General Interest

WESLACO — The Onion and Salsa Recipe Contest returns to Texas Onion Fest this year at Weslaco City Park, to be held on Sunday, March 25, at the AEP Texas Culinary Center. Creativity is the name of the game, as last year’s winners included Sweet Onion Jam with Goat Cheese Crostini and Butter Poached Baby Onion Tart.

The Culinary Center will feature a state-of-the-art kitchen. The contests will be held in front of a live audience.

For the Onion Recipe competition, participants are required to use a one-half cup of onions in their recipe. The salsa recipe contest adds a local flare to the event which requires participants to include a one-half cup of jalapenos. The contest honors the Mild Jalapeno developed in Weslaco by Dr. Ben Villalon.

Read more: Texas Onion Fest recipe contest open

Texas House of Representatives District 41 candidate Miriam Martínez of Edinburg announced last week that she was no longer a candidate under the Democratic party. Read about her decision to change in this week's issue of the Progress Times.

AUSTIN — A voluntary species conservation plan that will help protect the economic vitality of Texas oil and gas and other industries was approved recently by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS).

The Texas Conservation Plan (TCP) for the Dunes Sagebrush Lizard was spearheaded by Texas Comptroller Susan Combs with the help of stakeholders representing landowners, the oil and gas industry, agriculture and state and federal agencies.

The TCP is a voluntary plan which serves as a safety net for landowners and businesses in West Texas who choose to enroll. The plan is expected to allow participants to continue operating uninterrupted if the lizard is later listed as an endangered species.

Read more: Comptroller unveils Texas Conservation Plan

EDINBURG — The University of Texas-Pan American is joining Texas State University-San Marcos (TSU-SM) in raising awareness to students about how they can save a life.

UTPA and TSU-SM are holding a bone marrow donor registration drive for TSU-SM's Kathy Soliz Texas State Radiation Therapy Outreach Program Feb. 27-29 on the Edinburg campus to encourage more students to become donors.

Those who register will be included in the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP). The NMDP's “Be the Match” Foundation will provide buccal swab kits and other materials for the volunteers to use for the marrow donor registration.

Read more: UTPA joins Texas State in marrow drive

MISSION — The Mission Consolidated Independent School District (MCISD) celebrated its fifth year of participation in the AEP Texas SCORE Program, which helps schools save energy and money, by accepting a check for $43,549.

It is an incentive check earned through participation in the SCORE Program in 2011. Since joining the SCORE Program in 2007, MCISD has completed more than 30 qualifying energy efficiency improvement projects in school buildings, which will save the district more than $190,000 annually.

The SCORE Program provides no-cost facility improvement recommendations and financial incentives based on the total amount of energy the district will save. In 2011, the district installed energy efficient air conditioning and lighting systems in several schools. The new equipment will save nearly 721,000 kilowatt-hours of energy annually, which is equal to the carbon dioxide emissions of more than 56,000 gallons of gasoline, according to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency calculations.

Read more: MCISD rewarded for energy efficiency

EDINBURG — Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Thomas L. Friedman to speak at UTPA will speak Wednesday, Feb. 29, as the second speaker of the 2011-2012 Distinguished Speakers Series at The University of Texas-Pan American. The presentation begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Fine Arts Auditorium.

He is the recipient of three Pulitzer Prizes and author of five best selling books including “From Beirut to Jerusalem,” “The World is Flat,” and “Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution – and How It Can Renew America.” Friedman is a foreign affairs columnist for the New York Times and a frequent guest on programs such as “Meet the Press,” “Morning Joe” and “Charlie Rose.” His TV documentaries, “Searching for the Roots of 9/11,” “The Other Side of Outsourcing,” “Straddling the Fence” and “Addicted to Oil,” have aired on the Discovery Channel.

Read more: Pulitzer winner Friedman to speak at UTPA

SAN ANTONIO — As a result of studies begun five months ago, the U.S. Postal Service has made the decision to move all mail processing operations from the Corpus Christi Processing and Distribution Center (P&DC) to the San Antonio P&DC, and move all mail processing operations from the Waco P&DC to the Austin P&DC. Once the transfers are completed, the mail processing operations of the Corpus Christi P&DC and the Waco P&DC will cease. There will be no change to the retail units, Post Office box operations, passport acceptance units, business mail entry units and vehicle maintenance facilities in these locations.

It also has been determined as a result of the studies of the McAllen Processing and Distribution Facility (P&DF) and of the Austin Mail Processing Annex that there was no significant opportunity to improve efficiency or service through consolidation of mail processing operations, and no changes will be made at this time.

Read more: McAllen mail processing operations to remain open

AUSTIN — The Texas Transportation Commission approved a grant award of approximately $2,249,900 for South Texas International at Edinburg on Thursday.

The grant will be used to fund taxi-way improvements at the airport. Work at the airport is expected to begin in 60 days.

"The award of this grant is a testament to the hard work put in by the Noe Garza, our late commissioner and the rest our city's leadership," said state Rep. Aaron Peña. "These improvements will continue to build up the facility and make Edinburg a destination for cargo and commercial air traffic."

Project costs will be funded through the Texas Department of Transportation Aviation Facilities Grant Program. The City of Edinburg is responsible for providing 10 percent of the funding for the project.