On June 10, Blinn College held a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the opening of the new Waller Workforce and Technical Education Complex. 

A new chapter: Construction of the complex was officially announced Sept. 15, 2025. The purpose of the facility is to support students and the region's growing workforce. The complex has a wide variety of labs that will train students in multiple industries, including:

• Medical and computer learning labs
• Mechantronics/advanced manufacturing labs
• Skilled trades labs

A Texas Department of Licensing Regulation filing from Third Gen Coffee, which has a location on 25136 Grogans Park Drive, The Woodlands, shows work was planned to start on a location on FM 2978 in May to conclude in August.

What you need to know: The coffee shop serves a variety of beverages such as espresso, cold brew, coffees and teas.

• 32615 FM 2978, Magnolia

During a June 11 meeting, Montgomery County commissioners voted 4-1 to create four new courts to help handle increasing caseloads. Precinct 4 Commissioner Matt Gray was the opposing vote.

The discussion: Two district court judges, 284th District Judge Kristin Bays and 418th District Judge Tracy Gilbert, presented data to support the request for a resolution for the new courts from the state’s Office of Court Administration, Bays said many more courts are needed to meet the increase in case filings.

How it works: Bays and Gilbert broke down the numbers from OCA for commissioners to help put their request in perspective.

What they’re saying: Commissioners and judges debated the pros of a plan for new courts.

What happens next: After an executive session was held, commissioners decided to create a new resolution outlining how many courts were approved.

The Coalition for the Homeless of Houston/Harris County released the results of the 2026 Point-in-Time Count & Survey, which involves volunteers counting the number of individuals experiencing homelessness over three days across Fort Bend, Harris, and Montgomery counties.

This year's count took place in mid-February, with the results being released June 12.

The results are in: The report found that a total of 3,321 people were experiencing homelessness on a single night in February, with 2,051 being sheltered individuals and 1,270 being unsheltered individuals.

The majority of homeless individuals were accounted for in Harris County, with 53.9% of sheltered individuals and 35.8% of unsheltered individuals coming from the most populous county in Texas.

The numbers are consistent with the figures from the 2025 report, which showed that approximately 3,325 individuals were homeless across the three counties.

More information: Officials with the coalition also pointed out that this year's report expands beyond the PIT Count to include additional indicators such as year-round interactions with the homeless response system, housing stability outcomes and inflow.

As the 2026-27 school year nears, the number of people selected to participate in Texas’ education savings account program has topped 100,000.

The overview: To date, just over 102,000 students have been accepted into the Texas Education Freedom Accounts program, which gives families state funds to send their children to private schools or homeschool them.

However, being awarded funds does not mean a student is guaranteed to be able to use that money at a participating private school this fall.

Zooming in: Over 2,600 private schools have been approved to accept TEFA funding, per the state comptroller's office. State law does not require schools participating in the program to accept all interested families.

Next steps: Families accepted into the program have until July 15 to do one of the following:

• Confirm enrollment at a private school involved in the program
• Notify the state of their homeschooling plans
• Opt out of the program