Rio Grande Guardian's Podcast

MCALLEN, Texas - Jay Kleberg, the Democratic Party’s nominee for Texas Land Commissioner, was in the Rio Grande Valley recently to meet with reporters. In the attached audio file, Kleberg talks about his South Texas roots, what the Land Commission does, and why he is the best candidate to run the commission.  Go to www.riograndeguardian.com to read the latest border news stories and watch the late...

Jay Kleberg Go to www.riograndeguardian.com to read the latest border news stories and watch the latest news videos. 

PHARR, Texas - Ken Roberts is the founder and president of WorldCity, Inc., a company that tracks trade data at U.S. airports, seaports and border crossings.  He is also a former Federal Reserve Trade & Transportation Advisory Board member. He collates trade data from the U.S. Census Bureau. WorldCity’s website address is www.ustradenumbers.com. Every year, Roberts produces a book for the Phar...

BROWNSVILLE, Texas - The founder and CEO of the Space Channel has explained how his company’s partnership with Texas Southmost College came about. Chad Mallam said he would like to see a “huge media center” develop at TSC. Under the partnership, TSC students will learn how to write, shoot, edit and design graphics for the Space Channel.  Though the company started in Los Angeles, the Space Channel...

EDINBURG, Texas - Hidalgo County Judge Richard Cortez has set up a “prosperity task force” to fight poverty in the county. Cortez told the Rio Grande Guardian International News Service that the task force is needed because of his county’s demographics. “As you know, we have a disproportionate percentage of people in poverty in Hidalgo County when you compare it to the percentage of the United Sta...

PALMVIEW, Texas - Palmview City Manager Michael Leo has told the story of his city’s explosive growth. The city tripled in size over a ten year period, from just over 5,000 in 2010 to 15,800 in 2020. Leo told the story during a recent Rio Grande Valley Partnership commercialization and investment tour. “Our mayor constantly says, we are a small city with a big heart. And that's a great thing...

HARLINGEN, Texas - Acclaimed cellist Chris Votek has just released a self-composed recording, Memories of a Shadow. The recording is a three-movement string quintet that blends raga melody with early European polyphony. It is available on MicroFest Records. I recently recorded an interview with Chris, noting that he performs both western classical music and Indian classical music. He said the way...

HARLINGEN, Texas - As a regular feature in the Rio Grande Guardian , podcast editor Mario Muñoz talks to Rev Torres of the Texas Taxpayer Assistance Project. The TTAP is part of the nonprofit community group Texas RioGrande Legal Aid. In this podcast, Torres explains what taxpayers should do if they receive a CP 75 notice from the IRS, rather than a tax refund.  “Like many taxpayers, you filed you...

BROWNSVILLE, Texas - Paragon VTOL Aerospace, a lead innovator in vertical take-off and landing technology (VTOL), has been training Brownsville ISD students this summer on drone technology. The tie-up came about thanks to a grant from the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation. Because the summer course was so successful, Paragon and BISD are going to expand the program into a year long course...

BROWNSVILLE, Texas - Paragon VTOL Aerospace, a lead innovator in vertical take-off and landing technology (VTOL), has been training Brownsville ISD students this summer on drone technology. The tie-up came about thanks to a grant from the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation. Because the summer course was so successful, Paragon and BISD are going to expand the program into a year long course...

EDINBURG, Texas - South Texas Health System Edinburg has officially opened the first two floors of its brand new $100-plus million patient tower. The hospital’s expansion project is now home to an expanded ER, upgraded Radiology Department and enhanced ICU. Last Friday, August 5, STHS Edinburg held the official ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new patient tower.  In an interview, Lance Ames, CEO of...

BROWNSVILLE, Texas - The City of Brownsville will celebrate a first this evening as an international soccer game is played at Brownsville Sports Park between two of the biggest clubs in the world. The women’s team of Chivas de Guadalajara are champions of Mexico. They play the women's team of Inter Milan of Italy in an exhibition game with the kickoff at 7:30 p.m. Tickets can be purchased at...

BROWNSVILLE, Texas - The City of Brownsville will celebrate a first this evening as an international soccer game is played at Brownsville Sports Park between two of the biggest clubs in the world. The women’s team of Chivas de Guadalajara are champions of Mexico. They play Inter Milan of Italy in an exhibition game with the kickoff at 7:30 p.m. Tickets can be purchased at www.socio.mx or in person...

BROWNSVILLE, Texas - In an in-depth interview with the Rio Grande Guardian International News Service , Helen Ramirez, Brownsville’s interim city manager, discusses a new international business park, broadband services, and foreign investment in her community.  Go to www.riograndeguardian.com to read the latest border news stories and watch the latest news videos. 

WESLACO, Texas - It is no longer acceptable for students to have to sit outside a McDonald’s and link to the free WiFi in order to do their homework. That is the view of Meagan Froh, outreach coordinator for the Texas Broadband Development Office.  More importantly, it is also the view of State Comptroller Glenn Hegar. Froh said Hegar cares “passionately” about Texans being able to access to broad...

BROWNSVILLE, Texas - On Tuesday, July 29, the Brownsville City Commission unanimously agreed to enter into a public-private partnership with Lit Communities for the design and construction of a citywide broadband fiber network.  But who are Lit Communities? The attached podcast sheds some light on the company as we interview the group’s CEO Brian Snider. Snider was present at the recent Broadband...

BROWNSVILLE, Texas - On Tuesday, July 29, the Brownsville City Commission unanimously agreed to enter into a public-private partnership with Lit Communities for the design and construction of a citywide broadband fiber network.  But who are Lit Communities? The attached podcast sheds some light on the company as we interview the group’s chief strategy officer, Rene Gonzalez. Gonzalez was present a...

EDINBURG, Texas - The AT&T Foundation is donating $25,000 to the Rio Grande Valley Partnership to help address the Valley’s digital divide. At a news conference held at a UT-Rio Grande Valley facility in Edinburg, AT&T’s J.D. Salinas said his company was investing $2 billion across the country over the next three years to bridge the digital divide. With the funding, RGV Partnership is to a...

WESLACO, Texas - At a recent meeting of the RGV Metropolitan Planning Organization, TxDOT’s engineer for the Pharr district, Pete Alvarez, expressed his concerns about priority projects for the MPO. “We have projects that were identified back in 2000 that are still being worked on today that have not been delivered. So, people have asked, how do we get more money from TxDOT. We’ve got to deliver t...

PHARR, Texas - Commodities Integrated Logistics, otherwise known as CIL, recently held a groundbreaking ceremony for a huge state-of-the-art cold storage warehouse in south Pharr. The facility will be known as Queenstown Park. It is being built on the corner of I-Road and Las Milpas Road in south Pharr. CIL currently has over 1.15 million square-feet of warehouse space. It is expanding its cold st...

BROWNSVILLE, Texas - Two key players at Brownsville Navigation District are featured in this podcast about the history of ship channel improvement projects at the Port of Brownsville. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is about to start deepening the Brazos Island Harbor ship channel from 42 feet to 52 feet. “I believe sincerely and in my heart that this will be the most significant of all the deepe...

BROWNSVILLE, Texas - SpaceX is becoming a good corporate citizen of the Rio Grande Valley. That is the view of Cameron County Judge Eddie Treviño, Jr. By way of example, Treviño pointed to the help SpaceX provided when 3,000 endangered Kemp’s Ridley sea turtles were saved during the Big Freeze in February 2021. Another example, he said, was when the City of Los Indios lost power and SpaceX sent a...

BROWNSVILLE, Texas - The City of Brownsville is spending $1 million to overhaul its permitting system, interim city manager Helen Ramirez has announced.  The reason for doing it, Ramirez said, is to make it easier for businesses to relocate to the city. Ramirez announced the news during a recent conference titled: “The Future of Aerospace, Defense & Energy.” Held at the Brownsville Events Cent...

WESLACO, Texas - Digital equity expert Jordana Barton has praised the cities of Brownsville and Pharr for their universal access broadband initiatives.  Barton was a consultant to both Pharr and Brownsville as the two cities developed their broadband projects. She first uncovered the Rio Grande Valley’s digital divide when authoring a book about the region’s colonias for the Federal Reserve Bank o...

McALLEN, Texas - Annette Franz, chair of the McAllen Chamber of Commerce, recently gave an update on her group’s activities at a board meeting of the McAllen Economic Development Corporation.  One of the items she discussed in her report was the chamber’s new president and CEO, Josh Mejia. Franz said Mejia would be joining the chamber soon.  “We are looking forward to Mr. Mejia working in our comm...