League City has formally banned gambling devices within the city after City Council postponed an earlier vote in June. 

The details: At its July 14 meeting, League City City Council voted unanimously to pass an ordinance prohibiting gambling devices in the city. 

Digging deeper: Council member Chad Tressler, who asked to postpone the vote at the June 23 meeting, asked that the ordinance be amended to add a clause stating that it would not prohibit activities that do not constitute gambling under Chapter 47 of the Texas Penal Code.

Looking ahead: The city secretary will publish the ordinance in the city’s official newspaper, after which the ordinance will take effect, per city documents.

In April, Kemah City Council discussed building a large mixed-use development including a sports center with eight basketball courts and a hotel with 115 beds. Kemah is one of many cities in the Bay Area figuring out how to bolster its hotel occupancy tax revenue.

Why it matters: City Administrator Cesar Garcia supports the development and said it could be a critical anchor for attracting more hotels to Kemah, which he feels currently does not have enough hotels to accommodate the city’s visitors.

By the numbers: In May, Kemah experienced the highest single-month sales tax revenue in the city’s history. Because Kemah’s economy is highly sales tax-driven, the city is vulnerable to weather conditions, such as rainy weekends or volatile hurricane seasons, which can make a significant dent in the city’s revenue, Garcia said.

The impact: In 2024, League City experienced a massive jump in hotel occupancy tax collections from short-term rentals, rising from roughly $8,000 collected from short-term rentals in 2023 to $66,000 the following year. 

Beginning Dec. 17, Frontier Airlines will offer daily nonstop service from Houston to Puerto Rico, airline officials announced via a July 14 news release. 

The big picture: The new route will run between George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston and Luis Munoz Marin International Airport in San Juan. With the latest addition, Frontier Airlines will serve 21 destinations from IAH.

In December 2025, the airline added new routes from IAH to three Latin American countries, as previously reported by Community Impact. 

Quote of note: "We are pleased to grow our service at IAHn ensuring low-cost travel options remain available for Texas consumers as they travel to Puerto Rico," said Josh Flyr, vice president of network and operations design for Frontier Airlines, in a statement. "With premium upgrades paired with our signature affordability, we are thrilled to show travelers why we are America's Low Fare Airline." 

Sandy Creek resident Georgia Bishop was out of town when 22 inches of rain fell on parts of northwest Travis County over the July 4, 2025, weekend. When Bishop returned home days later, her community was significantly changed.

What happened: Residents of the hard-hit Sandy Creek neighborhood described a “wall of water” that tore through their community last July, washing away homes, cars and roads. Nine people died in the flooding, including Bishop’s best friend, 16-year-old Felicity Jarmon.

The context: One year later, residents of the unincorporated Travis County community are still working to rebuild from last July’s catastrophic flooding. Central Texas has seen two straight years of intense, deadly flooding in July, leaving some residents on edge as they recover from last year’s disaster and mourn lost loved ones.

Community Impact spoke with Bishop and Kylie Nidever, whose neighborhood in Hunt flooded last year, on July 13, days before heavy rainfall hit large swaths of the state once again. Officials confirmed two deaths due to this year's floods, while 137 people died last July.