Rio Grande Guardian's Podcast

EDINBURG, Texas - The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley has announced a one-of-a-kind, merit-based scholarship program – the Luminary Scholarship – for undergraduate students. The new scholarship program is made possible thanks to the historic $40 million gift to UTRGV this summer from philanthropists MacKenzie Scott and Dan Jewett which is meant to enhance the university’s mission of improvin...

HARLINGEN, TEXAS - One of the top political events of the year in the Rio Grande Valley was the retirement announcement of state Sen. Eddie Lucio, Jr. The Brownsville Democrat began his public service in 1971, becoming Cameron County Treasurer and later Cameron County Commissioner. After having served two terms in the Texas House of Representatives, he was elected to the Texas Senate in 1991. He i...

HARLINGEN, TEXAS - One of the top political events of the year in the Rio Grande Valley was the retirement announcement of state Sen. Eddie Lucio, Jr. The Brownsville Democrat began his public service in 1971, becoming Cameron County Treasurer and later Cameron County Commissioner. After having served two terms in the Texas House of Representatives, he was elected to the Texas Senate in 1991. He i...

FLORESVILLE, Texas - State Rep. Ryan Guillen chose Floresville, Texas, birthplace of John Connally, to follow in the footsteps of the former Texas Governor and U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, and flip from being a Democrat to a Republican. Since 2003, Guillen has served in the Texas House as a Democrat. But in November, 2021, he announced he would seek election for the same seat - House District 3...

HARLINGEN, Texas - One of the top education events in the Rio Grande Valley occurred in November when UTRGV, the City of Harlingen and Harlingen CISD hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new UTRGV Harlingen Collegiate High School. The new campus, covering 6.3 acres, houses 64,000 square feet of state-of-the-art classrooms and teaching labs.   UTRGV HCH offers bachelor’s degree programs that fo...

MCALLEN, Texas - One of the top education events of the year in the Rio Grande Valley occurred in October when South Texas College secured accreditation for its dual credit programs by the National Alliance of Concurrent Enrollment Partnerships . STC is the first college in Texas to earn the prestigious award. Dr. Rebecca De Leon, STC’s dean for dual credit programs and school district partnership...

MCALLEN, Texas - Land ports of entries were re-opened to so-called “non-essential” travel on Nov. 8. Since then, hotels in the McAllen area have been full, says Omar Guevara, who chairs McAllen’s hospitality task force. Guevara, general manager of Radisson McAllen Airport Hotel, says the acid test will come in January and February. Then, he said, local hotels will see if the upward trend in occupa...

HARLINGEN, Texas - Tax season is right around the corner.  Rev Torres, a paralegal with the Texas Taxpayer Assistance Project, gives this advice: “Taxpayers, get ready now. Organize your correct tax documents so that that your tax return can be accurately prepared.”  In the attached podcast, Torres tells taxpayers who are classified as employees which documents they should have when they are ready...

WESLACO, Texas - The latest sales tax revenue numbers show the Rio Grande Valley’s economy is roaring, says Matt Ruszczak. Ruszczak is vice president of economic development for the Council for South Texas Economic Progress (COSTEP). Each month he analyzes the sales tax revenue numbers put out by the Texas Comptroller’s Office.  Discussing the November 2021 report, which looks at the numbers for S...

WESLACO, Texas - New houses and apartments are popping up so fast in Weslaco that planners in other communities in the Rio Grande Valley are calling to ask what is happening, says the city’s planning director. Rebekah de la Fuente, director of planning and zoning for the City of Weslaco, spoke about the “overwhelming” growth during a visit by the Rio Grande Valley Partnership.  The RGV Partnership...

WESLACO, Texas - Weslaco’s restaurants are being frequented much more often than might be expected. In fact, pro rata, some national franchise eateries in the city are among the busiest in the whole United States.  One explanation could be that there are not enough restaurants in the city, forcing local residents to visit them over and over again. Another possibility is that Weslaco is pulling in...

PHARR, Texas - Every other city in the Rio Grande Valley can have high speed internet as fast as that of the City of Pharr. All they need is for their leaders to have the political will to make it happen. This is the view of Pharr Mayor Ambrosio Hernandez. Speaking at a groundbreaking ceremony for the city’s new high-speed, new fiber optic internet project, Hernandez said the new service, with a s...

HARLINGEN, Texas - Any idea what the busiest domestic airline route is in North America? LA to New York? No. That is the second busiest. Chicago to New York? No. San Francisco to Los Angeles? No. It is, in fact, Cancun to Mexico City. The third busiest is Mexico City to Monterrey.  The Rio Grande Guardian learned these facts when interviewing José Mulet, director of air service, business developme...

The Rio Grande Guardian International News Service is hosting "To Conquer, To Defend" because this year marks the 175th anniversary of a significant war in North American history. “The U.S.-Mexico War of 1846-48 basically changed the destiny of both countries,” said Salomon Torres, director of event initiatives for the Rio Grande Guardian and co-founder of the conference. “For the U.S. i...

PORT ISABEL, Texas - The Rio Grande Guardian ’s upcoming one-day conference is titled “To Conquer. To Defend.” The conference, which takes place Thursday, Dec. 9 in Port Isabel, Texas, commemorates the 175th Anniversary of the U.S.-Mexico War.  The conference can be attended either in-person or virtually. To learn more about the conference and how to purchase tickets, click here . In this podcast,...

BROWNSVILLE, Texas - Brownsville Mayor Trey Mendez says the State of Texas needs to make a stronger commitment to the Space race, 2.0. If it does not it could get left behind by states like Florida, Colorado, and Alabama. Mendez first made the call in an op-ed he jointly penned with Margaret Spellings, CEO and president of Texas 2036 and former Secretary of Education, retired Colonel Tim Kopra, vi...

BROWNSVILLE, TEXAS - NewSpace investor J. Brant Arseneau says there is no reason Brownsville, Texas, cannot become the Silicon Valley of the space industry. “I would like to be the first finance person to be in Brownsville when this becomes the Silicon Valley of Space. We can say, hey, we went there, first,” Arseneau said. Arseneau os founder of 9Point8 Capital, a group of companies that supports...

BROWNSVILLE, TEXAS - Beto O’Rourke says that if elected governor of Texas he will invest heavily in infrastructure for border communities.  In an exclusive interview with the Rio Grande Guardian International News Service about economic development, O’Rourke pointed out that the ports of entry through which US-Mexico trade passes support more than 600,000 jobs across the state of Texas. “Very ofte...

BROWNSVILLE, Texas - Nathan Burkhart, director of small business development at the Brownsville Community Improvement Corporation, says exciting things are happening to his city’s downtown. “Our big 2.0 grant just wrapped up its third round of funding. We have had about $18 million in private capital roll into downtown just from that grant. It was created with a generous donation from the Elon Mus...

PHARR, Texas - Colleagues like to brag on Pharr Bridge Director of Operations Fred Brouwen that he has been there from the beginning because he was operating the tolls when the first trucks crossed. But, Pharr Bridge Board Chairman Edgar Delgadillo jokes that he can top that because he saw the bridge being built. “I was there when my Dad was hauling dirt for the first part of the bridge. I remembe...

MCALLEN, Texas - The new chancellor of Western Governors University Texas has reaffirmed her institution’s “huge” commitment to South Texas. Linda Battles, who was appointed a WGU regional vice president and chancellor of its Texas division in September, recently visited the Rio Grande Valley.  During the visit she met with administrators from South Texas College and the chairman of the Texas High...

BROWNSVILLE, Texas - There was excitement and relief among retail store and restaurant owners, chamber of commerce leaders and elected officials in South Texas on Monday as Mexican visa holders were finally allowed to revisit the region. So-called “non-essential” travelers from Mexico had been unable to come into the United States since March 2020, a blockade installed in order to stem the spread...

HARLINGEN, Texas - After 50 years of public service, 35 of them the in Texas Legislature, state Sen. Eddie Lucio, Jr., has announced his retirement. In the company of family, friends and dignitaries from his across his district and Austin, Sen. Lucio, D-Brownsville, broke the news at his Harlingen district office.  “Today I announced my retirement from the Texas Senate at the end of my current ter...

MCALLEN, Texas - U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez says it would be a mistake for Democrats to choose a candidate outside the mainstream to run in Congressional District 15, the seat he is about to depart. The voters of CD 15, which is anchored in Hidalgo County, have elected Democrats to Congress for decades. However, following redistricting, the boundary lines of the district have been redrawn by Repub...

BROWNSVILLE, Texas - John Sharp, chancellor for the Texas A&M University System, visited the Port of Brownsville recently to announce a new initiative to invigorate advanced manufacturing in the area. The Texas A&M RGV Advanced Manufacturing/Training Innovation Now (TRAIN) program is designed to enhance the skills needed for workers wishing to find employment at the Port of Brownsville.  T...