Rio Grande Guardian's Podcast

EDINBURG, Texas - The chairman of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board was awarded the Dean’s Medallion at the UT-Rio Grande Valley College of Engineering & Computer Science 2024 Convocation. Dr. Fred Farias, a Valley native, received the award Dr. Ala Qubbaj, dean of the college. Qubbaj noted that Farias has helped CECS secure accreditation for two PhD program’s from THECB.  In his r...

RIO GRANDE CITY, Texas - Congressman Henry Cuellar has announced $14.4 million in federal funding for Starr County school districts for free or reduced meals for students.   The federal funding comes from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National School Breakfast Program (SBP) and National School Lunch Program (NSLP).   Cuellar said the funds can be used to provide free school breakfasts, lunc...

MCALLEN, Texas - Ten new industrial parks are to be built in the City of Pharr or its ETJ, with almost 11 million square feet of warehouse space.   This news was conveyed by Janie Cavazos, vice president of business recruitment, at a meeting of the South Texas Manufacturers Association. The meeting was held at the DoubleTree Suites by Hilton in McAllen.   “We have a lot of activity going on in Pha...

BROWNSVILLE, Texas - Mexico can play an important role in helping the United States with its space exploration endeavors.   This is the view of Judith Arrieta Munguía, Mexico’s consul in Brownsville. Arrieta was a panelist at a Brownsville Chamber of Commerce luncheon titled “Bridging Borders & Beyond - The Impact of US-Mexico Relations and Space Exploration in the Rio Grande Valley.”   Modera...

RIO GRANDE CITY, Texas - The eagerly anticipated State Loop 195 project in Starr County is now a priority for the Texas Department of Transportation, Gov. Greg Abbott has announced.   The 17.4 mile State Loop 195 project is located in Starr County and traverses the limits of Rio Grande City, the City of Escobares and the City of Roma. The project consists of constructing a new location 4-lane divi...

BROWNSVILLE, Texas - SpaceX is about to bring another 300 engineers and technicians to its Starbase facility at Boca Chica.   This news was revealed by Kathryn Lueders, general manager of Starbase, at a luncheon event hosted by Brownsville Chamber of Commerce. Lueders was the keynote speaker for a program titled: “Bridging Borders & Beyond - The Impact of US-Mexico Relations and Space Explorat...

BROWNSVILLE, Texas - Activity at SpaceX was front and center during a panel discussion that took place at a luncheon event hosted by Brownsville Chamber of Commerce on Aug. 27. The event, held at the Brownsville Events Center, was titled: “Bridging Borders & Beyond - The Impact of US-Mexico Relations and Space Exploration in the Rio Grande Valley.”  The moderator was Glenn Hamer, president of...

HARLINGEN, Texas - Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chair Nanette Barragán said she was recently with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris when they announced plans to save money on prescription drugs.   Asked about the plan, U.S. Congressman Vicente Gonzalez said:   “Those are basic needs that I think communities like those in Rio Grande Valley need. We need to control prescription d...

BROWNSVILLE, Texas - The CIL Group has provided the Rio Grande Guardian with some exclusive photos from the two recent American Chamber Mexico (AmCham) events in Brownsville. The first event was a half day conference held at the Brownsville Events Center. It was titled: US-Mexico Leaders’ Summit: Binational High-Level Dialogue. Among those giving the opening remarks were Brownsville Mayor John Cow...

EDINBURG, Texas - The median U.S. renter has $6,300 in net wealth. The median U.S. homeowner has $254,000 in net wealth. Edinburg-based Viva Home Team wants to reduce that gap by helping renters. "At Viva, we are a mission-driven team dedicated to closing the 40X renter wealth equity gap. We believe that everyone deserves the opportunity to build wealth and achieve financial stability, regard...

SAN BENITO, Texas - Craig Harmon, general manager of Cameron County Irrigation District No. 2 and Cameron County Drainage District No. 3, recently had a private meeting with U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez.   Also at the meeting were officials with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.   In his power point presentation, Harmon did not hold back. He said he wanted to give the bottom line up front. So, the fir...

EDINBURG, Texas - The president of Driscoll Children’s Hospital-Rio Grande Valley says the future is bright for pediatric healthcare in the region.   Matt Wolthoff spoke in depth about the services on offer at the new hospital at the official ribbon-cutting ceremony for the facility. He said DCH-RGV is already planning to expand.   “Most importantly, we will continue to grow and expand our pediatr...

PHARR, Texas - The RioPlex region should otherwise be known as the Land of the Incredible, says businessman Joaquin Spamer.   The Rio Grande Guardian caught up with the founder and president of CIL Logistics at the official opening of the Pharr Global Business Hub. In an exclusive interview, Spamer talked about Pharr’s prominence as an international trade corridor, the impact SpaceX will have on t...

BROWNSVILLE, Texas -  The national president of the American Chamber Mexico says RioPlex will become one of the most powerful regions economically in the world.   Carlos Garcia, who is based in Mexico City, spoke at an evening reception AmCham hosted at IBC Bank in Brownsville. He said he had not been to the Rio Grande Valley for several years. He said he was “blown away” but what he saw.   “It&ap...

BROWNSVILLE, Texas - RioPlex, the new regional marketing campaign set up to promote the Rio Grande Valley and Northern Tamaulipas, is going to be housed within the Council for South Texas Economic Progress.   The announcement was made by Mario Reyna at a reception held by the American Chamber Mexico (AmCham) and held Wednesday evening at IBC Bank in Brownsville.   Reyna is a co-founder of the Hida...

EDINBURG, TEXAS - A Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) in Business Analytics has just started at UT-Rio Grande Valley and it is the first of its kind in the region.   To learn more about the degree program, the Rio Grande Guardian secured an in-depth interview with both Giorgio Gotti, Ph. D., dean of the Robert C. Vackar College of Business & Entrepreneurship, and Jerald Hughes, Ph. D.,...

MISSION, Texas - How do Rio Grande Valley leaders best get the word out that SpaceX launches rockets from their region, not Florida.   That was a question posed to Walt Ugalde, who is part of NASA’s technology transfer expansion program at the Johnson Space Center.  Ugalde gave an in-depth presentation on the work of NASA at an event hosted by the Council for South Texas Economic Prosperity (COSTE...

BROWNSVILLE, Texas - State Sen. Morgan LaMantia says she is working with U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez to bring more primary care residency slots to South Texas.   LaMantia participated in a panel discussion about a range of healthcare issues at New Horizon Health Center. The center’s CEO, Jason Wallace, organized the event to celebrate National Health Center Week.   Asked by Wallace to give some exa...

HARLINGEN, Texas - Valley International Airport Aviation Director Marv Esterly recently spoke at a Rio Grande Valley Partnership’s Commercialization and Investment Tour event.  Esterly participated in a panel discussion moderated by Harlingen Economic Development Corporation Chief Operating Officer Beverly Ticer Loftus. It was held at Texas State Technical College-Harlingen. Esterly spoke about th...

MCALLEN, Texas - Could you ever see our Rio Grande Valley cities consolidating?   Ron Garza, associate vice president for workforce and economic development at UT-Rio Grande Valley, says he sometimes gets asked that question by his students.   “I think we're 100 years past that,” Garza said. “But that doesn't mean we can't operate within the same policies.”   Garza gave what he said...

HARLINGEN, TEXAS - The top project at the Port of Harlingen is expanding the turning basin by about 700 feet on both sides of the ship channel.   If this happened there would be host of new opportunities, says Port Director Walker Smith, including going after the lucrative container-on-barge business.   Smith gave an update on Port activities during a panel discussion at the Rio Grande Valley Part...

HARLINGEN, Texas - On his recent visit to the Rio Grande Valley, Rolando Pablos gave advice on how to grow the RioPlex marketing brand. Pablos, a former Texas Secretary of State, wrote the roadmap for the Borderplex Alliance, the regional economic development entity for El Paso, Ciudad Juarez, and Santa Teresa. As a guest of the CEO Group and the Hidalgo County Prosperity Task Force, Pablos spoke...

RIO GRANDE CITY, Texas - Congressman Henry Cuellar has announced $9,436,120 in federal dollars for Union Water Supply Corporation in Rio Grande City. The project was made possible by the Bureau of Reclamations WaterSMART Drought Response Program, one of the agency’s Drought Resiliency Projects for Fiscal Year 2024.   The grant will enable Union Water Supply Corporation to add a second water source...

KENEDY COUNTY, Texas - The groundbreaking ceremony was held by the Texas Department of Transportation to celebrate the start of a $191 million project to get US 77 up to interstate standards near the Willacy-Kenedy County line.  Another $173 million will be spent by TxDOT on a similar project further north in Kenedy County. “The projects, in general, in Kenedy County will have overpasses every fiv...

HARLINGEN, Texas - Harlingen City Manager Gabriel “Gabe” Gonzalez has outlined the likely city budget for the upcoming year.   “The budget we're looking at for this upcoming year is $110 million in revenue with $108 million in expenditures. That's a big budget,” Gonzalez said.   Gonzalez made his comments at a graduation ceremony for the Leadership Harlingen Class of 2023-2024. The event...