As growth surges across Montgomery County, fire leaders said there is urgency in adding staffing and station coverage—not just new fire trucks.

The gist: Conroe Fire Chief Paul Sims said construction is underway on Fire Station No. 8 to help close response-time gaps on the city’s east side. In Montgomery County Emergency Services District No. 2, Chief Brian Edwards said the district is trying to “address it as it grows.” Meanwhile, ESD 3 Chief Keith Soliz said rising calls and traffic keep pressure on response times despite expanded coverage.

Diving in deeper: With the surging population comes a higher number of emergency calls in the area. Since 2020, the population has increased by around 15%, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.

Stay tuned: Expansion is on the horizon. Soliz said that ESD 3 plans to break ground on Station 35 in early 2027. Meanwhile, Edwards said ESD 2 is developing a logistics and administration building. Sims said Conroe’s next projects include station improvements in Grand Central Park and a new station in The Woodlands Hills.

The Modern Skein, a yarn craft store in Conroe, is closing its doors March 7, owner Sharon Graff said in a Feb. 11 Facebook post.

The details: Graff said there are many factors for this decision; the economy, major decline in sales, changing buying habits.

The store started online in July 2017 specializing in hand-dyed yarn, and by March 2018, the first storefront opened in Montgomery, Graff said. Now the store will open for the final time March 7. 

• 1909 Longmire Road, Ste. H-4, Conroe

During the first week of early voting for the March primary election, Feb. 17-22, close to 7% of registered voters in Montgomery County cast their ballots, according to Montgomery County Election Central.

Breaking it down: Spread throughout six days, 31,061 total votes were cast—or 6.62% of registered voters—according to data from Montgomery County Election Central. The Democratic Party saw 8,265 total votes, and the Republican Party saw 22,794.  
As of Feb. 22, there were 468,963 registered voters within the county, according to Montgomery County Election Central.

The highest number of votes cast for the Democratic Party came Feb. 21; meanwhile, the highest vote count for the Republican Party came Feb. 20, according to the county election data. 
 

Houston-area renters opened 2026 with more choices and slightly lower prices, according to the Houston Association of Realtors’ January Rental Market Update released Feb. 18. 

A closer look: The average lease price for a single-family rental fell 3.3% from a year earlier to $2,214, which HAR officials said is the lowest level since December 2023. 

Even with prices easing, demand didn’t disappear. Leased listings rose 11% year over year to 3,447 homes, while new listings climbed 16.4% to 6,499 properties, giving renters more inventory to work with, according to the report. 
 

Hundreds of volunteers will hit the streets Tuesday night across Harris, Fort Bend and Montgomery counties to begin the annual Point-in-Time survey, which catalogues the number of individuals experiencing homelessness on a single night in the three counties.

How it works: The Coalition for the Homeless of Houston/Harris County and The Way Home have been conducting the annual survey since 2011. The survey provides a snapshot of sheltered and unsheltered individuals experiencing homelessness year-over-year.

Volunteers will count sheltered individuals Feb. 23 as the official "night of record," according to a Feb. 20 news release. Meanwhile, the unsheltered portion of the count will take place over three days—Feb. 24-26.

Why it matters: The count is typically a part of a federal funding process for local homelessness response systems like The Way Home.

"The count helps identify service gaps, geographic shifts and emerging needs across the region and allows the community to track trends over time using a consistent methodology."