HARLINGEN, Texas - Cameron County Drainage District No. 5 is partnering with the City of Harlingen to improve drainage.

The first drainage project is the widening of the North Main Drain that the drainage district owns.

The City and CCDD5 held a ribbon-cutting ceremony to kickoff the project.

At the event, CCDD5 President Steve Jennings gave the Rio Grande Guardian an exclusive interview. He said that his home has flooded four times in the four decades he has lived there. He said that is sort of inevitable when the land is flat and rises only one foot every mile. Jennings said CCDD5 plans to widen drains and build more detention ponds.

Jennings thanked the City of Harlingen for using its manpower and equipment to make drainage improvements on property the drainage district owns.

At the ribbon-cutting ceremony, Ron Whitlock Reports secured an audio interview with Harlingen Mayor Norma Sepulveda. Here it is.

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BROWNSVILLE, Texas - Jesse Acevedo just completed a pipefitting course at Texas Southmost College.

In an interview with Ron Whitlock of Ron Whitlock Reports he said he would recommend the program to anyone because pipefitters are in big demand and the wages are good.

Acevedo is about to start work for Bechtel at the Port of Brownsville. The company is building a liquefied natural gas export terminal for NextDecade.

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PALMVIEW, Texas - U.S. Rep. Monica De La Cruz spoke about congressional redistricting and Mexico’s water debt to the U.S. at a top GOP dinner in Palmview.

The event - titled the Lincoln-Reagan Dinner - was hosted by Hidalgo County Republican Party and held at the Stallion Event Center. De La Cruz introduced the keynote speaker, U.S. Senate candidate Ken Paxton.

De La Cruz recalled a time she met President Trump and the two were looking at a map of Texas and the Gulf of America.

“He turns to me and he says, well, Congresswoman, where are you from? I hear you're from South Texas, but where exactly? And we’re looking at the Gulf of America. And I said, Sir, I am from right here, Mr. President. And I point right there to the very most southern tip of Texas. And he looks at me and says, well, you barely got in though, didn't you?” De La Cruz recalled.

She said she responded: “I’m proud to be here. I'm proud to be in Texas.”

The Edinburg Republican knew she would not have much time with the president and so she had to make the most of it.

“There’s a clock. You’ve only got 30 seconds. You’d better say something good, and you better say something fast. And so I turned to the President. I said, Mr. President, I have urgent news. He says, What's that? Take a deep breath. Mexico is screwing us. President Trump, Mexico is screwing us with water. And he goes, Mexico's screwing us. He goes, James, get over here. Why is Mexico screwing us? Tell him. Tell him.”

De La Cruz said Trump told her that Mexico will deliver on its water treaty obligations.

“And you know what? He kept his promise. We've got water from Mexico. We're holding back money from the Mexican government, and we are getting South Texas farmers the water that they need and they deserve. And I'm so grateful for President Trump for listening to what we needed in South Texas and actually doing it.”

De La Cruz then spoke about successes she has had with the federal budget.

“We've been able to bring $1 billion right here to the Rio Grande Valley, (and) $280 million in a carve out from the disaster emergency fund. That has never been done before. And no other district got that money,” De La Cruz said.

Editor's Note: To read the full story go the Rio Grande Guardian website.

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PALMVIEW, Texas - U.S. Senate candidate Ken Paxton says he wants to take to the Washington the same sort of creativity and courage he has shown as Texas attorney general.

Paxton was keynote speaker at the Hidalgo County Republican Party’s Lincoln-Reagan Dinner. The event was held Aug. 21 at the Stallion Event Center in Palmview.

“I want to bring something different to Washington. The kind of creativity that I'm trying to bring to my job here, I want to take that to Washington. The kind of courage we’ve had to exhibit in Texas, I want to take that to Washington, because we don't see it,” Paxton said.

“In most of our US senators, I don't see it, including the one I that I'm running against. I go around the state and I say, what has our senator accomplished for you? I have a really hard time getting an answer.

“And, after 23 years, that's four terms… first of all I am convinced no one should be running for five terms. That's 30 years as a U.S. senator. John Cornyn has been in office since I was in college. I'm 62 years old. So, just for that alone, it's time for a change.”

Paxton then explained what he believes is lacking in Washington.

“We need creativity. We need somebody that will go to Washington, like a Ted Cruz, who will say, enough, the budget deficit is out of control. We don't need Second Amendment gun restrictions that John Cornyn helped Joe Biden pass and was congratulated by him and criticized by Donald Trump.

“We need somebody who will fight for border security, which we haven't had. And we need somebody who will work with Donald Trump, not just because he's in a primary. And so I want to take the same kind of hope, same kind of courage, the same kind of characteristics that you exhibit to Washington.

And I want to have the opportunity change the culture. And I know that sounds sometimes impossible, but I've watched what we've been able to do for the Texas Attorney General's office, and we've had an impact.”

Here are Paxton's remarks in full.

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PHARR, Texas - Dub Taylor is COO of Texas PACE Authority. He recently spoke at an event hosted jointly by the Pharr Economic Development Corporation and the Rio Grande Valley Partnership. It was titled the Pharr Commercial & Investment Summit and it was held at the Pharr One Center.

At the event, Taylor gave a presentation that included slides showing where a PACE project had worked in Texas. There were lots of examples shown in East Texas, the Panhandle and Central Texas. But there were no examples from the Texas-Mexico border region. The nearest were in San Antonio.

In an interview with the Rio Grande Guardian, Taylor after his presentation, Taylor said that is why he was in Pharr - to spread the word about the benefits.

The Pace website states: "Property Assessed Clean Energy (TX-PACE) is a proven financial tool that incentivizes Texas’ property owners to upgrade facility infrastructure with little or no capital outlay. Approved by State legislation and established by local governments, TX-PACE programs enable owners to lower their operating costs and use the savings to pay for eligible water conservation, energy efficiency, resiliency, and distributed generation projects. Owners gain access to private, affordable, long-term (typically 20-30 years) financing that is not available through traditional funding avenues."

Here is an audio recording of Taylor’s presentation at the Pharr event.

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MISSION, Texas - The Greater Mission Chamber of Commerce held the latest in its Buenas Tardes Luncheon series on Aug. 13, 2025.

It centered on a panel discussion titled “The State of Current Business.”

There were six panelists: Hidalgo County Judge Richard Cortez; Rick Carrera, director of economic development for the Council for South Texas Economic Progress; Joe Quiroga, president of Texas National Bank; Juan Francisco Ochoa, Jr., CEO of Taco Palenque Group; Dante Galeazzi, CEO and President of Texas International Produce Association; and state Rep. Sergio Muñoz of Mission.

The moderator was Kimberly Selber, associate dean of community engagement in the College of Liberal Arts at UT-Rio Grande Valley.

Here is an audio recording of everything Rep. Muñoz said at the event.

Go to www.riograndeguardian.com to read the latest border news stories and watch the latest news videos.

MISSION, Texas - The Greater Mission Chamber of Commerce held the latest in its Buenas Tardes Luncheon series on Aug. 13, 2025.

It centered on a panel discussion titled “The State of Current Business.”

There were six panelists: Hidalgo County Judge Richard Cortez; Rick Carrera, director of economic development for the Council for South Texas Economic Progress; Joe Quiroga, president of Texas National Bank; Juan Francisco Ochoa, Jr., CEO of Taco Palenque Group; Dante Galeazzi, CEO and President of Texas International Produce Association; and state Rep. Sergio Muñoz of Mission.

The moderator was Kimberly Selber, associate dean of community engagement in the College of Liberal Arts at UT-Rio Grande Valley.

Here is an audio recording of everything TIPA's Galeazzi said at the event.

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Go to www.riograndeguardian.com to read the latest border news stories and watch the latest news videos.

MISSION, Texas - The Greater Mission Chamber of Commerce held the latest in its Buenas Tardes Luncheon series on Aug. 13, 2025.

It centered on a panel discussion titled “The State of Current Business.”

There were six panelists: Hidalgo County Judge Richard Cortez; Rick Carrera, director of economic development for the Council for South Texas Economic Progress; Joe Quiroga, president of Texas National Bank; Juan Francisco Ochoa, Jr., CEO of Taco Palenque Group; Dante Galeazzi, CEO and President of Texas International Produce Association; and state Rep. Sergio Muñoz of Mission.

The moderator was Kimberly Selber, associate dean of community engagement in the College of Liberal Arts at UT-Rio Grande Valley.

Here is an audio recording of everything Taco Palenque's Ochoa said at the event.

Go to www.riograndeguardian.com to read the latest border news stories and watch the latest news videos.