Gold Sponsors

A new president has been named for two Ascension Seton locations in Central Texas. Megan Drake is the president of the Ascension Seton Hays Hospital in Kyle, alongside the hospital’s Bastrop location.

Drake has a background in health care administration and experience leading operational excellence, strategic growth initiatives and advancing quality patient care, according to a news release.

Quote of note: "We are thrilled to welcome Megan to Ascension Seton Hays and look forward to the vision and leadership she will bring to our hospital and the communities we serve," Jamie Youssef, CEO for Ascension Texas, said in the release.

Career history: Drake spent the last seven years as a chief operating officer at St. David’s HealthCare and recently served at the St. David’s South Austin Medical Center. Before working in Austin, Drake served as the chief operating officer at Shelby Baptist Medical Center, a 252-bed hospital in Birmingham, Alabama.

Business owners and brothers Greg Germer and Gary Germer Jr. plan to relocate their insurance company to downtown Bastrop in mid-July.

In a nutshell: Currently located at 799 SH 71 W., Bastrop, the new spot will be located inside the former Relics Artisan Jewelry & Gifts, which closed in February.

"This move is all about being more accessible to you, our clients and our community," the brothers announced in a statement, noting that the new office will offer more space with better access.

What they offer: An independent broker, Germer Insurance Services works with a variety of carriers to create personalized packages for each client. Coverage options include auto, commercial, home and life insurance.

How we got here: Greg Germer began working for the company—then called Koehler Barton Insurance—in 1997. Twelve years later, he and Gary Germer Jr. bought it and have continued providing insurance options to Bastrop residents.

• Relocating mid-July
• 925 Main St., Bastrop

A Sprouts Farmers Market, East 51st Street improvements and a new museum building are among the five most expensive projects filed with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation in the Austin metro this week.

1. Deposition Technology ($27 million): This project at the semiconductor support and manufacturing company consists of a cleanroom expansion and renovation.

2. East 51st Street ($17 million): This project involves the revitalization of East 51st Street from I-35 to Berkman Drive.

3. Sprouts Farmers Market ($4.8 Million): A new location for the grocery store is coming to Hutto.

4. UT Dinosaur Trackways ($4.2 million): The building is a 2,100-square-foot single-story museum, which aims to conserve and house some of Texas’ most renowned fossilized footprints made 113 million years ago by a sauropod and a theropod near Glen Rose.

5. Texas State University: Student Success Commons at the Albert B. Alkek Library ($3.5 million): This project involves the interior renovation of approximately 38,000 square feet of the sixth floor of Alkek Library to add staff offices and study spaces.

The latest data from Unlock MLS shows signs that the housing market is ticking up in Central Texas, with higher year-over-year home sales and homes selling closer to their original listing price.

The details: Representing the Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos metropolitan statistical area, or MSA, the data released May 12 shows residential home sales increased 2% year over year in April for the MSA, reaching 2,648. That's the highest number of monthly home sales so far this year, up from a 0.5% year-over-year increase in March and decreases in both January and February. 

“What stands out in April’s data is the shift in buyer psychology and overall market momentum," said Vaike O’Grady, market research advisor at Unlock MLS, in a news release. "Many buyers who had been delaying their home search took advantage of the temporary dip in mortgage rates we saw earlier this year and moved quickly once conditions became more manageable."

Increasing pending and closed sales point to a market where buyers are "stepping into the market with more urgency," O'Grady said.

Texas’ sweeping immigration enforcement law can take effect for now, a federal appeals court ruled May 29.

The background: Senate Bill 4 gives Texas officials the unprecedented authority to arrest and deport migrants suspected of crossing the Texas-Mexico border illegally. State lawmakers passed the measure in late 2023, and it has largely been tied up in court since.

The latest: In an unpublished order May 29, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals allowed SB 4 to take effect as the case continues, lifting a lower court order that had blocked portions of the law. 

What they're saying: In a joint statement, a trio of civil rights groups decried the May 29 decision as “disappointing and out of step with the Constitution,” saying that they would continue to fight the law in court.

Gov. Greg Abbott celebrated the order as a “major border security victory.” State agencies have not detailed their plans to arrest, detain or deport migrants under SB 4.