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.

StartUp Events Feature Local Entrepreneurs

News Professional Services Comments
BCIC CEO Cori Pena makes a check presentation to one winner at a recent StartUp Texas event. (Courtesy)

The 36,000-square-foot eBridge Center in downtown Brownsville was envisioned as a space where aspiring entrepreneurs and existing business owners could experiment and test new ideas. After a year of operations on East Adams Street, eBridge is proving to be just that and more. Its StartUp Texas innovation competitions feature enterprising businesses from a variety of industries representing food, research and emerging technologies. Just in recent months, presenters offered judges in…

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Knapp Medical Extends Services In Mid-Valley

Healthcare News Comments
Knapp Medical Center of Weslaco is bringing some of its hospital services to a family health center in Mercedes. (Courtesy)

The Mid-Valley has a new healthcare option with Knapp Medical Center extending urgent care at a Mercedes clinic it jointly operates with the UTRGV School of Medicine. Knapp Medical of Weslaco recently added urgent care to the services offered at the UT Health RGV/Knapp Family Health Center at Expressway 83 and North Mile 2 W Road. A wide range of essential medical services are offered by UTRGV staff during daytime…

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Colleges Create Programs To Fit Needs

Education Manufacturing/Industrial News Comments
A wide array of technical skills are in demand as industrial activity ramps up in the Rio Grande Valley. (Courtesy)

SpaceX has more than gained a foothold in southern Cameron County with its imposing rockets looming over Boca Chica Beach. More than 2,000 employees work at Starbase, a production and launch site just across the Laguna Madre from South Padre Island. Keeping such a large operation going as it pursues audacious goals related to space travel requires vast amounts of skill and know-how from its teams of employees. South Texas…

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Chamber Leader Reviving Raymondville

Community News Comments
Elma Chavez returned after retiring five years before to revive and lead Raymondville Chamber of Commerce.

A city without a chamber of commerce isn’t whole. In Raymondville, that essential piece was missing before a long-standing community leader returned to revive a dormant organization.  Elma Chavez was running her own business in Raymondville when city leaders approached her early this year. Their suggestion was more of a plea. She had retired five years prior from her post as executive director of the Raymondville Chamber. The community needed…

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SpaceX, LNG Put RGV On Industrial Map

Manufacturing/Industrial News Comments
RGV students receiving technical training will be in high demand in the region with emerging companies setting up large operations in Cameron County. (Courtesy)

For decades, the scenario was the same for Rio Grande Valley residents when it came time to make job choices after receiving their technical training and education at area colleges. The better jobs and higher pay were elsewhere. Be it at the Port of Houston or jobs at aviation manufacturing facilities in California, Valley natives searched nationwide for careers that could match their aspirations. That equation is beginning to change…

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Supply Chains Shifts May Benefit RGV

Manufacturing/Industrial News Comments
Shifts in global supply chain operations may bring light manufacturing opportunities for the Rio Grande Valley economy.

The fallout from the economic upheavals of 2020 when coupled with the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 have frayed supply chains from Asia and put global energy markets on edge.  Two buzzwords are making the rounds of economic development talk as industries readjust and calculate what lays ahead. One term banding about is reshoring. This is the reestablishment of manufacturing operations in the United States after being previously located…

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Nicho’s Keeps Its Word & Sees Growth

Agriculture Featured News Retail Comments

At 2 a.m., the first trucks are leaving and on their way to Laredo, Alice and Corpus Christi. They are filled with all varieties of fruits and vegetables that have made their way to Nicho Produce in Edinburg from California, Mexico and origins further south. The skies are seeing the first glimmers of light when the remainder of the 30-plus truck fleet is leaving Nicho’s just off north Closner. Those…

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Livestock Show Celebrating Special Era

Community Events e-Brief Features News Comments
The RGV Livestock Show will have 1,300 exhibits from area youth in presenting their livestock, pigs, rabbits and other animals they've raised for presentations. (Courtesy)

The Rio Grande Valley Livestock Show & Rodeo is billed as the region’s single largest event in drawing over 300,000 visitors to the yearly celebration. The 2024 edition is a special one in what RGV Livestock Show leadership is calling the event’s Diamond Anniversary. The 85th annual show will take place from March 7-17 of next year in Mercedes, its historical home and where it got started downtown in 1939.…

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RGV Native Finds EDC Fit In Harlingen

Community News Comments
Orlando Campos is a Brownsville native who found the right EDC fit in Harlingen.

Brownsville native Orlando Campos spent over 15 years in North Texas, working for chambers of commerce and in economic development. He was hoping for the right opportunity that could bring him home. In 2023, a job opening and the right candidate for it met when Campos became the new manager and chief executive officer for Harlingen Economic Development Corporation. He was selected in mid-June among 20 candidates by the EDC…

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LNG Puts Brownsville On Global Map

Featured Manufacturing/Industrial News Comments
An artist rendering of the Rio Grande LNG plant under construction at the Port of Brownsville. (Courtesy)

The official word finally came in late June with the announcement that Houston-based NextDecade was building an $18 billion-plus liquefied natural gas plant at the Port of Brownsville. For port executives and community at-large leadership, the announcement was a combination of relief and elation in definitively knowing they overcame all obstacles and last-minute legal challenges. Site work began the same day of the announcement. The dirt started moving on the…

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