Category Archives: Community

The Texas Workforce Commission advises jobseekers that individuals misrepresenting businesses may attempt to secure sensitive, personal information through deceit. This fraud can take the form of a bogus job opportunity used as bait to solicit information. TWC reminds all jobseekers to practice caution when providing anyone with personally identifiable information. Dishonest individuals may use public sources, such as social media accounts, to find personal information such as phone numbers and email…

Hidalgo Website Offers Recovery Assistance

May 12, 2020

VBR

Business Advice Community Featured News Technology Comments

Hidalgo County’s Hidalgo Cares website HidalgoCares.org is live to respond, recover and rebuild in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The new community-based website provides recovery assistance information to businesses and individuals. It includes a guide to local restaurants, as well as utility assistance and housing information. There is also the latest information on economic recovery, and available resources for food, health, safety and education. Other helpful resources for bolstering…

Student Helps by Printing Protection

May 11, 2020

VBR

Education Featured Giving Back Healthcare News Comments

It initially began as a way to help protect his mother Cecilia, a nurse at several healthcare agencies in the Valley. Julio Garza now runs an effort to support the medical community in the region as a whole. Garza, 23, says he found a niche creating protective face shields for healthcare providers by utilizing 3D printing techniques he learned as a student with the Advanced Manufacturing Technology Program at…

TSC Childcare Center Distributes Backpacks

May 7, 2020

VBR

e-Brief Features Education News Comments

Texas Southmost College is ensuring the safety of its students, faculty and staff during the COVID-19 pandemic, including its youngest population. Since mid-March Texas Southmost College’s Raul J. Guerra Early Childhood Center followed the college’s lead in extending spring break and then closing. The center serves more than 50 children between the ages of two weeks to 6 years old. “These have been trying times,” said the center’s manager Marisela…

Distance Learning – More than Academics

May 1, 2020

Chris Ardis

Education News Comments

March Madness took on an entirely new meaning this spring when schools, businesses and even day-to-day living came to a screeching halt due to COVID-19. Everything changed from one day-to-the-next. For school districts, COVID-19 meant transforming the traditional concept of teaching into robust home-to-home learning, which is better known as “distance learning.’’ At IDEA Toros in Edinburg, technology-based Summit Learning is often used. It incorporates a Self-Directed Learning Cycle. The…

Pandemic Jolts Valley Life With Changes

May 1, 2020

Ricardo D. Cavazos, VBR content editor

Community Featured News Comments

The month of March started like any other with businesses to run, bills to pay and jobs to fill. There was also a general awareness of a growing threat. The COVID-19, known as the coronavirus, was making its way across the oceans to the United States. In fact, it had already arrived. By mid-March, the threat was very real. Coronavirus outbreaks hit both coasts of the United States. Texas would…

Farmers Market Reinvents the Wheel

April 30, 2020

Ricardo D. Cavazos, VBR content editor

Agriculture Community Featured News Retail Comments

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…

All STC Summer Courses Will Go Online

April 28, 2020

VBR

Education Featured News Comments

South Texas College will maintain a distance learning environment for all classes during the summer 2020 semester which begins June 1. There is the potential of classes returning to a face-to-face format during the term if conditions allow. Students already registered for summer semester courses were notified of the online or alternate class format changes. “We are striving to insure that students are able to continue moving towards the academic…

Summer/Fall Registration Underway at TSC

April 27, 2020

VBR

Education Featured News Comments

Texas Southmost College’s registration is currently underway for both the summer and fall 2020 semesters. TSC Executive Director of Academic and Student Services Vanessa Vasquez said it’s important for students to keep in mind the benefits of registering early. “We’re moving ahead with registration anticipating this COVID-19 crisis will be behind us soon,” said Vasquez. “Classes fill up fast, so locking in your schedule early gives you time to work…

Survey on Reopening Economy Looks to Businesses

April 26, 2020

VBR

Business Advice Community Featured News Non-Profit Comments

The McAllen Chamber of Commerce is collecting information from businesses regarding reopening the economy. The online survey is gauging what business owners and representatives of non-profit organizations in the region are willing to do in order to reopen business. The survey is primarily designed for small to medium-sized businesses. This includes franchise operations and local branches or stores of larger companies. Larger companies may still provide responses. Individual responses will…

Community Archive