Brownsville ISD will hold three school renaming committee meetings on Thursday to decide what to call the recently consolidated elementary schools in Southmost: Cromack and Josephine Castaneda, Rosa E. Del Castillo and Morningside, and Judge Reynaldo G. Garza and Southmost. The meetings begin at 4 p.m. in the CAB cafeteria of the Central Administration Building at 708 Palm Blvd. for Cromack and Castaneda, which will be consolidated into one school at Castaneda, 3201 Lima St. Following that, a committee meeting will be held at 5:30 p.m. for Del Castillo and Morningside, which will be consolidat ..read more

Remember when the federal government reclassified ketchup as a vegetable to make school lunch offerings comply with nutritional guidelines? The Reagan-era move enabled schools to use the condiment as a larger element when preparing students’ meals, for example. Well, they’re at it again. This time the feds want to reclassify potatoes as grains instead of vegetables. Spuds could be moved off their traditional place on the menu with carrots and broccoli and placed instead with rice and quinoa. These are the same people who complain that media and social internet sites are spreading too much misi ..read more

When Garth Stevenson, a nature musician and composer, carried his 6-foot-tall double bass instrument with him to Antarctica, he had a life-changing experience when he imitated whale calls on his instrument. He ended up drawing 12 sei whales to the edge of the icebreaker where he stood making music. Having grown up in the mountains of Western Canada, Stevenson has always connected his music to nature, but this experience in Antarctica revealed the two-way connection between humans and our natural world. As I in my (warmer) South Texas backyard listen to birdsongs, smell jasmine blossoms and obs ..read more

Beef phở at Lê Phở House (Omar Zapata | The Monitor) WESLACO — Wanting to try something new and different, I came to Lê Phở House — a Vietnamese kitchen in Weslaco — with an open mind and I left with a stomach full of delicious noodles, broth, beef and a curiosity into a new cuisine. Usually for South Texas Flavor, I am tasked to find a unique restaurant and, if I can, visit one in one of the less known Valley cities. Covering a Weslaco ISD school board meeting last week, I decided to try to find something there. Talking to people that live in the Mid-Valley, everyone had a positive reaction w ..read more

Despite receiving warnings from an auditor with the Office of Inspector General, the chief executive officer of International Educational Services Inc., or IES, advised his financial director “not to adjust the salaries to the cap limit” as they were told, according to a plea agreement between federal prosecutors and IES’ finance director. Juan Jose Gonzalez, the former finance director for IES, pleaded guilty Tuesday morning to two counts of conspiracy to embezzle money meant for the nonprofit and theft concerning programs receiving federal funds. Gonzalez is facing up to 10 years in prison ..read more

In this undated photo, servers and customers are shown at a past Brownsville Beerfest. (Courtesy photo) Brownsville Beerfest LLC has come up with a new way to party to benefit nonprofit and civic groups: Agave Fest, a tequila-centric fundraiser scheduled for May 4 at Market Square. The event runs from 5 to 8 p.m. and will feature a dozen or so bars giving out cocktails and a roughly equal number of a restaurants offering food samples. Live music will be provided by the group Infusion, which plays “a little bit of everything,” according to Myrna DeCoss Rios, who’s been with Beerfest since it wa ..read more

It is April 17, 1836, and Mexican General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna once again cannot go to sleep. He has split the Mexican Army of Operations for the Tejas Campaign into three fronts. All have the same mission: Suppress and end the Texas Revolution movement. The army retook the Alamo in Bejar (San Antonio) on March 6. The campaign will not be complete until Gen. Sam Houston and the remaining Texas militia is captured or forced east across the Louisiana border into the United States. Houston hurriedly led his men eastward in full retreat. Santa Anna orders Gen. Antonio Gaona to march north a ..read more

Shown at the April 18 ceremonial groundbreaking for Westa Inc. at the Port of Brownsville are, left to right, Adam Gonzalez, CEO, Council for South Texas Economic Progress; Zaur Kafkas, CEO, Westa Inc; William Dietrich, interim director and CEO, Port of Brownsville; Esteban Guerra, chairman, Brownsville Navigation District; Ralph Cowen, BND vice-chairman; John Reed, BND commissioner; Sergio Tito Lopez, BND commissioner, Brownsville Navigation District; and John Wood, BND secretary. (Courtesy: Port of Brownsville) The Port of Brownsville Business Park has landed its first tenant, Westa Inc., wh ..read more

Early voting for the May 4 elections began Monday morning. Polls opened at 7 a.m., and will be open until 7 p.m. at the 30 voting locations throughout Hidalgo County. Those hours remain in effect through Saturday. There is no early voting on Sunday, but the polls open up on April 29 at 7 a.m. and will close at 7 p.m. through April 30. In Cameron County, polls opened at 9 a.m. and will be open to 7 p.m. throughout the week. There are more than 20 locations throughout the county. On Saturday, early voting runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. There is no early voting on Sunday. The polls will open at 9 a ..read more

The former finance director for International Educational Services, or IES, is scheduled for a re-arraignment hearing on Tuesday morning in Brownsville federal court. U.S. District Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr. scheduled the hearing for Juan Jose Gonzalez on Friday, court records indicate. Gonzalez is charged along with Ruben Gallegos Sr. and his son Ruben Gallegos Jr. with conspiracy and theft concerning programs receiving federal funds. They are accused of misapplying hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal grant funds meant to be used for temporarily housing migrant children at IES, a no ..read more