by Legislative Media | Aug 15, 2016 | Politics
Featured: Rep. Terry Canales, D-Edinburg, addressing South Texans during a Memorial Day event at the Brooks County Courthouse in Falfurrias on Monday, May 30, 2016.
Photograph By ALEX RÍOS
The annual Delta School Supply Giveway, which will donate key learning materials, ranging from pens and pencils to paper, erasers and notebooks, is underway and will wrap up on Thursday, August 18, 2016, when the donations will be distributed, while supplies last, to students enrolled in the Edcouch-Elsa, La Villa and Monte Alto school districts, Rep. Terry Canales has announced. “Throughout the state and nation, many families simply don’t have enough resources to properly provide the school supplies needed by their children,” the state lawmaker reflected. “But through the love and caring that our residents have for our communities and for our youth, these small acts of kindness are investments in all of our future and well-being.” Any student enrolled in the Edcouch-Elsa, La Villa, and Monte Alto school district is eligible, but each child and parent must be present to receive a backpack. Each child will get a backpack approved by the school districts, which means it is clear or mesh. In the backpack will be supplies to get a child started out for the year: pencils, folders, notebooks, tissues, glue sticks, erasers, pencil case, rulers, colored pencils and crayons. The backpacks with school supplies will be given away from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Carlos F. Truan Junior High Gym, located at 700 East Ciro Careers Drive in Elsa. There will also be a raffle of school supplies and various resources and service-oriented organizations at the event.
•••••• (more…)
by Legislative Media | Aug 13, 2016 | Politics
Featured, from left: Nick Cantú, Realtor/Owner, Jinks Realty, Mayor Pro Tem Richard Molina, and Abisai Y. Ortiz, Realtor, Jinks Realty, during the Jinks Realty Ribbon Cutting and Open House on Friday, May 6, 2016 at Grindstone Coworking, 506 W. University Drive in Edinburg. Not pictured are Lee Jinks, Broker/Owner, Jinks Realty, Jania Cantú, Realtor, and Mary Alice Palacios, Realtor (www. JinksRealty.com). In addition to new businesses opening in the city, Edinburg’s economy continues to show continuing growth based on other financial figures, including in retail sales activities, according to the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts.
Photograph By RONNIE LARRALDE
Edinburg’s retail economy during June 2016 showed a more than 8.5 percent improvement over the same month last year, a figure that is much better than the statewide average improvement of 1.8 percent for all cities, the Edinburg Economic Development Corporation has announced. For June 2016, Edinburg’s retail economy generated $2,000,505.08 in local sales taxes, compared with $1,843,334.30 during the same period in 2015, representing the improvement of 8.52 percent, according to the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. During the first six months of 2016, Edinburg’s retail economy produced $14,288,346.32 in local sales taxes, compared with $13,591,448.24 for January through June 2016, representing an improvement of 5.12 percent. The local sales tax is used in Edinburg to help pay for many city services, while the Edinburg EDC uses its one-half cent local sales tax to help generate economic development in the city.
•••••• (more…)
by Legislative Media | Aug 7, 2016 | Politics
Featured: Rep. Terry Canales, D-Edinburg, on Tuesday, July 5, 2016 at the Medical Education Building in Edinburg, which is a major component of the School of Medicine for the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. Canales was a cosponsor in 2013 of Senate Bill 24, authored by Sen. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa, D-McAllen, and sponsored by Rep. René Oliveira, D-Brownsville, which created a full-fledged medical school for deep South Texas.
Photograph By ALEX RÍOS
Under a measure being proposed by the Texas Department of Agriculture, which is being opposed by Rep. Terry Canales, D-Edinburg, small business citrus and rose nurseries throughout Texas would pay dramatically higher fees to the state for exporting their products to the rest of the nation. Canales is the only Valley lawmaker among the 28 state legislators calling on TDA Commissioner Sid Miller, a Republican, to eliminate a proposed fee increase by the state agency for the issuance of phytosanitary certificates, which helps guarantee that plants and plant products exported by Texans are pest-free. The proposed fee increase would especially hurt small business owners, the House District 40 lawmaker noted.
•••••• (more…)
