Rio Grande Guardian's Podcast

MCALLEN, Texas - Luis Torres, a senior business economist in the San Antonio Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, spoke recently at UT-Rio Grande Valley’s Vistas from Texas event. Torres focused his presentation on maquiladoras, nearshoring, and the impact of China on the Mexico’s economy. Vistas from Texas: An Economic Outlook was co-sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, UTRGV...

PHARR, Texas - Business leader Brian Godinez is perhaps best known in the Rio Grande Valley as a marketing and communications specialist and CEO of ERO Architects. But recently he has been busy promoting a sister company to ERO - South Texas Facility Partnership. The Rio Grande Guardian caught up with Godinez at IWS4, the big industrial warehouse summit hosted by Pharr Economic Development Corpora...

BROWNSVILLE, Texas - Brownsville Mayor John Cowen, Jr., has congratulated SpaceX on the successful fifth flight test of Starship.   Scientists say SpaceX’s Starship, the largest rocket ever created, passed a crucial stage in its development journey on Sunday after engineers successfully caught its booster on the way down.   “This achievement is another remarkable step forward in space exploration,...

BROWNSVILLE, Texas - Eleazar Rodriguez, director of industrial park development and special projects for the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation, has given an update on the North Brownsville Industrial Park. Rodriguez spoke about the project during a reception following a BTX Developers Tour. The tour was organized jointly by the Rio Grande Valley Partnership and GBIC. The tour, for which R...

PHARR, Texas - Rachel Connell is vice president of NASCO, which stands for North American Strategy for Competitiveness.  NASCO is a tri-national coalition that connects businesses, governments, educational institutions and stakeholders across the US, Canada and Mexico. Connell recently spoke at a Trade Talks session hosted by the Pharr Bridge Board and held at the Pharr Development & Research...

For Pharr, 2023 was the second best year ever. Pharr’s trade totaled $45.82 billion in 2023. That's a better-than 50% increase from just eight years ago - but 1.26 percent less than the 2022 record. When you're looking at Pharr’s trade over time, the norm is record-breaking trade. Sixteen times in the last 20 years, in fact. The fact remains, however, that the total is the second-largest...

RIO GRANDE CITY, TEXAS - Between them, the counties of Starr and Zapata will receive close to half a billion dollars for transportation infrastructure projects over the next ten years, U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar has announced.   The federal funding will go towards the Texas Department of Transportation’s 2025 Unified Transportation Program, which is the state’s ten-year plan to guide the development...

MISSION, Texas - Mission Economic Development Corporation believes its Ruby Red Ventures Build Mission Fund helps attract small businesses to the city.   Under the program, small businesses that have been going for two years, are in good standing, and based in Mission, can apply for up to $15,000 in grants. The grants can be used to help with operation sustainability, facility improvements, expans...

MCALLEN, Texas South Texas College’s Advanced Manufacturing Technology Program recently celebrated National Manufacturing Day. The event, held at STC’s Technology Campus in south McAllen, showcased the opportunities available to students interested in making a career in the manufacturing industry.  South Texas Manufacturing Association Executive Director Mike Willis was one of the speaker at the e...

BROWNSVILLE, TEXAS - Harlingen resident Federico “Fred” Garza delivered a handwritten note to Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador when he met him in Matamoros last Monday.   Asked what he wrote in his note, Garza said: “I basically just thanked him for having made all the effort to finally recognize Catarino Garza, my great-great-uncle. I gave him a little note thanking him and telling h...

BROWNSVILLE, Texas - Students participating in the Frontera Leadership Institute at the eBridge Center for Business & Commercialization in downtown Brownsville have nothing but praise for the program.   The 12-week program is run by LMNTS, a nonprofit based at eBridge whose aim is to empower diverse talent with the elemental skills needed to become transformative leaders.   “Our goal is to ins...

BROWNSVILLE, Texas - Ramiro Aleman, Cameron County’s economic development director, says there has not been a better time to invest in his county than now. Aleman participated in a recent panel discussion about economic development in the Lower Rio Grande Valley at the eBridge Center for Business & Commercialization. The event was co-hosted by Comce Sur and the McAllen chapter of Asociación de...

PHARR, TEXAS - Francisco Peña-Valdes, an attorney with Cacheaux Cavazos & Newton, helped facilitate a recent trade mission to the Rio Grande Valley involving 45 business owners and entrepreneurs from southern Mexico. The trip was organized by the McAllen chapter of the Asociación de Empresarios Mexicanos and COMCE Sur. It included stops in McAllen, Pharr and Brownsville, including the Port of...

BROWNSVILLE, Texas - The Rio Grande Guardian was recently given a tour of Texas Southmost College’s ITEC Center. The Center houses the college’s workforce training and continuing education programs. During the tour, Ricardo Treviño, TSC’s director of industry relations and outreach, introduced us to one of TSC’s industry partners, DFG Solutions, LLC. DFG places the pipe fitters trained at the coll...

RIO GRANDE CITY, Texas - International trade between the United States and Mexico has increased to $1.4 million per minute, reports Congressman Henry Cuellar.   Cuellar spoke about border commerce on the floor of the House of Representatives as he thanked his colleagues for passing legislation to help Starr Camargo Bridge.   “Trade between the U.S. and Mexico has been tremendous,” Cuellar said. “I...

BROWNSVILLE, Texas - William Dietrich, port director and CEO of the Port of Brownsville, says the South Texas-Northern Tamaulipas region is something special and unique.   Dietrich gave an exclusive interview to Ron Whitlock Reports at the conclusion of a tour of the port by 45-plus business owners from southern Mexico. The tour was arranged by the McAllen chapter of Asociacion de Empresarios Mexi...

BROWNSVILLE, Texas - If elected president for a second time, former President Donald Trump says he will impose tariffs on automobiles manufactured in Mexico.   Trump made the announcement in the presidential debate in Philadelphia on Tuesday evening.   “They're building big auto plants in Mexico, in many cases owned by China. They're building these massive plants, and they think they&apo...

MCALLEN, Texas - Paul Rodriguez, a board trustee with South Texas College and CEO of Valley Land Title, Co., has praised the work of Futuro RGV.   Rodriguez was presented with a Rio Grande Valley Leader award by Futuro recently. The event was held at the Radisson Airport Hotel in McAllen.   After being presented with the award, Rodriguez gave remarks. Most of them were aimed at Futuro.   “I think...

MCALLEN, Texas - As the sun rose over McAllen on a milestone day, the atmosphere buzzed with excitement.  FIRST in Texas, a nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering STEM education, marked its 10th anniversary in serving the Rio Grande Valley by revealing the latest season challenge for the FIRST® Tech Challenge program.  In a region that has long needed more educational programs like FIRST®,...

EDINBURG, Texas - Dr. Hiram Moya is associate professor and graduate coordinator in the Department of Manufacturing and Industrial Engineering at UT-Rio Grande Valley.  In a recent interview with the Rio Grande Guardian, Moya spoke about a new collaboration UTRGV is forging  with the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. Moya said UTRGV will collaborate with LANL and its partner, TechSourc...

MCALLEN, Texas - Elizabeth Suarez, president of the McAllen Chamber of Commerce, spoke at a conference hosted by the McAllen chapter of Asociación de Empresarios Mexicanos.  AEM brought dozens of business owners from the south of Mexico to the Rio Grande Valley to learn about doing business in the United States. The business owners also visited Pharr and Brownsville.  The McAllen leg of the tour t...

PHARR, Texas - Pharr International Bridge Director Luis Bazan is in Mexico City today for a meeting of the US-Mexico Binational Bridges and Border Crossings Group.   At the meeting, Bazan will give an update on the second span project.   Delegates from the United States and Mexican governments, the states of New Mexico and Texas, and the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo Laredo, and Tam...

MISSION, Texas - U.S. Sen. John Cornyn says the U.S. is “almost” coming close to a trade war with Mexico due that country’s failure to comply with an international water treaty.   Speaking at a press conference held at the Mission Event Center, Cornyn said the Texas agricultural industry is facing an “existential crisis” because Mexico has not released water under the 1944 U.S.-Mexico water sharin...

BROWNSVILLE, TEXAS - Norman Roy Garza, Jr., executive director of the newly formed Texas Space Commission, is in great demand in South Texas.  On  Aug. 27, Garza was a panelist at a luncheon hosted by the Brownsville Chamber of Commerce. Held at the Brownsville Events Center, the event was titled “Bridging Borders & Beyond - The Impact of US-Mexico Relations and Space Exploration in the Rio Gr...

EDINBURG, TEXAS - The College of Engineering & Computer Science is the fastest growing and most productive college at UT-Rio Grande Valley, says its dean.   Dr. Ala Qubbaj gave an update on college activities at CECS’s 2024 Convocation. He said one in seven students at UTRGV are part of CECS and, pro rata, its faculty bring in the most grants and research dollars.   “I'm happy to report t...