Category Archives: Industry

McAllen Students Host U.S. Senate Candidate Forum 

Community Events Education Government News Comments
Candidates and students pose for a photo after the forum. Back row, Jack Daniel Foster Jr., Michael Cooper, Chris Bell, Jonah Riojas; front, Amanda Edwards, Victor Hugo Harris, Sema Hernandez, Karolina Vargas, Alexis Alvarado and Chloe Jerez.

McAllen ISD students recently hosted a community candidate forum for those running for the U.S. Senate in the 2020 May primary elections. Those in attendance were Chris Bell, Michael Cooper, Amanda Edwards, Jack Daniel Foster Jr, Victor Hugo Harris and Sema Hernandez.  Students Jonah Riojas (McAllen High School), Karolina Vargas (Nikki Rowe High School), and Alexis Alvarado (Memorial High School) were the panelists asking questions to the candidates. Chloe Jerez…

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Local Engineering Firm Racks Up Awards

e-Brief Features Moving On Up News Professional Services Comments
The team from SWG Engineering LLC accepts the 2019 Innovative Project of the Year award. Randall Winston, center, holds the 2019 Civil Engineer of the Year award from the American Society of Civil Engineers Rio Grande Valley Branch.

SWG Engineering LLC, a local civil engineering firm, was recently distinguished by two national organizations for the solutions it provided Rio Grande Valley municipalities in 2019. The American Society of Civil Engineers Rio Grande Valley Branch presented SWG with the 2019 Innovative Project of the Year award. The recognition comes for the firm’s canal-to-pipeline conversion for the Delta Lake Irrigation District. SWG turned the A-20 open canal into 4.5 miles…

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Public Education Retirees Meet for Legislative Agenda

Education Events Featured Government News Comments
A group of public-school employees and retirees recently met recently in McAllen to establish a legislative agenda for the 2021 legislative session in Texas. Seen here are, back, retirees Chris Ardis, Kathy Johnson, Debbi Benson, Jerry Albrecht and Herb Trevino; front, retirees Chiqui Guerra and Torchie Champion with current public-school employee Norma Guerra.

A group of retired public school employees, along with two current employees nearing retirement, recently met in McAllen to begin working on a legislative agenda for the 2021 Legislative Session. Their agenda will address the critical needs of Teacher Retirement System of Texas retirees. Addressing health care First on the group’s agenda is health care. In 2017, the Texas legislature raised the health-insurance deductible for TRS retirees under the age…

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Aeromar Offers Mexico City Special

Featured News Transportation & Travel Comments
Aeromar

Aeromar is offering a limited promotion for $250 round-trip airfare from McAllen to Acapulco via Mexico City. The promotional fare will connect McAllen International Airport via Mexico City International Airport to Acapulco International Airport. Flights to Mexico City from McAllen operate five times weekly with a connection to Acapulco. Departure days from McAllen include Monday, Wednesday, Thursda, Friday and Sunday with afternoon departure times. The promotional fare can be found only…

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Bringing Vitality & Versatility To Downtown Harlingen

Food & Entertainment News Comments
Girls Of All Trades offers a wide variety of tea flavors and mixes.

Belle Gonzalez-Myers has a variety of talents and is confident in utilizing all of them. She is a serious baker of all sorts of pastries and cakes. Gonzalez-Myers is also handy with a hammer. “I’m not afraid to build things,” she said.  Her range of skills could earn a distinction of “Jack of all trades,” but she says that label does not fit her. “I’m not a Jack,” she said. “I’m…

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Modern-Day Pioneers – a Celebration

Featured Food & Entertainment News Retail Comments

With March being Women’s History Month, we celebrate the brave, bold and fearless women who are influencing the Rio Grande Valley. The RGV is home to so many individuals who have dreams and aspirations to create something to call their own. In this feature, VBR picks the minds of the women pioneering what entrepreneurship looks like in the modern era – from mindset to the key to success. The Brave…

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At 50, Life is Just Beginning for Nicole Gates

Arts News Professional Services Comments
Nicole Gates proudly wears her Portrait-Masters-Associate-Level medal around her neck while in her studio.

The moment you open the door at Nicole Gates Photography on North Main Street in McAllen, you step into a place Gates designed so women would never want to leave.   “Women are the caretakers, the nurturers,” Gates said. “We take care of everyone else, and we sometimes forget to take care of ourselves. I let women put themselves first again. My job is to help women fall in love with…

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Quiroga Uses Immigrant Experience As Motivation

Finance/Banking News Comments
Joe Quiroga is the first Valley banker to serve on the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.

It’s an eventful road from being a 6-year-old child and recent immigrant struggling to learn English to being on the board of directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. Joe Quiroga has been on that journey. He recalls the days when as a young boy, he would spend hours at the library in the coastal Texas town of Palacios. Quirgoa would pore over books, taking in a new language.…

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Serving Brings McAllen CPA Joy

Finance/Banking News Comments
Lorena Castillo-Saldaña is a partner at Negrete & Castillo LLP in McAllen.

Born and raised in McAllen, Lorena Castillo-Saldaña loved visiting her maternal grandmother’s corner store in Reynosa. She would watch her grandma, her mom and her aunts as they worked. “I would see my mom tallying up lines of numbers,” Castillo- Saldaña said. “And I would think, ‘I want to do that!’”   That desire did not wane. After graduating from McAllen High School, Castillo-Saldaña enrolled at the University of Texas-Pan American…

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Saddle Up for the RGV Livestock Show

Agriculture Community Events News Comments
A judge looks over a cattle display entry at the RGV Livestock Show. (Courtesy RGV LIvestock Show)

The 81st annual Rio Grande Valley Livestock Show kicks off on March 12 and will run through 11 event-filled days of exhibits, rodeos, carnivals and live music. It’s the largest show of its type south of San Antonio. The livestock show, as always, takes place at the livestock show grounds in Mercedes. The Valley iconic event has a reputation for its entertainment and fun times but at its heart is…

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