Rio Grande Guardian's Podcast

MCALLEN, RGV - Following a visit to the Rio Grande Valley faith leaders and clergy from across Texas are now heading to Washington, D.C., to advocate for a change in immigration policy. More than 100 members of numerous religious denominations spent two days in the Valley recent. One of the highlights of the trip was visiting with asylum seekers in Matamoros, just across the border from Brownsvill...

MCALLEN, RGV - In this week's wrap-up on the week’s news, we look at a number of stories we have been and are covering. These include: the visit of Indian Prime Minister Narenda Modi to Texas; free tuition for some students at UT-Rio Grande Valley; improvements at Anzalduas International Bridge, the City of McAllen’s property tax rate; the number of immigrants using the McAllen Respite Center...

MCALLEN, RGV - Community leader and former Catholic priest Michael Seifert gave a homily to around 100 faith leaders from across Texas who visited the Rio Grande Valley recently. The two-day trip was organized by the Texas Interfaith Center for Public Policy to help clergy learn more about U.S. immigration policy. Seifert’s homily came towards the end of the trip. He told the faith leaders that wh...

SAN BENITO, RGV - The accordionist headliner for this Saturday's South Texas Music Festival, Percy Cardona, says that he can’t wait to jam at South Texas Conjunto Music Festival this Saturday at the Resaca.  Some of the other musical acts include: Tejano Highway 281 , Los Badd Boyz del Valle and Los Gavilanes. Gates open at 3 p.m. and the music starts at 4 p.m. According to Festival officials...

EDINBURG, RGV - State Sen. Juan Hinojosa spoke at UT-Rio Grande Valley in Edinburg on Monday, as part of a major announcement on tuition fees. UTRGV says that from 2020, students from families earning $75,000 or less will not have have to pay tuition fees. UTRGV President Guy Bailey predicted this would be a “game changer” for the Valley. In his remarks, Hinojosa said students have been “drowning...

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Tamaulipas Gov. Francisco García Cabeza de Vaca and U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar have repeated their calls for the U.S. government to stop weapons being smuggled into Mexico. According to García Cabeza de Vaca, 70 percent of the illegal weapons confiscated in Tamaulipas originate from the United States. The governor and congressman brought up the issue of weapons going south during a...

In this podcast, three leaders in the Rio Grande Valley pay their tributes to David E. Allex, the legendary economic development leader from Harlingen who passed away this week aged 82. The three are José A. Mulet, director of air service and business development for Valley International Airport, Pete Sepulveda, executive director of Cameron County Regional Mobility Authority, and state Sen. Eddie...

This week’s news in review looks at the week ending Sept. 14, 2019.  Among the topics reviewed is the two-day 24th Pathways For Trade - The North American Logistics & Manufacturing Symposium held at Texas A&M International University in Laredo.  Rio Grande Guardian editor Steve Taylor says IBC Bank President Dennis Nixon, International Capital Partners General Partner Agustin Barrios Gomez...

WESLACO, RGV - The biggest obstacle to improving healthcare in the Rio Grande Valley is public transportation to the offices of a primary care physician or a community clinic, argues a top public health official. Eduardo ‘Eddie’ Olivarez is chief administrative officer for Hidalgo County Health & Human Services. He was a panelist at a diabetes forum hosted by Unidos Contra la Diabetes and spon...

WESLACO, RGV - The goal of Unidos Contra la Diabetes is to reduce the number of new cases of type II diabetes in the next five years. The nonprofit group believes this will result in a ten percent reduction in the prevalence of diabetes by 2030. UDC has received statewide and national attention over the past week following a report it helped produce which shows diabetes is deceasing in the Rio Gra...

MCALLEN, RGV - The news wrap for week-ending Sept. 7, 2019, has been uploaded. Steve Taylor and I discuss a new report on the prevalence of type 2 diabetes in the Rio Grande Valley, the start of the 2019-20 FIRST RGV robotics season, restoring National Public Radio in the Rio Grande Valley, the funeral of DPS Trooper Moises Sanchez, and, cricket in the Rio Grande Valley. Yes, cricket! Go to www.ri...

HARLINGEN, RGV - Dr. Eduardo Flores, a cardiologist with South Heart Clinic in Harlingen, says the Rio Grande Valley region's diet is “terrible.” Flores made his comments during an “after hours mixer” hosted by the clinic and Harlingen Area Chamber of Commerce. At the mixer, South Heart Clinic welcomed a new physician, Dr. Michael Balderas. Flores became animated when asked by a reporter abou...

EDINBURG, RGV - The 5th Annual South Texas International Film Festival starts Sept. 4 and runs four days and nights in Edinburg, Texas. The festival will feature over 140 films from more than 20 countries.  STXIFF has won plaudits from as far afield as Japan, with actor, director and writer Takuya Fukushima a big fan. And Edinburg has been officially recognized as a Film Friendly City. In this pod...

PHARR, RGV - This podcast features extensive audio coverage of a USMCA forum held at the Pharr Events Center on Friday, Aug. 30, 2019. The event was hosted by the Rio Grande Valley Partnership and Futuro RGV. The forum was divided into two parts. Salvador Contreras, an economics professor at UT-Rio Grande Valley, gave an overview of U.S. trade with Mexico and explained the differences between the...

PHARR, RGV - For this week’s wrap-up on the news we feature three events: A USMCA forum hosted by the Rio Grande Valley Partnership and Futuro RGV and held in Pharr A Texas Transportation Commission meeting held in Austin A diabetes forum hosted by Unidos Contra la Diabetes held in Weslaco The trade forum featured two panel discussions, one with U.S. Sen. John Cornyn and U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, a...

WESLACO, RGV - State Sen. Eddie Lucio says he will be bringing Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Texas Education Agency Commissioner Mike Morath to the Rio Grande Valley. Speaking at a meeting of the Lower Rio Grande Valley Development Council, Lucio said the visit would not be political in nature. Rather, it would include a town hall meeting in October that would focus on the increased funding state legis...

EDINBURG, RGV - In our latest podcast on developments at UT-Rio Grande Valley’s School of Medicine, we meet up with Dr. Linda Nelson, senior director for clinical operations at the medical school.  The School of Medicine now has 20 clinics across the Valley. In the interview, Dr. Nelson explains why the medical school’s community outreach work is so important. Dr. Nelson is particularly pleased wi...

MCALLEN, RGV - In this week's look back at the last seven days of border-related news, we focus on public education and in particular the new accountability ratings issued by the Texas Education Agency. Region One Education Service Center assists school districts in the Rio Grande Valley and Laredo. The new TEA rankings show every school district in the region garnering an "A" or a...

Camerata Chicago, the Windy City’s leading chamber orchestra, has released new recording of Vivaldi's Four Seasons as an Educational Double Disc CD on the DMD Classics label.  This unique recording of Vivaldi's Four Seasons includes the performance of a brilliant 17-year-old violinist, Amelia Piscitelli, with the Camerata Chicago conducted by Drostan Hall. This Double CD set features the...

EDINBURG, RGV - Now it is No. 1 in Texas, Region One Education Service Center is looking beyond the state to see what best practices it can learn from more high-performing states.  So says Brownsville native Ruben Cortez, Jr, a Region One board member and representative for District 2 on the State Board of Education. The Texas Education Agency recently announced that every school district and char...

MIDLAND, Texas - IDEA Public Schools has announced plans to expand into the Permian Basin of Texas and that an educator who got her start in the Rio Grande Valley will head the project. Bethany Solis has been named executive director of IDEA Permian Basin. A product of the Teach for America program, Solis first joined IDEA in 2005 as a second-grade teacher at IDEA Donna. She was a founding academy...

MCALLEN, RGV - For the second straight year, McAllen ISD has earned an “A” from the state of Texas - the highest grade possible. McAllen ISD also earned the state’s Postsecondary Readiness Distinction for the third straight year. The District performed “exceptionally well” according to txschools.gov . And, for 16th time in the last 17 years, preliminary reports indicate McAllen ISD has received th...

PHARR, RGV - Narciso Garcia, superintendent of Vanguard Academy, says that while there have been great successes at the seven different campuses in the charter system, the best is yet to come. “Last year we had a 96 percent ranking for accountability. This year it is 97 percent,” Garcia said. The high ranking is all the more creditable, Garcia claimed, because 84 percent of Vanguard’s students are...

BROWNSVILLE, RGV - Cameron County Commissioners Court has tabled a motion to give a tax abatement to Annova LNG. The energy company is considering building a liquefied natural gas export terminal at the Port of Brownsville. However, some local residents and groups oppose the plan, saying it would wreck South Padre Island’s tourism.  Rebekah Hinojosa, Brownsville organizer for the Sierra Club of th...

PHARR, RGV - After 42 years its an educator, the legendary superintendent of Pharr-San Juan-Alamo ISD, Daniel P. King, is retiring. King has won numerous national, state and local awards for his leadership of PSJA. He takes pride in turning what was a failing, corrupt school district under investigation by the FBI into one that has been recognized across the country.  In an exclusive interview wit...