Madison Feanny Benoit said she opened Lumos Aesthetics and Wellness in April to offer The Woodlands community a welcoming environment focused on providing a healthier beauty standard.

Quote of note: “We're about enhancing people's natural beauty and, more importantly, providing a healthier beauty standard for young girls and women today,” Feanny Benoit said. “We also want to really focus on enhancing people's natural God-given beauty.”

Whats special about it: Lumos Aesthetics and Wellness offers services from standard facials to LED light therapy and microneedling as well as Botox and peptide therapy.

8000 McBeth Way, Ste. 190, The Woodlands

 

Holiday light displays on The Woodlands Waterway will see their final weekend for the season, and the Ice Rink will also still be open Jan. 2-4. Here's a look at some things to do in The Woodlands area this weekend. This listing is not comprehensive, and events are subject to change.

Giving Machines: The seasonal vending machines allow residents to donate to area nonprofits. The machines are part of The Church of Latter-day Saints’ “Light the World” initiative, according to a news release. The Woodlands machines opened on Dec. 17 and will be operational through Jan. 3.

• Jan. 2-3, all day
• Donation amounts vary
• Hughes Landing Band Shell, 1950 Hughes Landing Blvd., The Woodlands.

• Jan. 2-4, evenings
• Free
• The Woodlands Waterway, 31 Waterway Square Place, The Woodlands

In 2025, Community Impact readers followed a mix of county decisions—from the fiscal year budget and public safety changes to debates over county facilities, road funding and new regulations. 

The details: Read on for a roundup of major Montgomery County stories from the year.

County adopts FY 2025-26 budget, sets $0.3770 tax rate
Commissioners Court approved a $508.1 million balanced budget and set the county property tax rate at $0.3770 per $100 valuation. The plan included items such as law enforcement pay parity, added staffing, IT and cybersecurity funding, and jail-related costs.

Jail overcrowding prompts officials to weigh costly long-term fixes
Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office leaders told commissioners the jail was operating at 97.9% capacity—housing 1,289 inmates—and outlined options ranging from a new jail facility to acquiring an existing facility. A consultant study was expected to review costs, location and projected needs. 
 

Approximately three dozen new Texas laws are scheduled to take effect Jan. 1, impacting how artificial intelligence is used in state government, when local officials can raise taxes after natural disasters and how much of businesses' inventory is taxed.

The background: The changes come after Texas’s biennial legislative session ended in early June. Gov. Greg Abbott signed over 1,100 laws passed by state lawmakers, many of which took effect in June or September.

The details: Some of the bills becoming law in the new year are:

• House Bill 9, which will expand a tax exemption for business owners
• House Bill 30, which will tighten regulations on counties' and cities' abilities to raise tax rates after natural disasters
• House Bill 149, which will regulate the fast-growing AI industry
• House Bill 247, which will exempt certain border security infrastructure from property tax increases
• House Bill 1399, which will create a property tax exemption for stores selling animal feed
• House Bill 2508, which will establish a property tax exemption for the surviving spouse of certain military members