by Legislative Media | Nov 13, 2018 | Politics
Featured, from left: Hidalgo City Council Member Abram Ramírez, Council Member Linda Ayala, Mayor Sergio Coronado, and Mayor Pro Tem Gustavo “Gus” Sánchez were among city and state leaders present on Saturday, October 6, 2018 for the groundbreaking of Lepowitz Park at the Villa Garza Flores Subdivision. On Wednesday, November 14, 2018, the Hidalgo Mayor, his six colleagues on the Hidalgo City Council, and the Board of Directors of the Hidalgo Economic Development Corporation will host another ceremony, which will take place at the city-owned, $23 million State Farm Hidalgo Arena, to announce the first phase of a major commercial and industrial development, known as the The Hidalgo Infrastructure Project 2018, that will be built near the multi-event complex. The State Farm Hidalgo Arena is located at 2600 N. 10th Street (Hwy. 336).
Photograph By CHARLIE BARRIOS
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by Legislative Media | Aug 18, 2017 | Politics
Featured, on Wednesday, May 10, 2017, for the groundbreaking of the $1.6+ million Edinburg Fire Station No. 5, to be built at 8502 N. Jasman Road in north Edinburg, are, from left: Augie Lozano, Public Relations Manager, Bert Ogden Auto Group and Member, Edinburg Chamber of Commerce; Letty González, President, Edinburg Chamber of Commerce; Mario Lizcano, Director of Corporate Affairs, Doctors Hospital at Renaissance and Member, Board of Directors, Edinburg Chamber of Commerce; Councilmember David Torres; Mayor Richard García and President, Board of Directors, Edinburg Economic Development Corporation; Councilmember Homer Jasso, Jr.; Councilmember Richard Molina and Member, Board of Directors, Edinburg Chamber of Commerce; Fire Chief Shawn Snider; and Alex Ríos, District Director, Office of State Rep. Terry Canales, D-Edinburg, and Member, Board of Directors, Edinburg Chamber of Commerce.
Photograph By RONNIE LARRALDE
More business and residential developments, along with improved public safety protections, will soon be coming to an estimated combined total of 60,000 city and Hidalgo County residents as a result of recent decisions by elected leaders, the Edinburg Economic Development Corporation has announced. Edinburg Fire Station No. 5, a 9,571-square foot facility – which also will house emergency medical services (EMS ambulance) – is set to open around the spring of 2018. The complex, being constructed by Candela Organization, LLC, will be the first fire station in the northern part of the city. Edinburg Fire Station No. 5 will be a full service station with four fire trucks and one ambulance, and will be equipped with dormitories, a kitchen, and a workout area to house up to 10 firefighters and two ambulance attendants. “Besides the obvious advantages of bringing emergency fire protection and emergency medical services (ambulance) closer to hundreds of residences and businesses, fire insurance premiums will be more affordable,” said Agustín García, Executive Director of the Edinburg Economic Development Corporation. “Together, those two elements should help more businesses expand or locate in north Edinburg, making Edinburg Fire Station No. 5 an economic engine which will help power more jobs, increase prosperity, and generate more residential and commercial developments in that region.” The Edinburg EDC is the jobs-creation arm of the Edinburg Mayor and Edinburg City Council. The Edinburg EDC Board of Directors is comprised of Mayor Richard García as President, Harvey Rodríguez, Jr. as Vice President, Elías Longoria, Jr., as Secretary/Treasurer, and Richard Ruppert and Dr. Peter Dabrowski as Members. Mayor Richard García and Edinburg EDC Executive Director Gus García are not related.
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by Legislative Media | May 17, 2015 | Politics
Featured, from left: Rep. Terry Canales, D-Edinburg, Congressman Rubén Hinojosa, D-Mercedes, and Rep. Óscar Longoria, Jr., D-La Joya, on Tuesday, March 25, 2014, after addressing the South Texas College Board of Trustees at the Pecan Campus in McAllen.
Photograph By STEVE TAYLOR
Legislation proposing the creation of a South Texas College extension facility in the Delta Region of Hidalgo County, which was approved by the House of Representatives on Friday, May 8, is set for a Senate committee hearing on Monday, May 18, Rep. Terry Canales, D-Edinburg, has announced. Originally filed to create a branch campus of STC in the Delta Region, Canales changed the language of House Bill 382 to instead call for the creation of an extension facility in order to dramatically reduce the financial cost to the state, which significantly improves its chances of legislative passage. “By requiring an extension facility, STC would be directed by the Texas Legislature to set up a physical presence in the Delta Region, a move that can eventually lead to a branch campus,” Canales said. “What we are wanting to do is move this one step further down the line. We believe that whatever concerns the college may have about the fiscal viability of this program will be shown dramatically to be unfounded because it will quickly flourish.” According to the Texas Higher Education Agency, a branch campus is a major, secondary location of an institution offering multiple programs, usually with its own administrative structure and usually headed by a Dean. A branch campus must be established by the Legislature or approved by the Coordinating Board. He said that STC has an obligation to spread its resources to areas of Hidalgo County which have the population base and geographic location to deserve an extension facility, and eventually, a branch campus. “The Delta Region has historically been a neglected area that can see a positive change from this bill. The area needs better access to higher education to have the same opportunities (as other communities with STC campuses and sites),” Canales said. But times are changing, and for the better, in the Delta Region, further justifying predictions that STC would also grow with those communities. “If we talk about demographics and you look at companies and ask, ‘What are the demographics there?’ Well, they just opened up a Walmart Supercenter, and a new H.E.B., and those businesses conduct incredible demographic studies before they make those multi-million dollar capital investments,” he continued. Canales also spoke about ongoing plans by the state transportation leaders to connect FM 1925, known as the Monte Cristo Road project, between Edinburg and South Padre Island, a thoroughfare which will go through the Delta Region. “The Texas Department of Transportation has opted to expand what is the existing Monte Cristo Road into a highway that will go all the way to Cameron County,” Canales said. “That is why Rep. Lucio and his father, Sen. Eddie Lucio, Jr., and Rep. René Oliveira, support this bill.” The public hearing will take place before the Senate Committee on Intergovernmental Relations, whose chairman is Sen. Eddie Lucio, Jr., D-Brownsville. The meeting, which is open to the public, was at 8:30 a.m. in Room E1.028 of the Texas Capitol complex. The session is available for live viewing on the Internet, or afterwards as a video recording in its entirety, by logging on to http://www.senate.state.tx.us/bin/live.phpby , find the desire program at the bottom of that web page, and click the “play” button. The live programs are listed by their scheduled start time. Lucio is the Senate sponsor of the measure, House Bill 382, of which Canales is the primary author. Canales’ proposal also enjoys vital support from House legislators from the two South Texas counties – Hidalgo County and Starr County – which STC serves. Rep. Óscar Longoria, Jr., D-La Joya, Rep. Armando “Mando” Martínez, D-Weslaco, Rep. Ryan Guillén, D-Rio Grande City, and Rep. Eddie Lucio, III, D-San Benito, are joint authors of Canales’ HB 382. The measure, which was approved by the House of Representatives on Friday, May 8, would require STC, which has campuses in McAllen, Weslaco and Rio Grande City, to establish an extension facility in either Elsa, which is in Canales’ House District 40, or in Edcouch, which is in Longoria’s House District 35. Under the proposal, the STC Board of Trustees are directed to set up the extension facility beginning with the 2016-2017 academic year. The legislation does not authorize STC to increase its property tax rate.
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by Legislative Media | Feb 23, 2008 | Politics
Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, on Friday, February 22, brought his presidential campaign to the University of Texas-Pan American, where he urged the crowd to believe that the impossible is within their reach, to dare to think big. “Yes, we can! Si se puede,” Obama said. “Texas, this is our moment, this is our time. If you are willing to work for me, I promise you, we will win the nomination in Texas, we will win in the general election, and you and I, together, we will change this country, and we will change the world.” See related story. Obama and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-New York, are the two presidential candidates seeking the Texas Democratic Party primary nomination on March 4. See lead story later in this posting.
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In an apparent attempt to let South Texans know he knows about struggles in life, Obama made sure to highlight his own life story in a 37-minute long speech at the University of Texas-Pan American that also included many of his campaign platform goals. “I was born to a teenage mother. My father left when I was two. I never knew him. I was raised by a single mom and my grandparents. They didn’t have money, they didn’t have fame. But what they did have was they gave me love, they gave me an education, they gave me hope.” See lead story later in this posting.
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Edinburg City Councilmember Gus García, Jr., in dark suit, and other area residents reach out to Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, as the Democratic Party presidential candidate prepares to address thousands of supporters at the University of Texas-Pan American on Friday, February 22. García, along with Mayor Joe Ochoa, Edinburg school board trustee Robert Peña, Jr., Rep. Eddie Lucio, Jr., D-San Benito, and Rep. Aaron Peña, Jr., D-Edinburg, were among the elected officials who showed up for the political rally. Obama is facing Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-New York, who along with her husband, former President Bill Clinton, are hugely popular, with a long history, among the Hispanic population in the Valley and Texas. See lead story later in this posting.
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“One of my primary interests and concerns as a presidential candidate and hopefully as president will be to make sure that we are opening access to a college education for everybody,” Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, told about two dozen students from the University of Texas-Pan American during a meeting before his rally on February 22 at the Edinburg based campus. Obama reported that college costs are up 40 percent and the average Texan leaves school more than $18,000 in debt, One of his proposals includes a $4,000 tuition credit for every student every year. See story later in this posting.
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Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Massachusetts, shows off a carving board bearing the All-America City symbol of Edinburg given to him during his visit on Wednesday, February 20, to the University of Texas-Pan American. Kennedy, part of an iconic American political family that includes his slain brothers, President John F. Kennedy and Sen. Robert Kennedy, was in the three-time All-America City to rally advance support for Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, who along with Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-New York, is seeking the March 4 primary nomination for president. Kennedy’s visit was hosted by Mayor Joe Ochoa, featured to Kennedy’s left, and City Councilmember Gus García, Jr. Obama visited Edinburg on Friday, February 22.
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The National Association of Hispanic Journalists is proud to announce that Soledad O’Brien and John Quiñones will headline NAHJ’s 19th Annual Scholarship Banquet on March 13 in New York. That night, NAHJ will pay tribute to Rubén Salazar. In April, the U.S. Postal Service will issue a stamp in his honor. Salazar (1928-1970) was the first Mexican-American journalist to have a major voice in mainstream news media. His writings in the Los Angeles Times and segments at KMEX-TV on the Chicano movement of the 1960s added richly to the historical record. While in Los Angeles covering a Vietnam War protest, Salazar was killed by a tear gas projectile. See story later in this posting.
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The American Heart Association is hosting a 2008 Tailgate Gala to benefit area children on Saturday, April 5 at 6:30 p.m. at the McAllen Country Club. “The purpose of this event is to raise funds to further the AHA’s mission to help people live healthier lives free from cardiovascular disease and stroke,” said AHA Director Rebecca Taylor. The event will feature two very special families that both have children that have survived multiple heart surgeries. They will share their stories with gala guests and provide a better understanding on the effects of heart disease and what we can do to increase awareness. The money that is raised will stay in the community and be used to help educate people on their risk and help save the lives of those that are honored that evening. Sponsorships and tickets are available by calling Rebecca Taylor, director of the American Heart Association, at (956) 984-1213. Featured, from left, are: AHA Chair Michele Sparks, Pickles and Ice Cream; AHA board member JoAnn Wright, Edinburg Regional Medical Center; AHA volunteer Kristi Collier, Super Savings; Taylor; and AHA board member Elizabeth C. Martínez, The Business Times of the Rio Grande Valley.
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