Author Archives: VBR

U.S. News & World Report has recognized all five McAllen ISD high schools among its rankings of the “2022 Best Public High Schools.” This is the eighth straight year McAllen ISD has had its high schools recognized by either U.S. News & World Report or The Washington Post. The McAllen ISD schools are Achieve Early College High School, McAllen Memorial High School, James “Nikki” Rowe High, McAllen High School and Lamar Academy. Achieve Early…

South Texas Builders Expo Coming To Edinburg

May 5, 2022

VBR

Community Community Events e-Brief Features Featured News Comments

Editor’s Note on May 19, 2022: The South Texas Builders Expo has been postponed to Aug. 20-21. The Edinburg Chamber of Commerce and South Texas Builders Alliance will host their inaugural South Texas Builders Expo June 4-5 at the Edinburg Conference Center at Renaissance. The event will host the region’s top exhibitors in home-building products, service solutions and up-to-date technology. This event comes in light of the city of Edinburg’s…

Pharr PD Mental Health Unit Receives Organization of the Year

May 4, 2022

VBR

Community Featured Government News Comments

The Pharr Police Department’s Mental Health Unit was awarded “Organization of the Year” by the Texas Crisis Intervention Team Association at its annual conference this past weekend. Pharr’s Mental Health Unit provides specialized police responses to individuals with mental illness or who are experiencing a mental health crisis. “We are seeing the positive impact that the Mental Health Unit is directly having in our community, and to be recognized by…

Palm Awards Returns Live In McAllen

May 3, 2022

VBR

Community Events Featured News Comments

Hundreds of Rio Grande Valley high-school theater students will learn who receives the pinnacle of their secondary theater careers, a Palm, on May 15. The red carpet will roll out for these students from more than 30 high schools at the Palm Awards that evening at the McAllen Performing Arts Center. PSJA ISD high-school-theater teachers Michael Alebis and Gilbert Zepeda Jr. began the Palm Awards in 2017. The vision was…

Texas Unemployment Rate Declines to 4.4 Percent

May 2, 2022

VBR

Community News Comments

In March, the seasonally adjusted Texas unemployment rate was 4.4 percent. This is a decrease of 0.3 percentage points from February 2022. It is also two percentage points below the level set one year ago. Texas added 30,100 total nonagricultural jobs in March 2022. For the fifth consecutive month, the state set new employment highs as total nonfarm jobs, reaching 13,207,600 in March 2022. Texas has added a total of…

SBA Launches T.H.R.I.V.E. Business Training

April 30, 2022

VBR

Business Advice Featured News Comments

The U.S. Small Business Administration recently launched T.H.R.I.V.E. (Train, Hope, Rise, Innovate, Venture, Elevate), a reimagined training program for small business leaders, formerly known as Emerging Leaders. “T.H.R.I.V.E. Emerging Leaders Reimagined initiative will provide up-and-coming small business leaders with tools, knowledge, and access to the best and the brightest minds in economic development to help them accelerate their growth and help them become competitive in an increasingly global economy,” said Administrator Isabella Casillas Guzman. Local…

McAllen ISD Chess Teams Finish Top Among Nation

April 29, 2022

VBR

Community Education Featured News Comments

Going up against the best of the best, two teams from McAllen ISD earned spots in the top seven for the entire country. Teams from Lamar Academy and Achieve Early College High School took third and seventh, respectively, in the National High School Championship April 8-10 in Memphis, Tenn. They were also the top two teams in Texas. Individually, Cameron Williams (Achieve ECHS) and Jeffrey De Groot (Lamar) finished tied…

Texas City Nature Challenge This Weekend

April 28, 2022

VBR

e-Brief Features News Recreation & Tourism Comments

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, through the Texas Nature Trackers program, invites Texans to participate in the seventh annual City Nature Challenge April 29 through May 2. This global community-based scientific effort, co-organized by San Francisco’s California Academy of Sciences and the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, invites current and aspiring citizen scientists of all ages and backgrounds to observe and submit pictures of wild plants, animals and fungi…

Texas Cook’Em Coming Fourth of July Weekend

April 26, 2022

VBR

Community Events Featured News Comments

The Edinburg Chamber of Commerce and the City of Edinburg will host the 16th annual Texas Cook’Em: High Steaks on July 2 at Ebony Hills Golf Course. Headliner for the event is Aaron Watson with openers Red Not Chili Peppers, Draft, Explosion Tejana and more. Texas Cook’Em is one of the state’s biggest BBQ purse, awarding $25,000 to winners. Competitors will battle it out on the grill to cook the…

TSC Digital Library Offers New Opportunities

April 25, 2022

VBR

Community Education Featured News Comments

Texas Southmost College recently introduced the college’s first Digital Library, making completing assignments and essays more convenient for students. The idea for TSC’s Digital Library was first introduced in 2019 to give TSC and its students its own library and resources, since this service was originally being shared with a local university. “TSC needed its own in-house library for students and faculty,” said TSC Librarian Nancy Bond. “So, my goal…