Funding for sidewalk infrastructure improvements has been provided to the city of Boerne through the Alamo Area Metropolitan Planning Organization, or AAMPO.

Through grant funding, city officials will work on improvements to East Hosack Street, West Hosack Street, West Theissen Street, Schweppe Street, Herff Road, City Park Road and Old No. 9 Trail.

The details: In the call for projects for fiscal year 2027-2030, AAMPO awarded Boerne $2.6 million for the sidewalk improvements.

According to the city website, these projects are at or near 100% design completion, intending to be fully designed in 2026.

The grant requires the city to contribute 20% of the project funds, while the grant covers the remaining 80%.

Here are the latest businesses in Boerne, along with a few that are planning to open soon in the Hill Country.

Coming soon
Club Car Wash
The car wash chain is planning to open its third location in the Boerne area, offering unlimited car washes, memberships, vacuums and other services.

• 28353 I-10 E., Boerne

• 616 N. Main St., Boerne

• Serving Boerne, surrounding areas

• 1026 N. Main St., Boerne

UT Health San Antonio's Center for Brain Health will bring together clinician expertise in dozens of disorders. The facility will participate in national research initiatives, focusing on clinical trials to enable earlier detection and treatment of rare diseases, said Dr. Carlayne Jackson, chair of neurology at UT Health San Antonio.

The big picture: Jackson described the $100 million, 103,000-square- foot Center for Brain Health as a one-stop shop for patients with neurodegenerative diseases. As home to the Glenn Biggs Institute for Alzheimer's and Neurodegenerative Diseases, the center employs clinicians who can innovate treatments by leveraging its brain bank, which contains over 1,000 donated brains, including nearly 500 from Texans, said Dr. Sudha Seshadri, the founding director of the Glenn Biggs Institute for Alzheimer's and Neurodegenerative Diseases.

"We can test different treatments, look at different types of models, and, hopefully, bring only the most promising compounds to human studies," Seshadri said.

Zooming in: Jackson said that with 40 neurology residents and eight fellowships, the center offers a unique environment to train the next generation of neurologists.  

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