Category Archives: Government

This Week Is National Veterans Small Business Week

Business Advice Featured Government News Comments
National Veterans Small Business Week

The U.S. Small Business Administration is currently celebrating National Veterans Small Business Week through Nov. 4. The week includes a series of virtual and in-person events highlighting the entrepreneurial spirit and resilience of veteran small business owners. The celebration also comes on the heels of SBA announcing additional funding opportunities for community-based organizations to create targeted, impactful programming and expand access to SBA resources to support veteran entrepreneurs. “Each year we celebrate…

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McAllen Lauded For Boosting Wi-Fi Access

Community Government News Comments
McAllen Mayor Javier Villalobos is an advocate for expanding digital access in his city. (Courtesy)

Javier Villalobos set out clear priorities when elected McAllen’s new mayor in mid-2021. “Water, sewer, public safety and the police department,” he said, recalling some of the key issues of his campaign. What Villalobos didn’t figure is that education would emerge early on as a pressing issue in his tenure. More than 20,000 students in the McAllen school district were suddenly put into remote learning situations. Public health concerns in…

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SBA Seeks National Small Business Week Awards Nominations

Community Featured Government Comments
National Small Business Week Awards 2023

The U.S. Small Business Administration is now accepting nominations for the 2023 National Small Business Week Awards. The NSBW Awards recognize SBA-assisted small businesses’ inspirational achievements and contributions to their communities and our nation’s economy. All nominations should be submitted electronically by 3 p.m. ET on Dec. 8. The awards will be presented during the NSBW Awards ceremony in the first week of May 2023. To nominate a small business owner in…

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City of McAllen Approves New Commissioner Districts

Featured Government News Comments

At a special meeting on Aug. 1, the McAllen City Commission formally adopted an ordinance redistricting the City of McAllen’s single member voting districts. Redistricting was required because the results of the 2020 federal Census indicated a 48-percent population deviation based upon current district lines. Early in the process of drawing a new single member district map, the McAllen City Commission adopted a resolution establishing criteria to ensure that the…

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County Improving Drainage In Flood-Weary Towns 

Community Government News Comments
Maps show a network of canals and laterals that store and move water from Mercedes.

Hidalgo County Commissioner David Fuentes pointed to red and blue lines and arrows running through his precinct. Fuentes explained where $80 million of drainage improvements are occurring or are in plans in his Precinct 1. The crisscrossing of drains, laterals, canals and ditches form a patchwork of connected corridors to store and move water. It’s a network that isn’t always streamlined, but it’s vital in getting floodwaters out of towns…

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SBA Funds Service-Disabled Veterans Training

Business Advice Government News Comments
training

The U.S. Small Business Administration is now providing a new funding opportunity to provide entrepreneurship training to service-disabled veterans. The funding is available to non-profit organizations, state and local government agencies, private sector firms, and institutions of higher learning. The awarded organization(s) can use the funding to market, deliver and scale existing service-disabled veteran entrepreneurs’ training programs for veterans, service-disabled veterans, and Reserve component members who intend to start new…

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Commercial Gulf Shrimp Season Opens July 15

Agriculture e-Brief Features Government News Comments
shrimp

The Gulf of Mexico commercial shrimp season for both state and federal waters will reopen 30 minutes after sunset on July 15. Biologists evaluate the biological, social and economic impact when deciding the opening date to maximize the benefits to the industry and the public. In making its determination, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s Coastal Fisheries Division used the best available data from samples collected during routine trawls and…

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Sheriff’s Office: Being Prepared Saves Lives

Community Government News Comments
The primitive reaction to a crisis is to run, hide, fight. However, without a proactive plan in place, recent events have shown a complete failure to use these primitive instincts.

Seconds matter. Awareness and preparation matter.  The Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Office, in partnership with DHR Health, invited the public to a free, two-hour Active Shooter/Critical Incident Training on June 8 at the Edinburg Conference Center at Renaissance. Senior deputy Rick Garcia stressed the importance of awareness and preparation in his presentations.  Hidalgo County Sheriff Eddie Guerra said over 45,000 civilians across the state have been trained with sessions done at…

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TWC Awards $661,560 For Cameron County Career Training

Education Featured Government News Comments
welding, JET grant

The Texas Workforce Commission has awarded two Jobs and Education for Texans grants to support career training in the Cameron County area. TWC awarded Harlingen CISD $332,500 to help the school purchase and install a fire training simulator to initially train 130 students for careers in firefighting. The agency awarded Brownsville ISD $329,060 to buy welding equipment to initially train 130 students for careers in welding. The equipment funded through these grants will…

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Pharr PD Mental Health Unit Receives Organization of the Year

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…

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