Rio Grande Guardian's Podcast

EDINBURG, Texas - The first vaccines for COVID-19 have been administered to frontline healthcare workers in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. Dr. John H. Krouse, executive vice president for health affairs at UTRGV Health and dean of the UT-Rio Grande Valley School of Medicine, held a virtual press conference on Tuesday to announce the news. “It is a very exciting time,” Krouse said. “It is really t...

HARLINGEN, Texas - The IRS is resuming operations after being shut down due to the coronavirus.  According to Rev Torres, a paralegal with the Taxpayer Assistance Project, this has concerned many taxpayers that owe taxes to the IRS because IRS collection activities have also resumed.  Torres said the IRS recently announced it would be offering some relief to taxpayers that owe taxes to the IRS.  T...

AUSTIN, Texas – Doctors Hospital at Renaissance Health System, otherwise known as DHR Health, has been named Large Employer of the Year by the Texas Workforce Commission. The recognition was made at TWC’s 24rd Annual Texas Workforce Conference held virtually on December 9. The Texas Workforce Commission is a state agency dedicated to helping Texas employers, workers and communities prosper economi...

BROWNSVILLE, Texas - While many industries struggled in 2020 due to the global pandemic, the Port of Brownsville managed to stay afloat and even experienced growth.  Eduardo A. Campirano, port director and CEO, spoke to Rio Grande Guardian Editor-in-Chief Steve Taylor about the state of the port and their monumental year.  As one of the 16 essential infrastructure sectors identified by the federal...

EDINBURG, Texas - What can the Rio Grande Valley expect from the 87th Legislative Session that starts in Austin, Texas, on Jan. 12, 2021? State Sen. Juan Hinojosa and state Reps. Terry Canales and R.D. ‘Bobby’ Guerra gave their best guesses during a webinar hosted by the Edinburg Chamber of Commerce on Dec. 3. The event was moderated by former state Rep. Veronica Gonzales, who is now a vice presid...

McALLEN, Texas - Jordana Barton says her upbringing in a colonia in South Texas helped shape her choice of career - as a champion for investment in low-income communities. Barton is perhaps best known in the Valley for authoring the Texas Border Colonias Study for the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. That led to her working to address the digital divide in cities such as Pharr and Brownsville. She...

MCALLEN, Texas - One of the Rio Grande Valley’s oldest charitable organizations is celebrating 100 years of serving the community.  The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, or simply the Elks, of McAllen will commemorate its centennial on Dec. 28 of this year.  Milly Hernandez, Exalted Ruler of Elks Lodge #1402, spoke to Rio Grande Guardian Editor-in-Chief Steve Taylor about the group and its...

HARLINGEN, Texas - Czech heritage is at the forefront with Elyse Anne Kakacek’s album release “Formless.” In 1894, composer Antonin Dvorak completed a song cycle in English that was translated from the 1579 Czech version of the Bible.   Elyse Anne Kakacek uses Dvorak’s English text of the Bible translated from the Czech version in her album “Formless.”    Rio Grande Guardian arts correspondent Mar...

MCALLEN, Texas - According to a senior vice president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, Blake Hastings, the average person graduating from South Texas College today will have his job disrupted five or six times, due to technology changes.  Hastings gave some updates on the economy at the national, state, and regional levels during a presentation at the virtual South Texas College INNO 2020. H...

AUSTIN, Texas - The historically lower voter turnout levels in the Rio Grande Valley can be put down, in part, to Hispanics being disillusioned by public corruption. Other reasons include a lack of competitive elections caused by one party domination, very little public discourse on issues, and a high level of poverty. These are the conclusions contained in a study of attitudes towards voting by H...

EDINBURG, Texas - If Rio Grande Valley parents cannot pay their light bill, how are their children going to be able to access the Internet to do the remote learning expected of them? This was one of the questions posed by Dr. Rodney H. Rodriguez, senior director for RGV Focus, during a recent webinar hosted by Teach for America-Rio Grande Valley. The webinar was titled, “How can education and work...

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - Nueces County Judge Barbara Canales says county is applying for a $90 million Living Breakwaters Project grant, in collaboration with the Port of Corpus Christi and other jurisdictions to create a coastal ecosystem that would mitigate the impact of storm surges from coastal hurricanes and storms.  The application is being made to the Texas General Land Office for funds thro...

HARLINGEN, Texas - For the past several weeks we have been discussing economic impact payments.  One thing that we have stressed throughout is that this situation is evolving. Well, recently, there was a development regarding the economic impact payments. Specifically, the deadline for non-filers to register for the economic impact payments. In the attached podcast, paralegal Rev Torres of the Tax...

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute seeks to improve immigration and integration policies and develop new ideas to address complex migration policy questions.  Recently, the Migration Policy Institute held a webinar to discuss the implications for migration policies in the new Biden Administration. According to the Director of the U.S. Immigration Policy Program at the Mi...

MCALLEN, TEXAS - With the elections over, state Sen. Juan Hinojosa is looking forward to the 87th Legislative Session that starts in January. The McAllen Democrat says the top issues will include healthcare, with lawmakers reviewing the state’s response to COVID-19 and making recommendations to better deal with such a pandemic in the future. Hinojosa is currently vice chairman of the Senate Commit...

KINGSVILLE, Texas - Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar says it will be Texas consumers that lead the state out of recession. Hegar spoke about the state of the Texas economy while giving the keynote address at Texas A&M University-Kingsville’s virtual 2020 Economic Forum.  He pointed out that while other states have just one economic headwind to contend with, the effects of the coronavirus pandemic...

MCALLEN, Texas - State Sen. Juan Hinojosa has given a brief overview of the 2020 Election from a South Texas perspective. In an exclusive eve-of-poll podcast with The Rio Grande Guardian , Hinojosa discusses the recent visit to the Valley by Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party nominee for Vice President of the United States. He also discusses whether Texas is in play for his party, after decades o...

MISSION, Texas - The McAllen Bridge System, in conjunction with federal, state and local stakeholders, officially inaugurated additional northbound lanes at Anzalduas International Bridge Port of Entry.   The newly constructed lanes were part of improvements made to increase northbound vehicular traffic at the bridge. The total construction cost for the improvement was $2,867,922. The project invo...

EDINBURG, Texas - With pollsters moving Texas into the “toss up” category, Kamala Harris was in the Rio Grande Valley on Friday. The Democratic Party nominee for Vice President of the United States gave a campaign speech at UT-Rio Grande Valley in Edinburg.  Earlier in the day she spoke in Houston and Fort Worth.  The significance of the Valley visit is that the region, at the southmost tip of Tex...

HARLINGEN, Texas - James Whale’s film classic from 1931, Frankenstein, starring Boris Karloff, was released without a musical score. This was the case for many films in the early days of the “talkies.” However, in the case of Frankenstein, composer Michael Shapiro wrote a 70-minute score to be played simultaneously with a screening of the movie. Shapiro was commissioned to do so in 2002 by the Bor...

MISSION, Texas - A question about whether the disbursement of certain funds was handled correctly by Mission Economic Development Corporation was discussed at length by the group’s board of directors. Two payments were discussed. One involved the payment of $13,000 under the downtown facade grant program. The program was designed to help businesses downtown. But the $13,000 payment was for a prope...

SAN BENITO, Texas - It is hard to celebrate the anniversary of a key facility for a community in the age of COVID. However, the City of San Benito and its economic development corporation did so digitally. The first anniversary of the opening of the San Benito Business & Economic Development Center was featured on Facebook with EDC Executive Director Rebeca Castillo explaining how the project...

MCALLEN, Texas - Because of COVID-19, the Valley Symphony Orchestra's fall season is going to happen digitally, rather than in front of a live audience at the McAllen Performing Arts Center. In an interview with the Rio Grande Guardian, musical director and conductor Peter Dabrowski spoke about what viewers could expect to see both on Facebook and on KRGV-Channel 5. The fall season premiere s...

MEXICO CITY - Three experts, one from Canada, one from Mexico and one from the United States, discussed what impact the outcome of the 2020 presidential election will have on North America. Dr. Stephen Randall, professor emeritus at the University of Calgary, was the expert from Canada. María-Cristina Rosas, director of the Olof Palme Center for Analysis and Research on Peace, Security and Develop...

HARLINGEN, Texas - According to civil and structural engineer, J.V. Garcia, a drainage ordinance being considered by the City of Harlingen should be rejected by the City Commissioners because it does nothing for the City of Harlingen.  On October 3, Garcia organized at Trail of Floods tour of Harlingen to highlight flood-prone areas.  State Rep. Eddie Lucio III opened the tour, which began at Vict...