Author Archives: Ricardo D. Cavazos, VBR content editor

Ricardo D. Cavazos is a Rio Grande Valley native and journalist who has worked as a reporter, editor and publisher at Texas newspapers. Cavazos formerly worked as a reporter and editorial writer at The Brownsville Herald, Dallas Times Herald, Corpus Christi Caller-Times and San Antonio Light. He served as editor of The Monitor in McAllen from 1991-1998 and from there served for 15 years as publisher at The Herald in Brownsville. Cavazos has been providing content for the Valley Business Report since 2018.

VBR Business Briefs

Community Education Finance/Banking News Transportation & Travel Comments
Executives representing Lone Star National Bank recently received five honors on the bank’s behalf from the Independent Bankers Association of Texas.

Lone Star National Honored For Services McAllen-based Lone Star National Bank was recently honored with five best of bank awards in honors given by the Independent Bankers Association of Texas. LSNB was honored for providing South Texas entrepreneurs with a range of services, including business education, expert-led workshops, networking opportunities and financial guidance through a complimentary eight-session cohort. Lone Star’s Small Business Education Program provides business owners with added expertise…

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‘Triple AAA’ Of Water Rescues Boats

News Recreation & Tourism Comments
TowBoatUS in the Rio Grande Valley operates out of three area ports in serving the sports fishermen of the Lower Laguna Madre.

The bright blue waters of the Laguna Madre can look calm and relaxing and be just the place to get away from it all. Tranquility can turn into worry – and quickly – when something goes wrong with a fishing boat. It won’t start. The boat is running low on gas or is out completely. The vessel has drifted into being grounded on the bay’s soft and shallow waters. “You…

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Shopping Strong In Mid-Valley

News Real Estate Retail Comments
The Mid-Valley market is brimming with new retail space and development.

The first stores at The Shops at Mercedes are opening in what local elected officials and business leaders see as another indication of the Mid-Valley’s emergence in the Rio Grande Valley’s retail market. “We’re seeing a shift in shopping habits,” said Dr. Ruben Saldana, a Mercedes city commissioner. “These new stores are a force multiplier for other developments.” And those developments are also being seen in the neighboring cities of…

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New Exhibit Boosts Zoo’s Momentum

News Recreation & Tourism Comments
White-faced saki monkeys are native to tropical rainforests of northern South America and are among the residents of the new Phase II of El Mundo Huasteco y Totonaco at the Gladys Porter Zoo.

The Gladys Porter Zoo is refreshing itself with new exhibits and property acquisitions that will meet the standards of national accreditors as the facility overhauls and redesigns its presentations. The Brownsville zoo opened in 1971 and had begun to show its age in recent years. Space restrictions were addressed in late 2024 when Brownsville city government and the zoo entered into an agreement with the local school district to acquire…

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Worlds Of Work Opening Doors

Education News Comments
RGV students who attended the Worlds of Work said the event provided information and insights on possible careers they are considering.

Over 1,000 students from the Rio Grande Valley recently attended the first Worlds of Work event to be held in South Texas. Texas Workforce Solutions and South Texas College collaborated on the program in asking employers from across the region to provide exhibits and insights about their respective companies and industries. The students came from area high schools and middle schools to attend the hands-on event at STC’s Technology Campus…

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New Museum Gives SPI A Heritage

Community Featured News Recreation & Tourism Comments
The Historical Museum of South Padre Island is nearing construction completion and will open in the first quarter of 2027.

Three South Padre Island community leaders met in 2009 to advance an idea that their city could be more than a beach resort destination. Dennis Franke, Steve Hathcock and Rod Bates founded the South Padre Island Historical Foundation with the expressed goal of establishing a museum of history. The wish of having a museum featuring the history of the Island seemed like a longshot given the resources it would take…

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Mercedes Amplifies Ties To Famed Doctor

Community News Comments
Dr. Hector P. Garcia, who grew up in Mercedes, founded the American GI Forum in the late 1940s to assist World War II veterans. (Courtesy)

Growing up in Mercedes, Skyler Howell knew the name of Dr. Hector P. Garcia, but not much else about the man whose likeness graces the front of the local library.  “I knew his name was on the library, but there was no context for it,” said Howell, a recent UTRGV graduate.  Garcia was a Mexican immigrant whose family came to the Rio Grande Valley and Mercedes in the early 1900s.…

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Port Celebrating 90 Years of History & Accomplishment

Manufacturing/Industrial News Comments
The modern-day Port of Brownsville handles tonnage like the giant wind turbine blades seen across South Texas. (Courtesy)

The father of the Port of Brownsville journeyed from a distant land to South Texas in the early 1900s and began championing the audacious goal of building a deepwater port along the U.S/Mexico border.  Louis Cobolini immigrated from Italy to Galveston in the mid-1860s after being part of failed efforts to gain Italian independence from the Austrian Empire. In his early 20s, Cobolini, like millions of immigrants through the ages,…

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Artist’s Mini Murals Feature RGV Birds

Arts Featured News Comments
Ryan Henry puts the finishing touches on a blue heron at Cactus Flower Interiors on South Padre Island. (Courtesy)

Plein-air artist Ryan Henry always thought of taking a brief break from his usual landscape work to try murals and create art on the sides and fronts of buildings. “I had it in my mind for years,” said Henry, a South Padre Island-based artist.  In late July, Ryan on an artistic limb, painted a great kiskadee above the entrance to his Meridian & Muse Fine Art Gallery on Padre Boulevard.…

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Fire Academies Meeting RGV’s Needs

Education News Comments
STC’s Fire Academy has trained hundreds of firefighters that are currently serving Rio Grande Valley communities. (Courtesy)

Firefighters are in steady and acute demand nationally as training requirements become more complex and those in the profession face risks to their mental and physical health.  In the Rio Grande Valley, South Texas College is expanding its fire academy regionally with plans to open a new training facility at its Mid-Valley campus in Weslaco. Some local school districts such as Harlingen CISD have established their own fire academies that…

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