South Padre Island’s last movie house closed recently, leaving an entertainment void for tourists and local residents alike. Robert Gallagher’s Nana’s 7D Cinema isn’t a movie theater, but it does aim to provide visual entertainment along those lines. It opened earlier this year – with its official ribbon cutting and grand opening celebrated late last week – and the 3D cinema experience it provides is proving to be a hit. …
McAllen ranks 15 in the United States in the Best Places to Celebrate Halloween according to SmartAsset.com. In 2019, McAllen ranked 17. SmartAsset.com compared 210 cities across the country, looking at 10 metrics in four overall categories. Metrics include Family Friendly, Safety, Halloween Weather, and Candy and Costume. Those categories are further broken down into aspects such as the percentage of children in the population, violent and property crime rates,…
Rafael Tapia believes in the steady-but-sure approach to economic development, or as much as is possible in a field where competition is the norm and falling short on prospects happens more often than landing successes. Tapia is the executive director of the Alamo Economic Development Corporation. Both of the cities to his immediate west – Pharr and San Juan – have seen surges of growth along their expressway corridor as…
Texas Southmost College will celebrate 95 years of service to the Lower Rio Grande Valley with a free community event Oct. 30 at the TSC Performing Arts Center. The TSC Board of Trustees will treat guests to food, live music and a fireworks show from 5:30-8:30 p.m. TSC Board of Trustee Chair and TSC alumnus Ruben Herrera said the event will celebrate the milestones of the past 95 years as…
Quinta Mazatlán World Birding Center‘s Sticks and Bones Trail opens Oct. 23 and a Halloween party will follow one week later on Oct. 30. The trail will be up through mid-November. Guests can stop by Tuesdays through Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and until 7 p.m. on Thursdays. The trail is free with park admission. The Halloween Party in the Park takes place from 9 a.m. to 1…
Families facing financial hardships can now access required construction trade skills training for employment at Texas Southmost College. Funding for the training comes from the Texas Workforce Commission via a $351,794 Self Sufficiency Fund Grant. The grant will help provide training in welding, plumbing, insulation, scaffolding, forklift driving and electrical work. The grant, the first of its kind for TSC, will allow the college to provide training to adult Temporary…
Brownsville Interim City Attorney Victor Flores was elected to serve on the Texas City Attorneys Association‘s board of directors during the association’s fall meeting in Houston Oct. 7. Flores is one of only two attorneys who have been appointed to the board from the Rio Grande Valley since TCAA’s inception in 1928. Directors on the TCAA Board will attend numerous TCAA board meetings a year. TCAA is an affiliate of…
Harlingen’s largely vacant Valle Vista Mall is getting an investment boost as a Los Angeles-based company announced it had acquired the retail space formerly occupied by Dillard’s. BH Properties said it is analyzing the best use for its new property, which since 1983 had been an anchor store at Valle Vista until its recent closure. The company said its Harlingen acquisition is a good fit in its strategies to re-imagine…
When you learn, teach. When you get, give. ~Maya Angelou Weslaco native Gilda Lee Sauceda grew up with a single mom who became disabled when her daughter was just 10 years old. She felt grateful that they had a roof over their head and their basic necessities, but the struggles were real. The labels were there — eighth-grade drop-out, GED holder, low-income — but Sauceda did not allow labels to…
SWG Engineering held a grand opening Sept. 30 for its new solar-powered office building off International Boulevard in Weslaco. The engineering firm specializes in innovating municipal infrastructures. On hand to help celebrate were representatives from the Weslaco Chamber of Commerce, Valley Baptist Micro Hospital, Frost Bank and Smith Security & Fire. Daniel Montez, campus administrator of South Texas College Mid-Valley, attended the event due to his interest in learning more…