WTAW - Interviews

This podcast includes comments from the April 21, 2025 Bryan ISD school board meeting.

One component of a Bryan ISD committee studying whether to recommend a future bond issue, is the district's demographic information.

The first such report in six years was released during Monday's (April 21) BISD board meeting.

Kris Pool projected district wide, enrollment in the next ten years to be somewhere between 800 fewer students to 2,000 more students. BISD's current headcount is about 16,000.

Pool said two campuses are expected to exceed capacity in the decade. Bryan High could reach 102 percent and Houston elementary could reach 113 percent. Pool said other districts don't realign campus boundaries to adjust enrollment until headcount reaches 120 percent of a building's capacity.

Pool also said 15 percent of children who live in BISD attends school somewhere else. The current estimate of 2,500 does not include children who are home schooled.

Pool also reported during the last five years, BISD has lost 123 students. Gaining the most students during that time was College Station with 378.That's followed by Franklin with 219, Caldwell with 215, Snook with 123, and Navasota with 100.

Demographer Susan Cates reported that more than 11,000 single family homes are estimated to be built in BISD during the next ten years. But many of those homes will be purchased by retirees and not by families with children.

Cates also said they are also monitoring the possibility of manufactured home communities being created outside of the Bryan city limits to provide workforce housing.

Click HERE to read and download the demographer's report that was presented at the April 21, 2025 Bryan ISD school board meeting.

This podcast contains comments from the April 24, 2025 College Station city council meeting.

Thursday's (April 25) College Station city council meeting included almost one hour of discussion on how to address housing overoccupancy by implementing parking restrictions.

A council majority agreed to consider an overnight ban on street parking in affected neighborhoods.

The council was given a list of other options that includes issuing permits for street parking and additional restrictions on parking in the front and/or backyards of homes in targeted neighborhoods.

Click HERE to read and download presentation materials from the April 24, 2025 College Station city council meeting.

Jennifer Cain, Capital Projects Director, visits with WTAW's Scott DeLucia about birding, progress on fire station 7, pickleball and futsal courts at Anderson Park, new tennis courts, project budgets, committee studies, and more during her appearance on The Infomaniacs.

State Representative Trey Wharton of Huntsville (R-TX) visits with WTAW's Scott DeLucia about his time on the floor this week, Operation Safe Shield, school vouchers, insurance issues, and more during his appearance on The Infomaniacs.

This podcast contains comments from the April 22, 2025 Brazos County commission meeting, where proclamations were issued for the 35th anniversary of Brazos County master gardeners and 20th anniversary of Brazos Valley master naturalists.

Click HERE to read and download the proclamation to Brazos County Master Gardeners.

Click HERE to read and download the proclamation to Brazos Valley Master Naturalists.

This podcast is a visit with the general manager of the Wellborn special utility (water) district, Campbell Young, and WTAW's Bill Oliver.

The Wellborn water district has more than 10,000 customers in Brazos and Robertson counties that includes residents of College Station and Bryan. 

The district's website says since 2018, the district has been working on a long term expansion project. 
General manager Campbell Young tells WTAW News that the project is at the point where the water district board and management is holding a town hall meeting to provide an update.

The town hall is Saturday morning (April 26) from 9 until 11 a.m. at the Wellborn community center. 

Young says the event is designed to be both educational and interactive, with time for questions, discussion, and community feedback.

The district has been waiting for approval from the Texas commission on environmental quality and the Texas water development board.

The project includes a new wellfield, a large pump station, ground storage tanks, and a 30 inch transmission pipeline.  

The first phase includes two wells that will double the Wellborn district's current production capacity and eliminate the reliance on water purchased from the cities.  

Facilities will be sized to accommodate growth out to 2040. Emergency generators will be included for each well and pump station, which will allows operating without interruption during power outages. 

This podcast contains comments from the April 22, 2025 Texas A&M system board of regents building committee meeting.

Before the Texas A&M system board of regents holds their next regularly scheduled business meeting in May, members of the building committee met this week (April 22) in College Station.Six projects were reviewed involving the flagship campus.

Vice chancellor of business affairs Phillip Ray brought up widening Penberthy Road on west campus and adding a shared use path for pedestrians and bicyclists. Ray said the system is keeping tabs because of the impact this will have on other projects.

There was also a review of proposed renovations on the main campus of the Heldenfels fourth floor instructional lab, and exterior restoration of the Academic Building.

The other proposals are at A&M branch locations.

The regents new chairman, Bob Albritton of Fort Worth, brought up strategic planning whether a future sea turtle research facility planned in Galveston should be at A&M-Corpus Christi.

Another proposal in Galveston involves campus facility improvements.

And the committee decided to table a fourth building at the A&M branch in McAllen. Albritton said the $53 million dollar proposal includes a student commons area to end the practice of students studying in their cars. But Albritton wanted to know how the rest of the project, that would create research space for AgriLife, fits with the system's other campuses in south Texas. Albritton brought up the A&M system's upcoming acquisition of the Victoria campus from the University of Houston system and the A&M-Corpus Christi and A&M-Kingsvile campuses.

The building committee also reviewed a proposal for a new residence hall at Tarleton State, a workforce development center for TEEX (Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service) in Corpus Christi, a new TEEX complex in San Antonio, modifying the TDEM (Texas Division of Emergency Management) warehouse in Fort Worth, a new athletics complex at A&M-Texarkana, and returning an office building at East Texas A&M to a residence hall.

Click HERE to read and download presentation materials from the April 22, 2025 Texas A&M system board of regents building committee meeting.

Amanda Kile, Tourism Event Coordinator for Destination Bryan, visits with WTAW's Scott DeLucia about the Downtown Bryan Street & Art Fair which was postponed due to weather and will be held Sunday, April 27, 2025.

State Representative Paul Dyson of Bryan (R-TX) visits with WTAW's Scott DeLucia about his proposed legislation about setting a moratorium on impact fees, bills he is laying out this week, and more during his appearance on The Infomaniacs.

Bryan Mayor Bobby Gutierrez visits with WTAW’s Scott DeLucia about Plug and Play, wastewater infrastructure, new development in Downtown Bryan and Midtown Park, and more during his appearance on The Infomaniacs on Wednesday, April 23, 2025.