With growth on the horizon, the Taylor Press continues to work to find new ways to provide local news coverage, along with keeping up with new businesses and providing information for readers.
In April, the Taylor Press launched the East Wilco Insider, a high-end, neighbor- and newcomer-friendly magazine showcasing eastern Williamson County and its news, businesses, arts, culture, growth and other valuable information. The fight against fentanyl. Egret troubles.
The “Samsung effect.” Since the East Wilco Insider hit the county’s mailboxes in April 2022, it has taken on the challenge of covering this area’s top priorities.
A free, monthly, full-color hyperlocal news magazine published by the Taylor Press, East Wilco Insider investigates the good, the bad and the ugly.
Thomas Edwards is the editor of EWI and the executive editor for all Granite Media Partners Inc. publications, including the Taylor Press, as well as Granite's digital content.
“I brought on some top-tier journalists who have covered some very controversial topics, from the opioid crisis, the local thriving Czech culture and the dismantling of an entire African-American neighborhood in Taylor to land deals influenced by the coming of Samsung Austin Semiconductor, as well as suicides and holiday stress,” Edwards said. “The East Wilco Insider also has the most in-depth entertainment calendar around. We're not afraid to cover anything, and on behalf of our readers, I believe we've been courageous in our reporting.'
M any of the topics the magazine covered have experienced developments since their stories were published. Some changes were arguably brought about by the light EWI shone on the topic.
Others are simply influenced by a fast-moving economic climate.
Following are a few updates to some of EWI’s top stories: Death in disguise
The September issue featured a cover story on the local area’s preparedness for the looming crisis of opioid overdoses and deadly fentanyl cases. At the time, sheriff’s deputies and the DEA said that fentanyl had been found in this area, while local law-enforcement agencies were saying that it hadn’t yet become a crisis here.
In the months after that story ran, drug busts throughout the region brought the matter to the forefront and parents worried that colorful “rainbow fentanyl” pills could find their way into their kids’ Halloween bags.
In Hutto and Taylor, schools have now taken on the mantle of treatment and prevention. Hutto Independent School District and Taylor Independent School District both stock Narcan (an opioid antidote) in their schools’ medical kits and school personnel is trained in its use. Both districts have also sent informative fliers to parents and provided educational presentations to students on the dangers of fentanyl.
While the Hutto Police Department was supplied with Narcan at the time of the EWI article, the Taylor Police Department now carries Narcan and officers have been trained in its use, as well as training on how to identify potential opioid overdoses. One disturbing new development is that while fentanyl toxicity used to be considered an “accidental” by-product of using counterfeit drugs, a drug counselor at a Taylor rehab center confided that he is seeing more patients who are choosing fentanyl as their “drug of choice.”
A positive new development: In November the University of Houston announced they have developed a groundbreaking fentanyl vaccine.
Egrets ruffle feathers in duck town The May, 2022 issue of EWI ran an article focusing on the influx of these protected migrating birds in Taylor and potential problems with their growing numbers at Murphy Park and the surrounding area.
During a Fourth of July fireworks event sponsored by the city, several egrets were startled and flew into power lines, knocking out power to part of the city and destroying the birds.
On Nov. 10, Taylor City Council heard a presentation from Parks and Recreation Director Tyler Bybee and representatives from Texas A&M AgriLife Extension-Wildlife Services and Texas Parks and Wildlife The presentation discussed finding alternative sites for a July 4th Fireworks display, and next steps for the city regarding the rookery. The city was warned that holding the fireworks event in the Murphy Park again, now that it has been shown to be a danger to the protected birds, could be in violation of federal law. No decisions on what to do have made yet.
Housing and real estate In May and again in November, EWI reported on the housing shortage in Hutto and Taylor. While in May there were a record 20,000 lots platted for residential development in the area, by November the economic slow-down and interest rate increases put a damper on the market. Prices dropped slightly as the buying frenzy cooled.
Available housing is currently still at a premium, but the building of multi-family homes and apartment complexes has proceeded with more set to open soon. Hutto is also seeing the development of built-to-rent neighborhoods in the near future – subdivisions of single-family homes that will all be rental properties.
The Samsung effect
In October EWI wrote about how Taylor is embracing the increasingly diverse population coming to the area for jobs at Samsung. Two of the highlighted businesses were Texas Beer Co. and Taylor Seoul Food. Both are now expanding.
Co-owner Megan Klein of Texas Beer Co said that the company’s statewide distribution has grown, and that they will be shutting their taproom at 201 N. Main on Saturday, Dec. 31 to focus on statewide distribution of their beer from their brewery. “In order to have the time, and have capacity to practically grow, we need to simplify operations in Taylor,” Klein said.
Taylor Seoul Food is expanding their take-out kitchen at 407 W. 9th on the campus of Old Taylor High School into a full cafe at the same location. Owner Sungeun Naomi Park says her growing customer base is 50/50 people from Samsung and longtime residents. “People don’t know what Korean food is, 99% of my customers never had the Korean experience,” Park said.
“But they try it and they love it and now they want a proper dining place to bring their families and friends for a good time with good food.” The dining room is scheduled to open in the next few weeks.
Hutto Co-op District picking up steam In June, 2022, the future looked bright for the Hutto co-op district as reported by EWI. New tenants were coming online and construction was set to begin soon. However, relationships soured over the ensuing months amid concerns of invalid contracts, lack of progress and differing visions of what the city hoped to be an entertainment-focused development. In November, the five-year drama surrounding Hutto’s Co-op District entered a new chapter when city council voted to send notice of material default to developer MA Partners LLC. The parties now have 180 days to work out their differences if the project is to proceed.East Wilco Insider is directly mailed to thousands of homes and businesses across eastern Williamson County, and is available online at EastWilcoInsider.com. If there’s a topic you’d like to see the magazine investigate, contact [email protected].
Thomas Edwards, Edie Zuvanich and Nicole Lessin and Travis Poling contributed to this story.
