The RGV is home to many incredible local businesses that strive to make an impact on the community. Among them are those who have a dedication to instilling life lessons such as anti-bullying through the art forms of martial arts and taekwondo. Team Tiger Martial Arts was first established nearly 15 years ago out of founder Gilberto Villanueva’s home in Palmhurst, Texas. The licensed chemical dependency counselor came across victims…
The old house at East Madison and 15th street in Brownsville might look like a building in stages of decay. Some of the letters on the east side of the building are fading away. It reads “Carlotta K. Petrina.” Petrina was an artist from New York who moved to this part of South Texas many years ago. But inside the brick structure that served as her home until she died in 1997…
The list of entertainers who have graced the stage of the Harlingen Municipal Auditorium is impressive. They include Guy Lombardo, the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, Paul Robeson, the Von Trapp Family Singers and famous pianist, composer and conductor Sergei Rachmaninoff. But, all of those names go back to the 1940s, just a few years after the facility was built. Today, the music and entertainment continue at the 1,500-seat auditorium, but most…
Many of the country’s beach resorts have a place where the locals and visitors alike like to hang out. South Padre Island has its Entertainment District as well. It’s a place with about a dozen businesses that cater to families and to those who enjoy dancing, dining, fishing or who simply like to watch the many beautiful sunsets over the usually tranquil waters of the Laguna Madre. There are also rides for…
McAllen Public Library, in partnership with Workforce Solutions, invites the public to a job fair Feb. 1 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The event at the Main Library will host 40 different companies ready to accept applications and conduct on-site interviews. Attendees should bring updated resumes and dress interview-ready. McAllen Public Library hopes the job fair will act as a point of contact for people to gather and network…
South Texas College is offering a new pilot program to match the needs of low-income students with the ongoing demand for skilled first responders. The program will target 80 low-income students as well as existing firefighters and first responders. The goal is for participants to complete or re-certify their first responder certification. With a grant from AT&T, the pilot program will cover all costs associated with the first responder certification.…
The McAllen Public Library will host an international festival Feb. 8, launching its new World Languages Collection. The festival will celebrate the successful introduction of new materials offered in Korean, Tagalog and Hindi. The festival will include food, visual displays, story time, and arts and crafts activities. Guests of all ages can also enjoy stories featuring multi-lingual storytellers including Cat Avila and Dr. Mohammed Uddin. Additionally, a temporary exhibit of…
Workforce Training and Continuing Education at Texas State Technical College is introducing a new course that will help both the region and state fill a need for endorsed bus drivers. As early as next month, the School Bus Driver Endorsement course will begin and is already enrolling students. “We’ve been working on bringing this program to life for a little over a year, and we’re excited to finally launch it,”…
Aime Bautista was a single mother of an 8-year-old daughter, working as a sales associate and earning $8.25 per hour. A lifelong resident of Mercedes who was raised by her grandparents, Bautista and her daughter were living with her grandmother. In the summer of 2019, Bautista gave birth to another daughter and no longer had a job. A student in the Valley Initiative for Development and Advancement told Bautista about…
Research by two UTRGV professors is monitoring the critical honeybee population in South Texas via tiny cameras placed on their hives. The research by Dongchul Kim and Joanne Rampersad-Ammons is receiving funding from a federal research grant from the USDA. Kim is an assistant professor of computer science and principal investigator on the project. Rampersad-Ammons is co-PI and professor in the School of Earth, Environmental and Marine Sciences. “Applying Computer Vision…