Category Archives: Industry

Texas State Bankshares Announces Definitive Agreement with Estrada Hinojosa & Company

Texas State Bankshares Inc.

Texas State Bankshares Inc., the registered bank holding company for Texas Regional Bank headquartered in Harlingen, announced this week it entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Dallas-based investment banking group Estrada Hinojosa & Company Inc. pending receipt of all required regulatory and shareholder approvals. TRB’s acquisition of Estrada Hinojosa will add a team of 48 individuals and offices in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Austin, Edinburg, Miami, Chicago and New…

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Restaurateurs Build New Brand Across RGV

Lotzapan has opened four Schlotzsky's restaurants in the Rio Grande Valley in recent years as it establishes the brand across the region.

Laurie and Robert Lozano met at a Dairy Queen in what would be the beginning of a personal relationship and one that led to the world of business. They were fellow DQ employees in Premont, a little town along U.S. Highway 281, heading north to Alice from Falfurrias. At the time, Laurie was one of the younger DQ managers in the venerable ice cream-and-hamburger restaurant chain. Years later, and now…

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Grant Addresses RGV’s Nursing Shortage

Members of the VIDA team display a symbolic $3 million check representing the organization’s Nursing Expansion Grant Award from the U.S. Department of Labor. (Courtesy)

The U.S. Department of Labor recently announced that it had selected 25 organizations to receive grants totaling $78 million to “develop professional pathways to nursing.”  The list of recipients includes only one organization in Texas. It’s the Valley Initiative for Development and Advancement, which is based in Mercedes. A grant of $3 million was awarded to VIDA to help train and develop more nursing professionals in the Rio Grande Valley. …

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BIH Project at Port of Brownsville Gets a Boost

The Brazos Island Harbor Channel Improvement Project continues to move forward, as Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Corporation recently announced the receipt of Notice to Proceed to perform essential improvements to the Brownsville ship channel for NextDecade Corporation’s Rio Grande LNG project at the Port of Brownsville. Great Lakes will commence Phase 1 of the project later this year. The historic BIH project will deepen the 17-mile-long Brownsville ship channel…

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City Of McAllen Launches Ask McAllen

Ask McAllen

The City of McAllen now has a new customer service platform, Ask McAllen. The additional customer service tool includes a text message feature and an accessible web chat assistant on the City of McAllen’s website. This new feature is part of the City of McAllen’s well established 3-1-1 Customer Service Call Center and its mobile app. To start a conversation via text message, text the word “Hello” to MC311 (62311).…

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McAllen ISD STRIDES Wins TRA Award

(photo McAllen ISD Facebook)

The McAllen ISD STRIDES Program is the inaugural winner of the Texas Restaurant Association’s Innovation in Excellence Award. The award serves to recognize individuals, groups or organizations that have demonstrated a commitment to innovation and excellence in the field of culinary and hospitality education. According to TRA, the award is a “celebration of those who have dedicated themselves to improving the education experience for both students and teachers and demonstrated…

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Rio Grande Regional Hospital Earns Distinction For Surgeries

Dr. Jaime Villarreal, cardiothoracic and vascular surgeon, and Dr. Adriana Gomez, chief medical officer, of Rio Grande Regional Hospital.

Rio Grande Regional Hospital has earned a distinguished three-star rating from The Society of Thoracic Surgeons for its patient care and outcomes in aortic valve replacement combined with coronary artery bypass grafting. The three-star rating, which denotes the highest quality category, places RGRH among the elite for AVR+CABG surgery in the United States and Canada. Rio Grande Regional Hospital is the only hospital in south Texas to currently hold a…

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STC Police Academy Cadets Graduate With Guaranteed Jobs

STC 30th Police Academy

The South Texas College 30th Police Academy recently celebrated the graduation and recruitment of every single graduating cadet in a ceremony joined by friends and family at the Regional Center for Public Safety Excellence in Pharr. For the first time in program history, all students were offered conditional job offers from the Hidalgo County Sherriff’s Office weeks before completing the 22-week program. Sherriff J.E. “Eddie” Guerra attended the ceremony and…

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Port of Brownsville Gains Ground In Energy Sector

Rio Grande LNG’s 984-acre facility will involve the liquefaction of natural gas and its export to foreign markets.

NextDecade Corporation has made a positive final investment decision to construct the first three liquefaction trains at the company’s Rio Grande LNG terminal. It will be the largest proposed liquefied natural gas export facility in the United States and it will be at the Port of Brownsville. “The future of the Rio Grande Valley’s economy begins at the Port of Brownsville,” said Brownsville Navigation District Chairman Esteban Guerra. “On behalf…

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Edinburg Public Works Receives State Safety Award

Edinburg Public Works Department

The City of Edinburg Public Works Department was recently recognized by the Texas Chapter of the American Public Works Association at the organization’s statewide conference in Waco. City staff attended the event and came back as the winners of the 2023 Exceptional Performance Award for Safety in recognition of their Real-Time Hydrological System. The department’s RTHS is a progressive flood management project that allows staff to access up-to-date information on flood…

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