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Friday Forum with The Waco Bridge

January 16 News Roundup + Interview with Andrea Barefield

By Molly-Jo Tilton,
J.B. Smith
Published January 16, 2026 at 11:10 AM CST

This week, co-hosts Molly-Jo Tilton and JB Smith will be looking at the ongoing public concerns about data center projects in McLennan and Bosque counties, a gift to Baylor’s baseball program from a certain famous Waco couple, and new buses funded by Midway ISD’s bond election.

Plus, JB Smith sits down with Waco Councilwoman Andrea Barefield about the new Bledsoe-Miller STEAM Center opening in District 1.

Plus this week's trivia question: Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard was renamed in honor of the slain civil rights leader in 1995 after a long campaign by Council Member Lawrence Johnson. What was its previous name? Listen to this week's Friday Forum to find out!

This weekly show is produced by KWBU in partnership with the Waco Bridge. 

Partnerships like this are only possible through the generosity of our members. If you find this programming valuable, consider making a tax-deductible gift today. Thank you.

Friday Forum with The Waco Bridge
Molly-Jo Tilton
Molly-Jo Tilton joined KWBU in 2024 as the station's Multimedia Reporter. She covers all things Waco for KWBU, from City Council to the local arts scene. Her work has appeared on The Texas Standard and NPR's All Things Considered.
See stories by Molly-Jo Tilton
J.B. Smith
Before joining The Waco Bridge in February as editor-in-chief, J.B. Smith had 33 years of Texas journalism experience, most of it as local government reporter and managing editor at the Tribune-Herald. He has won numerous statewide awards for enterprise journalism, including a series on migrant deaths on the Mexico border. A Sulphur Springs native and Southwestern University graduate, he is grateful for the opportunity to build a nonprofit newsroom in his adopted hometown of Waco.
See stories by J.B. Smith