Category Archives: Technology

VBR Business Briefs

Community Education News Technology Comments
Daniel Clark receives a McAllen SHINES award on behalf of his family and its auto dealership. (Courtesy)

McAllen Honors Clark Chevrolet Clark Chevrolet’s contributions to the city of McAllen were highlighted recently when the auto dealership was recognized as a SHINES Champion. McAllen SHINES is a community-wide civic pride and environmental initiative that focuses on promoting cleanliness, respect and responsibility among residents, businesses, and visitors. Among its key focus areas are honoring local businesses for their beautification efforts through mural creations and a commitment to keeping the…

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VBR Business Briefs

Community Healthcare News Technology Comments
Nursing students in Starr County are the beneficiaries of a new grant program that provides financial support as they complete their clinical training. (Courtesy)

Starr County Health Care Gets Boost Healthcare in Starr County recently received a major boost through internship grants for students pursuing careers in medical fields while completing their clinical training. A $100,000 Healthcare Internship Fund Grant with resources provided by the Texas Workforce Commission will offer stipends of up to $900 for Starr County students seeking health care careers. The grant program is a partnership between the Roma Independent School…

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Data Center Possibility Draws Scrutiny

Community News Technology Comments
Data center companies are often recruited by local economic development corporations, but opposed by local residents despite the opposition voiced in some communities about their construction. (Courtesy)

The rampant online speculation about the construction of a data center in Harlingen has come into clearer focus as the Cameron County judge and the city’s mayor acknowledged such an interest exists while emphasizing no formal proposals are under consideration. The property site for a possible data center is an 1,800-acre space adjacent to Valley International Airport and just outside of Harlingen’s city limits. This means any possible approval of…

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STC to Launch AI Community Course

e-Brief Features Education Featured News Technology Comments
In the new year, South Texas College is introducing a new community course – Essentials of AI, or artificial intelligence. T

In the new year, South Texas College is introducing a new community course – Essentials of AI, or artificial intelligence. The course, beginning Jan. 20 through STC’s Continuing Education and Workforce Development, is an entry-level introduction to AI. Faculty from STC’s Advanced Manufacturing and Mechatronics Technology and Cybersecurity programs will teach the course. Vice President and Provost of Academic Affairs and Economic Development Anahid Petrosian said for the last two…

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Veteran Returns Home & Reconnects

News Professional Services Technology Comments
The gadgetry and complexity of today’s electronic devices require the expertise of trained technicians such as those at uBreakiFix stores in the Rio Grande Valley.

Rene Jackson is a La Joya native and a nearly 30-year veteran of the U.S. Army with an expertise in logistics and the transportation of goods and products. “Ammunition and missiles,” Jackson said when asked in a television interview what materials he supervised shipping. “We would bring in all of the support sustainment stuff for the war fighters doing the actual fighting.” Jackson would rise to the rank of lieutenant…

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Summit Highlights Impact Of AI

News Technology Comments
Dr. Maya Yiadom, associate professor of emergency medicine at Stanford University, speaks about how generative AI has “changed the game” in the health-care arena.

McAllen is a leader – not a follower – is how McAllen City Commissioner Seby Haddad welcomed guests to the 2025 MXLAN International Economic Summit.  The May 9 summit at the McAllen Convention Center kicked off the annual three-day cultural arts and music festival. Hosting the conference were the City of McAllen, the McAllen Economic Development Corporation and the McAllen Chamber of Commerce. The Summit welcomed leaders in higher education,…

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Robotics Connects RGV Youths To Future

Education News Technology Comments
Heriberto Reynoso plans to use a facility in Mercedes as a space to manufacture products and teach students about robotics. (Courtesy)

Heriberto Reynoso is a high school graduate of the early 2000s and was the type of kid “building robots in my garage” when such technological skills were a bit rare among American youth.  His parents wondered what he was doing, while at school, he recalls teachers that “didn’t understand what I was asking.” Reynoso was perhaps a bit ahead of his time at his high school in Brownsville. His technological…

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SpaceX Expands Boca Chica Footprint

News Technology Transportation & Travel Comments

Kathy Lueders hears the question often in her capacity as general manager of Starbase’s operations at Boca Chica Beach. “When are we going to Mars?” Lueders said to an audience recently in Harlingen on the Texas State College campus. “I don’t know exactly when but I do know that one day out of the Rio Grande Valley there will be a Starship going to Mars.” Lueders’ talk was titled “Space…

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VTX1 Works To Close Digital Divide

News Technology Comments

The 900-foot-high KGBT tower just south of La Feria does more than just transmit television signals. The long-standing tower is held upright by high-tensioned guy wires and is visible for several miles in a wide radius around La Feria. At about 200 feet up, the KGBT tower houses a row of tile-looking squares that are providing what executives of VTX1 Companies call “the next generation of fixed wireless” Internet service.…

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TSTC Graduates Keep Hospitals Going

Education News Technology Comments
TSTC students Javier Escobar and Anthony Vega collaborate in working on an incubator that is used in neonatal intensive care units.

Esmeralda Estrella’s students in a Texas State Technical College classroom are huddled around incubator equipment used to support newborns in neonatal intensive care units. The students on the Harlingen campus are enrolled in TSTC’s biomedical equipment technology program. Students jot down notes and confer in teams as if they were in real-world hospital settings. Maintenance and repair of this sort of equipment is critical to sustaining and saving lives. “The…

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