The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Annual Report features the Port of Brownsville’s ascension to 50th position among 150 U.S. maritime ports for waterborne cargo. In 2022, the port handled 9.1 million tons of cargo, up from 8.9 million tons in 2021, moving from 55th to 50th place. The port’s comprehensive logistical network comprised of rail, trucking lines, vessel and barge services and pipeline connectivity are key to the transportation…
Susan Valverde’s background was in business and going to trade shows to attract jobs to McAllen. Working in business development, Valverde was on the staff of the McAllen Economic Development Corporation. It was a six-year stint that ran from 1997 to 2002. She began to understand that bringing in jobs to her community was dependent on having a better trained and educated workforce. That fact became even more apparent in…
James Horta is a barber with a flair and a commitment in giving back to his community. Horta’s glow-in-the-dark shop in downtown Mercedes is adorned with deco-style posters that illuminate and feature a cast of characters from Albert Einstein and Albert Hitchcock to racecar driver Jeff Gordon. There’s also plenty of memorabilia to be found, especially items featuring his beloved Dallas Cowboys. The barber’s affinity for pop culture is reflected…
Dr. Lisa Chapa wholeheartedly encourages women in the Rio Grande Valley to enroll in a groundbreaking national study that measures the risk of women getting breast cancer. The WISDOM Study (Women Informed to Screen Depending on Measures of risk) can “revolutionize the way breast cancer is detected and risk is reduced,” Chapa said. This multi-institutional trial includes the DHR Health Institute for Research and Development, which serves as the primary…
The South Texas Alliance of Cities launched in 2023 with the goal of fostering greater cooperation and collaboration among communities in addressing key issues. The partnership appears to be off to a good start. The majority of the communities in the pact are in the Rio Grande Valley although it does extend to San Antonio. That city’s mayor, Ron Nirenberg, has attended some of the alliance’s quarterly meetings. The focus…
McAllen’s inclusion on a national top-20 list for small businesses reaffirms the city’s long-standing support for entrepreneurship and development. McAllen Mayor Javier Villalobos made that assessment after learning of CoworkingCafe listing his city as the ninth best place for small businesses among 136 southern U.S. cities surveyed. Coworking Café is a listing service for flex workplace solutions in supporting remote workers, freelancers and employees from all fields seeking user-friendly platforms.…
The UTRGV School of Medicine has opened of its new, state-of-the-art Center for Human Genetics, headquartered on the Brownsville Campus. The new facility is dedicated to cutting-edge research that addresses major public health concerns in the Rio Grande Valley, including diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease, liver cancer, Alzheimer’s disease and depression. The 17,246-square-foot facility, funded by a Valley Baptist Legacy Foundation grant and support from the UT System Permanent University Fund, will…
The Texas Master Naturalist program is teaming up with H-E-B for a new Pollinators for Texas initiative. As part of this new partnership, H-E-B is providing $50,000 to the TMN program to fund the initiative. TMN chapters across the state will have the opportunity to apply for project awards of up to $3,000 each to support large-scale community-based projects that enhance native pollinator populations and their habitats. “We are proud to partner…
Gilbert Hernandez had 500 books and a $5,000 loan when taking his business from markets and pop-ups to a storefront in downtown Brownsville. It was the first days of January 2022. His new bookstore Buho now had a physical location in a historic downtown building that got its start in 1921 as a pharmacy on Washington Street. The 29-year-old Hernandez was out to prove a point. His research revealed that…
Texas’ labor market achieved new record highs in September in terms of the job count and number of people in the civilian labor force. Texas’ seasonally adjusted total nonfarm employment increased to 14,289,900 after 29,200 jobs were added over the month. Texas added 327,400 jobs from Sept. 2023 to Sept. 2024. Texas’ annual nonfarm growth rate currently sits at 2.3 percent, outpacing the U.S. growth rate by 0.7 percentage points.…