The usual formula to fuel economic development focuses on manufacturing, transportation and distribution. At South Padre Island, the path to boosting the economy has branched out to also include art and how creative endeavors can lead to growth. The Art Business Incubator South Padre Island seeks to give both new and existing art businesses support to establish a presence in the local economy. Its program director Alexa Ocean Ray is…
The front lines of hospitals and nursing homes are under severe duress – and help isn’t coming just from universities and nursing schools. Employers are in need of nurse assistants, medical assistants and phlebotomists in caring for surging numbers of patients. Career schools with licenses from the Texas Workforce Commission are training and educating these essential workers. Schools such as Careers Unlimited and South Texas Training Center are working to…
Hometown pharmacies in Mercedes mean featuring orange-and-white themes and a community’s love for high school football. At Mid-Valley Pharmacy, a Mercedes Tiger football helmet sits up high on a main counter. Around the corner at Coach’s Pharmacy on Texas Avenue, the pharmacist is a former football coach. He also wears something orange to work every day. The down-home connections are especially pertinent these days. Customers throughout the Mid-Valley depend on…
Karla Ugarte and Juan Palma were coming off nine solid months of new business success when they reached for more in opening their second Keto Sweets & Treats. The husband-and-wife team were building from solid ground with the customer and revenue gains from their Alamo bakery along Expressway 77/83. Moving into the bigger McAllen market with a location near the always busy intersection of 10th Street and Trenton Road was…
Eddy Berges earned medical degrees and training in his native Dominican Republic and then in Puerto Rico. A major goal still lay ahead and Berges pursued it by applying to several medical schools in the United States. Berges’ goal was to be accepted into a residency program. He found one in the Rio Grande Valley, and a program barely getting off the ground. Berges and five other physician residents from…
A $7-million roadway connecting two busy parts of Expressway 77/83 in Harlingen is on schedule for completion this month. Spur 54 links southbound and westbound traffic on the expressway, running east-west behind Bass Pro Shops and in front of the Sam’s Club store in Harlingen. Construction on the 1.2 mile-long roadway began a year ago. It is already busy with traffic and leading to the development of new retail and…
Cynthia Duran is gearing up to start another school year – in whatever form that may take – but she’s always teaching. The Weslaco school district art educator has navigated through an interesting summer at her Busy Bristles Art Studio. The downtown Weslaco business also had its COVID-19 ups and downs. The enthusiasm for art never waned. The interest of children and adults to get before a canvas again ran…
Dr. Patricia Blanco was there at the beginning. It was fall 2013 and Our Lady Of The Lake University was making its big move in the Rio Grande Valley. The San Antonio-based university was establishing a bricks-and-mortar location in La Feria. It was a sure sign the Catholic school was intent on a permanent presence. “It was a leap for OLLU,” said Blanco, the director of the university’s RGV campus.…
Patrick Alvarez walks into big-box stores and their rows of school supplies and his trained teacher eye makes an astute observation. “A lot of the inventory doesn’t move,” said Alvarez, a social studies teacher at a Brownsville charter school. “It’s not what teachers really need.” The dollar stores offer discounts on inexpensive items like glitter and markers, but what about the more specific supplies and decorations teachers commonly need to…
Three Rio Grande Valley communities rank at the top of Texas cities of their size in a statewide competition that focuses on healthy actions like doing a workout, eating notorious food and drinking ample amounts of water. McAllen, Harlingen and Los Fresnos each finished first among all cities of their population ranges in the 2020 It’s Time Texas Community Challenge. The competition recorded an eight week-period of time this year…