Lumi’s Crepes & Coffee opened to the Cedar Park community Nov. 1, and is planning a grand opening ceremony Nov. 15 to mark the occasion.

The new eatery, which offers French-style crepes and sandwiches, was founded as a food truck in 2022. The business currently operates two trucks in Downtown Austin and The Domain, but the Cedar Park restaurant will be its first brick-and-mortar location.

On the menu: Lumi’s serves a range of French-inspired crepes using Belgian waffle styles and authentic white, milk and dark chocolate imported from Belgium. While the food trucks specialize in sweet crepes, the Cedar Park location will also serve savory crepes such as the French Onion Steak Crepe. The restaurant will also offer paninis and a wide range of coffee drinks.

• 840 W. Whitestone Blvd., Cedar Park

Cedar Park City Council approved a contract with Austin Engineering Co. Inc. to make needed infrastructure improvements to two wastewater lift stations in the city.

The city had been looking for engineers to make repairs to the Lobo and Deer Creek lift stations. Mika Stutts, utility engineering manager for the city, presented to council at its Nov. 6 regular meeting, and recommended the city approve Austin Engineering for the contract for an amount not to exceed $3.83 million.

The details: Lift stations pump wastewater to higher elevations to help direct the flow to the wastewater treatments plant. The city currently has 18 lift stations, which are checked daily and receive regular maintenance.

A condition assessment on the Lobo and Deer Creek stations showed some wear to electrical components and the need for new coatings on pipings and valves to keep the station operating efficiently, Stutts said.

A three-week city initiative to clear public encampments and connect homeless residents with resources ended with hundreds of locations around Austin addressed and nearly 200 people moved into shelter.

What happened: The temporary surge of resources led by Austin Homeless Strategies and Operations ran Oct. 20-Nov. 8 to restore public spaces and relocate people in hard-to-reach or dangerous areas given severe weather risks and ahead of the winter season. The city-led encampment clearings took place under local and state laws that ban camping in public.

As the encampment initiative was drawing to a close this fall, City Council also approved measures to expand street outreach programs, launch a public encampment dashboard and improve resident reporting systems. Those updates will take place in the coming months.

Also of note: The recent city program was unrelated to state-led encampment cleanups around Austin announced by Gov. Greg Abbott on Oct. 21, an operation that was criticized by local officials due to a lack of coordination and shared objectives.

Every day for the past 25 years, at least one person has died in crashes on Texas roads. Texas officials and the families of some fatal crash victims commemorated the grim anniversary with a candlelight ceremony at the Texas Capitol on Nov. 7.

The impact: Jamie White said her 2-year-old daughter, Allie, was hit and killed by a distracted driver at Round Rock’s Old Settlers Park in September 2019.

“It only takes [a few] seconds… to kill somebody,” White said Nov. 7. “Can you imagine doing this, taking somebody's child from them, and living the rest of your life knowing that you caused that?”

Following Allie’s death, her parents launched Allie’s Way, a nonprofit aimed at ending distracted driving.

More details: TxDOT data shows that speed and impaired driving are involved in the majority of deadly crashes on Texas roads.

“These are not random events,” Texas Highway Patrol Chief Bryan Rippee said Nov. 7. “These are the results of making the wrong choices on our Texas highways."