Category Archives: News

Local Partnership Seeks to Close Tech Gap

Education News Technology Comments
(photo Valley Technical Academy)

Valley Technical Academy and Woz U are working together via an online learning portal to address the diversity gap in tech employment when it comes to Hispanics. According to Valley Technical Academy, only seven percent of the tech sector is comprised of Hispanics. Through this partnership, the Mission-based center will provide Woz U’s tech-based curriculum in immersive education sprint formats. This format enables students to learn skills required to enter a…

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How Will NAFTA Changes Affect the RGV?

Events News Comments
USMCA

NAFTA issues that directly impact the border region will be the topics of discussion in a conference April 20 in McAllen. The “Renegotiating NAFTA: Challenges and Opportunities” Conference aims to educate attendees on how NAFTA renegotiations could change the local quality of life in South Texas. The conference will include also roundtable discussions on strategies that are applicable in preparing for changes in NAFTA. Topics include investment and job creation, as…

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UTRGV Students Take Trading Competition

Education Featured Finance/Banking News Comments
Christopher Martinez, Michael Villarreal and Jose Naveja with faculty advisor Bruno Arthur (UTRGV Photo)

A group of undergraduate business students from The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley recently beat out more than 500 teams from 37 countries to capture their first ever championship win in the 15th annual CME Group Trading Challenge. Christopher Martinez of McAllen, Michael Villarreal of Rio Grande City and Jose Naveja of Progreso finished the competition with a total of $706,585. They beat out second-place competitor Kansas State University, who…

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Hazards Conference Brings Piece of Mind

Events Featured News Comments
The sixth annual South Texas All Hazards Conference attracted more than 5,000 to the McAllen Convention Center March 28-29.

More than 5,000 attendees took part in South Texas All Hazards Conference 2018 during the two-day conference last week. Held at the McAllen Convention Center, the event included an expo, classes, presentations and networking. John O’Valle, district director at Texas Department of Public Safety Division of Emergency Management, was very pleased with this year’s attendance. “On Wednesday alone, 3,157 people walked through the doors,” O’Valle praised. Initial projected attendance, according to…

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Mission Employment Reaches Record High

News Comments

With the latest number released by the Texas Workforce Commission. Mission has reached a new milestone. Figures released for Feb. 2018 show the city has 34,433 people employed, thanks in part to the 900 jobs added to the local economy last year. This is the highest number of people in employment in Mission since TWC began keeping figures for cities in 2005. Mission’s 6.0 percent unemployment rate for February was a…

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New Loan Program Fosters Small Business Ventures

Business Advice News Comments
photo Ken Teegardin

The Alamo Economic Development Corporation is now offering a new Micro-Loan Program that will help small business owners expand their efforts in the city. The Micro-Loan Program works by lending money to local businesses, with the funds being paid back with the interest. The funds are then reused. The loans are possible with assistance from USDA – Rural Development. Qualified applicants must be located in Alamo and have a minimum…

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Coast Guard Supports Texas LNG

Featured Manufacturing/Industrial News Comments
Rendering of Texas LNG’s planned liquefaction terminal at the Port of Brownsville.

The United States Coast Guard found the Brownsville Ship Channel to be suitable for marine traffic resulting from Texas LNG’s planned liquefaction terminal at the Port of Brownsville. In a letter of recommendation issued Feb. 26, the Coast Guard concluded that the waterway is suitable to handle current and anticipated incremental traffic from the Texas LNG proposed facility. The Houston-based company plans to construct an LNG export facility on a…

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VTX1 Acquires Ranch Wireless

Featured News Technology Comments
VTX1

VTX1 Companies has acquired Ranch Wireless Inc., a provider of fixed wireless internet service based in Seguin, Texas. Adding Ranch Wireless customers to VTX1‘s existing customer base will gives the company close to 20,000 total customers, making it one of the largest rural service providers in Texas. “This acquisition is important for VTX1 Companies in that we overlap approximately 4,000 of their 17,000 square-mile service area through our northern exchanges,” said Dave Osborn, CEO of…

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Taking a Byte from the Apple

News Retail Technology Comments
Jose David Avila and his son David hold a vintage IBM keyboard like one they sold online for $1,000. (VBR)

A father/son team has carved out a niche in the recycling industry by working with products no one else in the Rio Grande Valley touches: electronics. RDA Technologies in Brownsville recycles anything with electronic components inside, ranging from old computers to ice makers to televisions and more. “I started in my living room in 2012 destroying old computers. Then my wife kicked me out to the garage,” said Jose David…

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A Mission to Promote New Business

News Comments
Cultura Agency owner Art Alcantar is one of the entrepreneurs who launched a business with the help of the Mission EDC. (VBR)

Art Alcantar spent years away from his native Rio Grande Valley building a multimedia career that specializes in digital and social media marketing. In recent years, when he looked around the Valley for a facility to that could meet the needs of his technology-driven business, Alcantar found the ideal landing spot in Mission. The 55,000-square-foot Mission Economic Development Corp. facility has all of the high-end technological amenities that Alcantar’s business…

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