City officials and community members gathered at the corner of West San Antonio Street and South Guenther Avenue on Sept. 29 to celebrate the groundbreaking of The Neue, a planned condominium development in downtown New Braunfels.

The overview: The $27 million, 72,000-square-foot project at 699 W. San Antonio St. is being developed by Seals Family Properties and Gillum Development, according to previous reporting by Community Impact. The project is being designed by TBA Douglas, a San Antonio-based architecture firm.

Lindsey Gillum, principal at Gillum Development, said their knowledge of the area and community helped shape this project.

"We've been deliberate about the design, the materials and the way that this building will meet the street," Gillum said. "It's going to be part of our downtown landscape long after all of us."

What happens next? The project is expected to be completed by November 2027, Gillum said.

Motorists traveling along McQueeney Road, between Northpark Ridge and Walnut Heights Boulevard, can expect to see alternating road closures through Oct. 29 due to utility-related construction.

There will be one lane open with temporary traffic signals directing drivers through the work zone. The other lane will remain closed 24 hours a day for the duration of the work, according to a New Braunfels Utilities, or NBU, news release. 

Some context: The road closures are due to NBU crews continuing work on phase 1 of the South Kuehler Interceptor Project. The project aims to increase wastewater capacity and improve reliability in the South Kuehler sewer basin by replacing a nearby wastewater interceptor that is in poor condition, according to the release.

A wastewater interceptor is a large underground pipe that collects wastewater from smaller wastewater lines throughout the community and carries it to a water reclamation facility for treatment, the release states. Replacing and upsizing the interceptor ensures NBU has enough capacity to convey wastewater and help reduce backups.

Austin Pets Alive! and PAWS Shelter of Central Texas announced a new partnership to launch the Hays County Pets Alive! initiative. The collaboration will expand animal services to save more pets in Hays County.

The overview: Hays County Pets Alive! was created after the boards of directors for both organizations met to discuss a potential partnership aimed at supporting PAWS and its efforts to provide Hays County with animal services.

The collaboration will provide essential animal services to the region, according to the release. Clinical service days at the PAWS Dripping Springs shelter will be increased.

Looking forward: PAWS will continue leading operations at the Dripping Springs shelter location. Both organizations are working to reopen the Kyle shelter location by the end of the year.

On July 17, PAWS announced its intention to wind down operations and close the Kyle shelter because the organization could not logistically and financially maintain it and the Dripping Springs shelter.

The Texas Education Agency is asking state lawmakers to spend $97.3 billion on K-12 education initiatives and staffing in the next two years, up from about $91 billion in the current state budget.

The details: During a Sept. 29 hearing on the agency's legislative appropriations request, Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath noted that the TEA is "largely a pass-through vehicle to fund schools around the state of Texas." This means that while funding would be allocated to the agency under Article III of the state budget, the majority of that money would be sent to school districts, outside of funds used to pay TEA staff and cover operations for associated entities, such as the State Board of Education.

The TEA is asking for about $49.6 billion for fiscal year 2027-28 and $47.7 billion for fiscal year 2028-29, totaling $97.3 billion for the 2028-29 biennium. Morath said those amounts would "preserve 100% of all funding for public schools" through the Foundation School Program, which is the state's main funding source for K-12 schools, and other initiatives.