Investments in parks planned across Allen will replace three playground structures with new equipment, including a themed playground at Celebration Park.

The 25-year-old playground will be redeveloped and feature inclusive elements, Director of Parks and Recreation Kate Meacham said. Other playground replacements are coming to Bradford Crossing Park and Quail Run Park, aligning with the department’s cadence of completing two playground replacements each year, she said.

The framework: Meacham said the department works to give the city’s park system a “sense of identity,” including through the use of themed playgrounds that are strategically dispersed throughout the city. They often gain a new name based on their theme, such as Waterford Park being called the “rocket ship park,” she said.

What they're saying: Allen resident Heather Casey said her daughter identifies local playgrounds by their themes, including Lost Creek Park’s bumblebee-themed playground.

“I love how many parks there are [in Allen]. There are five parks within five minutes of our house,” Casey said.

As it nears its one-year anniversary, the Texas Health Community Resource Center in Allen has expanded its services and hours.

The center, which offers a six-month program with medical care and support for eligible Collin County residents with chronic conditions, opened in May 2025.

The setup: The resource center, located at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Allen, is an initiative of the Texas Health Community Hope program and is funded through the Texas Health Resources Foundation. More than 129 enrolled clients have been served, and more than 460 visits have been logged since the center’s opening, according to a Texas Health news release.

What’s new: The Texas Health Community Resource Center now offers evening hours each Wednesday, operating from noon to 8 p.m., in an effort to provide flexibility for clients who work during daytime hours, the release states. Through a partnership with the American Heart Association, the center’s new services include offering digital weight scales, blood pressure monitors and pill organizers for clients to support self-monitoring.

Wendy Michaelis and her daughter, Anna Bell, are the owners and operators of FixAIRx, a forensic indoor environmental health company based in Denton County, which is dedicated to assessing the air quality to address complex indoor health concerns. 

Zooming in: Elevated mold exposure can affect health, especially for people who are sensitive, allergic, asthmatic, immunocompromised or already dealing with other health concerns, Michaelis said. Damp or moldy buildings are associated with respiratory symptoms, asthma concerns, allergic rhinitis, hypersensitivity pneumonitis, respiratory infections and eczema. 

“It’s crazy that 13 years ago, I started this company to find solutions for Anna’s asthma. I never expected that this would become our journey together.” Michaelis said.

Diving in deeper: Community Impact spoke with Michaelis, a licensed mold assessment consultant, on how to monitor a home’s air quality, especially when it comes to mold assessment and mold remediation.

A hospital in Denton is getting major renovations and a retail space in Plano will be converted into a Goodwill Store and Donation Center, according to state construction permits.

Check out five major permits filed around Dallas-Fort Worth.

1. Retail buildings in Prosper
Two new retail buildings are set to start construction in Prosper in early July. The project is listed as The Shops at Prosper Frontier, and the two buildings will total 32,000 square feet of retail space, according to documents filed with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation.

• Location: Southeast corner of Frontier Parkway and Preston Road, Prosper

• Estimated timeline: July 1-Dec. 31

• Estimated cost: $5.4 million

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.