To combat chronic absenteeism, the San Antonio City Council entered into a $150,000 funding agreement between the city and VIA Metropolitan Transit on Jan. 15 to launch a pilot program that provides middle school and high school students with VIA bus passes for a semester.

The gist: According to city documents, the pilot program will cover the costs of VIA semester bus passes at $28.50 per student, providing free transportation to more than 5,200 students ages 12-18.

To apply for free bus passes, students must complete a form available on VIAinfo.net or at VIA’s transit centers and obtain signatures from their educational institution.

VIA will oversee the program as part of its current bus fare program, which currently provides semester bus passes for students for $28.50 a semester. The pilot program will begin retroactively Dec. 20, 2025, and end once all funding has been used.

As this nationwide gaming retailer continues to shut down stores across the United States, San Antonio is beginning to see some local impacts.

In case you missed it: GameStop has closed at least five stores across San Antonio, with three of the five locations nestled in North San Antonio.

The stores at 7117 Blanco Road, Ste. 1 and 11745 W. I-10, Ste. 120 closed as of Jan. 7, and the stores

Signs were installed at these locations indicating their indefinite closure and they have been marked as “closed” on the company’s store locator tool.

Additionally, the lone GameStop in nearby Boerne also closed at the beginning of the month, according to previous reporting from Community Impact.

• Locations throughout San Antonio

Long-term transportation projects continue to push forward in Schertz and Cibolo. Check out the latest on these three projects.

FM 1518
The reconstruction of 5.6 miles of FM 1518 by widening the existing roadway and making two 11-foot lanes in each direction, alongside a 34-foot-wide raised center median, a 10-foot-wide shared-use path on the east side of the roadway and a 6-foot-wide sidewalk along the west side of the roadway.

• Timeline: spring 2024-spring 2028
• Cost: $72.78 million
• Funding source: TxDOT, city of Schertz

• Timeline: November 2022-TBD
• Cost: $40 million-plus
• Funding source: TxDOT, city of Cibolo, city of Schertz

A set of permanent regulations for thousands of Texas businesses selling consumable hemp products took effect Jan. 21, after the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission adopted them one day earlier.

The overview: The latest hemp rules do not bring significant changes to the roughly 60,000 businesses under TABC oversight. They replace similar emergency rules adopted Sept. 23, prohibiting Texas alcohol retailers from selling hemp-derived THC products to customers under 21 years old.

“The key you heard today… is the effect of THC on younger folks' development—much like alcohol, the same reasons we regulate alcohol for those 21 years old [and up],” TABC chair Robert Eckels said.

Zooming in: The TABC has limited jurisdiction over the consumable hemp industry and can only require age limits and ID checks, agency leaders said. State health officials are considering more comprehensive regulations on the industry.

“The Department of State Health Services’ rules are going to be much more robust,” TABC general counsel James Person said Jan. 20. “They actually cover the products themselves: the [THC] content, the testing and whatnot."