FEATURED: JuliánÁlvarez, III, a former Commissioner Representing Labor at the Texas Workforce Commission, will be the moderator for a legislative luncheon to be held in Edinburg on Wednesday, January 21, 2026, featuring Sen. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa, D-McAllen, and Sen. Adán “Adam” Hinojosa, R-Corpus Christi. Tickets to attend the luncheon are available for purchase ($85 individual, $750 for a table of eight) through Friday, January 16, 2026 by contacting the RGV Hispanic Chamber of Commerce at (956) 928-0060.
Photograph Courtesy LONE STAR NATIONAL BANK FACEBOOK
FEATURED: Sen. Juan Hinojosa, D-McAllen, during his tour of duty as a U.S. Marine combat squad leader in Vietnam from 1966 through 1968, and Col. Frank Plummer, during the Veterans Day event in McAllen on Tuesday, November 11, 2025. Hinojosa and Plummer are among the estimated 50,000 veterans – with about 24,000 having service-related disabilities – living in South Texas, including the Rio Grande Valley.
FEATURED: Rep. Armando “Mando” Martínez, D-Weslaco, poses outside the Texas Capitol in Austin on Friday, April 21, 2023, with the files of three of his legislative measures, known as bills, that had been approved by the Texas Legislature.
FEATURED: Sen. Phil King, R-Weatherford, addresses his colleagues on Tuesday, January 28, 2025, from the floor of the Texas Senate at the State Capitol in Austin. King led the way to create a new state law designed to help ensure the safety and security of top leaders of public and private universities and colleges in Texas, according to South Texas attorney and Edinburg Mayor Omar Ochoa.
FEATURED, FROM LEFT: Edinburg Mayor Omar Ochoa; First Lady Leah Wise; Roxanne Lerma, Director of Communications and Media, City of Edinburg; and U.S. Judge Ricardo H. Hinojosa. Hinojosa congratulates Ochoa after administering the oath of office to the new mayor, who is an attorney, before a standing-room only audience on Wednesday, November 12, 2025 at the Edinburg Arts, Culture & Events Center (ACE), located at 315 W McIntyre Street. Ochoa won 62 percent of the vote during the Tuesday, November 4, 2025 mayoral race which also included former Mayor Richard Molina, former Mayor Pro Tem Johnny García, and writer and community activist Jonathan Salinas.
FEATURED: The City of McAllen, led by Mayor Javier Villalobos, supported a new state law by the Texas Legislature, which went into effect on Friday, June 20, 2025, intended to provide local governments and state agencies, boards and commissions more protection against cybersecurity breaches of their critical infrastructure, such as computer systems that make vital public services run effectively, according to South Texas attorney Omar Ochoa. Villalobos is seen here during the 4th annual Mexico-United States Binational Convention held in Mexico City in September 2025. During that event, Villalobos joined other leaders to discuss collaboration and investment between the two nations.
FEATURED, FROM LEFT: Sen. Juan Hinojosa, D-McAllen, The Vaquero (skilled horseman), who is the mascot of the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley sports teams, and Rep. Terry Canales, D-Edinburg. The two state lawmakers were on hand on Wednesday, October 8, 2025, for the grand opening of the $145.7 million UT Health RGV Cancer and Surgery Center, located at 1400 N. Commerce Center Street in McAllen.
FEATURED: Longtime State Rep. R.D. “Bobby” Guerra, D-McAllen, seen here with his wife Leslie Yoder-Guerra at the Texas Capitol in Austin, has become the most recent member of the 150-member Texas House of Representatives to announce he will not seek reelection – in his case, to an eighth two-year term that would have begun in January 2027. Guerra said he would complete his current term, which ends on Tuesday, January 12, 2027.
FEATURED, FROM LEFT: Former U.S. Congressman (1997-2017) Rubén Hinojosa, D-Mercedes, and his wife, Martha López Hinojosa, and Sen. Juan Hinojosa, D-McAllen, at the 46th Annual International Museum of Art & Science Collage Gala held in McAllen on Saturday, September 6, 2025.
FEATURED: Dr. Leonel Vela, a Valley native and the first physician in his family, is retiring after years of service as Division Chief for Population Health at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley School of Medicine, where he helped turn the long-standing dream of a South Texas medical school into a transformative reality for the region.
