MISSION—Eight selected Mission Boys & Girls Club members ran excitedly, from room to room through a newly painted and furnished club building last Thursday. A large painted space ship seems to fly off the wall in the front entrance and polka dots decorate the hallways to individual playrooms.

The facelift to the Boys and Girls Club building was provided courtesy of 150 T-Mobile employee volunteers who converged on the club last Thursday, performing a one-day, sweeping makeover of the facility. The volunteers repainted rooms, added painted murals, prepared flower beds and created outdoor games for the children. The club also received new furniture, school supplies, books and games.

Read more: T-Mobile employees give Boys & Girls Club facelift

MISSION — The Special Weapons and Tactics, better known as SWAT, teams are a common staple on television. They carry shields and batons going into dangerous riots, geared up and ready to run into a house to apprehend a suspect and rescue hostages.

Read more: S.W.A.T. - Mission PD trains special tactics unit

PALMHURST—City officials gathered with representatives from H-E-B to celebrate not only the ground breaking of a new H-E-B store in Palmhurst, but also the 85^th anniversary of the chain servicing the Rio Grande Valley.

“The Valley represents the time the company started gaining some traction, so we are thankful for the support that all of you have given H-E-B over the years,” Director of Retail Operations Tony Gonzalez said. “The store will be 96,000 square feet…it is going to be a pretty large store.”

Gonzalez added that the new store will be unique to the area, and he hopes it will meet the needs of the community. He said the store would be a different type of model with a larger bakery, guacamole station, a party center, and will offer a larger variety of fully cooked products and quesos frescos.

Read more: H-E-B breaks ground on Palmhurst store

Recycling is becoming more and more popular, especially in bigger cities, but some small cities are taking part in the recycling business as well. While some Valley cities are just getting started, others have been working their recycling program for years.

City of Alton has been conducting a recycling program for nearly four years. They started the program in early 2010. Rudy Garza, public works director, said their intention from the beginning was to include schools in the area. The city focuses a lot on educating school students about the importance of recycling.

Garza said families get more involved in their recycling efforts when the children are excited about recycling. The city even has a recycling mascot, HERO (Helping Earth Recover Resources).

Read more: Alton partners with local schools in recycling

“Where good things are growing” was the theme of the 74^th Annual Rio Grande Valley Livestock Show (RGVLS) which took place March 8-17 in Mercedes. The theme was especially fitting for many elementary, junior high and high school aged students from Mission, Sharyland and La Joya who walked away with many of the banners, buckles and ribbons and much of the prize money awarded at this year’s edition of the Valley’s largest livestock show.

Read more: Local students excel at Rio Grande Valley Livestock Show

MISSION—The long drought looms heavily, threatening not only agriculture, but some cities in the Rio Grande Valley as the water shortage grows more severe.

Read more: Mission still on voluntary water conservation plan

MISSION—Several Veterans Memorial High School DECA members have qualified to compete at the DECA International Career Development Conference to take place in Anaheim, California in late April.

Maryah Lopez and Alejandra Martinez will compete in the Learn and Earn Project competition. Gabriel Lopez and Savannah Balderas will participate in the Entrepreneurship Project competition. Halisandra Medina and Matthew Gonzalez will compete with their advertising campaign.

Galilea Zorola was also elected as the 2013-2014 state secretary, and will help lead the 11 Texas DECA districts.

Read more: VMHS DECA students advance to national competition

ALTON—With no opponents filing for the city council positions up for election in May, the city council cancelled the city’s May 11 general election.

The council declared the incumbent candidates for Places 2, 3 and 4 unopposed, as they were the only ones who filed by the March 1 deadline.

The incumbents include Ricardo Garza - Place 2, Richard Arevalo - Place 3 and Emilio Cantu Jr. - Place 4. They are scheduled to take their oath on May 11, to remain on the council.

Read more: Alton council approves third judge for municipal court