Category Archives: Featured

Partnership Bridges Technology Gap

Education Featured News Technology Comments
Three students present their concept for a mobile app that would scan the contents of an individual’s refrigerator and pantry and find recipes to use those ingredients.

Code/Interactive and Mission EDC join forces with school district Students at Mission Consolidated Independent School District’s Rafael Cantu Junior High School displayed computer coding skills Friday that they are learning as part of a program to better prepare young people to succeed in the high-tech job market. The Mission school district has launched the program in partnership with the Mission Economic Development Corporation and Code/Interactive of New York which brings…

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Aerotropolis: An Airport’s Vision for the Future

Featured Comments

Valley International Airport may soon see an expansion that would further solidify its ranking as the Rio Grande Valley’s air cargo leader. FedEx, which maintains two cargo jets at the Harlingen airport that fly nightly round-trips to its sorting facility in Memphis, Tenn., is in the final stages of making a decision to expand service. “Right now air cargo is amazing for us the way it’s going,” VIA Aviation Director…

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Business to Botana Builds Relationships

Events Featured News Comments
Gisela Muzquiz and Michael Salas represented Muzquiz Security Systems, where they were holding a free raffle for a doorbell video kit with installation.

Brownsville event makes connections for public and businesses The Brownsville Events Center became a business showcase as the Brownsville Chamber of Commerce hosted its annual Business to Botana Expo Sept. 27. More than 50 companies were represented in what was described as a networking event for the business community. “We are excited to welcome the community to explore and discover the varying businesses in attendance,” said Esmy Villarreal, Brownsville Chamber…

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Lubbock: West Texas Windfall

Featured News Transportation & Travel Comments

West Texas town has something for everyone No longer your grandfather’s West Texas town, Lubbock has become a destination well worth the trip. What’s great? Restaurants and wine bars so good you’ll consider relocating.  Fascinating, one-of-a-kind museums and, threaded throughout the city of 250,000, active prairie dog towns and friendly folks. The home of Texas Tech, Lubbock offers days of easy-going fun and great food.   Playing to its High…

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Old-Fashioned Customer Service

Featured News Retail Comments
The Eiler family, Ken, Debbie, Loretta and Bob, stand in front of the store’s new paint department.

The store is clean and modern. At the same time, it stands as a testament to an era when the local hardware store stood as a community fixture. Borderland Hardware in Mercedes is among only a handful of locally owned, old-fashioned hardware stores left in the Rio Grande Valley. Owners Bob Eilers, who recently celebrated his 90th birthday; his wife of 67 years, Loretta; and son Ken and wife Debbie,…

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For the Love of Animals

Agriculture Featured News Retail Comments
Owner Leroy Moreno with one of his personal pets, an albino Burmese python. (VBR)

Moreno’s adapts to modern pet ownership A love of animals and their care keeps Leroy Moreno coming to work every morning with a smile on his face. The enthusiasm he has for his business, Moreno’s Feed and Pet Store in Weslaco, is contagious as he talks about his passion for animal husbandry. One of six children growing up on a farm north of Donna, Moreno remembers his father, Gus Moreno,…

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Bargain Hunters’ Delight

Featured News Retail Comments

Brownsville flea market keeps customers coming back Every weekend people flock to more than a dozen flea markets around the Rio Grande Valley in search of bargains. The largest and one of the oldest flea markets in South Texas is the 77 Flea Market in north Brownsville, where hundreds of people shop, eat and enjoy the day every weekend. Taking the name from its location on Expressway 77, now also…

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Building Boats One at a Time

Featured News Retail Comments

Cougar Marine at the helm of construction Bill Gagan started a fiberglass and composite fabrication company in a 600-square–foot shop in the Dallas area. Business boomed and his company became one of the largest fiberglass and composite fabrication companies in the world, operating out of a 115,000-square-foot building. Gagan holds several patents and copyrights and has fabricated high-speed racing boats, race car parts, components for Disney attractions, signs for franchise…

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A Pro Teaches Home Cooks

Featured Food & Entertainment News Professional Services Comments

McAllen Culinary Academy makes cooking comfortable Food excites Chef Marcel, and he shares that enthusiasm with cooks who turn to him to sharpen their skills in the kitchen. The McAllen Culinary Academy may sound like a school for cooks wanting to become professional chefs, but that’s not what inspires Marcel. “I’m not looking to teach professional cooks,” Marcel said. “I am more for people who want to better themselves for…

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‘Fab Lab’ Plants Seeds of Creativity

Education Featured News Comments
UTRGV students Vilma Flores and Alissa Flores with Dr. Emmett Tomai, UTRGV Computer Science Associate Professor, on Monday, July 17, 2017 at the UTRGV Fabrication Lab in the Visual Arts Building in Edinburg, Texas. (Photo by Paul Chouy, UTRGV)

Lab serves underprivileged areas Technology, science and art will come together in a learning laboratory setting to design new products. Two faculty members at The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley are teaming up to create what will be known as a fabrication laboratory, or “fab lab.” Donna Sweigart, associate professor of art, and Dr. Emmett Tomai, associate professor of computer science, received an Internal Seed Research Program grant from…

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