One day, Bonnie Emerson was getting ready to stage another weekend Rancho Viejo Farmers Market – and then the world changed. The threat of the coronavirus led Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to issue an executive order on March 19 that limited public gatherings and eventually led to the closing of many businesses. The Rancho Viejo Farmers Market of March 21-22 saw an abrupt cancellation with no roadmap of what to…
The dean of the UTRGV School of Medicine believes strict stay-at-home orders will likely lead to the coronavirus spread peaking in early May in the Rio Grande Valley. Dr. John Krouse said models he is seeing suggest the Valley is coming up to its COVID-19 peak time. “The latest models I’m seeing coming out of the state are looking at a peak, perhaps in early May,” Krouse said during a…
A McAllen/Mission-area bridge is reducing hours of operations for southbound traffic as traffic volume from Mexico has declined with restrictions imposed during the coronavirus crisis. Beginning Monday, April 6, the Anzalduas Bridge will see hours reduced for incoming traffic from Mexico. Northbound traffic on Anzalduas will operate from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. Hours of operation for southbound traffic will remain unchanged and be open for traffic from 6 a.m.…
Social distance practices and shelter in place directives from county judges appear to be having the effect intended. At least one Rio Grande Valley city reports significant declines in vehicular traffic. The City of McAllen reports a nearly 70 percent drop in normal vehicular traffic at two of its busiest intersections. Those locations are 2nd Street and Nolana Avenue and Ware Road and Nolana. Both intersections as of March 28…
Down-home Rio Grande Valley cooking is gaining statewide accolades for the Brownsville-based Wing Barn. The growing regional restaurant chain was recently named one of the “Top 25 Best Places for Chicken Wings in Texas” by Big 7 Travel. The widely-read and well-sourced social media site offers recommendations on the best destinations, hotels and restaurants around the country and world for travelers to visit and enjoy. The accolade comes at a…
Engineering students are at work inside a new innovation lab building on the Mercedes campus of the South Texas Independent School District campus. They peer over laptops and move from table to table, conferring over projects and looking over numerical formulas that offer solutions. “These kids know they’re not on an island,” said Gabe Valdez, an instructor at the school. “They collaborate. They look for opportunities to teach each other.”…
Diana Padilla describes it as seeing a piece of land and knowing it’s where she wanted to be. The Chicago native and retired federal government employee chanced upon the farmland near the corner of Rangerville and Morris roads in Harlingen and had a good feel for it. She and her husband Saul purchased a 15-acre plot, including the old farmhouse where they live, and then began farming. It was 2004…
Robert Treviño winds his city-issued truck through 20-foot-plus high piles of brush – grinded and raw – at the McAllen Composting Facility. The city’s renewable resource manager oversees a facility that annually sells 25,000 bags of compost and mulch, and also hauls and delivers products all over South Texas. It’s a valuable commodity among growers and gardeners for the nutrients and microbial activity it provides to soils for plant use…
Esteban Mejia Jr. has the restless energy of an Air Force veteran who once worked long shifts as a nuclear cruise technician. Returning home, the Mercedes native built an information technology business from scratch. He’s now working to extend his brand. “My dad would tell me, growing up, ‘Never back down from work,’’ he said. “So I’m always thinking, ‘what else, what else can I do?’” Mejia is the founder…
The new place still feels like the old place. That’s the vibe Rodney McClanahan was going for when he transplanted his Hardknox Strength & Performance Club across town in Brownsville. It looks like he succeeded. The new 10,000-square-foot facility just off Pablo Kisel Blvd. near Sunrise Mall is over twice the size of the old club on the Military Highway in the west Brownsville neighborhoods where McClanahan grew up. The…