Category Archives: e-Brief Features

Plata Receives Airport Industry Recognition

e-Brief Features News Transportation & Travel Comments
Daniella Plata

Before assuming her new role as director of the newly created International Relations department for the City of McAllen, Daniella Plata served as the international business manager for the McAllen International Airport, where she was recognized by Airport Business Magazine as a Top 40 Under 40. Plata was chosen from among hundreds of nominations from across North America, with four other winners from Texas and throughout the United States and…

Read More

Take a First Day Hike at a Texas State Park

e-Brief Features Featured News Recreation & Tourism Comments
Texas First Day Hike

Texas State Parks is inviting citizens to kick off resolutions to explore the outdoors in 2024 with a First Day Hike at a state park. Various parks will host ranger-guided and self-guided walks, bike rides, paddling trips and polar plunges in honor of the national initiative aimed at getting people outdoors. Last year, nearly 8,000 participants shattered the previous attendance record New Year’s Day by ringing in Texas State Parks’…

Read More

VIDA Changes Setbacks to Comebacks

e-Brief Features Education Featured News Non-Profit Comments
Samuel Arguelles

Samuel Arguelles had excellent role models and grew up witnessing the importance of higher education. Unfortunately, that provides no guarantee. “I am a second-generation college student; however, I lost my parents at a very young age and have been trying so hard to make them proud,” Arguellas said. His parents passed away from different forms of cancer, his dad while working on a PhD and his mom while working on…

Read More

MFE Receives Nonstop Service to Austin

e-Brief Features News Transportation & Travel Comments

Delta Air Lines is now selling tickets for three daily nonstop flights from McAllen International Airport to Austin-Bergstrom International Airport beginning April 22. The new year-round route will operate three daily flights connecting McAllen via MFE with an essential destination for business and education. With the addition of this new route, McAllen International Airport will now serve seven nonstops. In Delta’s recent announcement, Joe Esposito, Delta’s S.V.P. – Network Planning,…

Read More

Campirano to Leave Port of Brownsville

e-Brief Features News Comments
Port of Brownsville CEO Eduardo Campirano. (courtesy)

Longtime Port Director and CEO Eduardo A. Campirano will leave the Port of Brownsville effective Dec. 31. Campirano became the eighth port director and CEO in the Port of Brownsville’s 87-year history when he was appointed to the position in 2007. Under his leadership spanning 16 years, the port has grown into a major international multimodal transportation hub for Texas and the United States, consistently setting records for the volume…

Read More

TSTC Breaks Ground on Campus Transformation

e-Brief Features Education News Comments
TSTC Vice Chancellor of External Relations in Harlingen Cledia Hernandez talks about new facilities and programs of study that are scheduled to open in spring 2026 during a recent groundbreaking ceremony at TSTC’s Harlingen campus. (Photo TSTC)

Representatives of Texas State Technical College’s Harlingen campus gathered for a groundbreaking ceremony on Dec. 7 for two new facilities and renovation of one existing building. The new additions will provide space for two programs new to the campus: Diesel Equipment Technology, and Plumbing and Pipefitting Technology.  The Automotive Technology and Diesel Equipment Technology programs will share nearly 50,000 square feet in one building. In addition, the Electrical Lineworker and Management…

Read More

VA Holds Free Drive-Thru Food Pantry for Veterans

Community Events e-Brief Features News Comments
VA Drive-Thru Food Pantries

VA is working to eliminate food insecurity among veterans and their families with a free drive-thru food pantry on Dec. 14 at Harlingen Health Care Clinic. The drive lasts from 9-11 a.m., or while supplies last, at the clinic’s location at 2601 Veterans Drive. Veterans must be enrolled in health care at the VA Texas Valley Costal Bend Health Care System and present a valid VA identification card to confirm their veteran status.…

Read More

Quinta Mazatlan Hosts Holiday Night Shopping

Community Events e-Brief Features News Comments
Holiday Night Shopping with Local Artists features an exhibition by Jessica Monroe.

Quinta Mazatlan invites the public to experience the spirit of the season at the “Holiday Night Shopping” with music and local artists selling their works inspired by nature on Dec. 14 from 6-8 p.m. The one-night free event features the award-winning South Texas artist Jessica Monroe known for her oil paintings inspired by the natural world. Her paintings bring awareness of environmental issues and celebrate the beauty of nature. Monroe…

Read More

Harlingen EDC Relaunches Grant Program

Community e-Brief Features News Comments

The Harlingen Economic Development Corporation has relaunched its small business matching grant program, Revitalize Harlingen. An incentive grant, Revitalize Harlingen provides up to $10,000 for facade improvements made by eligible commercial businesses or property owners.  The program first began in January of 2023 as the brainchild of Mayor Norma Sepulveda and the City of Harlingen to rejuvenate targeted areas in the city. The program encourages reinvestment by small businesses to…

Read More

McAllen Unveils Holiday Wonderland

Community Events e-Brief Features Featured News Comments
Throughout the month of December, the tallest digital Christmas tree in America will light up the skies in McAllen at the South Pole Dream Land. (Photo McAllen Convention Center.)

Holidays in the Rio Grande Valley involve a lot more than your average Christmas tree, a lighted menorah, wrapping and unwrapping gifts, and eating too much turkey. The Valley is in Texas, where everything is big, including holiday events in McAllen. The city will host everything from parades to shopping events and holiday music from an orchestra and a wind ensemble to “The Nutcracker.” Dream Land Then there’s the South…

Read More