MISSION, Texas - AltaCair Foundation’s top event of 2025 was its Accelerator Conference. This was the third year in a row AltaCair has held an Accelerator Conference. It was billed as the largest health summit in South Texas. During the conference, the group’s president, Dr. Rashmi Chandran, gave a series of interviews. Here is one of them. Go to the Rio Grande Guardian website for the full story. Go to www.riograndeguardian.com to read the latest border news stories and watch the lat...

MCALLEN, Texas - RioPlex plans to hold meetings every month across the region to explain to communities what the group is doing to bring in more investment and better paying jobs. Mario Reyna, RioPlex’s executive director, spoke about the group’s vision, mission statement, core values, and strategic direction at a leadership gathering, held recently at McAllen Country Club. “We're going to have engagements every month throughout the region to tell people what it is that we're trying to ...

Josie Arellano is crime victims liaison for Pharr Police Development. Arellano sat down for an in-depth interview with Rio Grande Guardian anchor Mari Regalado to discuss her work. She said it is important for the victims of crime to come forward and report a crime, no matter what their legal status. She said Pharr Police Department can help. Here is the interview. Go to www.riograndeguardian.com to read the latest border news stories and watch the latest news videos.

Josie Arellano es enlace para víctimas de delitos en el Departamento de Desarrollo Policial de Pharr. Arellano conversó a fondo con la presentadora del Rio Grande Guardian, Mari Regalado, para hablar sobre su trabajo. Regalado comentó que es importante que las víctimas de delitos se presenten y denuncien, sin importar su estatus legal. Añadió que el Departamento de Policía de Pharr puede ayudar. Go to www.riograndeguardian.com to read the latest border news stories and watch the late...

PHARR, Texas - Mario Guerrero, CEO of the South Texas Builders Association, says the region’s banks are also being impacted ICE’s raids on construction sites in the Rio Grande Valley. Guerrero called a meeting recently with U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar to discuss the economic impact the raids are having on the building industry. More than 20 construction company owners attended. The building industry representatives said jobs are being delayed because workers, undocumented or otherwise, are ...

BROWNSVILLE, Texas - Former state Sen. Eddie Lucioo, Jr., has not been able to give away as many turkeys to the less fortunate this year, in part because federal funding to the food banks has been cut. Normally, Lucio would purchase the turkeys at a competitive price from local food banks and distribute them to those in need in Cameron, Willacy, and Hidalgo counties. This year, however, the 25th year he has been doing it, he has had to pay for them from the large distributors at the normal pr...

MCALLEN, Texas - Ralph Garcia, interim chief operating officer for McAllen Economic Development Corporation, has given a brief update on the various projects the group is working on. “Right now, the EDC is working with about 25 active projects. This represents a total of about three million square feet of space. Estimated jobs are about 8,000 and the economic impact of that is roughly about $5 billion dollars,” Garcia said a quarterly stakeholders meeting. “Primarily, our companies are ...

MCALLEN, Texas - McAllen International Airport continues to capture the biggest share of the passenger market in the Rio Grande Valley, the city’s director of aviation reports. Jeremy Santoscoy gave an update on airport activity at a recent McAllen Economic Development Corporation stakeholders meeting. “Through Quarter 3, we’re at about 863,000 total passengers, which is a slight decrease year-over-year, (a drop of) about two and a half percent,” Santoscoy said. “We continue to see the ...

MCALLEN, Texas - Ruben Alfaro, development engineer for Hidalgo County Regional Mobility Authority, gave an update on the group’s strategic plan when he spoke at a McAllen Economic Development Corporation stakeholders meeting. That strategic plan includes the long-awaited Hidalgo County Loop. Alfaro said HCRMA is making good progress. “The key point I wanted to get across is the progress that we are making in terms of construction and where we are going as an RMA,” Alfaro told the RGG Busines...

PHARR, TEXAS – RioPlex fu eel anfitrion de una ceremonia de colocacion para La Bonanza Avocados, una compañia familiar de aguacates proveniente de Uruapan, Michoacán el 14 de Nov. Invitados de la ceremonia incluyeron mas de 20 lideres de Negocios de Michoacán, que se encontraban en una mission commercial que incluyo una visita a SpaceX en Starbase. La ceremonia de colocacion se llevo a cabo en la Esquina de Las Milpas y Veterans Road en Pharr. La ceremonia incluyo discursos del alcalde the Ph...

PHARR, TEXAS – RioPlex fu eel anfitrion de una ceremonia de colocacion para La Bonanza Avocados, una compañia familiar de aguacates proveniente de Uruapan, Michoacán el 14 de Nov. Invitados de la ceremonia incluyeron mas de 20 lideres de Negocios de Michoacán, que se encontraban en una mission commercial que incluyo una visita a SpaceX en Starbase. La ceremonia de colocacion se llevo a cabo en la Esquina de Las Milpas y Veterans Road en Pharr. La ceremonia incluyo discursos del alcalde the Ph...

EDINBURG, Texas - Ruben Cortez is vice president of the Texas Association of Education Service Centers. In a recent interview with the Rio Grande Guardian, Cortez spoke about a larger than average drop off in school attendance by students living in heavily Hispanic areas. Cortez was reticent about blaming the reduction on raids by ICE. However, leaders within La Joya ISD, Sharyland ISD, Brownsville ISD and McAllen ISD have all spoken about this being a factor. Here is the interview. Go to www...

MCALLEN, Texas - The North American Development Bank is to allocate up to $100 million from its retained earnings over the next five years for urgent water conservation projects along the U.S.-Mexico border. NADBank Managing Director John Beckham made the announcement at the two-day Rio Grande/Rio Bravo Binational River Symposium hosted by the Texas Water Foundation at the Embassy Suites by Hilton in McAllen. Beckham said the grant money will be come out of the $400 million Water Resiliency F...

PRIMERA, Texas - The City of Primera recently held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Richmond Hills Drainage Project. Cameron County Drainage District No. 5 played a key role in the project. CCDD5 provided a timeline of the events: Developer Julio Carranza required CCDD5 to use five acres on his property for drainage purposes. CCDD5 then partnered with La Feria Irrigation District to carry out the excavation work. The City of Primera then secured an ARPA grant from Cameron County to fund drai...

HARLINGEN, Texas - The Free Trade Bridge at Los Indios is the crown jewel of Cameron County’s international bridge system, according to the county’s economic development director, Ramiro Aleman. The bridge is also known as “Los Indios-Lucio Blanco Bridge”, “Puente Lucio Blanco-Los Indios”, “Puente Internacional Libre Comercio” and “Los Indios Free Trade Bridge”. It is owned and operated by Cameron County. However, the cities of Harlingen and San Benito each receive 25% of the net revenues. ...

HARLINGEN, Texas - Rick Carrera, COSTEP's economic development director, gave an update on a project his group is working on to map all the automotive companies in the Rio South Texas region. COSTEP stands for Council for South Texas Economic Progress. The Rio South Texas region comprises northern Tamaulipas, the Rio Grande Valley, and Laredo. Carrera spoke briefly about the Binational Autocluster project at a meeting of the South Texas Manufacturers Association (STMA). The meeting was held a...

LAREDO, Texas - Webb and Starr are leading South Texas in clean energy growth with new solar panels, wind power, and battery storage, U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar reports. The Laredo Democrat released a new update showing that Texas’ 28th Congressional District - his district - is a powerhouse in clean energy production – pairing renewable power with traditional oil and gas to lower energy costs for families and strengthen the local economy. He said that as a base for economic growth, th...

BROWNSVILLE, Texas - Cameron County Commissioners Court is moving ahead with plans to purchase an ownership interest in the Brownsville & Matamoros Bridge Company from Union Pacific Railroad. Brownsville & Matamoras Bridge Company co-owns Brownsville & Matamoros Bridge with the government of Mexico. Cameron County Judge Eddie Treviño, Jr., said a complex negotiation process to acquire ownership began two years ago. He said the transaction is expected to close in late 202...

PHARR, Texas - The wild fluctuations in bridge crossing numbers have made it hard to analyze longterm trends, says Pharr International Bridge Director Luis Bazan. In his most recent report to the Pharr Bridge Board, Bazan said he will likely not have a clear picture of how things are going until the second quarter next year. The fluctuations have been caused in part by changes in U.S. tariff policy. “You can see a lot of the ebbs and flows and a lot of the peaks and valleys that we've bee...

BROWNSVILLE, Texas - CIL Capital held a groundbreaking ceremony for a new manufacturing plant on Texas 48 in Brownsville, close to the Port of Brownsville. The 181,000 square foot facility will be known as Anchor Industrial. The developers believe the $20 million project will generate 120-plus jobs. Carlos Garcia, a customs broker and president of Border Trade Alliance-Mexico, invited CIL to participate in the project. The facility will be built by Martín Anzaldúa of Grupo Río San Juan....