McAllen board axes IMAS commitment, moves for mediation on Quinta
The McAllen ISD Board of Trustees voted Monday to renege on paying the International Museum of Arts and Science $1.3 million the district promised the institution two years ago and opted to pursue mediation over $3 million it promised Quinta Mazatlan the same year. The decision puts to bed the question of how trustees would…
Read MoreGame wardens arrest men for poaching in McAllen
This article first appeared in the March 1 issue of the Progress Times. Wardens arrested 42-year-old Mark Anthony Reyes, of McAllen, on February 16. They arrested 35-year-old Alector Garza of Mission on February 20, charging both men with hunting or possessing an exotic animal and Reyes with tampering with a governmental record. All of those…
Read MoreMission man stabbed to death
Mission police charged a man with murder on February 25 after he allegedly self-reported stabbing another man to death. According to arrest documents obtained through an open records request, Juan Jose Polanco, 54, called Mission PD before 3 a.m. that Sunday and told police he thought that he’d killed someone at his residence in the 800…
Read MoreNew La Joya ISD leadership faces financial mess, superintendent takes stance
Just a month into her tenure, new La Joya ISD Superintendent Marcey Sorensen made a disturbing announcement at Wednesday’s school board meeting: the district appears to be drastically overstaffed, it seems to have wildly mismanaged federal pandemic funds and it’s estimating a budget deficit of at least $19.5 million. The picture Sorensen painted Wednesday was…
Read MoreMission mum on city manager’s contract
The Mission City Council took action on City Manager Randy Perez’s contract Tuesday, but the city won’t say what that action means. At the end of a special meeting Tuesday evening largely devoted to discussing Perez’s contract behind closed doors in executive session, council voted to “approve the agreement with the city manager as discussed…
Read MoreMcAllen ISD HR review recommends improvement, department head resigns
A Texas Association of School Boards human resources operations review conducted late last year found areas for improvement for McAllen ISD’s HR department, which will no longer be helmed by former assistant superintendent Todd Miller. Miller resigned on February 23, according to the district. District spokesperson Mark May did not describe his resignation being related…
Read MoreLa Joya EDC applies for Coyote Boulevard grants, hopeful for development
La Joya’s economic development corporation voted Tuesday to apply for two grants that could support the extension of Coyote Boulevard and pave the way for a long-expected development in town. The grants — one from the U.S. Economic Development Administration and one from the U.S. Department of Agriculture — could undergird the city extending Coyote…
Read MoreLa Joya ISD sticks with Peñitas polling site
La Joya ISD announced Friday that despite the regime change, the district doesn’t intend to renege on a commitment to let Hidalgo County use Peñitas’ John F. Kennedy Elementary as a polling site. In a split vote two months ago, La Joya ISD’s school board opted to OK a request from the Hidalgo County Elections…
Read MoreMission city attorney resigns
This article has been updated to include comments from the former city attorney. The Mission City Council accepted City Attorney Victor Flores’ resignation Monday. Council unanimously approved Flores’ resignation, which was effective that night. He served as city attorney for a little over a year. Both Flores and the city describe the parting of ways…
Read MoreIDEA settles with former CEO
IDEA Public Schools settled last month a lawsuit with previous CEO and cofounder JoAnn Gama. Gama, who replaced Tom Torkelson as CEO in 2020 after criticism over exorbitant district spending on things like San Antonio Spurs tickets, a boutique hotel and a private jet, found herself out of the district the next year after what…
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