From public safety programs and tax-funded initiatives to disaster response and community planning, these 15 updates highlight key developments in Travis County throughout 2025.

1. Travis County ramps up CAFA
Travis County commissioners allocated $8.2 million in funding Jan. 28 for additional legal representation services following an individual's arrest, an initiative that has long held local civil rights advocates' attention.

2. Central Health moves towards greater transparency after critical audit
On March 11, Central Health—Travis County’s taxpayer-funded hospital district—announced strides in improving transparency following a critical third-party performance audit from September 2024.

The audit, conducted by Mazars USA, highlighted issues with insufficient documentation and inconsistent reporting methods.

3. Travis County greenlights vision zero
Commissioners approved a goal of achieving a 50% reduction in roadway fatalities by 2035 and 100% by 2050 on March 11.

The Safe Streets for All initiative—which has been adopted by cities and transportation agencies across the nation—aims to eliminate traffic-related serious injuries and fatalities.

Austin Energy has finalized a 10-year, $735 million plan to improve system reliability and limit power outages in the face of mounting disruptions from aging infrastructure and severe weather.

The details: The release of AE's Electric System Resiliency Plan, or ESRP, comes after the three most impactful extreme weather events in utility history including winter storms Uri and Mara, and this May's microburst storm. The new plan also builds on recent consultant studies into both hardening AE's thousands of miles of overhead power lines, and burying some lines underground.

What residents should know: A variety of upgrades called for in the ESRP will take place wherever they make the biggest difference for the most amount of utility customers, and work will be scaled around the Austin area over the coming decade. Some customers may see limited service impacts as projects take place, accompanied with resident notifications.

In the next year, AE will also launch a public dashboard to report project updates and overall progress toward ESRP goals.

Here are the top Community Impact stories in the Austin area from Dec. 22-25.

1. Tunnels complete for Lake Travis deep-water intake project

2. Check out these 9 Austin-area restaurants open on Christmas Day

3. Check out these new and coming soon Georgetown-area businesses

4. Billboard on Bee Caves Road set for January court case

5. Cinemark Stone Hill Town Center upgrade coming soon

6. Austin sees 46% drop in pedestrian crashes after left-turn safety pilot

Coffee house Neon Belly opened in mid-November in North Austin. 

On the menu: The shop serves a variety of coffee drinks such as the baklava latte, horchata latte and iced orange macchiato, along with classic options such as cold brew, drip coffee and espressos. The shop also serves matcha lattes and a variety of teas, while its pastry menu includes sourdough bites, cookies, muffins, scones and gluten-free desserts. 

Did you know?: Owner Kathleen Wainwright says the entire coffee house is designed to glow and create a vibrant space that lights up North Austin’s coffee scene. 

• 8312 Burnet Road, Ste. 101, Austin