Area Breaking News

The Hidalgo school board voted 4-3 Monday to accept a resignation letter submitted by Interim Superintendent Fernando Castillo that night after just four months on the job.   Castillo’s resignation will become effective on April 4.   The board named Castillo interim superintendent in late October after former Superintendent Xavier Salinas retired from education.  …

An investigation conducted by La Joya ISD last summer found Juarez-Lincoln High School Head Boys’ Basketball Coach Joseph “Kaz” Kazmierczak recorded videos of himself masturbating on campus and posted them on social media.     The district suspended Kazmierczak the day after it learned about the videos.   La Joya ISD says he’s no longer…

Constituents of La Joya ISD elected four new trustees for the school board — roles that are largely ceremonial at the moment.  The state took over the district in February after the Texas Education Agency appointed a temporary board of managers to oversee district operations and finances, effectively replacing the La Joya ISD Board of…

Tuesday was a whirlwind as the polls closed and the ballot count surged. Although the results remain unofficial until the Hidalgo County Elections Department certifies the votes, many races and ballot measures had clear outcomes.  Donald Trump secured the win in the presidential election, outperforming Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris in all Rio Grande…

On August 27, the Harlingen school board unveiled to the public a finance committee ostensibly meant to give the district a leg up on planning the next year’s budget. On its face, it was a boring meeting. Trustees described it as a basic introduction to the new committee and didn’t discuss topics in depth. Though…

District Attorney Toribio “Terry” Palacios said Wednesday that charges related to Hidalgo County Appraisal District Board of Directors Member Karina Cardoza’s driving while intoxicated arrest in 2021 will be dismissed. On May 4, Hidalgo County voters chose Cardoza as one of their appraisal district’s first three elected board of directors members. Four days later, Cardoza’s…

Mission Consolidated Independent School District Trustee Minnie Rodgers resigned from the school board Wednesday, but unlike most politicians, she didn’t end her career with her mind on politics. In contrast to many school board trustees in the Rio Grande Valley who’ve retired on good terms after a long tenure, Rodgers wasn’t in the mood to…

Ta-da: Mission has the same school board trustee it had yesterday. That is the sum of Trustee Veronica “Betty” Mendoza’s trick, which she apparently embarked on as a failed effort to keep her job at La Joya ISD. The Mission school board unanimously Wednesday reinstated Mendoza to her seat on the board that she’d resigned…

The Mission Consolidated Independent School District says it won’t actually be removing or reviewing 676 books the school system’s former superintendent committed to purging earlier this summer. In May Mission CISD, like other Rio Grande Valley districts, received an email from local representatives of a conservative advocacy group. The letter urged the district to ban…