When a father in Oklahoma placed his 3-year-old daughter Jami on a horse, the action led — many years later — to Jami Ricks opening the JHK Equestrian Country Club in Edinburg. Ricks established the horsemanship academy after she had spent 25 years showing and competing nationally in English and Western riding contests. At one time she was ranked first in the nation in English equitation and first in Western…
Internet-connected devices – from dog collars and fitness trackers to lighting systems — took center stage at the January Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The demand for faster and greater Internet connection service is slated to grow monumentally. “Orbit Broadband is the only ISP (Internet service provider) in the U.S. with 5G service for such a large geographical area that’s not a single city,” said Richard Galvan in Mercedes. He is the operating director of Orbit Broadband, which provides upload…
Golf has been called a good walk spoiled, but the 29 million active golfers in the U.S. beg to differ. The activity offers challenges and camaraderie along with outdoors exercise and skills development, including anger management. Golf may be a mental discipline but it promotes fitness, flexibility and fun. The majority of American golfers are married, male college graduates over 40 with an average household income of $95,000. This significant segment of the population (9%) contributes to the GDP with their…
When Rachel Bunton decided on a gift for her husband’s 40th birthday last spring, she had no inkling the present would prompt them to create a business: SegValley Tours. Brian and Rachel Bunton’s experience with a Segway tour of San Antonio changed their life. “It was love at first ride. The whole drive home we were talking about different places they would be fun to take. There’s nothing like it in the Valley,” she said. “We have beautiful weather, the beach and great places to go. We realized…
With shrimp prices at an all-time high, the Brownsville-Port Isabel shrimp fleet is doing its best to keep up with demand. A 70% drop in imported Asian shrimp due to a disease problem has given Texas shrimpers an opportunity to supply a hungry U.S. market. Approximately 450 trawlers go out from Texas ports. “There are happy shrimpers now,” said Andrea Hance, executive director of the Brownsville-based Texas Shrimping Association. The…
Let’s add one more item to the list of things that’s not like your grandfather’s — your office. Contemporary office furniture is two generations away from obligatory black chairs and heavy, dark brown furniture The office of today combines functionality, comfort and a lively sense of style. After all, we spend most of our waking hours in our offices. We are most productive when our surroundings are esthetically pleasing, visually…
“I tell people I’ve been training for this job all my life,” said House of Frames owner Peggy Allen, surrounded by framed artwork and frame samples. Allen graduated from Pan Am with a studio art degree and held jobs as a commercial artist. In 1997, after working part time for three years with the previous owner of House of Frames, Allen bought the custom framing business. That was two months…
Intellectual Property includes patents, copyrights, trademarks, trade names and trade secrets, patent attorney Susan Ochoa Spiering told a Technology Ventures audience in Edinburg. “Treat IP like real property. You can buy, sell, lease and license IP and pass it on by inheritance,” Ochoa said. While a patent is not a monopoly, it can help you corner the market. “It is an exclusive right to make, sell or use. It must…
With the company tag line of “Our business is picking up,” Mobile Crane Services Inc. has a built-in positive outlook. Since 1972, the Pharr company has done much of the region’s heavy lifting, deftly swinging highway overpass beams, derailed train cars and oil field compressors into place. “Back in early ‘70s, there just wasn’t any crane service in the Valley to speak of,” Jimmy Shawn recalled. He had an old truck with…
When it comes to Texas citrus, the Rio Grande Valley has no competitors. While consumption of Valley red grapefruit is growing nationally, sales of Florida and California grapefruit are decreasing. This season, Valley packing houses expect to ship between nine and ten million cartons of citrus, primarily grapefruit. Marketed under the names Ruby Red, Rio Star and Rio Red, Texas grapefruit attracts consumers because of its color, but the naturally…