Rio Grande Guardian's Podcast

EDINBURG, Texas - Patients who have recovered from COVID-19 should consider donating plasma to help save the lives of others.  This is the message from Dr. Sohail Rao, MD, president and CEO of DHR Health Institute for Research and Development. “Right now, which is very unfortunate, most of the plasma we are infusing into the patients, is actually coming from the national stockpile. It is not comin...

BROWNSVILLE, Texas - The Cameron County health director issued a dire warning Monday about COVID-19. Dr. James Castillo said he hopes his county is not looking at an exponential curve when studying the number of new cases. Cameron County has seen 49 deaths due to the coronavirus, many connected to four nursing home facilities and one detention center. There were 101 new cases reported on Monday. “...

PHARR, Texas - Each week, Pharr International Bridge holds a “virtual” town hall meeting for the international trade community. The series is called BridgeConnect LIVE. Before the coronavirus pandemic struck, the Pharr International Bridge Board would hold the events once a month. Now, because of social distancing, the events are held via Facebook and held once a week. The series is called “The Ef...

HARLINGEN, Texas - Rev Torres of the Texas Taxpayer Assistance Project says the IRS is to start issuing out some economic impact payments using a debit card instead of a check.  Torres said the debit cards are being distributed to individuals that do not have their banking information on file with the IRS. “The card will arrive in a plain white envelope. Be aware because many people will think it...

PHARR, Texas – Each week Pharr International Bridge holds a “virtual” town hall meeting for the international trade community. The series is called BridgeConnect LIVE. Before the coronavirus pandemic struck, the Pharr International Bridge Board would hold the events once a month. Now, because of social distancing, the events are held via Facebook and held once a week. The series is called “The Eff...

WESLACO, Texas - Cameron County Judge Eddie Treviño, Jr., says he fears the international bridges will be closed to Mexican visa holders for another month, if not longer. Treviño held a news conference at the Cameron County Courthouse last Wednesday where he discussed the issue in depth. He said that in his capacity as chairman of the Texas Border Coalition, he had written to acting commissioner o...

WESLACO, Texas - It is rare for the four county judges of the Rio Grande Valley to get together in public. But they did so at a news conference last Wednesday to discuss the recent spike in COVID-19 cases. The four county judges are Richard Cortez of Hidalgo, Eddie Treviño, Jr., of Cameron, Eloy Vera of Starr, and Aurelio Guerra of Willacy. They met at the offices of the Lower Rio Grande Valley De...

BROWNSVILLE, Texas - A top doctor in Cameron County’s public health department says if the current spike in COVID-19 cases continues there will not be enough hospital beds for infected patients. Dr. James Castillo gave the warning at a news conference held Wednesday with Cameron County Judge Eddie Treviño, Jr. “Hospitalizations are going up. If that trend continues on that path, a lot of patients...

BROWNSVILLE, Texas - Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar ran through some bleak economic statistics during a recent webinar hosted by Brownsville Chamber of Commerce. Hotel occupancy tax revenues have dropped an incredible 86 percent, he reported. Hegar pointed out that prior to the coronavirus pandemic, the Texas economy was doing really well. “The Texas economy was growing. We had sales tax increasing...

PHARR, Texas - Each week Pharr International Bridge holds a “virtual” town hall meeting for the international trade community. The series is called BridgeConnect LIVE. Before the coronavirus pandemic struck, the Pharr International Bridge Board would hold the events once a month. Now, because of social distancing, the events are held via Facebook and held once a week. The series is called “The Eff...

BROWNSVILLE, Texas - The port director of the Brownsville Navigation District says business has been good so far in 2020. Eddie Campirano was a guest on a recent webinar hosted by the Brownsville Chamber of Commerce.  Campirano told Chamber President Esmy Villarreal that the Port of Brownsville moved more cargo during the first quarter of 2020 than it did in the first quarter of 2019.  “The mix of...

Cal Poly Pomona Music Professor Nadia Shpachenko won her first Grammy Award for her album, “The Poetry of Places,” in the category of Best Classical Compendium at the Staples Center on Jan. 26. “I feel like the Grammy is the icing on the cake,” the Ukranian-born Shpachenko said. “I really did this project because I wanted to work with these composers … I wanted to connect the works with all the th...

Bishop Daniel Flores has given his view on President Trump’s decision to pose for photos in front of a boarded up church near the White House with a bible in his hand. The episode has drawn lots of commentary from around the world. According to news reports, federal officers used force to clear a large crowd of peaceful demonstrators from the street between the White House and St. John’s Episcopal...

HARLINGEN, RGV Focus, a collective impact initiative of Educate Texas, has unveiled its 2019 annual report and scorecard. As with last year’s report, the title is “Contigo,” which is Spanish for “With You.” The scorecard tracks the key metrics RGV Focus has identified to be important in understanding education in the Rio Grande Valley. It also tracks how the Valley scores in comparison to those fo...

WESLACO, Texas - In a report on Saturday, the San Antonio-based Rivard Report said IDEA Public Schools will pay former CEO Tom Torkelson $900,000.  Previously, the online news organization broke the story of Torkelson’s resignation. At the time of the resignation, IDEA officials did not release Torkelson’s separation agreement or his contract as CEO. Through an open records request, The Rivard Rep...

MISSION, Texas - Congressman Henry Cuellar held a conference call with reporters on May 27 to discuss federal funding for counties and cities under the Coronavirus-inspired CARES Act.  Culler pointed out that the State of Texas is the conduit for a lot of the federal funds, approved under the CARES Act, for cities and counties.  He said the State of Texas is holding back a lot of these federal fun...

PHARR, Texas - Pharr International Bridge held Part 8 of its BridgeConnect LIVE on Thursday, May 28, 2020. The series is called “The Effects of COVID-19.” The title of Part 8 was: “Decal Transponder Online Procurement System.” The panelists participating in the session included representatives from Pharr International Bridge and U.S. Customs and Border Protection. During Pharr Bridge Connect  Part...

New York-based composer, conductor and author Michael Shapiro recently recovered from COVID-19. While in hospital in New York he had help from the Sisters of Mercy in Dublin, Ireland, thanks to a local nun. “She got on the phone with the priests and the nuns in Dublin… and they prayed Mass for me. Can you imagine, a Jewish boy from Brooklyn?” Shapiro said this is representative of a connection, sp...

MISSION, Texas - A memorandum between the cities of McAllen and Mission and their respective economic development corporations could help spur development of a new international airport at Moore Air Base, which could, in turn, attract Southwest Airlines. This is the view of Mission Mayor Armando O’Caña, who also believes the MOU could help the region lure a Chinese-owned maquiladora from Reynosa t...

PHARR, Texas - Pharr Bridge Board hosted Part 7 in its weekly Bridge Connect series on Thursday, May 21. The subject was “How USMCA will impact manufacturing in Mexico.” USMCA stands for United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. It is a replacement for the North American Free Trade Agreement and goes into effect on July 1, 2020. Presentations were made by Pharr International Bridge, Mid-Valley Custom...

HARLINGEN, Texas - In this week’s Q&A, Rev Torres discusses who should and should not use the IRS non-filer portal when applying for an economic impact stimulus check. Torres is part of the Texas Taxpayer Assistance Project, which is a division of Texas RioGrande Legal Aid. Readers and listeners that have questions about the economic impact payments can reach Torres via the web at TRLA.org or...

EDINBURG, TEXAS - The chairman of DHR Health is concerned Rio Grande Valley residents with non-COVID-19 illnesses are not visiting their doctor for fear they could catch the virus. Dr. Carlos Cardenas gave an in-depth interview to the Rio Grande Guardian about how his hospital is coping during the current coronavirus pandemic. “What nobody has really talked about is we have a significant amount of...

McALLEN, Texas - State Sen. Juan ‘Chuy’ Hinojosa says the state of Texas is facing a $2.9 billion loss in revenue as a result of COVID-19 and the current low price of oil. The McAllen Democrat is vice-chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance. He says it could take two years to the get Texas economy back on track. Hinojosa recently gave an interview to The Rio Grande Guardian about the worsening...

HARLINGEN, Texas - The United States Ambassador to Mexico, Christopher Landau, says the relationship between Mexico and the United States is very complicated, critically important and still has “sore spots” for both countries.   Landau was keynote speaker, Friday, May 8, during a Webcast entitled, “U.S.-Mexico Cooperation During the COVID-19 Pandemic and Beyond,” hosted by the Mexico Institute at...

HARLINGEN, Texas - The UTRGV School of Medicine will graduate its charter Class of 2020 in a virtual Spring Commencement ceremony at 10 a.m. Saturday, May 9. In the attached audio, Dr. John H. Krouse, dean of the UTRGV School of Medicine and UTRGV’s executive vice president for Health Affairs, acknowledged that no one could have envisaged the school’s first graduation class to be held “virtually.”...