Gold Sponsors

Additional Sponsors

Ieisha Davis founded local wellness group Here for the Miles, or HFTM, in June to share her love of walking and help others connect with nature. Six months later, she’s built a community of people looking for a low-impact way to get moving, she said.

What’s happening: The organization’s Community Wellness Walks take place every Saturday at public parks around McKinney and Plano. Each walk covers 4-5 miles, followed by 5-10 minutes of stretching.

Who it’s for: When creating the organization, Davis said she aimed to highlight walking as a valid form of exercise where people can get active without feeling pushed to the extreme.

“I realized that there was a gap,” Davis said. “We’re telling people they need to go to the gym, they need to lift weights and work out, but we’re not telling them that there’s an easy way to get into a consistent routine.”

McKinney city officials announced the grand opening of a new fire administration building for the McKinney Fire Department in February.

In a nutshell: The 40,000-square-foot building, located at 2100 Taylor Burk Drive, will serve as the operational hub for the McKinney Fire Department, according to a news release. About 40 employees from fire administration, emergency management, training, emergency medical services and the fire marshal’s office will work there.

The building will also serve as the city’s Emergency Operations Center in the event of an emergency, according to the news release. The new building is part of a $53 million project to build a new headquarters campus for the McKinney Fire Department.

Funding for the project comes from a $350 million bond measure approved by McKinney voters in 2019.

More information: McKinney officials broke ground on the new campus in 2023. Construction will also include a new fire logistics building and a new Fire Station No. 2 facility.

Bread Zeppelin recently opened a McKinney location Feb. 2.

On the menu: In addition to build-your-own salad options, the eatery also has a variety of salad menu items including Buffalo chicken, Caesar, Southwest and more. Salads can be served in a bowl or in a baguette.  

• 3241 S. Custer Road, McKinney

Stay informed on five road projects happening in Collin County and Tarrant County. 

Collin County

1. Allen road safety projects 

The project: The city of Allen is using Texas Department of Transportation grant funds to improve 16 intersections. 

The update: Only three intersections have not been completed, but work on all three will begin in February. The three remaining intersections to be improved will be Century Parkway and Bethany Drive, Greenville Avenue and Bethany Drive, and Greenville Avenue and Main Street. 

• Timeline: Work on the remaining three projects is expected to finish up in the fall. 
• Cost: $4.6 million for all 16 projects
• Funding source: TxDOT

• Timeline: spring 2026-fall 2027
• Cost: $27.79 million
• Funding source: town of Prosper 

A set of permanent regulations for thousands of Texas businesses selling consumable hemp products took effect Jan. 21, after the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission adopted them one day earlier.

The overview: The latest hemp rules do not bring significant changes to the roughly 60,000 businesses under TABC oversight. They replace similar emergency rules adopted Sept. 23, prohibiting Texas alcohol retailers from selling hemp-derived THC products to customers under 21 years old.

“The key you heard today… is the effect of THC on younger folks' development—much like alcohol, the same reasons we regulate alcohol for those 21 years old [and up],” TABC chair Robert Eckels said.

Zooming in: The TABC has limited jurisdiction over the consumable hemp industry and can only require age limits and ID checks, agency leaders said. State health officials are considering more comprehensive regulations on the industry.

“The Department of State Health Services’ rules are going to be much more robust,” TABC general counsel James Person said Jan. 20. “They actually cover the products themselves: the [THC] content, the testing and whatnot."