Area News

UPDATE: TUESDAY, AUG. 18 at 11:00 A.M. In a tweet released Tuesday morning, the Weslaco Police Department identified the shooter as 27-year-old  Marco Antonio Sigala Jr. UPDATE: MONDAY, AUG. 17, 2020 at 5:10 P.M. The Texas Rangers will be taking over the investigation of an officer-involved shooting in Weslaco that left the male shooter dead.…

UPDATE: MONDAY AUG. 17, 4:40 P.M. Mission police Investigator Art Flores confirmed Monday that the driver is still in the hospital but will face two counts of intoxicated manslaughter once he is released. Intoxicated manslaughter is a second degree felony punishable by two to 20 years in prison. ORIGINAL STORY Two people are dead following…

Sharyland leaders pray for community By the time Sharyland school board trustee Ricardo “Ricky” Longoria arrived at the district’s administrative offices, it was still dark. Longoria would soon be joined by district superintendent, Dr. Maria Vidaurri and other school board members early Sunday morning on the eve of the first day of school not to…

The Hidalgo County COVID-19 death count climbed to 955 as 24 more residents died from complications related to the disease over the last two days. On that same period, 207 more people tested positive for the virus, Hidalgo County Judge Richard F. Cortez announced in a Sunday news release bringing the total number of known positive cases in…

Hidalgo County is confirming its first pediatric death due to COVID-19. The death, according to a Friday news release, reports the child was one of the 20 people who died from complications from the disease. Due to state and federal privacy laws, Hidalgo County Health Officials will not be releasing the child’s age or other…

Days after their previous health authority resigned following a dispute with his contract, Starr County commissioners appointed him as the new county health authority Friday. Dr. Antonio Falcon, who has more than 43 years of medical experience, will now be the county’s health advisor after he was sworn in at a county commissioner’s meeting. “I…

UPDATE: 9:25 P.M. After nearly eight hours of negotiations with law enforcement, a Friday standoff with an unidentified 25-year old Peñitas man has ended with the suspect dead following a self-inflicted gunshot wound. “Unfortunately the man decided to take his own life, that’s the end result after nearly 8 hours of negotiations,” Peñitas police Chief Roel…

After a decade of service for Starr County, and months of leading the county’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Starr County’s health authority abruptly resigned from his position Monday. Dr. Jose Vasquez stepped down from his position following a county commissioner’s meeting where his contract was on the agenda. “Starr County Commissioners voted against awarding…

As the nation continues to debate the need to defund the police to address police reform, a local representative is arguing that police reform can be achieved without taking money from law enforcement. That was the message Congressman Henry Cuellar shared Wednesday when he announced he helped secure nearly $434 million meant to increase transparency,…

If approved by city commissioners, Alton residents could see their property tax rate decrease by nearly a cent. During their Tuesday meeting, commissioners were presented with a proposal to decrease the property tax rate from .444 cents per $100 valuation to .4367 cents. “It’s almost a full cent decrease in our tax rate, it’s appropriate…