The city of Bellaire is holding a special election May 2 to fill a vacant City Council position. Here’s what voters need to know.

Preparing for the polls: To cast a vote in person, voters must visit the Bellaire Civic Center at 7008 S. Rice Ave., Bellaire, on May 2 between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. Voters also cannot use their cellphones while in a polling place. Apparel relating to a candidate, measure or political party also cannot be worn within the 100-foot marker at the polling location.

On the ballot: Four candidates filed to run to fill the vacant Position 4 seat. To read Community Impact’s candidate Q&A, click here.

One more thing: Visit communityimpact.com/voter-guide/election-results to follow the latest election day results.

Meyerland Crossing is set to receive the first Panera Bread cafe open under the new franchise president, Alex von Waaden.

Meet the owners: Co-founders Monica and Mark von Waaden opened their first Panera Bread cafe in Pasadena in 2003 and, according to an April 30 news release, have spent the past 23 years growing the family business across the Greater Houston area.

Their son, Alex von Waaden, was named president of the franchise in 2025, and the Meyerland Crossing store opening will be the first new cafe under his leadership.

What they offer: Panera Bread is a fast-casual cafe and bakery concept that offers sandwiches, soups, salads, breakfast and bakery items, including bagels, pastries and soufflé.

The new location will also include expanded off-premise and to-go options for customers.

• 8845 West Loop South, Ste. A-1, Houston

Houston officials have been going back and forth on the city’s excessive overtime budget spending in its three critical departments—fire, police and solid waste—since late 2025.

What’s happening: In the most recent financial report given during the April 29 City Council session and a preceding Budget and Fiscal Affairs meeting, Controller Chris Hollins said that the city is continuing to add to a shortfall by still approving overtime costs—most notably for the fire department, he said.

By the numbers: During the presentation of the financial report, Hollins said the budget for the Houston Fire Department has increased by $73 million since the fiscal year 2025-26 budget was approved last June, including an additional $22 million spent this month. He said the majority of those increases went toward overtime costs.

“If just the overages in the fire department were its own department, it would be the fifth largest department in the city of Houston,” Hollins said. “That’s something that we need to take seriously. It’s larger than our library system [and] the health department.”

Demolition of the vacant Northwest Mall is underway within the Hwy. 290 and Loop 610 corridor, the site for a proposed train station that would offer high-speed travel between Houston and Dallas, a project spokesperson confirmed with Community Impact.

What we know: Demolition began in mid-April and is expected to take approximately 12 months, the spokesperson said. The historic mall opened in 1968 but shuttered its doors in 2017, causing the building to sit abandoned for nearly 10 years.

The spokesperson did not answer questions regarding the approval process for the proposed high-speed rail project, which has not received an official green light, or a timeline for any construction beyond the demolition.

Some context: Texas Central, which has since rebranded to Texas High Speed Rail, originally led the project as a privately-funded venture, Community Impact previously reported. Amtrak then temporarily joined the project after receiving a $63.9 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation. 

However, the federal government pulled the grant last year due to ballooning costs, pushing the project back to the private sector. 

Camp Mystic, the Texas Hill Country camp where 28 people died in catastrophic flooding last July, announced April 30 that it will not welcome campers this summer.

The background: The decision comes nearly 10 months after 25 young campers, two teenage counselors and the camp’s executive director, Dick Eastland, died as the Guadalupe River camp flooded July 4. Camp Mystic’s owners had planned to open a secondary campsite called Cypress Lake in late May, but backed down at the urging of flood victims’ families and state lawmakers.

What's happening: A spokesperson for the Department of State Health Services, which licenses youth camps, confirmed to Community Impact that Camp Mystic had withdrawn its application to operate in summer 2026. 

In a statement, Camp Mystic officials said they did not want to “unintentionally effect further harm” on flood victims and their families.

"We also recognize that over 800 girls want to return to Camp Mystic Cypress Lake this summer," they wrote. "Our special bond with our Camp Mystic families does not change or end with the announcement."