City Council members unanimously approved a long list of neighborhoods across Houston whose installed traffic control devices will become permanent to help mitigate speeding and cut-through traffic.

The gist: Officials with the Houston Public Works department conducted investigations, developed a traffic-calming plan and presented the plan to residents before bringing the item to city council for approval, according to the April 29 agenda item.

Based on the results of the traffic study and the consensus of public opinion, dozens of neighborhoods were recommended for the permanent installation of approximately 60 speed cushions citywide, which are small speed humps designed to slow passenger vehicles to 15-20 miles per hour.

Something to note: Speed cushions cost approximately $5,000 per location, according to a presentation from the Neighborhood Traffic Calming Program. The city spent roughly $3.5 million combined on the first round of projects.

Officials with the popular gym chain announced April 27 that a new location is slated to open in Houston's Maplewood neighborhood this May.

What's different: The new Maplewood location will include a Black Card Spa experience, and will be first Planet Fitness in Houston to offer:

• Red light saunas

• Polar dry plunge

• Hyperice percussion massagers

• Full-leg compression boots

These amenities will be offered alongside member benefits such as the HydroMassage loungers, massage chairs, tanning beds and CryoLounge, per the release.

More details: The Maplewood club will also feature a dedicated turf area for functional training with power racks, a deadlift platform and plate-loaded options. The gym also includes a variety of strength, cardio and functional workout equipment.

• 5665 Beechnut St., Houston

Greater Houston suburban areas such as Waller, Brookshire and Baytown are trending strong for home sales growth, according to the Houston Association of Realtors' latest Hottest Communities report for the first quarter of 2026.

At a glance: The Huffman area, east of Atascocita, tops the list with a 117.1% increase in home sales since the end of 2025, the report shows. Similarly, transactions in Brookshire, located west of Katy, more than doubled compared to the previous year, and the fast-growing Waller community saw a 99% jump in transactions.

Meyerland, Baytown and Magnolia also showed significant growth in transactions compared to last year. 

The cause: The communities are leading the rankings for home sales due to a combination of new construction and affordability, with seven of the top 10 reporting average home prices under the Houston-area average of $420,510, per an April 27 news release.

Also of note: As for luxury communities—where home prices exceed $1 million—the top-performing areas include Tanglewood, Bellaire and Memorial Villages, all of which are located just outside of Houston's Inner Loop.

CenterPoint Energy has made key first-quarter progress in reaching milestones tied to the company’s Greater Houston Resiliency Initiative, according to an April 17 news release from the company.

Digging deeper: Launched after Hurricane Beryl, the initiative is a multiyear effort to strengthen resilience and improve reliability for its 2.9 million electric customers, and to help build the most resilient coastal grid in the nation, according to the release. 

Quote of note: “We are proud of the progress made in 2025 which helped deliver more than 100 million fewer outage minutes when compared to 2024, and we are determined to make even more progress in 2026 as we work toward our defining goal: building the nation's most resilient coastal grid,” said Nathan Brownell, CenterPoint's vice president of Resilience and Capital Delivery, in the release.

Over 130 Central Texas residents and visitors died over the July 4 weekend as an intense rainstorm and flooding swept through the region. Among them were 28 deaths at Camp Mystic: 25 young campers; aged 8 to 10 years old; two 18-year-old counselors; and 70-year-old Richard "Dick" Eastland, the camp's executive director.

The private Christian girls camp has been under scrutiny for the actions camp leaders took to attempt to save campers in cabins along the Guadalupe River.

What's happening: During the second day of public hearings April 28, a panel of lawmakers investigating the July 4 flood heard roughly 12 hours of testimony from: 

• The Eastland family, which owns and operates Camp Mystic
• The head of the Texas Division of Emergency Management
• The families of some campers who survived the flood
• The parents of seven girls who died at Camp Mystic on July 4
• Officials from the Texas Department of State Health Services, which licenses youth camps