🍩 Shipley Do-Nuts is headed to the Southside this fall

🕯️ Candlelight: Tribute to The Beatles hits the Josephine Theatre this weekend

🐾 Bexar County breaks ground on a bigger animal shelter

🔌 Texas hits pause on data center permits statewide

🐴 2.9 wooded acres and room for horses—this week's priciest listing

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🏛️ City Hall to All pilot launches this fall
San Antonio is piloting a program that moves select public-comment sessions out of City Hall and into neighborhoods from October through January.

The pilot stems from a request filed by Councilmember Teri Castillo and keeps the same speaker rules as regular Public Comment Sessions—meetings rotate among Normoyle Senior Center (D5), Walker Ranch Senior Center (D9), Wheatley Heights Sports Complex (D2) and City Council Chambers, with several weeks skipped entirely.

The city will use participation data from the trial to decide whether to expand it. Register at SASpeakUp.com or in person up to 45 minutes before each meeting; see the full schedule.

🌊 Give feedback on the River Walk's next chapter
The city's Office of Historic Preservation holds its second public meeting on the River Walk Strategic Plan from 6-8 p.m. on Sept. 28 at Central Library. The meeting will show how a 7,320-response digital survey and a May public meeting have shaped the draft recommendations, and attendees can speak directly to the project team about what's in them. Register online—parking at the library is free with validation.

🐾 Bexar County breaks ground on a bigger animal shelter
The county broke ground Sept. 22 on a $12 million, 132-kennel Animal Care Facility at 6841 Cagnon Road on the Southwest Side—more than triple the current Kirby shelter's 60-kennel capacity, which runs near 200% of capacity on roughly 1,100 animals a year. The 17,000-square-foot building adds vet surgery and exam space, an adoption area and administrative offices, and is expected to open in April 2027.

🤖 Northside ISD rolls out ChatGPT for Teachers
NISD is giving staff districtwide access to ChatGPT for Teachers starting in October through the district's existing staff portal. OpenAI has guaranteed district data won't be used to train other models, and the tool includes role-based access controls and administrative visibility; NISD technology services executive director Leann Kidd said the rollout is paired with staff training on "bias, privacy, and overall ethics." The tool is free to schools through June 2028, and NISD joins eight other Texas districts already using it.

🏛 Gov. Abbott halts environmental permits for data centers amid audit

Gov. Greg Abbott directed the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to stop issuing new permits for data center projects starting Sept. 21, expanding an existing pause on development statewide.

Abbott said "data centers must pay their own way, protect our grid and water" while audits are completed; the halt gives the Electric Reliability Council of Texas time to finish assessing nearly 300 proposed data center projects, with a review expected by year-end covering tax exemptions, water and electricity usage plans, community impact mitigation and facility ownership.

Abbott also directed the Texas Water Development Board to collect more water-usage data from data centers and refer noncompliant companies to law enforcement — as of Sept. 1, only about 30% of 324 surveyed facilities had responded.

Developers can still build power generation not connected to the grid, though projects covering an acre or more still need TCEQ permits for stormwater, air emissions and construction. Read more. →

Last week's question: Roughly how many species live at the San Antonio Zoo? 🦁

❌ ~70 species

❌ ~300 species

✅ ~700 species

❌ ~2,000 species

Enjoy the weekend! See ya next week!

The Rundown is curated by Marie Leonard and Erin Cobb at Community Impact. If you have any feedback for our team, hit reply to this email—we respond to all reader questions and comments.