Read about six business updates in Dripping Springs including new businesses and an anniversary. 

Now open: Rice and Oak Thai Texas Grill Kitchen
The Thai restaurant opened early this year in downtown Dripping Springs. Rice and Oak’s menu features woks, curries, rice bowls, shareables, soups and more. Rice and Oak is owned by Siwaphan Sampaotong. 

• Opened Jan. 2
• 1025 Cannon Dr, Ste. 105, Dripping Springs

• Soft opening late February
• 800 W Hwy. 290, Bldg. C, Dripping Springs

• 207 Mercer St., Dripping Springs

Texas Children’s Hospital in North Austin has become the first pediatric hospital to have its own helicopter based in Austin.

The helicopter will allow Texas Children’s Hospital to provide faster critical care to more patients across Central Texas.

In their own words: “[The helicopter] represents Texas Children's long-term investment in this region and a commitment to bringing world-class pediatric, neonatal, and maternal care closer to home,” said Jeff Shilt, Texas Children's president of Austin and Central Texas, at a ribbon-cutting ceremony Jan. 12.

How it works: Through the new helicopter, Texas Children’s may pick up patients from community hospitals who need specialized pediatric care and transport them to the North Austin hospital.

The mobile intensive care unit is operated by Texas Children’s Kangaroo Crew of registered nurses and respiratory therapists who can begin providing ICU therapies to stabilize patients at their bedside before arriving at the hospital.

The impact: The Austin-based helicopter can travel within a 120-nautical-mile service area, including Waco, San Antonio, Houston and College Station.

As families at the closing Oak Springs Elementary prepare to relocate to Blackshear Elementary this fall, Austin ISD has told families at both campuses that they may need to move once again.

Instead of permanently closing Oak Springs Elementary, the district is now considering relocating both schools to a modernized campus at the Oak Springs site once it is complete in 2027.

Some Blackshear Elementary parents told Community Impact they are concerned about how the change of plans may affect their students.

The background: On Nov. 20, the AISD board of trustees voted to close Oak Springs Elementary alongside nine additional campuses and relocate students to Blackshear Elementary in the 2026-27 school year. Both Oak Springs and Blackshear had an enrollment of less than 230 students each in the 2023-24 school year.

In mid-December, AISD informed parents that Superintendent Matias Segura would decide by late January whether to keep all students at Blackshear or eventually move the merged schools into a modernized campus for Oak Springs, which would be funded by the 2022 bond.

While some individuals are interested in working on personal goals and mental health in a traditional talk therapy environment, there are additional options for those looking for a different way to work on intrapersonal goals. This list is not comprehensive.

Community Art Therapy

• Type of therapies offered: Art therapy, trauma-informed therapy, somatic and expressive arts approaches, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, play-based interventions and art therapy process groups
• 11402 Joy St., Austin; 12741 Research Blvd., Ste. 402, Austin; 8700 Menchaca Road, Ste. 202, Austin

• Type of therapy offered: adaptive horseback riding, horse powered reading, H.A.P.Y. (“Hug A Pony”) mobile program, bringing mini horses to autism, memory care and hospice centers
• 5300 CR 279, Leander

• Type of therapy offered: sound healing experiences
• Classes vary in locations across Round Rock and Austin

Texas health officials are proposing sweeping new regulations on the state’s hemp industry, including raising the fees required to sell and manufacture consumable hemp products by roughly 10,000%.

The overview: In late December, the Texas Department of State Health Services published a slate of proposed rules regulating consumable hemp products. The proposals include:

• A prohibition on sales to customers under 21 years old
• Stricter testing and labeling requirements
• Guidelines for product recalls
• Tens of thousands of dollars in annual fees