Category Archives: Industry

Hidalgo Website Offers Recovery Assistance

HidalgoCares.org

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…

Read More

Student Helps by Printing Protection

Julio Garza found a niche creating protective face shields for healthcare providers. (photo STC)

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…

Read More

Port of Brownsville Turns 84

Port of Brownsville anniversary

On May 16, the Port of Brownsville will observe its 84th anniversary. Opened in 1936, the port signified a new hope for economic prosperity in the Rio Grande Valley region. The port was the vision of an Italian immigrant Louis Cobolini. The 17-mile long Brownsville ship channel has since welcomed foreign travelers and businesses to its shores. In the port’s early years, agricultural exports brought citrus fruits from local groves and…

Read More

It Pays to Shop Local in Harlingen

Shop Local

Shopping or dining Harlingen local businesses may pay off for some customers. The Harlingen Area Chamber of Commerce is sponsoring the “Shop Local” Lucky Draw contest the entire month of May. Each week, the Harlingen Chamber will hold a drawing and give away a $50 give card from a Harlingen business. To enter the weekly drawing, customers need to make a purchase at a participating business. Then they must write…

Read More

Port of Brownsville Drives Record-Setting Values

Foreign Trade Zone No. 62 at the Port of Brownsville reported a record-setting $8.9 billion in the combined value of exports and imports for 2019. The total value of export shipments through FTZ No. 62 reached $4.3 billion in 2019. This is an increase from $3.8 billion the year before. In turn, the FTZ received $4.6 billion in imports. These numbers are the highest in the zone’s history. Products in…

Read More

Linda’s Cakes Transforms to Serve Community

Andrea Bernes of Linda’s Cakes & Desserts Speciality Shop helps a customer with a purchase of goods like beans and potatoes now being sold at the Brownsville bakery. (Courtesy)

For Andrea Bernes, it started with a question that would transform her bakery in the coronavirus era. “A customer asked me if I would sell her flour,” said Bernes, the owner of Linda’s Cakes & Desserts Specialty Shop. Bernes mulled that over. It was mid-March and long lines were forming at grocery stores as the COVID-19 crisis arrived in the Rio Grande Valley.  “Then one of my suppliers asked if…

Read More

RGV Businesses Move Quickly To New Normal

Family Nurse Practitioner Michael Menchaca is at 100-percent telemedicine during the coronavirus crisis. (Courtesy)

Rio Grande Valley businesses, like those around the country, are dealing with disruptions and an upheaval in a way of life unlike anything experienced in our lifetimes.  Here’s a look at how three RGV businesses prepared for what they knew was coming and how they are doing in adapting to a new normal. Menchaca Family Clinic Michael Menchaca didn’t wait for any official announcements for Menchaca Family Clinic. The family…

Read More

The Smoking Oak Keeps Flame Going

Brisket sandwich from The Smoking Oak.

Mario Dominguez is a believer in the Central Texas style – and oak is the key. He starts the flame every Tuesday night at his hometown barbecue restaurant in Mercedes. It will then burn steady and sure for the next five days at The Smoking Oak. The line of customers starts forming before the noon hour at the BBQ restaurant on 546 Hidalgo Street. The oak burns slow, thus giving…

Read More

Kapal Gains State Designation

The Donna facility of Kapal Industries, a cabinet and countertops manufacturer.

Irineo Capetillo knows what it’s like to navigate through the birth, emergence and subsequent struggles of a business that even in success, needs assistance if it hopes to see further growth. Going into 2019, Capetillo knew his Kapal Industries had outgrown its Donna facility. He also needed a second facility to expand his cabinet making and countertops manufacturing operations. The early search for a second facility in the Rio Grande…

Read More

Determination Tops Ranch House Burgers

Ranch House Burgers II in Mission. (Courtesy)

Ranch House Burgers II has new and temporary hours in the era of COVID-19. Every other day, the Mission restaurant is open from midnight to 3 a.m. Its customers are primarily police officers, state troopers and first responders. “They got tired of burritos from the convenience stores,” said Mike Barrera, the restaurant’s owner. “We’re a business, so we do charge for the meals to help keep my staff employed, but it’s…

Read More