Universal City City Council unanimously approved an update to its Vision 35 Comprehensive Plan on Nov. 18.

The update replaces the city’s 2018-2022 Comprehensive Plan, according to the meeting presentation.

What is it? A comprehensive plan is a long-range planning document city leaders can use as a tool to make decisions that will impact the whole community, according to the presentation.

In a nutshell: The Vision 35 Comprehensive Plan update is comprised of three primary components:

• Future Land Use Map
• Goals and policies
• Implementation plan

A new spot for smoothies, teas and specialty beverages just opened inside this Schertz ice cream parlor.

What’s new: Energy Island Healthy Tea and Shake Shop—owned by husband and wife duo Randy and Trisha Gentry—opened on Nov. 6.

The smoothie bar is nestled inside Randy G’s Ice Cream at 1420 Schertz Parkway, Ste. 240 in Schertz. Gentry said his wife, Trisha Gentry, is in charge of the smoothie shop, while he primarily oversees the ice cream parlor, a business which he first opened in 2021.

What they offer: The menu over 15 protein shake flavors and 15 energy teas, Gentry said. Specialty shakes include the banana split and strawberry cheesecake.

“This is a healthier option for customers,” Gentry said. "There's a lot of variety to choose from."

More details: Gentry said they are also exploring the idea for opening a brick-and-mortar location for shake shop.

• 1420 Schertz Parkway, Ste. 240, Schertz

Google is targeting Texas for future investments in data and artificial infrastructure, with $40 billion expected to be spent on adding three new data centers.

Federal, state and local leaders announced the new centers to be constructed in Armstrong and Haskell counties at a Nov. 14 event at the first Texas Google Data Center in Midlothian, near the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

The gist: One new data center will be constructed in Armstrong County near Amarillo, and two new data centers will be constructed in Haskell County near Abilene. One center in Haskell County will also use a new solar and battery energy storage plant.

“They say that everything is bigger in Texas—and that certainly applies to the golden opportunity with AI,” Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said.

Also of note: The driverless car company Waymo is expanding to North Texas in 2026, Pichai said.

Thanksgiving week is expected to be one of the busiest U.S. travel periods in history, according to projections from AAA. A record 5.8 million Texans are projected to travel at least 50 miles from home Nov. 25-Dec. 1.

Zooming in: About 5.3 million Texans are expected to drive to their Thanksgiving destinations, according to a Nov. 17 news release, while about 328,000 people will fly and 140,000 will use other forms of transportation.

The impact: Texans should give themselves extra time to reach their destinations during Thanksgiving week, with the most congestion expected Nov. 25-26. Traffic is also expected to be heavy as Texans return home Nov. 30, according to INRIX, a transportation data company.

Minimal traffic is expected on Thanksgiving Day.

More details: Texas drivers will pay about the same for gas as they did last Thanksgiving, according to AAA Texas. One gallon of regular unleaded gas cost about $2.65 in Texas as of Nov. 13, down from $2.69 last year.