Rio Grande Guardian's Podcast

LOS FRESNOS, Texas - Los Fresnos city leaders say they are preparing for thousands of new jobs at the Port of Brownsville. The leaders held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Wednesday, March 4, for the new Industrial Trades Center. Port of Brownsville Chairman John Reed was in attendance.  Previously, the center was an old fire station. However, with a $44,000 “High Demand Occupation” grant from Texas...

LOS FRESNOS, Texas - Los Fresnos city leaders say they are preparing for thousands of new jobs at the Port of Brownsville. The leaders held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Wednesday, March 4, for the new Industrial Trades Center. Port of Brownsville Chairman John Reed was in attendance. Previously, the center was an old fire station. However, with a $44,000 “High Demand Occupation” grant from Texas W...

LAREDO, Texas - The Area Health Education Center (AHEC) of the Mid Rio Grande Border Area is now in its 25th year. The nonprofit and is supporters are hosting a gala in Laredo on Thursday evening to celebrate. The event is scheduled for Thursday, March 5, 2020 at 6:00 p.m. at IBC Bank’s Annex Ballroom located at 2418 Jacaman Road, Laredo, Texas. AHEC is an outreach program under UT Health San Anto...

BROWNSVILLE, Texas - Brownsville Community Improvement Corporation is seeking to partner with for-profit and non-profit organizations or corporations that seek creative approaches to advance economic prosperity in the city. The Type B Economic Development Corporation has started its 2020 Economic Impact Grant Program.  “We’re looking to assist with transformational projects that enhance the qualit...

SAN BENITO, Texas - The Rio Grande Guardian recently had a wide-ranging interview with San Benito City Manager Manny De La Rosa. Among the topics discussed were plans to develop a cultural district for the city. This is a top issue for De La Rosa because San Benito is noted for its musical heritage and has a number of museums and cultural landmarks. "I would like to see the cultural district...

PHARR, Texas - Vanguard Academy has been awarded T-STEM designation by the Texas Education Agency. This will intrigue many because the open-enrollment charter school, which has seven campuses in the cities of Pharr, Alamo, and Edinburg, is primarily known as a fine arts institution.  In the above podcast, Dr. Narciso Garcia, superintendent of Vanguard, explains why he sought a T-STEM (Texas Scienc...

MCALLEN, Texas - Dan Porterfield, the president and CEO of the Aspen Institute, made his first trip to the Rio Grande Valley recently, giving the keynote speech at the region’s premier education awards event. Porterfield spoke at the 2nd Annual Teach For America-RGV Honor Roll Gala, which was held at the McAllen Convention Center. “It is an incredible honor for me to be here, my very first trip to...

Trumpeter Paul Merkelo has a new record out on the Sony Classical label titled The Enlightened Trumpet. The album includes recitals of concertos by Haydn, Hummel, Telemann, and Mozart. He is joined on the album by Oxford Philharmonic. Recently, Merkelo spoke with the Rio Grande Guardian about the new recording. The interview can be heard on the attached podcast. Merkelo has been Principal trumpet...

SAN BENITO, TEXAS - While the U.S. Census Bureau lists the population of San Benito, Texas, at around 24,500, local leaders believe the real figure is closer to 40,000. They believe the Census Bureau undercounted the city’s residents by a large margin in 2010 and are determined this does not happen again in 2020.  “The census is very important to us. We have decided to be very proactive. We believ...

EDINBURG, Texas - Just as it did throughout 2019, the Rio Grande Valley outperformed the state of Texas for sales tax revenues during the current reporting period. The data on sales taxes is collated by the Texas Comptroller’s Office. The most recent report, for January 2020, covers sales tax revenues for November 2019.  “Last year, the Valley outperformed the growth rate of the state by a two to...

MCALLEN, Texas - Dan Porterfield, the president and CEO of the Aspen Institute, will give the keynote speech at Teach For America-RGV’s Honor Roll Gala. The gala takes place at the McAllen Convention Center on Friday, Feb. 7, 2020, starting  at 6:30 p.m. It will be Porterfield’s first visit to the Rio Grande Valley. Click here to purchase a ticket. Teach For America-RGV, a nonprofit that has been...

BROWNSVILLE, Texas - A groundbreaking was held recently for the Battlefield Trail Extension, which adds 1.8 miles to City of Brownsville’s Historic Battlefield Trail. Among those attending the ceremony were representatives from, Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, the City of Brownsville, the National Park Service, the UT School of Public Health, the City Harlingen, the City of Port Isabel, the City of S...

EDINBURG, Texas - There is a trend among hospital groups to introduce smaller facilities such as micro hospitals, stand alone emergency rooms, and urgent care centers.  DHR Health is putting its emphasis on urgent care centers, making the case that they are more affordable. They have so far opened such centers in Edinburg and McAllen and are slated to open a new one in Mission in mid-February. In...

MISSION, RGV - Congressman Henry Cuellar held a news conference with VIPs from Tamaulipas and South Texas during the Mission Citrus Parade festivities. Among the dignitaries present were Mission Mayor Armando O’Caña, Rio Grande City Mayor Joel Villarreal, Reynosa Mayor Maki Esther Ortiz Domínguez, and South Texas College dean of business Mario Reyna. The discussion centered on U.S.-Mexico, increas...

MCALLEN, Texas - Duncan Wood, director of the Woodrow Wilson Center's Mexico Institute, recently spoke in McAllen, Brownsville, Laredo and San Antonio. The subject was the policies of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, one year into his presidency of Mexico. The Woodrow Wilson Center, chartered by Congress in 1968, is the nation’s key non-partisan policy forum for tackling global issues through ind...

MISSION, Texas - Congressman Henry Cuellar recently held a news conference at the Center for Education & Economic Development in Mission to discuss a range of subjects including border security and immigration. The Laredo Democrat referenced congressional action on the border wall, NAFTA, the North American Development Bank, stopping illegal firearms from being sent into Mexico, fever ticks, C...

MISSION, RGBV - Killam Development wants the general public to participate in the designing of a 3,400-acre master-planned community on the Shary Plantation in Mission and McAllen. The Laredo-based group recently held a week of public workshops to secure the public’s input. Utilizing a hands-on design format, people of all ages helped make decisions about quality of life issues such as walking and...

HARLINGEN, RGV - Texas oil and gas companies are committed to reducing emissions and helping to improve the world’s climate.  That is the view of Todd Staples. The president of the Texas Oil & Gas Association held a conference call with reporters on Tuesday to announce that the industry paid a record amount in local taxes and state royalties in 2019. “I think Texas is at risk if we don’t have...

BROWNSVILLE, RGV - The outgoing chairman of the Rio Grande Valley Partnership says 2019 was an outstanding one for the group as it continued its advocacy for the region and the local business community. Lee Reed gave a presentation on the major projects of the RGVP over the past 12 months at a Christmas Party held at IBC Bank’s offices in Brownsville. RGVP is the regional chamber of the commerce f...

PHARR, RGV – The business community of the Rio Grande Valley has been praised for the key role it played in persuading the Texas legislature to pump more money into public education. State lawmakers invested an additional $6.5 billion into public education during the 2019 legislative session, with Hidalgo County receiving an additional $90 million over the next biennium and Cameron County receivin...

HARLINGEN, RGV – Rose and Richard Loya produced rock ’n’ roll shows for RGV Public Radio 88 FM for a number of years. When the Diocese of Brownsville sold the station earlier this year, their shows, along with other locally produced programming, was lost to the airwaves. As a treat for the holiday season, the Loyas have kindly allowed the Rio Grande Guardian to run a couple of their Christmas show...

MCALLEN, RGV - The directors, staff and supporters of El Milagro Clinic recently celebrated the nonprofit’s 23rd anniversary, an event where its founder, Ron Tupper, was named chairman emeritus. The clinic, located on Vermont Avenue in south McAllen, caters for the economically disadvantaged and uninsured.  At the event, board chairman Roberto M. Garcia said additional services are planned. "...

MCALLEN, RGV - The Fundación de Reynosa Asociacion de Maquiladoras y Manufactureras and INDEX Reynosa have donated the net proceeds of their 2019 Golf Tournament to five local charities. Checks totaling $63,900 were presented at the annual posada held at the Cambria Hotel in McAllen last week. The charities are: · Children’s Haven International · Rio Bravo Ministries · Miradas de Esperanza · Banco...

MCALLEN, RGV - Taxable retail sales were up seven percent in the Rio Grande Valley over the past year, says the executive director of Rio South Texas Economic Council. Based on statistics provide by the Texas Comptroller’s Office, Matt Ruszczak crunches the numbers to see how well the region is doing compared to the other parts of Texas. He says the Valley did very well, as compared to Texas as a...

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar held a conference call with reporters last week to discuss USMCA. The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement is the successor trade pact to the North American Free Trade Agreement. Cuellar calls it NAFTA 2.0. Cuellar argues that USMCA is 95 percent the same as NAFTA but says the five percent that is different is important. In the conference call, Cuellar a...