by Legislative Media | Mar 24, 2016 | Politics
Featured, from left: David P. Higgerson, director of field operations for the Laredo Field Office of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, receives a legislative resolution in his honor from Rep. Terry Canales, D-Edinburg, on Tuesday, November 24, 2015.
Photograph Courtesy JULIE BENITEZ SULLIVAN
Better ways to help protect Texans from wrongful convictions for crimes they did not commit, defend women and children from family violence, and improve the system that monitors Texans on probation and parole are among the key justice issues being shaped for 2017 by Rep. Terry Canales, D-Edinburg. The House District 40 lawmaker, who is a lawyer, is focusing on those and related issues as a member of the House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence, which held one of its major public hearings for this year in Austin on Monday, March 21, 2016.
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by Legislative Media | Mar 21, 2016 | Politics
Featured: City Councilmember Homer Jasso, Jr. in the Council Chamber of Edinburg City Hall on Monday, February 8, 2016, during a joint work session of the Edinburg City Council and the Hidalgo County Commissioners Court on the proposed $150 million Hidalgo County Courthouse, which will be built in Edinburg.
Photograph By DIEGO REYNA
The results of an annual audit, which help ensure citizens that public entities are properly managing government programs and services, regarding the fiscal year 2014-2015 activities of the Edinburg Economic Development Corporation, will be presented at Edinburg City Hall on Tuesday, March 22, 2016. The audit, along with several other key items, are part of the regular monthly meeting of the EEDC Board of Directors. The session, which will be held in the Council Chamber, begins at noon. It also will be televised live on the Edinburg Cable Network. The EEDC is the jobs-creation arm of the Edinburg Mayor and Edinburg City Council.
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by Legislative Media | Mar 20, 2016 | Politics
Featured: Ellie Torres, Secretary/Treasurer for the Board of Directors of the Edinburg Economic Development Corporation, earlier this year in the Council Chamber of Edinburg City Hall.
Photograph By DIEGO REYNA
Edinburg’s unemployment rate for January 2016 of 4.8 percent kept pace with McAllen and its Valley-leading 4.7 percent showing for the same month, and marked the sixth time since January 2015 that Edinburg’s monthly unemployment rate was under five percent, the Edinburg Economic Development Corporation has announced. In addition, the annual unemployment rate in Edinburg for 2o15 was 5.1 percent, the best performance for the city since 2007, when the annual figure came in at 4.7 percent. Edinburg’s latest showing was better than the U.S. unemployment rate for January 2016, which was 4.9 percent, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics (http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS14000000).
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by Legislative Media | Mar 11, 2016 | Politics
Featured: Rep. Terry Canales, D-Edinburg, addressing the Public Affairs Luncheon, sponsored by the Edinburg Chamber of Commerce and the Edinburg Economic Development Corporation on Thursday, January 21, 2016 at the Edinburg Conference Center at Renaissance.
Photograph By MARK MONTEMAYOR
A proposed law that would prevent Texas governments from approving contracts whose payments are secret will be filed in 2017 by Rep. Terry Canales, D-Edinburg, who said he is a strong champion of the people’s right to know. Canales said Texas governments – from school districts to state universities and agencies – should not be allowed to keep secret any expenditures paid for with tax funds.
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by Legislative Media | Mar 9, 2016 | Politics
Featured, from left: Precinct 1 Hidalgo County Commissioner A.C. Cuellar, Jr. of Weslaco; Hidalgo County Judge Ramón García; Mayor Richard García; Councilmember J.R. Betancourt; and Mayor Pro Tem Richard Molina. This image was taken on Tuesday, March 8, 2016 in the Council Chamber of Edinburg City Hall.
Photograph By MARK MONTEMAYOR
The Mayor and Edinburg City Council on Tuesday, March 8, 2016, gave their initial approval to provide a maximum of $30 million – to be spread out over up to 30 years and without raising the city property tax rate – to help in the construction of a $150 million Hidalgo County Courthouse, the Edinburg Economic Development Corporation has announced. If all goes as planned by the county, construction on the courthouse may begin near the end of this year, if weather permits. The county anticipates a completion date of October 2018. The action took place following a 2 p.m. joint work session with the Hidalgo County Judge and Hidalgo County Commissioners Court, held in the Council Chamber of Edinburg City Hall, and sets into motion a plan that will eventually lead to the construction of a state-of-the-art judicial center, which will be located in downtown Edinburg, next to the current county courthouse complex.
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by Legislative Media | Mar 8, 2016 | Politics
Featured: Edinburg attorney Ismael “Kino” Flores, Jr., the newly-appointed Associate Judge of the Title IV-D Master Court 2 in Hidalgo County, and the Honorable Missy Medary of Corpus Christi, who is Presiding Judge of the Fifth Administrative Judicial Region.
Photograph By VANESSA FLORES
Edinburg attorney Ismael “Kino” Flores, Jr., son of former longtime Rep. Ismael “Kino” Flores, D-Palmview, will be sworn in on Tuesday, March 8, 2016, as the new Associate Judge of the Title IV-D Master Court 2 in Hidalgo County, according to the Honorable Missy Medary of Corpus Christi, who is Presiding Judge of the Fifth Administrative Judicial Region. The Title IV-D Court hears cases that the Texas Attorney General has provided services under Part D, Title IV of the Federal Social Security Act. 42 U S.C. § 651 et seq.. which include locating an absent parent, determining parentage or the establishment, modification, or enforcement of child support or medical support. The court has jurisdiction in Hidalgo, Starr and Jim Hogg counties.
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