Tag Archives: Mercedes

South Texas College Hosts President’s Advisory Retreat

Education Featured Government Comments

Representatives from the RGV law enforcement community recently met for South Texas College’s first President’s Advisory Council Retreat. Here, leaders provided regular input and recommendations for professional continuing education and degree programs. Law enforcement is coordinating with STC to develop an action plan as the STC Regional Center for Public Safety Excellence gets underway. Earlier this year, STC President Shirley A. Reed extended an invitation to leaders of the law enforcement…

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Ambiance Enhances Care

Healthcare News Comments
Mid Valley Nursing & Rehabilitation in Mercedes offer hotel-like amenities as well as care provided partly by the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley School of Medicine’s Family Residency Program. (VBR)

The sign outside reads Mid Valley Nursing & Rehabilitation. “I see it as a hotel,” said Alice Roel, the licensed nursing facility administrator for the Mercedes facility. “You register and have housekeeping, meals, activities, laundry and transportation provided round the clock with exceptional customer service.” The state-of-the-art complex, which Touchstone Strategies opened in November 2016, aims for a homey, hospitality ambiance rather than a medical or institutional atmosphere, Roel said.…

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Changing Lives with Music

Healthcare News Comments
Board certified Music Therapist Marisa de Leon, who plays a wide range of instruments, helps patients regain their ability to walk, move, remember and talk. (VBR)

Talk about a huge learning curve. Before board certified music therapist Marisa de Leon opened her business RGV Music Therapy and Wellness Center in May 2017, she had never held a full-time job other than a professional internship. One year later, de Leon is so busy seeing clients across the Valley that she recently contracted the services of another music therapist and transitioned to an LLC from a sole proprietorship.…

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Architects Create Community

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Maria Sustaeta, LRGV-AIA executive director, and Sergio Lainez, president, at the nonprofit organization’s office in Mercedes. (VBR)

Few professional organizations can claim they represent 95 percent of those in their field. But 95 percent of the licensed architects in this region are members of the Lower Rio Grande Valley Chapter of the American Institute of Architects headquartered in Mercedes. Why such high membership numbers? “AIA is where the architecture and design communities come together to share knowledge, gain expertise, get connected and stay involved,” said Sergio Lainez,…

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BBQ Joints Listed Among Best in Texas

Featured Food & Entertainment News Comments
January 2018 cover

Texans love their barbecue. Whether grilling or smoking meat in the back yard, or visiting a favorite eatery, barbecue aficionados’ varied tastes and favorite cooking methods can spark lively debates as to what makes the best of the best. They may even argue about the correct spelling: barbecue, bar-b-que or simply BBQ. In the Rio Grande Valley, where dozens of restaurants large and small specialize in classic Texas barbecue, only…

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Building a Dream with Chocolate

Featured Food & Entertainment News Retail Comments
Veronica Barrera-Cuellar with gift baskets prepared by Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory for special occasions. (VBR)

After managing 16 school kitchens in North Texas as a nutritionist, Rio Grande Valley native Veronica Barrera-Cuellar returned home with a dream of attending pastry school. She ended up selling chocolate. “I love pastry and I wanted to go to pastry school, but life happens,” she said. Needing to find a livelihood, she teamed up with her sister Patricia and began looking into franchise opportunities to start their own business.…

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Magic Valley Celebrates 80 Years

e-Brief Features Events Featured News Comments

Magic Valley Electric Cooperative celebrated 80 years in South Texas during festivities at its headquarters in Mercedes. Founded in 1937 by a group of Rio Grande Valley farmers and ranchers to bring electricity to rural South Texas, one year after the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 was enacted during the administration of President Franklin Roosevelt. It provided federal loans for the installation of electrical distribution systems to serve isolated rural…

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Old-Fashioned Customer Service

Featured News Retail Comments
The Eiler family, Ken, Debbie, Loretta and Bob, stand in front of the store’s new paint department.

The store is clean and modern. At the same time, it stands as a testament to an era when the local hardware store stood as a community fixture. Borderland Hardware in Mercedes is among only a handful of locally owned, old-fashioned hardware stores left in the Rio Grande Valley. Owners Bob Eilers, who recently celebrated his 90th birthday; his wife of 67 years, Loretta; and son Ken and wife Debbie,…

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Resort manager runs a small town 

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Llano Grande sets RV park bar “People my age are starting to retire and have a whole different outlook on life than the previous generation,” said Karen Pike, 57, resort manager at Llano Grande Resort and Country Club. “They want to be entertained and to go where their every need is met. They are not penny pinchers. If they saved up for retirement, they are going to spend it.” Named…

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