Bastrop City Council approved a zoning change for the Crossings at 95 development—a project that aims to build dozens of residential units and multiunit townhomes as well as a 4,000-square-foot restaurant, according to city documents.

The details: Paradise Engineers is designing the project for Iron Realty.

The nearly 7.4-acre property at 2002 Hwy. 95, Bastrop, which is currently vacant, is east of the Public Works Department and south of the Bastrop Youth Baseball and Softball Organization’s fields.

Zooming in: Following concerns from local leaders and residents in October about an expected increase in traffic along Hwy. 95, city officials met with representatives from Paradise Engineers, The Goodman Corp. and the Texas Department of Transportation to discuss the launch of an overall traffic study.

The overall traffic study is analyzing Hwy. 95 from Mesquite Street to Hawthorne Street, according to city documents.

Bastrop ISD officials unanimously voted to hire Kristi Lee as the district's next superintendent Dec. 16. 

Remember this? Following former Superintendent Barry Edwards' retirement in June, trustees selected Lee as interim in July, and named her as the lone finalist in the district's search for a new superintendent in November. 

In their own words: "I am very humbled to be entrusted to be your superintendent," Lee said. "I just thank you for your confidence in me, for your support, and encouragement during this entire interim period."

CapMetro is marking its 40th anniversary with a forward-looking overhaul of how it serves a region where commuting patterns have shifted. With hybrid work reducing traditional peak-hour demand, the agency adopted Transit Plan 2035 as a “recalibration” aimed at building a more equitable, reliable and widely used system.

A closer look: Key strategies include expanding on-demand Pickup zones, boosting frequency on core MetroRapid corridors and improving all-day service on the Red Line in the coming years.

The plan also highlights system gaps in many outer neighborhoods, where bus stops remain far from homes and business centers, while Central Austin riders continue calling for more dependable service.

The outlook: CapMetro leaders say increasing frequency is the most effective way to attract riders.

Safety remains a focus as well. The agency’s community-centered public safety program blends ambassadors, intervention specialists and a new Transit Police Department, contributing to stabilizing incident trends. Long-term, CapMetro is investing in transit-oriented development to connect more Austinites to housing, jobs and high-frequency routes

The Texas power grid is expected to hold up this winter, officials with the Electric Reliability Council of Texas said Dec. 9.

This is due in part to “tremendous supply growth on the ERCOT grid,” ERCOT CEO Pablo Vegas said, amid an influx of data centers coming to the state.

The overview: Since last winter, over 11,000 megawatts of generating capacity have been added to the ERCOT grid, Vegas said. That growth, which largely comes from battery storage and solar facilities, could be used to power about 2.8 million homes during periods of peak electric demand.

Zooming in: Under most weather conditions, there is a less than 2% chance of a grid emergency through February, ERCOT found.

However, Texas could be in trouble in the unlikely event that a repeat of Winter Storm Uri hits large parts of the state this winter, although ERCOT noted that the probability of such a severe storm happening again was "well under one percent." The February 2021 freeze devastated an unprepared power grid, resulting in nearly 250 deaths.