WTAW - Interviews

This podcast contains comments from the June 4, 2025 Bryan city council workshop meeting from the executive director of the Destination Bryan tourism office, John Friebele.

Each June, the director of the Destination Bryan tourism office gives an update to the city council.

Executive director John Friebele noted the upcoming fifth anniversary of the agency, which oversees 18 events, is a partner with more than 40 other events, and keeps a lists of more than 540 events each year.

During the 2024 fiscal year, there were 4.8 million visitors to Bryan, generating direct spending of $184.7 million dollars and creating 2,200 tourism related jobs.

Friebele says hotel revenue has increased almost $28 million dollars since the pandemic. That takes into account, an increase of almost 68,000 nights spent in Bryan hotels and an increase of more than 37,000 nights in Bryan short term rentals.

Friebele also addressed efforts to increase the collection of hotel occupancy tax revenue from the owners of short term rentals, which was estimated at around 40 percent.

The report also included what the office is doing in marketing and advertising, business development and sales, and community engagement efforts.

Click HERE to read and download presentation materials at the June 4, 2025 Bryan city council workshop meeting.

Maddie Green, Recreation Coordinator, visits with WTAW's Scott DeLucia about the Walk with a Doc program, senior socials, and more during her appearance on The Infomaniacs.

Brazos County State Senator Charles Schwertner visits with WTAW's Scott DeLucia about his overall feelings about this legislative session, property taxes, school funding, water rights, the likeliness of a special session, and more during his appearance on The Infomaniacs.

This podcast contains comments from the June 10, 2025 Brazos County commission meeting.

Brazos County commissioners approve a request to hire an outside legal firm in a federal lawsuit filed by an inmate at the county jail.

The commission's general counsel, Bruce Erratt, said the inmate claims he is wrongfully being held on a parole violation.

Erratt said hiring an outside firm saves the time and travel of sending a county employee to and from federal court in Houston.

The inmate, 59 year old Richard Stepp of Bryan, has been held since September of 2023. 

Jail records show this is the 21st time Stepp has been in the Brazos County jail since September of 1987.

Brazos County district court records show Stepp is scheduled for a jury trial in August on a charge of possessing a controlled substance.

Click HERE to read and download information about the legal firm that was hired at the June 10, 2025 Brazos County commission meeting.

This podcast contains comments from the June 4, 2025 Bryan city council meeting.

The Bryan city council at its June meeting, awarded a $7.1 million dollar construction contract to rebuild Mumford Road north of FM 2818 and add a traffic signal at that intersection.

What is now a narrow rural roadway will become a 38 foot wide street with a center turning lane that will serve new and future manufacturing facilities.

Project funding includes a federal grant and a split of the remainder from the city and the Bryan/Brazos County economic development foundation.

The contract price is more than $1.2 million under the original cost estimate of $8.4 million.

The contract also calls for construction to be completed in 400 days.

Mayor Bobby Gutierrez and public works director Jayson Barfknecht says in the future, Mumford Road could be rebuilt north to Louis Mikulin Road and south of FM 2818 to Highway 21.

Click HERE to read and download background information about the project.

This podcast contains comments from the June 9, 2025 Texas A&M faculty senate meeting from senate speaker Andrew Klein.

The Texas A&M faculty senate meets for the first time since the Texas legislature sent to the governor, a bill that ends the independence of the organization.

Senate Bill 37, which is at the governor's desk as of June 11,, gives the board of regents policy control of the faculty senate, and members are appointed by the president as well as faculty members.

Click HERE to read and download Senate Bill 37 as sent to the governor.

New faculty senate speaker Andrew Klein listed some of the accomplishments of the body during its 42 years as a stand alone body.

Klein said moving forward, "I will do my best to ensure the senate's appropriate role on curricular matters continues. None of us today know what it's going to look like come the fall."

He also said he is encouraging everyone "to respect the opinions of our colleagues, including those who may choose to not participate in the senate anymore because of the changes."

Klein said faculty, like A&M students, "change is difficult for Aggies. But we're going to be able to adapt to this change because the other thing is that Aggies persevere. So, this body is going to persevere through the changes that are going to be coming."

College Station Mayor John Nichols visits with WTAW's Scott DeLucia about impact fees, housing density, a master plan steering committee, increasing bicyclist and pedestrian traffic, considering the extension of an economic development agreement that gives FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies more time on an expansion, Thursday night's council meeting, and more during his appearance on The Infomaniacs.

This podcast contains comments from the June 3, 2025 Bryan city council workshop meeting.

For the fifth consecutive year, the Bryan city council agrees to pay a private company to provide school crossing guards at 20 sites around Bryan ISD.

The unanimous vote at the June 4th meeting came after councilman Ray Arrington questioned city manager Kean Register about the status of a decision made three years ago to start transferring that cost to the school district.

Register and mayor Bobby Gutierrez said they are working with BISD officials.

Councilwoman Marca Ewers-Shurtleff, who is a member of the city-BISD joint committee, said the city's contribution helps the district deal with funding shortfalls from the state.

The Bryan police department selected the company that was awarded the $198,000 dollar contract.

Click HERE to read and download background information from the June 4, 2025 Bryan city council meeting.

Click HERE to read and download the contract that was approved at the June 4, 2025 council meeting.

This podcast contains comments from the June 3, 2025 Brazos County commission meeting.

Brazos County commissioners pause on pursuing the construction of a new central warehouse and office building.

Three commissioners attending the June 3rd meeting accepted staff recommendations to not solicit proposals from potential architects and construction managers for the complex that would be built on county owned land south of downtown Bryan off Finfeather Road on Ashford Hills Drive.

Commissioner Fred Brown said he was glad to see this go away because money had not been budgeted for the construction. The commission's chief of staff, Ed Bull, said commissioners will be asked to approve construction funding in next year's budget.

Bull said the decision was made to place a priority at this time on remodeling the county's administration and road and bridge buildings.

This podcast contains comments from the May 29, 2025 Texas A&M system board of regents meeting.

The May meeting of the Texas A&M system board of regents was the last one of the academic year for the one member who does not get to vote. 

But the student regent for the 2024-2025 academic year says his input was welcomed.

Cage Sawyers of Van Alstyne, north of Dallas, thanked the board for allowing him to contribute.

Sawyers, who graduated last month from the Texas A&M law school, said his A&M story goes back to 2003 when at five years old he attended an Aggie football game.

Sawyers says during visits at 11 system universities, students wanted the system to embrace Hispanics, go all in on rural Texas, and do more tangible things to prepare graduates for the workforce.

The student regent is appointed by the governor to represent 165,000 attending A&M system universities.

The student regent for the 2025-2026 year is Prairie View A&M student Jaquavous Doucette of Fort Worth.

And the governor appointed a Texas A&M student, Lisa Cantu of Mission, to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.