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.…
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…
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…
Elizabeth Suarez was well on her way to law school before deciding to take an interview with the City of McAllen on Christmas Eve 1999. Suarez was a graduate student at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio when a human resources manager from McAllen’s city government made a recruiting visit to the campus. A transit manager job opportunity was available. A political science undergraduate degree to go with graduate-level studies…
Anabell Cardona was 15-years plus into managing clinics and doctors’ offices in Weslaco and McAllen. It was then she figured the time was right, in her mid-30s, to make a career breakthrough. Cardona recalls having no fear in 2001 as she sat in front of a banker and faced a business loan with six figures in it. She was ready to purchase Valley Grande Institute of Weslaco. “Where do I…
In 2019, record growth hit McAllen International Airport with 432,178 passenger boardings. This is a 20 percent increase from 2018 and also the highest number of enplanements in MFE’s history. Over the last 20 years, MFE’s compounded annual growth rate in passenger enplanements has trended progressively steady at 1.4 percent. This steady growth has MFE as the leading airport in the Rio Grande Valley, capturing the majority of market share…
Laura Matamoros is the new economic development director for Hidalgo County. The news came from County Judge Richard F. Cortez today as he also announced Hilda Escochea Salinas as assistant chief of staff. Matamoros’s previous service includes director of business research and strategy for the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation. She was also the director of operations for the United Brownsville Coordinating Board. She is a graduate from the University of…
Students pursuing a General Educational Development diploma through the Brownsville Independent School District can also now train and get certified as a phlebotomist through TSTC’s Workforce Training and Continuing Education department. The offering comes with a new partnership between Texas State Technical College and the BISD Adult Continuing Education program. “This is the first time we have partnered with BISD in this capacity,” said Myra De Leon, Workforce Training and…
Cristobal Villalon’s childhood dream came true recently when, with his family present, he was sworn in as a police officer at the Texas State Technical College Police Department. At a swearing-in ceremony led by TSTC Police Chief Eduardo Patino and Justice of the Peace Eloy Cano Jr., the Brownsville native said he has finally found his home at TSTC. “I couldn’t believe how much the department feels like family,” said the…
The Rio Grande Valley truck stop industry took a leap recently as Love’s Truck Stop recently opened for business away from the Interstate Highway System. Part of the Oklahoma-based company‘s move into the area can be attributed to an increase in business activity at the Port of Brownsville. Love’s Truck Stop, just off FM 511, is just a stone’s throw from the deep-water facility. “Love’s generally has its truck stops along…