Cypress Digest 🌲10.16.26

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Early voting for the Nov. 3 election runs Oct. 19–30, per Harris County Elections. You can vote at any vote center in the county, so pick the one on your errand route.

Vote centers close to most of Cypress include 15235 Spring Cypress Road, 26026 Hempstead Highway, and 8440 Greenhouse Road. CFISD’s five propositions are on the ballot: a 12-cent tax rate vote and a four-part, $1.63 billion bond. If everything passes and the district’s projections hold, that’s a net increase of about $90 a year for every $100,000 of taxable value. Each one is decided separately, though… → See what each proposition pays for | Find a vote center

Daricka Hudson’s three kids catch the bus to Walker Elementary outside the Skyview Flats Apartments on Freeman Road. She says drivers routinely pass the bus while its red lights are flashing and the stop arm is out. Late last month she posted videos of it, and the Harris County Sheriff’s Office noticed. Since early October, Hudson says, as many as three deputies have waited at the stop every afternoon to catch drivers who don’t stop. HCSO says it plans to keep watching it, and the complex has asked CFISD about moving the stop.

Kids are back on buses Monday, so here’s the rule: in Texas, you stop for a school bus with flashing red lights from either direction. The only exception is a road split by a physical barrier or a median you can’t drive on. A center turn lane doesn’t count. A first offense is a $500 to $1,250 fine. → Read the Texas law

Misfit Brewing’s Sludge Factory, a 10.5% imperial chocolate stout conditioned on cocoa nibs, took gold at the 2026 Great American Beer Festival on Oct. 11. The competition drew 7,267 entries from about 1,300 breweries and cideries. It’s the beer’s third medal this year, after silver at the Texas Craft Brewers Cup and bronze at the U.S. Open Beer Championship. All of it comes off a 3.5-barrel system at 16103 Grant Road, Suite J.

A gold-medal stout and the first real cold front in the same weekend. Hard to argue with that timing. → See what’s on tap

🌲 Your October health to-do list: Harris County Public Health is offering free flu shots and free clinical breast exams all month, and there’s a women’s health morning at Memorial Hermann Cypress on Oct. 24. We put it all in one place, along with what the latest state data says about flu. → Read the October community health report

🌲 Precinct 4’s Flock cameras: Commissioners Court was set to get a full report on the county’s license plate readers Thursday. Cameras run by HOAs, MUDs, and the Sheriff’s Office weren’t part of the shutoff. → What’s still running, and how to check your neighborhood

🌲 Still hunting pumpkins? Our fall festivals and pumpkin patch guide has two dozen options.