Friendswood city officials hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the reopening of the council chambers at Friendswood City Hall on Feb. 2.

The backstory: In 2025, the chambers underwent renovations, forcing City Council to meet at alternative locations such as the Friendswood ISD Administration Annex building. The ceremony took place at City Hall, located at 910 S. Friendswood Drive, Friendswood.

The $370,000 renovations largely centered around updating the room's audiovisual technology as the existing system was outdated and at the end of its life, according to city documents.

Failure of the room's audiovisual technology would eliminate the city's ability to record and livestream the city's public meetings, preventing government transparency, according to city documents.

Epic Plumbing is celebrating its 30th anniversary in June, having served Pearland and the surrounding areas since 1996, according to the company’s website.

The details: The woman-owned, family-operated company offers a range of services, including gas line repair and installation, toilet repair and replacement, kitchen plumbing, water heater services and commercial plumbing.

The Coastal Texas Project, also known as the Ike Dike, received $5 million in federal funding, the largest single federal investment in the project since Congress authorized the project in 2022. 

The overview: The $34 billion project aims to protect Houston’s critical energy and shipping corridors from storm damage by building a system of gates and dune systems designed to mitigate storm surge, according to previous reporting by Community Impact. 

The background: The 87th Texas Legislature established the GCPD in 2021, and it serves as the state sponsor for the project, according to the release.

Although the project was authorized in 2022, funding has been slow to come in, and the $5 million marks the largest single federal investment to date, according to the release.

Quote of note: “Texas is home to the largest concentration of oil and gas infrastructure in the United States, and safeguarding our coast from catastrophic storms protects every American,” Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham said in the news release.

Harris County roadways are one step closer to seeing a new countywide road flood warning system to detect roadway flooding in real time and alert drivers.

Explained: A motion to advance negotiations with local engineering firm J.M. Torres and Associates LLC passed unanimously at the Jan. 29 Harris County Commissioners Court meeting. The Houston-based firm engineers real-time flood intelligence alert systems and data collectors, according to the business’s website.

What they're saying: “The project will install seven emergency flood warning measures across the four precincts,” Harris County Precinct 2 Media Specialist Alonzo Guadarrama said in an email. “These systems will be able to detect roadway flooding in real time and alert drivers, improving safety and helping reduce the risk of flood-related accidents.”

The impact: At least 812,294 properties in Harris County, or nearly 58% of all properties, have a risk of flooding over the next 30 years, according to data compiled from nonprofit First Street.