The city of Roanoke is now designated as a media production development zone, which could bring in filmmakers and creatives to Roanoke.

The designation allows media production companies to receive a two-year exemption from state and local sales taxes related to construction, maintenance, expansion, improvement or renovation. The exemption was approved by Roanoke
City Council at its March 10 meeting.

What happened? Daniel McCarthy, the chief executive officer of FM, a company dedicated to equipping the creative community through music, footage, photo licensing and career support, asked Roanoke City Council to grant the sales tax exemption for the media production facility, which will be where Craft & Vine was located.

Council granted McCarthy the tax exemption for the renovations, alongside approving the city’s status as a media production development zone. Any other businesses that want to receive the two-year local sales tax exemption needs to get approval from City Council, McCarthy said.

“The goal [of the tax exemption] is to attract long-term production infrastructure, create jobs and grow the media industry in Texas," McCarthy said.

Learn more about the three candidates running for the Place 4 position in Keller City Council.

What you need to know: Residents can vote for the candidate to take the Place 4 position in Keller City Council during the upcoming May 2 election. It is one of four Keller council member positions up for election this year.

The Place 4 race is considered a special election after Tag Green, the former Place 4 council member, resigned to run for the mayoral position. The winner of the Place 4 race will finish the remainder of the current term through 2028.

Candidates were asked to keep responses within 50 words, answer the questions provided and avoid attacking opponents. Answers may have been edited or cut to adhere to those guidelines, or for style and clarity.

Looking ahead: Early voting for the May 2 election will start April 20 and run through April 28. The last day to register to vote is April 2.

On a 25-acre park in Waxahachie, hundreds of actors and artisans will bring to life a 16th-century English village over eight weekends in spring, complete with jousting, feasts and Scarborough Castle.

Scarborough Renaissance Festival, one of the oldest and largest renaissance festivals in the nation, celebrates its 45th anniversary this year, providing immersive entertainment from April 4-May 25.

The overview: Visitors will have the opportunity to watch jousts and other entertainment on the festival’s 20 stages, explore games and rides, shop handmade goods, and eat and drink at the variety of restaurants, pubs and taverns. Around 100 cast members bring the festival to life, interacting with guests as villagers, nobles, performers and other characters to create what Assistant Entertainment Director Janna Zepp calls “interpersonal magic.”

How we got here: Although the festival has evolved over the years—additions include sit-down restaurants, ticket scanners and modern restrooms—Zepp said that interpersonal magic between actors and guests remains a constant.

“The moment you walk in the gate, you just feel the joy and the celebration," Zepp said.

Texas families now have an additional two weeks to apply for the state’s new education savings account program, a Houston federal judge ruled March 17.

What's happening: U.S. District Judge Alfred Bennett ordered the state comptroller’s office to extend the application deadline to March 31 over concerns that no Islamic private schools had been greenlit to accept state ESA funds. In two lawsuits filed in early March, four Muslim parents said they felt deterred from applying for education savings accounts because the Islamic schools they send their children to were not among the 2,200 schools authorized to participate in the program.

Parents previously had until 11:59 p.m. March 17 to apply for the program.

Latest update: In a March 17 news release, the comptroller’s office confirmed that applications would be accepted through March 31 in compliance with the judge’s order.

Over 229,000 students had applied for the $1 billion program as of March 17, Acting Comptroller Kelly Hancock said. The state will use a need- and income-based lottery system to determine who is accepted.