Mariana Linaldi-Rodriguez makes weekly runs to the Valley International Airport in Harlingen to pick up flowers. If she can’t get there, her husband Rodrigo does, or maybe an employee of their Southern Roots Flower Market makes the run for them. Flowers are coming in from Ecuador via Miami. They need to be fresh and ready to fill up the marketplace room at the Rodriguez’s floral business in McAllen. It’s not…
Keppel AmFELS at the Port of Brownsville will be building the largest hopper dredge in the United States thanks to a contract with Manson Construction Co. The 15,000-cubic-yard hopper dredge FREDERICK PAUP’s design is in collaboration with Hockema Whalen Myers Associates Inc. of Seattle, Wash. It will have a length of 420 feet, breadth of 81 feet and draft of 28.5 feet. The dredge is slated to be fully operational…
The Port of Brownsville will join the U.S. trucking industry in celebrating National Truck Driver Appreciation Week Sept. 13-19. This year’s celebration takes on a special meaning due to the spread of COVID-19. Professional truck drivers stepped up when they were needed most, and have kept the economy on its feet despite facing unprecedented obstacles. On average, more than 1,500 trucks enter the Port of Brownsville daily to pick up…
Working in sales provided Cindy Monge with a job but not with financial stability. She established a long-term goal of earning a bachelor’s degree in perfusion science. As a perfusionist, Monge would run the cardiopulmonary-bypass machine during open-heart surgery, allowing the heart to be still for the surgeon while the machine performs its job, maintaining blood flow to the body’s tissues. Monge also established a short-term goal that would align…
For the first time in 13 years, the Port of Brownsville resumed the export of grains overseas via vessel. WestPlains LLC, the operator of the port’s grain elevator, loaded 34,000 metric tons of sorghum onto the M/V Tian Fu in late-August. The grain was harvested from throughout the Rio Grande Valley. This is the first of four vessels with sorghum that WestPlains will ship to China this year. The port…
A top-to-bottom redesign of the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission’s public website is live, offering users improved TABC search capabilities. Users now also have the ability to download application forms, and obtain quick and easy access to public information. The new site is the result of a more than nine-month redesign process relying on alcoholic beverage industry feedback. This includes those agency employees, state lawmakers and industry members. The site is…
The Weslaco Chamber of Commerce has kicked off its Love Local campaign through Nov. 27. The weekly drawing will reward those supporting Weslaco businesses by making purchases of at least $20. In order to be eligible for drawings, customers must send the chamber a photo of their receipt(s) through Facebook messenger. The more people shop, the more entries they receive. Customers may also receive extra entries by uploading a picture…
The Rio Grande Valley is facing the double whammy with the 2020 hurricane season and the continuing pandemic as the region heads into the fall months. Area residents shouldn’t let their guard down to other factors that could impact their lives. Bee swarms are an example of that. These flying insects can appear unexpectedly either ganged up on the limb of one’s favorite backyard tree. They can be crawling up and down,…
Juan Rosales started out small, buying used books, figurines and old music albums. He called it “Just Trying To Make A Buck” back then in 2012, declining his wife’s suggestion of “Juan’s Junk” for his nascent surplus business. “I bought a few Just Trying To Make A Buck things and I got hooked,” said Rosales, a retired manager of the cigarette distribution business. He then began attending government and school auctions. His…
The front lines of hospitals and nursing homes are under severe duress – and help isn’t coming just from universities and nursing schools. Employers are in need of nurse assistants, medical assistants and phlebotomists in caring for surging numbers of patients. Career schools with licenses from the Texas Workforce Commission are training and educating these essential workers. Schools such as Careers Unlimited and South Texas Training Center are working to…