Dana Massey was sworn in as the city of Katy’s first female fire chief in June following the retirement of Kenneth Parker, who served five years in the position.

The details: Massey has been with the Katy Fire Department since 1999, winning the city's 2021 Employee of the Year award, Community Impact previously reported. She previously worked at the Baytown and Galena Park fire departments.

Community Impact spoke with Massey about her new role, goals as new chief and what the fire department is doing as the city continues to grow and expand.

What inspired you to become a firefighter?

I grew up in a house of firefighters and my father was a fireman for Houston Fire Department and my brothers were volunteers for the city that we lived in in East Houston. So, it kind of became just part of my childhood.

Target employees, community members, developers and elected officials gathered Oct. 6 to celebrate the opening of the national retailer’s new location in Texas Heritage Marketplace. 

The details: The 148,000-square-foot store will be the largest food-forward Target in the Greater Houston area and is expected to create around 200 jobs, Community Impact previously reported. 

Shoppers can enjoy Starbucks, CVS Pharmacy and Target Optical on-site, in addition to EV charging stations.

How we got here: Austin Alvis, president and chief development officer of NewQuest, said the developer purchased the land 10 years ago with work escalating in the last three years. 

“A big project like this, all at once, is super exciting because we just opened Lowe’s, they’re starting to have other tenants open, Whataburger open,” Alvis said. “Then we’ll have another 40 tenants open over the course of the next six months.”

• 29355 Katy Freeway, Katy

Fort Bend County residents will choose between Tamara McFarlane and Sonya Jones for county clerk in the Nov. 3 election.

The details: Candidates were asked to keep responses under 50 words, answer the questions provided and avoid attacking opponents. Answers may have been minimally edited or cut to adhere to those guidelines, or for style and clarity.

Here's what we asked them:

• Why did you choose to run for this position?

• What are your qualifications for why you’d be a strong candidate in this role?

• What is your top priority if elected to represent the citizens of Fort Bend County?

• What do you think is the most pressing issue for Fort Bend County, and what will you do to address it?

• How do you plan to involve residents in the decision-making process?

• How should the county prepare to address its fast-growing population?

Harris County Precinct 4 and the Harris County Sheriff’s Office have launched a pilot program to serve warrants to family violence offenders while protecting survivors and their families.

In a nutshell: Announced Oct. 1, the initiative is a partnership with the county's Domestic Violence Coordinating Council and Harris County District Attorney's Office.

The co-response team consists of nine VIPER deputies and nine SMART advocates. The program operates through the following steps:

• The VIPER task force serves a warrant on the offender, starting with the top 100 wanted domestic violence offenders in Precinct 4.

• The SMART team contacts the survivor and their family to help secure shelter and immediate safety.

• Cases deemed dangerous are referred to the Domestic Violence High-Risk Team for monitoring.

Why it matters: The program addresses a critical need in Harris County, where law enforcement receives more than 40,000 domestic violence-related calls annually, and family violence accounts for about 30% of the county's homicides.