for this type of purchase while other districts around Texas are struggling with paying for school meals.

The equipment purchase is for Crockett, Henderson, Bowen, and Mitchell elementaries and at Stephen F. Austin middle school.

This podcast contains comments from the February 12, 2026 College Station city council meeting.

A proposed 60 unit apartment complex for low income renters in College Station could open in less than two years.That's after the College Station city council supported a resolution at their last meeting for a developer based in Ohio to request tax credits from the state.

Click HERE to read and download city of College Station presentation materials from the February 12, 2026 city council meeting.

Click HERE to read and download presentation materials from the developer at the February 12, 2026 city council meeting.

The location of the proposed complex is off Harvey Mitchell Parkway just east of Texas.Representing the developer, Harrison LaHaie says this is not targeted to students due to IRS requirements.

The developer, which acts as its own general contractor and management company, will find out if the state awards tax credits this July. If approved, construction would start next January and be completed at the end of 2028.

A member of College Station's housing action plan steering committee, Valen Cepak, says the advisory body supports the project.

Community development analyst David Brower says the applicant is pretty sure the state will award tax credits. That's based on the developer's involvement to this stage, including doing a pre-development conference with the city staff.

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

Early voting for the March 3rd primary starts Tuesday (February 17). There was no early voting Monday due to the President's Day holiday.

In Brazos County, elections administrator Trudy Hancock says there are 138,806 registered voters. That's up from 128,349 in 2024, 122,831 in 2022, and about 89,000 in 2016 when she was hired as Brazos County's first elections administrator.

Hancock also says voters in Brazos County, like most of the state, do not have current voter registration certificates. That's due to printing problems at the secretary of state's office. While those certificates are not required, voters do have to show an approved photo I-D.

Hancock says a common complaint from voters is not being able to vote for candidates from both parties. At the primary, voters must declare their party. And that party declaration cannot change if there are any runoff elections.

Early voting at five voting centers in Brazos County is Tuesday through Friday (2/17-2/20) from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m., Saturday the 21st from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m., Sunday the 22nd from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m., and next Monday through Friday (2/23-2/27) from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m.

Click HERE to be directed to the Brazos County elections office website.

This podcast is a preview of the first United Way of the Brazos Valley "Sneaker Soiree" fundraiser with UWBV development manager Maggie Gray and musician Latrail Bailey, who will be performing at the February 28th event. Click HERE to be directed to the UWBV website for more information about the fundraiser.

Remembering Winter Storm Uri five years ago on February 16, 2026 with the city of Bryan's public works director Jayson Barfknecht and WTAW's Scott DeLucia.

This podcast is a visit on February 16, 2026 with Hailey Mallett of the Arts Center of the Brazos Valley, Amy Raines of the George H.W. Bush library, and WTAW's Scott DeLucia.

This podcast contains comments from the February 12, 2026 College Station city council meeting.

College Station city council members wrapped up Thursday's meeting (February 12) with a decision to hold a future workshop on possible regulations for those who drive electric scooters and bicycles.

The idea followed comments from fire chief Richard Mann, who showed a chart that in the last five years, the number of auto-pedestrian collisions...mostly involving the two wheel vehicles...has risen from 20 to 100.

The chief believed it will take a combination of actions to reduce the number of collisions.

Mann said policy changes by the council could include banning nighttime use of what he described as "micro mobility" vehicles, banning operation when wearing earbuds, require wearing helmets, and restricting operation to college campuses.

Mann also suggested increased enforcement, possible safety enhancements such as adding bike lanes, and discovering technology that could improve conditions.

The chief showed dashcam video of a CSFD truck driven by a battalion chief who was involved in what the chief described as a "close call" on December 1, 2025 at 6:42 p.m. at Harvey Mitchell and Holleman. The battalion chief, who had the green light, was driving at 21 miles per hour when the driver of the scooter locked up his brakes and fell over before striking the truck.

The workshop suggestion came from councilwoman Melissa McIlhaney, who said she "was very intrigued by what (the) chief was saying about how we might could influence the craziness of our different multimodal transportation units by possibly requiring some policy changes with regards to headphones, night riding, helmets. As someone who repeatedly brings this up in our transportation group it's the wild west out there."

This podcast contains comments from the February 10, 2026 Bryan city council meeting.

The February regular meeting of the Bryan city council included three actions involving the fire department.

The council agreed to extending a contract with an outside health and wellness company through September 30, 2028. The contract amount, not to exceed $630,500 dollars, follows a three year pilot program that assistant fire chief Jason Nored considered a success. The number of light duty days dropped by 90 percent and the cost of non-surgical workers compensation claims dropped by 360 percent, and the average savings per workers compensation claim was $3,400 dollars.

Click HERE to read and download the Bryan fire department's presentation on the health and wellness program.

Click HERE to read and download the contract amendment that was approved at the February 10, 2026 council meeting.

The council also approved spending $131,000 dollars for a mobile medical clinic based in Conroe to come to Bryan to perform firefighter physicals and cancer screenings. Background information from the city says this resolves issues from using multiple vendors which resulted in incomplete physicals and inconsistent cancer screenings...which includes several firefighter cancer diagnoses not being identified the last three years. State law requires governmental bodies to provide cancer screenings at no charge to firefighters beginning in their fifth year of employment.

Click HERE to read and download the quote for the mobile medical clinic provider that was approved at the February 10, 2026 council meeting.

And the Bryan city council addressed continuing issues with the heating and air conditioning system (HVAC) at the city's newest fire station building. Station two on Lawrence Street, north of Villa Maria and west of Texas, opened in 2018. Deputy city manager Hugh Walker summarized the history of the problems and presented the proposal to continue renting equipment to provide heating and air conditioning that was approved by the council at an unbudgeted cost of $125,000 dollars. This is in addition to $137,000 dollars that has been spent between July 2024 and January of 2026. Walker also said a proposed contract to rebuild the HVAC system will be presented at the March or April council meeting.

Click HERE to read and download background information from the city about the HVAC issues at fire station #2.

Click HERE to read and download presentation materials from the February 10, 2026 council meeting.

This podcast is a recording of College Station city manager Bryan Woods's visits with WTAW's Scott DeLucia on The Infomaniacs February 13, 2026.

Topics includes a preview of an upcoming city council strategic retreat and the operations of the city manager's office.

This podcast contains comments from the Bryan city council meeting on February 10, 2026 meeting.

The Bryan city council updates the ordinance on parking violations.

Bryan police now have the authority to issue a ticket when they don't see who is driving the offending vehicle, to issue a ticket to the vehicle's registered owner.

Police chief Dean Swartzlander says it doesn't matter who is driving the vehicle.

And the chief says the change brings Bryan to a common practice around the state.

Click HERE to read and download the updated ordinance that was approved at the February 10, 2026 Bryan council meeting.

Click HERE to read and download background information on the amended parking violation ordinance.