New Braunfels City Council gave the green light to exempt drivers with disabled license plates from downtown paid parking during a special City Council meeting Nov. 17.

What’s changed: The decision was recommended by city staff and is based on state law and public feedback. Under Texas Transportation Code Section 681, vehicles displaying a valid disabled license plate or placard may not be charged parking fees at parking meters, according to agenda documents.

Although the city does not have parking meters, city staff believed the statute reflected legislative intent that individuals with disabilities should not be required to pay for public parking. Disabled veteran plates are not eligible for these spaces unless accompanied by a placard, agenda documents state.

Some context: The city implemented a paid, on-street parking system in downtown in July, replacing a free, two-hour system that had previously existed. The paid parking system aims to help regulate high-demand areas like downtown districts and is being enforced by parking management company Interstate Parking, as previously reported by Community Impact.

Luxury golf retailer Iron Oak Apparel has plans to open a new location within Gruene's Historic District at 1250 Gruene Road in New Braunfels this winter.

The details: The new location will be Iron Oak Apparel's second storefront. Iron Oak Apparel opened its first location in Schulenburg. 

What they offer: Iron Oak Apparel sells pearl snap polos, hats and other western lifestyle apparel.

• 1258 Gruene Road, New Braunfels

The New Braunfels ISD board of trustees approved its second, and final, purchase of furniture to fill the new facilities built for New Braunfels High School at a regular meeting Nov. 10.

The details: Trustees approved $452,000 for furniture to be used at the new NBHS facilities, including outdoor and classroom furniture needed to open the new space, according to the agenda item.

By the numbers: The funding for the purchase comes from NBISD’s voter-approved 2021 bond Proposition A, which allocated more than $321 million for new facilities and upgrades to existing facilities, according to the district.

NBISD will be purchasing the furniture from Beasley, Texas-based educational supplier Educator’s Depot, according to board documents.

Google is targeting Texas for future investments in data and artificial infrastructure, with $40 billion expected to be spent on adding three new data centers.

Federal, state and local leaders announced the new centers to be constructed in Armstrong and Haskell counties at a Nov. 14 event at the first Texas Google Data Center in Midlothian, near the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

The gist: One new data center will be constructed in Armstrong County near Amarillo, and two new data centers will be constructed in Haskell County near Abilene. One center in Haskell County will also use a new solar and battery energy storage plant.

“They say that everything is bigger in Texas—and that certainly applies to the golden opportunity with AI,” Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said.

Also of note: The driverless car company Waymo is expanding to North Texas in 2026, Pichai said.