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Leo’s Italian Grill will serve its last meal in July after seven years in Cedar Creek.

What you need to know: Owners Leo and Michelle Gaertner announced the upcoming closure in a social media post June 25.

The couple said Leo Gaertner is retiring after 38 years in the restaurant business to focus on family.

About the business: Leo’s Italian Grill opened in May 2019. The family-owned restaurant serves Italian cuisine with a Southern flair.

The Gaertners said the team will continue service as usual until the closure, including offering their chef specials.

Quote of note: “We leave with full hearts, countless memories, and immense gratitude,” the couple said in their announcement.

• Closing July 8
• 887 SH 21 W., Cedar Creek

Learn about recent updates at three Bastrop-area medical facilities. 

1. Ascension Seton Bastrop: Megan Drake was appointed president of the emergency hospital April 15. Also in April, the facility added a high-resolution ultrasound system to support a range of medical services, including emergency care, cardiac evaluations, central line placement, obstetrics, wound care and ophthalmology.

2. Ascension Seton Smithville Hospital: The Level IV trauma center received a designation of Critical Access Hospital from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in December. Officials said the designation is part of a federal program designed to keep essential services in rural areas by providing enhanced Medicare reimbursement. This status helps smaller, rural hospitals improve their financial stability and maintain services that might otherwise be at risk.

3. Heart Hospital of Austin: The facility recently became the first in Central Texas to offer a cutting-edge photon-counting computed tomography, or CT, scanner designed to generate high-resolution images with greater diagnostic consistency for physicians treating pulmonary and cardiology patients.

A new medical center and advanced research campus is on track to open in Northwest Austin by 2030.

What happened: University of Texas at Austin officials announced the opening of the UT Dell Medical Center and UT Dell Campus for Advanced Research at an event April 21.

The new Dell Medical School facilities follow $750 million in new investments from the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation.

The details: The UT Dell Medical Center will encompass 27 acres of a 300-acre advanced research campus that is aimed to position Texas as a leading center for life sciences, according to UT information. Located near The Domain shopping center, the Campus for Advanced Research will absorb UT's current J.J. Pickle Research Campus.

The academic medical center will include a 300-to-500-bed hospital providing care for serious medical conditions, including cancer and cardiovascular disease.

Stay tuned: UT expects to break ground on the center in late 2026 for a targeted opening date of 2030, including a hospital tower, outpatient facilities and a full-service emergency department.

Check out some top trending stories from the Austin area June 22-25. 

1. Last Austin-area Hooters location closes

2. Developer of The Domain partners with legacy family on 1,200-acres

3. Universal Music partner joins White Rocks project to build hotel and private residences

4. Hays County denies agreement with 340-acre development over Edwards Aquifer recharge zone

5. Liberty Hill ISD students outperform state average on majority of 2026 STAAR exams

6. Georgetown veterans to have VA health care closer to home

The State Board of Education is nearing the finish line in its massive rewrite of what Texas public school students will learn about world and state history.

The details: The curriculum overhaul would shift the focus in social studies classes to a Texas-centered approach, deemphasizing lessons about world cultures and injecting more content about Christianity’s role in the founding of the United States.

Some educators and students have expressed concerns that the proposal lacks significant teachings about civil rights history, Japanese internment in the 1940s and people of color’s contributions to the nation. Meanwhile, Republican board members have pushed back, saying that the rewrite is necessary to teach students about American exceptionalism and Texas heritage in an attempt to undo what they called “a watering-down of American history.”

What's happening: The board has spent the bulk of its meetings this week making amendments to a 143-page social studies proposal, which includes hundreds of standards that students would be expected to learn each year. If adopted June 26, the new requirements would take effect in 2030.