The City of McAllen will be updating the Parks, Recreation and Open Space Master Plan and would like community input as to how to develop McAllen’s parks and recreation areas. The original Parks & Recreation Master Plan was created in 2018 and since, the City of McAllen has accomplished many of the the goals outlined in that document. The city says it is now time to move forward with the…
The Brownsville Independent School District’s Food and Nutrition Services Department is now offering free breakfast and lunch meals over the summer. The Seamless Summer Option Program provides nutritious free meals for children ages 0 to 18 and is sponsored by the United States Department of Agriculture. In order to participate, families only have to find a site during breakfast and/or lunch. Breakfast begins at 7:30 a.m. and lunch begins at 11:30…
Keep McAllen Beautiful is enhancing the streets of McAllen one standpipe at a time, but a bigger canvas needs artistic improvements and one of McAllen’s own will get that chance. KMB and Don’t Mess with Texas are seeking submissions of original artwork for the McAllen’s next great outdoor mural. The mural will be on the 408-foot wall located along Pecan Boulevard and 2nd Street. Funding is provided by the City of…
South Texas College President Ricardo J. Solis and Hidalgo County Judge Richard F. Cortez have signed a Memorandum of Understanding in a partnership that will create a Youth Leadership Academy with the goal of decreasing poverty in the region. This collaboration closely follows an STC Board of Trustees’ unanimous decision that the college and its leadership would be working closely with the Hidalgo County Prosperity Task Force, led by Judge…
The International Museum of Art & Science is part of museums nationwide in the Blue Star Museums initiative, a program that provides free admission to currently-serving U.S. military personnel and their families this summer. The 2023 program began on Armed Forces Day and will end on Labor Day, Sept. 4. Blue Star Museums is a partnership between the National Endowment for the Arts and Blue Star Families, in collaboration with…
The first launch of SpaceX’s Starship off Boca Chica Beach was spectacular even as it fell short of its goals and ultimately blew to pieces over the Gulf of Mexico. Some of the debris from the sky and launch pad would fall and settle over Port Isabel, causing consternation there to go with stern words from the Federal Aviation Administration. The agency said it would review safety and public health…
The chief executive officer of a major San Antonio development company referred to Weslaco in late 2021 as a “community that has been underserved.” Craig Garansuay offered that description during a Weslaco City Hall meeting as local leaders were making their pitch to business interests gathered to learn more about the community. Weslaco at the time was seeing its first signs of new retail and housing construction growth coming out…
From bean to bar, there can be no rushing the in-between at Hidalgo’s Mozna Chocolate factory. Rosario Matulewicz and her team work meticulously at their craft in what was once a meat market. Today, large sacks of cacao beans from around the world stand near a grinder that whirls around the clock. It’s a days-long process. The beans will soon form into a thick batter-like substance to temper and mold…
Andrew Crowe enjoyed his first craft beer at Roosevelt’s at 7 on Main Street in McAllen. Crowe was a home brewer and envisioned partnering with a friend to someday open his own brewery. It could be a place where family and friends could gather. Crowe’s friend changed course and became a firefighter while Crowe went on to work at Roosevelt’s. He would eventually decide to apply for a two-year brewing…
There was always one skill Ryan Henry had in his back pocket as he saw his journalism fade like a setting sun in one of his paintings. The Rio Grande Valley-area newspapers that Henry so capably served for over two decades have clearly seen their better days. There was no lessening of his own interests and commitment to newspapering, but Henry grew tired of years-long struggles as an editor in…