WTAW - Interviews

Brazos County Commissioner Wanda Watson visits with WTAW's Scott DeLucia about the makeup of the current commissioners court, Fred Brown's experience, new development, the new medical examiner's office, citizen input, and more during her appearance on The Infomaniacs.

This podcast contains comments from the November 18, 2025 College Station ISD school board meeting.

College Station ISD school board members unanimously decide to spend money from the November 2023 bond issue to build a new central administration office.

The building will be located on property owned by CSISD on Sebesta Road, east of the freeway between Rock Prairie Road and Emerald Parkway.

Board members agreed with the administration's conclusion that "a suitable and cost effective building" could not be found to renovate.

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

The school board's bond counsel agreed that bond money could go towards new construction. And there was no objection from members of the bond steering committee.

Click HERE to read and download the opinion of the CSISD school board's bond counsel.

Board members were told that groundbreaking could take place by August 2026 and the new building could open in January 2028.Once the move is made, the Welsh Avenue complex will be repurposed.

The estimated budget of the new building is $25.4 million dollars. CSISD's website says $31.111 million was budgeted for a buying and renovating an existing building then repurposing the Welsh Avenue complex.

Click HERE to read and download the CSISD website's summary of the 2023 bond issue.

The vote was the last for departing board members Jeff Horak and Joshua Benn.

With little time to spare, a new lighted Christmas tree will make its debut in downtown Bryan Friday evening (November 21) for the annual "Lights On!" event.

Interim city manager Hugh Walker told the city council during their November 11th meeting that the L-E-D tree was arriving the week of the event. And Walker asked for prayers for city employees who would be installing the new tree in front of Mounce Library.

Mayor Bobby Gutierrez provided an update on WTAW's The Infomaniacs November 19th that the new tree was in place that he describes as "phenomenal".

A city spokeswoman told WTAW News that the location of the new tree appears to offer more room for the tree and visitors. Its location also helps brighten the walkway for visitors between the downtown Bryan parking garage and Main Street.

"Lights On!" takes place between five and ten p.m. At 6:30, there will be a countdown to lighting another tree at Gloria Sale Park.

The event also includes holiday photo backdrop stations, live entertainment, fun activities hosted by local businesses, and a special appearance by Santa Claus.

Bryan Mayor Bobby Gutierrez visits with WTAW's Scott DeLucia about naming Andrew Nelson as new city manager, the new summer baseball team, improvements at Travis Field, Midtown Park, incentives for building on the RELLIS campus, holiday events, and more during his appearance on The Infomaniacs.

This podcast is a visit with the executive director of Brazos County 9-1-1 Patrick Corley and WTAW's Bill Oliver.

Tuesday (November 18) began the trial period of artificial intelligence (A.I.) being used in the Brazos County 9-1-1 dispatch center.

Executive director Patrick Corley says A.I. will greet callers to the non-emergency phone number for the city of Bryan and unincorporated areas of Brazos County.

Callers will be asked to give the same information to A.I. as they would to a dispatcher.

Corley says the technology can also detect when the non-emergency call could be an emergency.

Corley says A.I. is being used to reduce the nearly 200,000 non-emergency calls handled by dispatchers last year. That compares with almost 50,000 emergency calls last year.

News release from Brazos County 9-1-1:

The Brazos County 9-1-1 District manages 9-1-1 services in Brazos County and operates the multijurisdictional dispatch center serving police, fire, and EMS agencies in the City of Bryan and Brazos County. 

We are pleased to announce the launch of an automated non-emergency triage system in our dispatch center.Developed by Prepared, an Axon company, the platform rapidly connects non-emergency callers to the appropriate resources while preserving critical personnel for urgent emergencies.

Brazos County 9-1-1 has partnered with Prepared for several years to deploy advanced emergency communications technologies, including text messaging, live video streaming, real-time language translation, and call transcription.

In 2024, our dispatch center answered 49,917 emergency calls and processed nearly 200,000 non-emergency calls. This latest enhancement from Prepared will strengthen our ability to respond efficiently and effectively to both emergency and non-emergency needs across the community.

In the coming weeks, callers to the non-emergency line for Bryan and Brazos County, (979) 361-3888, will communicate with an AI assistant capable of dynamically responding to requests in English and Spanish. Issues such as abandoned vehicles, noise complaints, or other matters not requiring an immediate response will be managed by the AI assistant, which will quickly identify the caller’s needs and escalate them to the emergency line when necessary.

Limited real-world testing will begin immediately, with full deployment anticipated later this month.Brazos County 9-1-1 personnel will continuously monitor the non-emergency line to ensure any true emergencies are identified without delay. As always, callers should dial 9-1-1 for emergencies.

This launch follows several months of preparation and testing in a simulated environment to ensure the platform meets the needs of our dispatch center and the community. In close collaboration with Prepared’s customer success team, we have developed and implemented policies that ensure the system performs reliably across a wide range of scenarios.

Prepared, by Axon, is a mission-driven organization committed to improving public safety. While developing an app to help mitigate school emergencies, the team identified significant gaps in the data captured through traditional 9-1-1 processes and set out to address them by creating Prepared. Since its public launch in October 2021, the platform has supported agencies serving more than 90 million people across 49 states.

This podcast contains comments from the November 13, 2025 College Station city council meeting.

The College Station city council officially moves a new baseball complex to a third location.

At the council's last meeting (November 13), unanimous approval was given to end design and construction contracts for a stadium and three fields at Veterans Park and to proceed with a stadium and eight fields on city owned property behind the Costco store in the Midtown area.

Click HERE to read and download background information about ending the design and construction contracts at Veterans Park.

Veterans Park was chosen after the original location at Texas Independence Park was scrapped due to soil quality issues. The city's chief development officer, Michael Ostrowski, told WTAW News that initial soil tests at Midtown looks good but more tests are being done.

Ostrowski told the city council he expects the Midtown stadium, which will be built on Midtown Drive near an extension of Corporate Parkway, to open in the spring of 2028.

During the same meeting, the council approved a contract to spend up to $194,000 dollars for new signage at the entrances to Veterans Park off Harvey Road and University Drive.

Click HERE to read and download background information about new entrance signage at Veterans Park.

The council also approved at the same meeting, spending up to $151,000 dollars to repair six ballfields at Bachmann Park that were damaged due to other construction activities. Those repairs will be paid by the revenue the city collects from organizations that use the fields.

Click HERE to read and download background information about ballfield repairs at Bachmann Park.

This week's United Way of the Brazos Valley update features partner agency The Prenatal Clinic.

This podcast contains comments from the October 23, 2025 College Station city council meeting.

Two city of College Station road projects now involve eminent domain proceedings.

That follows the city council voting 4-2 during its October 23rd on both projects.

One project involves building a roundabout at Victoria and Creek Meadows Boulevard which also involves relocating a water line and adding a shared use path and drainage.

Click HERE to read and download background information about the eminent domain proceedings for the roundabout at Victoria and Creek Meadows Boulevard.

The other project involves widening the remainder of Greens Prairie Road to four lanes with a center turn lane, shared use paths, and street lights.

Click HERE to read and download background information about the eminent domain proceedings for expanding Greens Prairie Road.

This podcast contains comments from the November 13, 2025 College Station city council meeting.

The College Station city council votes five to two against a zoning change to build nearly 900 homes on land surrounded by three existing subdivisions.

The land south of Greens Prairie Road near fire station #7 that is under construction is bordered by the Greens Prairie Reserve, Sweetwater, and Woodlake Estates subdivisions.

Homeowners in those adjacent neighborhoods took up most of the 90 minutes during public comments listing their opposition.

Reasons given council members who opposed the rezoning included the proposed development had greater density than the adjacent neighborhoods, there was no guarantee the new homes would remain owner-occupied and supporting the unanimous denial by the planning and zoning commission.

The property is currently zoned rural, which requires larger lots and dimensional standards for single-family homes. 

The council majority denied the applicant's request for general suburban zoning that would have reduced lot sizes that would have allowed more homes to be built.

Voting against the rezoning were David White, Melissa McIlhaney, Bob Yancy, Scott Shafer, and John Nichols.

Voting for the motion to change rezoning to a combination of general suburban and restricted suburban were William Wright and Mark Smith.


Click HERE to read and download background information from the city of College Station.

Click HERE to read and download maps that were shown at the November 13, 2025 city council meeting of the proposed development from homebuilder D.R. Horton.

This podcast is a recording of the Bryan/College Station Salvation Army Christmas holiday kickoff program that took place November 14, 2025.

The Bryan/College Station Salvation Army’s annual holiday campaign is underway.

Friday’s Christmas kickoff program (November 14) at Blue Baker restaurant on University begins the adoption of children who will receive gifts through the Angel Tree program and the recruitment of volunteer bell ringers at Red Kettle locations.

Angel Trees are located at various businesses around Bryan and College Station, including Blue Baker’s three locations. The trees will be decorated with paper angels, each representing a local child. 

Community members who participate are asked to drop off gifts for their Angel Tree recipient by Saturday, December 13th.Adopting a child and volunteering as a Red Kettle bell ringer can also be done online. Click HERE to be directed to the B/CS Salvation Army website.

And limited-edition Angel Cookies will be available for purchase at all three Blue Baker locations from Friday, November 14th through Sunday November 16th while supplies last. 100 percent of proceeds from cookie sales will directly benefit Angel Tree.

Friday’s kickoff program began with Bryan Broadcasting's Allison Harrell introducing a performance from Texas A&M women's student chorus One-A-Chord.

That was followed by a welcome and prayer from Salvation Army captain Marianne Villanueva.

Speakers, in order of appearance, were College Station mayor John Nichols, Bryan mayor pro tem James Edge, B/CS Salvation Army advisory council chairman Stephen Vincent, a check presentation from the The Women's Club of Bryan/College Station, Blue Baker catering manager president Selena Crites, more from Bryan Broadcasting’s Allison Harrell, Aggie Salvation Army treasurer Josiah Cuttill, Salvation Army captain Luis Villanueva, and Joe Ramirez representing the B/CS chamber of commerce ribbon cutting.