Mandola’s Italian Kitchen is celebrating 20 years of serving Texas on March 3.

The details: The locally owned restaurant from Damian and Trina Mandola first opened in North Austin's The Triangle in 2006. Since then, it has expanded to three additional Austin-area locations including in Southwest Austin, Bee Cave and Cedar Park. Additionally, Mandola's can be found in Florida.

The counter-service restaurant offers Italian dishes alongside market items like bread, pastries, gelato and cured meats and cheeses. To celebrate 20 years March 3, each Mandola's location will be offering 20% off meals and a gift card giveaway.

Also of note: The couple also owns Trattoria Lisina, a Tuscan-inspired Italian restaurant in Driftwood.

• 4700 W. Guadalupe St., Ste. 12, Austin; 4301 W. William Cannon Drive, E-1, Austin; 12100 W. Parmer Lane, Ste. 200, Cedar Park; 12815 Shops Parkway, Ste. 400, Bee Cave

After approximately two years of operation, the team at Apogee Dripping Springs will close its doors at the end of this school year.

The mixed-age micro school currently serves nine full-time students and four part-time students, with a focus on hands-on learning and community-driven activities.

What happened: Since 2024, Apogee has subleased a classroom in Dripping Springs Presbyterian Church for school operations. As the lease agreement comes to an end, the congregation has grown and now needs the classroom space.

While founder and chief inspiration officer Sarah Pevehouse said she explored relocating to a commercial space, the leasing rates in Dripping Springs and West Austin were out of reach for a school of Apogee’s size.

Quote of note: “The program accomplished what it set out to do,” Pevehouse said in an email to Community Impact. “[To] demonstrate that small, mentorship-driven, experiential education can thrive and make a measurable impact.”

• 26650 RR 12, Dripping Springs

The Texas Education Agency must correct roughly 4,200 errors in its elementary and middle school curriculum, the State Board of Education ruled Feb. 25.

The overview: The changes to the Bluebonnet Learning materials, a set of state-developed textbooks, include replacing improperly licensed images, fixing formatting errors or typos and correcting factual errors.

The SBOE approved the Bluebonnet materials in November 2024. The curriculum, which became available to districts ahead of the 2025-26 school year, has been criticized for frequent biblical references in the reading materials, although proponents said the materials would help improve student outcomes.

Zooming in: Before approving the changes, several board members expressed concerns about the “unprecedented” number of issues with the state-developed textbooks, noting that Texas taxpayers will cover the costs of reprinting the updated materials, as they were developed with state funds.

“I’m very concerned that, as a board, we have set a precedent for sloppy publishing. Many times, even if it's a typo, it could become an error of fact,” SBOE member Pam Little, R-Fairview, said.