Featured: Sen. Lois W. Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, shown here on the floor of the Texas Senate Chamber during the Spring of 2019, authored Senate Bill 750, which changed the Government Code and Health and Safety Code to require the executive commissioner of Texas Health and Human Services by rule to ensure that women receiving services under the Healthy Texas Women program are referred to and provided with information on the primary health care services program. All Valley state lawmakers voted for Senate Bill 750, which was signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday, June 10, 2019, and went into effect immediately.
Featured: Carlos Zaffirini, Sr., and Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, on January 30, 2020, celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary. “How did 55 years of wonderful marriage pass by so quickly? Happy Anniversary to us!” she said. “On this day in 1965, Carlos Zaffirini Sr. and I were married at St. Peter's Church in Laredo. I was 18, and he was 21.” The following September, both enrolled at the University of Texas at Austin, where he completed his law degree and she completed her B.S., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees. “Seventeen years later we were blessed with our beloved son, Carlos Zaffirini Jr. His greatest gifts to us are his beautiful wife, Audrey Pieper Zaffirini, and our equally amazing grandsons, Asher Maxwell and George William. God is good. Life is blessed.”
Photograph Courtesy SEN. JUDITH ZAFFIRINI FACEBOOK
Featured, from left: Rep. Terry Canales, D-Edinburg; Rep. R.D. “Bobby” Guerra, D-McAllen; Sen. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa, D-McAllen; Sen. Carol Alvarado, D-Houston, Ricardo Martínez, MD, DHR Health General Surgeon, and Assistant Trauma Medical Director; and Carlos García-Cantú, MD, DHR Health General Surgeon and Chairman of the Board for the Renaissance Medical Foundation. This image was taken at the Edinburg Conference Center at Renaissance on Wednesday, November 6, 2019.
Featured: South Texas College political science instructor Dr. Darrial Reynolds says growing up, he attended segregated schools in Talladega, Alabama, about 50 miles east of Birmingham. Shown here at the STC campus in Rio Grande City, Reynolds says like many first-generation students, he had to overcome significant hurdles to succeed in higher education.
Featured, from left: Rep. Terry Canales, D-Edinburg, who also serves as Chairman, House Committee on Transportation; Erika Canales; Miguel Guerra; former longtime Edinburg Mayor Joe Ochoa; and Edinburg City Attorney Omar Ochoa. The group was participating in the third annual Christmas Bash & Toy Drive, hosted by Congressman Vicente González, D-McAllen, and his wife, Lorena Sáenz González, on Monday evening, December 2, 2019, at the Embassy Suites in McAllen.
Featured: As a young girl anticipating Christmas 2019 wishfully looks on, Sen. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa, D-McAllen, delivers wrapped presents for deserving South Texas children to the third annual Christmas Bash & Toy Drive, hosted by Congressman Vicente González and his wife, Lorena Sáenz González, on Monday evening, December 2, 2019, at the Embassy Suites in McAllen.
Featured, from left: Rep. Terry Canales, D-Edinburg; Ronnie Larralde, Executive Director, Edinburg Chamber of Commerce; Rep. R.D. “Bobby” Guerra, D-McAllen; Sen. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa, D-McAllen; Sen. Carol Alvarado, D-Houston, and Rebecca Arizmendi, President/CEO, Pharr Greater Chamber of Commerce. This image was taken on Wednesday, November 6, 2019, at the Edinburg Conference Center at Renaissance.
Featured, from left: Robert C. Vackar, CEO of the Bert Ogden Auto Group; Alonzo Cantú, Chairman, Lone Star National Bank, Chairman, Cantú Construction and Development Company, and Member, Board of Managers, DHR Health; and Richard Hinojosa, Edinburg Interim City Manager, and Interim Executive Director, Edinburg Economic Development Corporation. This image was taken on February 12, 2018, during a tour updating city leaders and the area news media on the work taking place at the city-owned $88.3 million, 190,000-square foot Bert Ogden Arena.
Featured: Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas, in this image taken on Wednesday, August 28, 2019, is one of two state senators on the 19-member Texas Legislative Black Caucus in the Texas Legislature. The Texas Legislative Black Caucus (TXLBC) works on priorities important to their constituents, including the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Rep. Terry Canales, D-Edinburg, who also serves as Chairman of the House Committee on Transportation, has been honored with the President’s Award by the Corpus Christi chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) for his legislative achievements in the Texas Legislature on behalf of health care, military veterans, the underprivileged, and transparency in government.
Featured: Edinburg Police Chief César Torres looks on as Rubén R. Ramirez, Interim Executive Director for the Edinburg Economic Development Corporation, addresses hundreds of area residents who came to the Edinburg Conference Center at Renaissance on Wednesday, October 2, 2019, for the Biannual Job Fair hosted by the Edinburg EDC.
