The 2026 Downtown Sidewalk Improvements project will make accessibility and safety upgrades to pedestrian infrastructure in Georgetown, following City Council approval of the project at a March 24 meeting.

Digging deeper: Council members approved a $1.76 million contract with Texas Road LLC for the downtown sidewalk improvements project.

The project is designed to enhance pedestrian mobility, safety and electrical infrastructure across the city, according to city documents. There will be several improvements, including the addition of:

• 1,700 linear feet of Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant sidewalks in the downtown area, including 23 pedestrian ramps
• 1,150 linear feet of ADA-compliant sidewalks connecting the existing College Street sidewalks to the local trail system
• 1,400 linear feet of ADA sidewalks along Walden Drive and College Street, including five pedestrian ramps
• 450 linear feet of new sidewalk on Eighth Street between Myrtle and Ash streets, including eight pedestrian ramps

Georgetown ISD is considering purchasing 23 new buses for $4.3 million to meet a new state law.

Senate Bill 546, passed in 2025, requires all public school buses to have three-point seat belts by September 2029.

The update: By August, GISD is expected to have 122 buses in its fleet, 99 of which will have three-point seat belts. All current GISD buses used for daily routes have three-point seat belts, said Clint Pruett, executive director of support services.

Fifteen GISD buses will have no seat belts, while eight buses will only have two-point lap seat belts—all of which are spare buses or buses used for trips.

The buses without three-point seat belts are 10-17 years old with 180,000 miles. Due to the age and mileage, GISD is recommending replacing the 23 buses for $150,000-$170,00 each, totaling $4.3 million, Pruett said.

Some context: The new seat belt standard under SB 546 repealed a previous provision under SB 693 that did not require school buses manufactured in 2017 or earlier to have three-point seat belts.

Three medical cannabis businesses have been conditionally approved to participate in the Texas Compassionate Use Program, state officials announced April 1.

The big picture: The companies received conditional licenses from the Texas Department of Public Safety in an effort to expand access to medical cannabis products. Under the compassionate use program, physicians can prescribe medical-grade, low-THC products to eligible patients in partnership with licensed dispensaries.

Zooming in: Two of the three businesses given conditional licenses April 1 are affiliated with existing medical cannabis dispensaries that work in several other states. The new licensees are:

• GTI Texas, LLC (doing business as RISE Dispensaries) in West Texas

• Cresco Labs Texas, LLC in East Texas

• Texas Medica Collective, LLC in Northeast Texas

Conditional licensees must pass additional state evaluations before they can begin operating, according to the DPS.

More context: As Texas expands its medical cannabis program, the state is also tightening restrictions on the multibillion-dollar consumable hemp industry, Community Impact reported.

The Texas power grid is undergoing “generational” growth, experts said during the Electric Reliability Council of Texas’ annual summit March 31 in Round Rock. Much of that growth is due to data centers—an industry under scrutiny from state lawmakers as some Texas communities push back against proposed developments.

The big picture: Over 2,000 projects totaling 453,000 megawatts are currently looking to connect to the state grid, ERCOT CEO Pablo Vegas said April 1. About 357,000 megawatts of those connection requests are potential data centers, ERCOT documents show.

Looking ahead: Communities should take the lead on discussions about individual data center projects, Vegas told reporters. He said that when “communities that are ready to support those investments,” ERCOT is prepared to help data centers connect to the grid.

During a March 31 discussion on data centers, panelists noted that the projects have an “increasingly high” negative reputation in communities across the state. Austin consultant Eric Goff said developers often need to make commitments to local residents to earn their support for data center proposals.