👏 Halfway point! Let's go.

🌤️ Today's weather: Hot again with a "feels like" temperature as high as 105.

Today's newsletter is 980 words — a 3.5-minute read.

A new center that would divert some people experiencing mental illness or addiction away from the Bexar County jail and into treatment could begin operating in January.

Why it matters: The Bexar County Adult Detention Center has increasingly been under scrutiny from criminal justice reform advocates who say it's had the highest fatality rate among Texas jails over the past decade.

Driving the news: The City Council and Bexar County Commissioners Court recently approved about $638,000 each for a six-month pilot program to test the model.

• To round out the funding, officials are looking to University Health for another $638,000.

How it works: The Center for Health Care Services, Bexar County's mental health authority, would operate the pilot program with 15 beds out of its Josephine Recovery Center in Government Hill.

• It would accept people from the Central and St. Mary's substation areas who are facing charges of non-residential criminal trespassing and non-residential theft under $100. 

By the numbers: More than half (56%) of the 130 people arrested by the Bexar County Sheriff's Office in May on criminal trespassing charges were facing mental health needs, per data officials shared with a City Council committee last month.

What they're saying: "We are monitoring those deaths that have occurred at the jail, and we're looking at the profiles of those individuals," said Jelynne LeBlanc Jamison, CEO of the Center for Health Care Services. "We do believe there were opportunities for many of those individuals to be diverted from jail and into treatment."

• "Maybe they're not necessarily someone who should be taking up a cell in the jail, but need a little bit of restorative justice," Precinct 2 Commissioner Justin Rodriguez, who co-chaired a committee exploring the center, tells Axios.

Zoom in: The goal is to divert people before they land in the jail. Typically, it takes eight to 12 hours for someone to go from arrest into booking at the jail — hours that can risk worsening someone's mental health condition, Alexander Testa, professor at UTHealth Houston who studied the feasibility of a diversion center, told the same council committee.

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One of Texas' buzziest restaurant groups is expanding its San Antonio footprint with Barberry at Sítio El Tropicano hotel.

The latest: The restaurant, billed as a classic brasserie with Hill Country influences, is expected to open later this year. It's from Emmer & Rye Hospitality Group, the Austin-based company behind Pullman Market.

• Barberry will be the group's first San Antonio restaurant outside of Pearl.
• Emmer & Rye will also oversee food and beverage across the revamped downtown hotel, including a lobby cafe, provisions shop and poolside dining area.

Zoom in: Menu items include chicken-fried quail, Wagyu steak tartare, Stetson chopped salad and sweet corn ravioles du Dauphiné.

Zoom out: The hotel is accepting reservations for stays beginning in mid-December, with rooms starting around $260 per night.

What's next: Barberry will debut with dinner service before expanding to all-day dining.

• Reservations will open soon.

💉 University Health is offering the updated 2026 COVID-19 vaccines for adults and children at pharmacies across Bexar County, with no appointment required. (University Health)

🤝 The Small Business Administration approved federal disaster assistance for Bexar County and seven neighboring counties, giving residents and businesses affected by August storms access to low-interest recovery loans.

• Those affected can apply online or get in-person help at the Disaster Loan Outreach Center at Las Palmas Library. (Express-News 🔑)

🗄️ San Antonio unveiled a new sculpture at the Municipal Archives & Records Center honoring George Whitfield Jr., the city's first records manager and the facility's namesake. (City of San Antonio)

Even if it doesn't feel like fall outside, pumpkin spice latte is back and it's got competition.

The big picture: Caramel apple, brown sugar and maple lattes are all on the rise — even though PSL has powered fall menus for two decades.

The latest: McDonald's dropped its longtime PSL and instead rolled out caramel apple pie coffee drinks this season, saying: "Step aside pumpkin spice, there's a new flavor in town!"

Caramel, apple and cinnamon are the three most-ordered fall flavors on DoorDash, ahead of pumpkin, according to data shared with Axios.

Other flavors spicing things up:

• Brown sugar is DoorDash's breakout fall flavor of 2026, with orders up 58% year over year.
• Maple latte searches on Yelp rose 65% in July from a year earlier, while searches for "salted maple latte" jumped 591%.
• Cardamom, peanut butter and hazelnut are also among Google's top-trending latte searches.

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👋 It's Megan! I stopped by Paris Baguette inside The Gunter Hotel while working downtown recently, and left impressed with a fall flavor.

Catch up quick: The beloved South Korean bakery chain opened its first San Antonio location late last year.

The vibe: The pastry displays are massive and plentiful, offering everything from egg sandwiches to red bean puffs — and of course, croissants. Choosing a treat was a little overwhelming, so I made a beeline to the coffee menu.

What to try: An iced caramel apple matcha latte ($7.78 with oat milk). I was surprised to find how much I liked this — most chains' coffee is overly sweet, but this tasted natural.

• I see myself ordering this flavor over pumpkin spice again in the future.

Six-word review: Frothy and flavorful with earthy undertones.

What's next: Paris Baguette has two more San Antonio locations in the works, near The Shops at La Cantera and in Stone Oak.

Thanks to our editors Astrid Galván and Bob Gee.

☕️ Madalyn has never been a PSL fan but loves anything with brown sugar.

🍎 Megan is reminding you that peak apple season is actually now. If you wait until it's chilly in S.A., it will be over!