Necoa, a water purification company, launched two Austin-area showrooms recently, according to a representative from Codeword communication agency. 

In a nutshell: The brand launched a mobile showroom, showcasing its water purification products, at Domain Northside in early March. The pop-up showroom will be available through May 31. 

Necoa’s other showroom officially opened at Barton Creek Square shopping center on April 11. The location is Necoa’s second largest hub in Texas, after its Frisco location, according to Codeword.

What they offer: The brand offers smart water purifiers, as well as built-in faucets. The five-stage RO filtration system reduces contaminants such as microplastics, bacteria, viruses, heavy metals and more, according to its website. 

• 11821 Rock Rose Ave., Austin (Domain Northside); 2901 S. Capital of Texas Hwy., Ste. E03, Austin (Barton Creek Square)

Austin is increasing the scope and frequency of public homeless encampment clearings this spring.

The details: Public camping is illegal in Austin under both Proposition B, a local ban reinstated by city voters in 2021, and a Texas law passed the same year. The city still has a high number of public encampments and receives hundreds of service requests to address those sites every month. However, homeless strategy officials say current resources haven't allowed adequate response.

Going forward: Starting May 11, several dedicated encampment management teams will begin working citywide five days a week. Most will involve Austin Police Department officers and other city department staff, and one Austin Parks and Recreation-led team will focus on litter removal.

The city will track the number of site visits and timely response to requests, the number of people sheltered or connected to services, and monitor for repeat activity at encampment sites after each cleanup. Later this year, Austin will also launch a new 3-1-1 reporting option and public encampment management dashboard.

From a Moxies in the Domain to a new business park in Georgetown, here are five of the most expensive projects filed with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation in the Austin metro this week.

1. Moxies ($7 million): A new Moxies location is coming to the Domain, with construction set to begin in July. 

2. Austin Ridge Bible Church ($7 million): Austin Ridge purchased the Great Hills Baptist Church facility and are working on plans for renovation.

3. Mason Phase 2 ($5 million): This project includes improvements to a single family subdivision, covering 32,000 square feet.

4. Decker Lane site work ($4.5 million): This project includes work on Decker Industrial Park for five buildings, and associated connecting roads and utilities around the building.

5. Bell Gin Business Park ($3.72 million): The project consists of constructing five 7,200-square-foot shell buildings and two 10,800-square-foot buildings for commercial office and warehouse use.

More than 53,000 students will be invited to join Texas’ education savings account program this week, the state comptroller’s office said May 4.

The details: Families will be notified by email between May 4-6 if they were awarded funds in the second round of the Texas Education Freedom Accounts program, per a news release from the comptroller’s office.

To date, nearly 96,000 students have been selected to participate, with these students set to receive about $820 million of the $1 billion state lawmakers allocated for the program, an agency spokesperson said. Of the 53,000 second-round awardees, over 51,000 are from low-income families. The other 2,000 students accepted this week were found to qualify for disability-related funding, the agency said.

The background: Families accepted to the TEFA program will receive state funds to send their children to private schools or homeschool them for the 2026-27 school year.

Proponents of the new program have said it will expand educational opportunities, while critics have expressed concerns that the program will unfairly benefit students already enrolled in private schools.