Manvel City Council reviewed a mid-year budget update on fiscal year 2025-26 at its May 4 workshop session, outlining year-to-date revenue and expenditure trends, fund balance position and the budget development timeline ahead of FY 2026-27.

The breakdown: Revenue is up nearly 18% compared to the FY 2024-25 budget, while expenditures are up nearly 30%, Manvel's Finance Director Rosie Donaire said at the workshop. The city reported an unaudited fund balance of nearly $10.8 million as of March 31, representing approximately 224 operating days in reserve, according to budget documents.

What’s next: Manvel City Council is scheduled to meet May 18 for its workshop session, during which the Public Safety department will present its mid-year budget update.

From May through July, additional departments including Public Works, Parks and Utilities are expected to present their updates, according to budget documents.

Bad As Philly, a halal restaurant serving Philly cheesesteaks, burgers and wings, opened a Pearland location March 1, according to a social media post from the business. 

The details: Bad As Philly has another location in Sugar Land and two locations in Virginia, according to the restaurant's website.

• 2253 Country Place Parkway, Pearland

Demolition of the vacant Northwest Mall is underway within the Hwy. 290 and Loop 610 corridor, the site for a proposed train station that would offer high-speed travel between Houston and Dallas, a project spokesperson confirmed with Community Impact.

What we know: Demolition began in mid-April and is expected to take approximately 12 months, the spokesperson said. The historic mall opened in 1968 but shuttered its doors in 2017, causing the building to sit abandoned for nearly 10 years.

The spokesperson did not answer questions regarding the approval process for the proposed high-speed rail project, which has not received an official green light, or a timeline for any construction beyond the demolition.

Some context: Texas Central, which has since rebranded to Texas High Speed Rail, originally led the project as a privately-funded venture, Community Impact previously reported. Amtrak then temporarily joined the project after receiving a $63.9 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation. 

However, the federal government pulled the grant last year due to ballooning costs, pushing the project back to the private sector. 

On May 26, Texas Republican voters will choose their nominee for the U.S. Senate in a runoff election between incumbent Sen. John Cornyn and state Attorney General Ken Paxton.

The big picture: The Republican race for U.S. Senate is one of several statewide contests that advanced to May runoffs after no candidate received more than 50% of the vote in the March 3 primary election.

Cornyn and Paxton were the two highest-performing candidates in the eight-way primary race, with Cornyn securing 42% of the vote to Paxton's 41%.

At the polls: Early voting in Texas' runoff elections runs from May 18-22, and runoff election day is May 26.

Looking ahead: The winner of the May 26 overtime round will face the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate—state Rep. James Talarico of Austin—in the November midterm election. Third-party and independent candidates may also appear on the November ballot, and the winner of that election will be sworn in to the U.S. Senate in January 2027.