Area News

Rio Grande Valley citrus growers experience obstacles, especially pests and diseases that disrupt production and harvest. One company, New Mexico-based Biomimetic Soil Solutions, seeks to help farmers mitigate disease while optimizing citrus health following the release of a biologically enhanced nutrition program (bENP) in December. “These biologically enhanced nutritional programs are a step ahead of…

Mission City Manager Randy Perez expected to receive some sort of severance agreement from the city, had he actually gone through with leaving his position last month. It’s not clear what that severance agreement would have entailed.  Perez turned in a letter announcing his retirement on December 22 in the wake of the city’s $2.7…

Former Mission deputy city attorney Esther Peña sued the city last week, alleging city leadership discriminated and retaliated against her leading up to an unlawful termination from the municipality early last year. Peña, who was a deputy city attorney in Mission for almost a year, is suing for between $200,000 and $750,000. The suit in…

The Edinburg Consolidated Independent School District Board of Trustees took no action on extending its superintendent’s contract Tuesday night as the district continues to conduct an ongoing audit — the aim of which isn’t entirely clear. Trustees evaluated Salinas and declined to vote him a raise or contract extension after two hours behind closed doors…

The city of Mission paid its economic development corporation last Friday $2.779 million it incorrectly withheld during the summer of 2023 and has launched a review of its finance practices aimed at investigating why that money was withheld and developing policies to avoid improper finance decisions in the future. The city also for the first…

Saturday, judges welcomed community designers for the Texas Citrus Fiesta’s (TCF) Product Costume and Style Show, kicking off the celebration with this year’s theme of “A Noche de Carnaval”. The Mission Event Center welcomed contestants to show their creativity in traditional folk art. Judges Adela Ortega, Maxine Rodriguez Grissom, and Irene Tagle sat at the…

Mission’s charter review committee released the first draft of amendments to the city charter. City Attorney Victor Flores presented the proposed changes at the Jan. 8 Mission City Council workshop. However, the larger community still has the opportunity to provide feedback on the document that defines the powers and procedures of their local government. Before…

The Sharyland ISD board of trustees seeks community input in their search for the next district leader. Civilians have until Jan. 12 to say their piece in an online survey the board will reference when making their new superintendent selection. Outgoing Superintendent Dr. Maria Vidaurri announced her retirement from education in September, stating she and…

Sharyland ISD’s new stop loss insurance policy went into effect Jan. 1 with an increase of $540,380. However, administrators ensure the rise in price does not affect the plan members’ wallets. The SISD board of trustees awarded Granular Insurance with the stop loss insurance contract at the December school board meeting. Granular submitted one of…

In a dramatic turn, Mission City Manager Randy Perez called it quits over the Christmas holiday but was talked out of retiring in a special meeting last week — a situation that seems patently related to the city’s ongoing economic development corporation funding fiasco. Perez wouldn’t, speaking to reporters last week, describe the EDC situation…