The Agua Special Utility District held a swearing-in ceremony for three new board members on Wednesday. Jose Luis Ochoa Jr., 33, of Peñitas; Ana Maria Perez, 49, of Palmview; and Adriana Flores-Villarreal, 59, of Sullivan City — who all work for the La Joya Independent School District — took the oath of office Wednesday afternoon.…

Two La Joya school district employees won seats on the Agua Special Utility District board on Tuesday. Jose Luis Ochoa Jr., a teacher at HOPE Academy, trounced Peñitas police Inv. Oscar Barron Jr., according to preliminary results published by the Elections Department on Tuesday night. La Joya Independent School District administrator Adriana Flores-Villarreal, meanwhile, defeated…

The school board in La Joya is headed for a shakeup. Agua Special Utility District board President Esmeralda Solis and Hidalgo County administrator Anthony Uresti — who campaigned together as part of team “My 5 for La Joya ISD” — won seats on the school board Tuesday, according to preliminary results published by the Hidalgo…

A western Hidalgo County businessman who smuggled migrants across the Rio Grande on a speedboat was sentenced to a year in prison and fined $150,000 last week. Jose Luna, 43, of Palmview — a wealthy businessman who owns a water park near Palmview High School — pleaded guilty to conspiracy to transport aliens within the…

The federal government wants two middlemen in the Weslaco water treatment plant corruption case to forfeit nearly $1 million in ill-gotten gains. Former Hidalgo County Commissioner Arturo “A.C.” Cuellar Jr., 68, of Progreso Lakes should forfeit about $947,000, according to a motion filed Tuesday by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas.…

The Palmview City Council decided to part ways Tuesday with two public relations consultants. During a meeting on Tuesday afternoon, the City Council agreed to stop paying $3,000 per month to KM International and $1,500 per month to MAP Entertainment Media for public relations. The City Council agreed to stop paying the consultants after Palmview…

The Palmview Police Department charged a Starr County Sheriff’s Office investigator with driving while intoxicated on Sunday. Palmview police Cpl. Leroy Martinez stopped Jose David Saenz, 33, of Roma — an investigator with the Starr County Sheriff’s Office — for speeding at 4:01 a.m. Sunday. Saenz was driving about 94 mph in a 65 mph…

An engineer charged in the western Hidalgo County corruption case will not head to trial until after Election Day. Jury selection in the case against Mariano Garcia, 49, of Mission had been scheduled for Nov. 2. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas, however, filed a “Sealed Agreed Motion for Continuance of…

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, flanked by Republican candidates from across the Rio Grande Valley, held a campaign rally Thursday in Mission, where he urged voters to “turn the RGV red.” So many people showed up at Ranch House Burgers on Bryan Road that Abbott had to move the rally from the restaurant to the parking…

In mid-September, when Pharr police Chief Andy Harvey abruptly resigned, the city released a curt statement. “We thank Andy for his dedicated work to the City of Pharr during his two years as Chief, and we wish him the best in his future endeavors,” Mayor Ambrosio “Amos” Hernandez said in the statement, which didn’t explain…