Category Archives: e-Brief Features

Keppel AmFELS Designated Texas Enterprise Zone

e-Brief Features Manufacturing/Industrial News Comments
The Port of Brownsville has been home to Keppel AmFELS since 1990. (photo Port of Brownsville)

A new state designation for a Keppel AmFELS capital investment project at the Port of Brownsville is estimated to result in a $27.6-million net benefit (after-tax abatement) for the city. With the Texas Enterprise Zone project designation, Keppel AmFELS will be able to retain 500 jobs in Brownsville, ultimately impacting economic development within the region. The Texas Enterprise Zone project designation comes with the recent approval of the Governor’s Office…

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South Texas Builders Expo Coming To Edinburg

Community Community Events e-Brief Features Featured News Comments
Edinburg Chamber of Commerce and South Texas Builders Alliance Board of Directors collaborate efforts to bring the first South Texas Builders Expo to the RGV. (photo Edinburg Chamber)

Editor’s Note on May 19, 2022: The South Texas Builders Expo has been postponed to Aug. 20-21. The Edinburg Chamber of Commerce and South Texas Builders Alliance will host their inaugural South Texas Builders Expo June 4-5 at the Edinburg Conference Center at Renaissance. The event will host the region’s top exhibitors in home-building products, service solutions and up-to-date technology. This event comes in light of the city of Edinburg’s…

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New Study Highlights Winter Texan Impact

Community e-Brief Features Featured News Comments
Kristi Collier of Welcome Home RGV speaking at the luncheon.

Kristi Collier had an upfront message recently when addressing a luncheon attended by several hundred community and industry leaders connected to tourism in the Rio Grande Valley. “The number of Winter Texans isn’t growing,” said the president and CEO of Welcome Home Rio Grande Valley. “It’s on the decline.” The message was delivered during a luncheon on April 22 at the Victoria Palms RV Resort in Donna. Collier presented highlights…

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Texas City Nature Challenge This Weekend

e-Brief Features News Recreation & Tourism Comments
City Nature Challenge

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, through the Texas Nature Trackers program, invites Texans to participate in the seventh annual City Nature Challenge April 29 through May 2. This global community-based scientific effort, co-organized by San Francisco’s California Academy of Sciences and the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, invites current and aspiring citizen scientists of all ages and backgrounds to observe and submit pictures of wild plants, animals and fungi…

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Mercedes Attracts New Sonic & Promises More

e-Brief Features Featured Food & Entertainment News Comments
Mercedes Mayor Oscar Montoya leads city leaders at the groundbreaking for a new Sonic in the city. (Courtesy)

The intersection of 2nd Street and FM 491 for decades is where Mercedes residents and commuting Rio Grande Valley motorists could find the Ten-Ten Grocery Store. The beloved store that sold comic books, pickles and fishing bait closed in 2013. There’s a new business rising on the very spot where the Ten-Ten stood. It’s a Sonic Crush Drive-In. Community and business leaders gathered for a ground-breaking ceremony to celebrate the…

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Keep McAllen Beautiful Begins Paint McAllen Beautiful

Community e-Brief Features News Comments
Paint McAllen Beautiful

Keep McAllen Beautiful is kicking off its annual Paint McAllen Beautiful project. Qualifying program applicants include residents of McAllen who own a home, are of low income, 60 years of age or older, or of any age with a permanent disability. Keep McAllen Beautiful is able to fund paint and supplies for the project through grant funding. Qualifying applicants will have their home painted free of charge. “Keep McAllen Beautiful…

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TSC Offers New Psychology Program

e-Brief Features Education Featured News Comments
psychology

Fall 2022 will introduce a collection of new degrees at Texas Southmost College, and one of those will be an Associate of Arts in Psychology.  TSC Dean of Humanities Brian McCormack said TSC has seen a rise in student demand for psychology-related classes. He added there has always been a shortage of mental health professionals but the need has recently increased.  “There is a rising tide of interest in psychology,…

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BCIC Accepting Pitch Summit Applications

Community e-Brief Features Featured News Comments

The Brownsville Community Improvement Corporation’s third annual StartUp Texas Pitch Summit is now open and accepting applications. The event will be the first ever in-person version since the program began in March of 2020.  The Startup Texas Pitch Summit is a live event where early-stage companies pitch their product/service to industry experts, venture capitalists, and high profile journalists. This spring, the winning pitch will not only receive $25,000 in startup…

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McAllen Zooms To Top Of Remote Working List

Community e-Brief Features Featured News Comments
Chase Bank Tower in downtown McAllen

The city of McAllen has fared well in recent national surveys when it comes to best communities of its size for places to do business and ranking high for public safety. This week the city learned of another distinction. The home-search website Ownerly.com lauded McAllen in ranking it at the top of its Best Zoom Town Cities. The ranking cites affordable housing, high-speed Internet accessibility, outdoor green spaces and good…

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TABC, TRA Promote Safe Alcohol Delivery, To-Go Sales

e-Brief Features Food & Entertainment News Comments
alcohol to go

The Texas Restaurant Association and Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission have launched a new effort to promote TABC’s certification course on alcohol delivery safety. The Texas Responsible Alcohol Delivery Course shares with delivery drivers and foodservice establishment operators the necessary information to safely conduct alcohol-to-go deliveries. The TRA has added the course to its catalog of training resources available for members across the state. The course is for persons who deliver…

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