Bastrop City Council unanimously approved a resolution Sept. 22 recognizing an earlier vesting date for the North End Prairie development, allowing the project to now be reviewed under city regulations in effect at that time.

The background: North End Prairie is a proposed 42-home, 4-acre development and has been subject to concerns from local residents, as previously reported by Community Impact. Jodie Smith, who owns the property with her husband Tom Leibowitz, previously told Community Impact that the initial disagreement with city officials stemmed from whether Article 1.20 of the Bastrop Municipal Code, which the city amended earlier this year, applied to the development.

Going forward: Council's decision on Sept. 22 does not approve the preliminary plat and further approvals will be brought to the city's Planning and Zoning Commission.

Republican incumbent David Glass and write-in candidate Kat Hammer will face off in the Nov. 3 election for Bastrop County Commissioners Court, Precinct 4.

How it works: Candidates were asked to keep responses under 50 words, answer the questions provided and avoid attacking opponents.

What else? Community Impact's goal with election Q&As is to provide a side-by-side, equitable resource for Bastrop County voters to review candidates' perspectives before they head to the polls.

A Round Rock hospital is the first in the greater Austin area to offer a new, minimally invasive treatment for artery blockages.

The overview: St. David's Round Rock Medical Center announced Sept. 1 that it began offering the percutaneous transmural arterial bypass procedure, which creates an alternate pathway for blood to flow around a blocked artery, according to a news release.

The PTAB procedure was first performed by vascular surgeons Drs. Nicolas Zea and Kofi Quaye at St. David's Round Rock.

The treatment is generally recommended for patients with peripheral artery disease, a condition that limits blood flow to the legs, the release states.

What they're saying: “This milestone reflects our commitment to bringing advanced, innovative vascular care to the communities we serve,” JW Newman, chief executive officer of St. David’s Round Rock Medical Center, said in the release. “By offering the latest medical innovations to our patients, we are expanding access to advanced treatment options and improving quality of care for those who previously had limited options.”

Texas school districts using the state-developed Bluebonnet Learning curriculum saw slightly better year-over-year achievement last school year than other districts, according to Texas Education Agency data released Sept. 30.

What's happening: During the 2025-26 school year, 619 of Texas' 1,200 public school districts opted in to implement at least one of the three Bluebonnet curriculum programs—elementary math, secondary math and elementary language arts.

On this spring's State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness exam, districts using the state-developed math materials saw student improvement that was 0.6 percentage points higher than students in other districts, while districts that implemented the reading materials performed 0.2 percentage points higher on the STAAR than other schools.

What they're saying: The TEA said the gains in student achievement are an "encouraging sign of early progress."

Zeph Capo, president of the Texas American Federation of Teachers, a statewide educator union, disagreed, calling the results "rather paltry."

"It may take a few more years to determine if this is a valid trend or simply an anomaly," Capo said in a statement.