Martial arts gym Gracie Barra has opened a new location along Hwy. 29 in Liberty Hill.

The details: Gracie Barra offers Brazilian jiu-jitsu lessons for participants of all ages, with no prior martial arts experience required.

Fabio Villela is opening the Liberty Hill location. He also serves as head instructor at Gracie Barra's Cedar Park, Round Rock and Georgetown locations.

Gracie Barra operates more than 1,000 schools worldwide, according to the organization’s website.

• 201 St. Joseph Court, Ste. 510, Liberty Hill 

With the holiday season around the corner, new businesses are continuing to come to Leander. Here are key business updates for the Leander area.

Clearwater Express Wash: BB Shine's Express Car Wash is now managed by Clearwater Express Wash. Members of BB's will be able to keep their memberships under the new management.

• 11560 Hero Way W., Leander

Austin Futsal League: The business offers tournaments, leagues and camps. Programs are open to girls and boys. Camps cater to players enrolled in elementary or middle school while leagues are open to students in the third grade and up. Clinics, pickup and referee training are offered as well.

• 401 S. Chitalpa St., Unit 250, Leander

Pet Bar: This dog grooming and washing business offers services from experienced groomers. Customers can also use the location's self-service dog wash to wash their pet by themselves.

• 8481 W. Hwy. 29, Ste. 140, Leander

The Williamson County Healthcare Provider Participation Program will now have two separate rates that contribute to a dedicated bank account, following approval from the Commissioners Court on Oct. 27.

What happened: Following negotiations between the Texas Health and Human Services Commission and the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the assessment calculation was updated from the single-rate models.

Rather than the traditional one-rate structure, the program will now draw from a rate based on net patient revenue from inpatient hospital services and another from outpatient hospital services.
What it means: The healthcare program subsidizes the cost of treating patients without insurance or those covered by Medicaid through mandatory assessments collected from local private hospitals, such as Ascension Seton and Baylor Scott & White.

That money collected from private hospitals is then sent through state-administered programs and matched with federal funds, to be redistributed to the participating local hospitals through the local provider participation fund, or LPPF.

At her first public event since winning the Nov. 3 election, Gov.-elect Gina Hinojosa announced her initial plans for the transition between gubernatorial administrations, emphasizing her plans to work across the aisle in "building a government that is working for the people of Texas."

The overview: Hinojosa also announced the team leading her transition to the governor's office:

• Joe Madden, former chief of staff for Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo

• Former GOP state Rep. Ernest Bailes

• Ryan Pollock, executive director of the Texas State Building and Construction Trades Council

• Tamala Barksdale, a former Austin ISD trustee

Quote of note: "This is not about being a Democratic administration," she said. "I'm not going to be the governor for just Democrats—I'm going to be the governor for all the people of Texas."

One more thing: Hinojosa said Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, whom she unseated in the Nov. 3 election, had been "gracious" and expressed that his office would "fully cooperate with this transition and be helpful as they can."