BROWNSVILLE, Texas - Former state Sen. Eddie Lucioo, Jr., has not been able to give away as many turkeys to the less fortunate this year, in part because federal funding to the food banks has been cut.

Normally, Lucio would purchase the turkeys at a competitive price from local food banks and distribute them to those in need in Cameron, Willacy, and Hidalgo counties. This year, however, the 25th year he has been doing it, he has had to pay for them from the large distributors at the normal price.

And so, he has had to shrink the program to just giving away 400 turkeys and all within Cameron County alone. 

In an interview with Ron Whitlock Reports, Lucio explained how his Thanksgiving Turkey Day first started.

“This is the 25th annual giveaway. We started off with with 10 or 20 turkeys and they mostly to the ladies that kind of hung around my campaign. Those that were really interested in community development. They were activists. And I told Brenda, my dear assistant who has actually worked for me for 36 years, to go out and buy some turkeys to give them.

“And it started like that. But we continued to make it bigger and bigger until it got to hundreds of families that we were able to help.”

Back then Lucio had campaign contributions to draw on to purchase the turkeys. But when he retired in 2023, the campaign contributions, naturally, dried up.

“Back in the day I had money that was contributed to me, and I was glad to share it with the less fortunate that needed our help and support. But after January of 2023 I was no longer in public public service. But, fortunately, I still had some anonymous donors that that wanted to help, one in particular that I care not to mention. I said I would not divulge his name because he wanted to keep it private.”

Lucio said he gave away one thousand turkeys last year. This year, he has had to shrink it to 400.

“These big, multi-billion dollar corporations, they don’t give you any discounts. They're there to make money. That’s the name of the game for them. I don't want to be too critical but when it comes to helping the less fortunate and those that that need help, I think all of us should dig in a little bit and share a little bit of the wealth and share a little bit of our resources so that they, too, can have a sit down dinner with with their families, and enjoy the day and thank God for all the blessings.”

Lucio said he is particularly disappointed he could give out turkeys in Willacy and Hidalgo counties, as in previous years.

“I used to do the three counties because I had enough turkeys. Hidalgo, Willacy and Cameron. But this year, there are very few turkeys, 600 less. It means I couldn't cross the county line to Hidalgo and Willacy, and it hurts me. It pains my heart not to be able to help because of lack of funds and the lack of resources that we need.”

Lucio says he has a plan to arrest the slide, to give away more turkeys next year.

“I have a plan. I want to make sure we have the funds necessary. So I'm going to do a big (golf) tournament and call it a Turkey Tournament. Sometime in May or June of next year. And then build on that from personal contributions from anybody that wants to give to a worthy cause like ours.”

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MCALLEN, Texas - Ralph Garcia, interim chief operating officer for McAllen Economic Development Corporation, has given a brief update on the various projects the group is working on. 

“Right now, the EDC is working with about 25 active projects. This represents a total of about three million square feet of space. Estimated jobs are about 8,000 and the economic impact of that is roughly about $5 billion dollars,” Garcia said a quarterly stakeholders meeting.

“Primarily, our companies are coming from France, Sweden, Mexico, the US and Japan. Those are the activities that we're seeing right now.”

Garcia said McAllen EDC has secured two new leads during the current quarter, along with 23 existing prospects.

"We also continue to work on state leads. Most of what we're seeing coming through, the focus is on manufacturing and, of course, distribution and logistics. Those are projects that we continue to work with.”

Garcia said the MEDC team working on active projects includes Susie Flores in McAllen and Rafael Angel Ortiz Salazar in Reynosa. 

“And, of course, we continue to do BRE (business retention and expansion) visits with a lot of our existing business, both in McAllen and Reynosa. We find that most of the leads that we're generating right now are through a BRE visit, where we're learning of current projects that companies are looking at.”

Garcia said quite a few of those expansion projects involve South America.

“We’re trying to leverage those projects, to look at Texas as an alternative option. One of the advantages that we have is our low cost, so that helps us. But, we're always trying to get in front of those projects, versus them leaving the area completely.”

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MCALLEN, Texas - McAllen International Airport continues to capture the biggest share of the passenger market in the Rio Grande Valley, the city’s director of aviation reports.

Jeremy Santoscoy gave an update on airport activity at a recent McAllen Economic Development Corporation stakeholders meeting. 

“Through Quarter 3, we’re at about 863,000 total passengers, which is a slight decrease year-over-year, (a drop of) about two and a half percent,” Santoscoy said.

“We continue to see the majority market share, the value is about 48 percent, with Harlingen following at 40 percent and Brownsville at 12 percent.”

Harlingen is otherwise known as Valley International Airport. Brownsville is otherwise known as Brownsville-South Padre Island International Airport.

“Overall, year-over-year, Harlingen was up just slightly, but Brownsville was still down 11 percent. With all the economic activity over there, you figured there'd be some kind of change. But what I'm hearing is there are still a lot of people choosing to live on this side of the Valley and commute back and forth with those jobs down there, with the SpaceX and LNG.”

Santoscoy said the recent government shutdown did not impact McAllen International Airport very much.

“The government shutdown, the longest government shutdown, had did very little to no effect on McAllen International Airport. Our services kept going,” Santoscoy said. “We have good group of federal partners that we continue to work with through thick and thin. So services did not see any delays when they did turn down the amount of operations working out of the hubs. We did see a couple of them cancelations, but that was the airline's decision.”

Santoscoy said McAllen is continuing to lobby to have its flights to Mexico City restored. They were recently suspended by the federal government.

“We were disappointed with that, with the Mexico City flights being suspended. We continue to work with our congressional delegation to make some noise in D.C. to see how they can support us; to open that route back up due to its importance to the Valley. It's the only Mexico City route out of here.”

Santoscoy said he had read that Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum wants to open up more slots out of Mexico City. “We're trying to look at the validity of that. No orders have been issued by the Mexican government,” he said. “That route is very important to the economy down here.”

Editor's Note: Go to the RGG Business Journal to read the full story. 

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MCALLEN, Texas - Ruben Alfaro, development engineer for Hidalgo County Regional Mobility Authority, gave an update on the group’s strategic plan when he spoke at a McAllen Economic Development Corporation stakeholders meeting.

That strategic plan includes the long-awaited Hidalgo County Loop. Alfaro said HCRMA is making good progress.

“The key point I wanted to get across is the progress that we are making in terms of construction and where we are going as an RMA,” Alfaro told the RGG Business Journal, at the end of the meeting. 

“We need everyone in the county ti work together to achieve it (the county loop). It is not an easy task but we are working on it and we are working diligently to get there.”

Alfaro also spoke at the governance of the RMA, the 365 Tollway project, the International Bridge Trade Corridor (IBTC), and overweight corridors.

Attached is an audio recording of Alfaro’s remarks to McAllen EDC.

Michael J. Williamson is a director on the HCRMA board. He said the group is keen to give presentations such as the one Alfaro made at the MEDC stakeholders meeting.

“If you have an organization that would like to maybe learn a little bit more about what we're doing, please let us know. It's all about working with our counterparts and our other parties and different cities,” Williamson said.

“Building a house is one thing. Building, maybe, a retail plaza is another. We're building a freeway. It is a really high over and we're dealing with hundreds of millions of dollars, if not billions of dollars, and we need everybody's support, everybody's participation. It really is a community effort to build something like this.”

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PHARR, TEXAS – RioPlex fu eel anfitrion de una ceremonia de colocacion para La Bonanza Avocados, una compañia familiar de aguacates proveniente de Uruapan, Michoacán el 14 de Nov. Invitados de la ceremonia incluyeron mas de 20 lideres de Negocios de Michoacán, que se encontraban en una mission commercial que incluyo una visita a SpaceX en Starbase. La ceremonia de colocacion se llevo a cabo en la Esquina de Las Milpas y Veterans Road en Pharr. La ceremonia incluyo discursos del alcalde the Pharr el Dr. Ambrosio Hernandez, el director de RioPlex, Joaquin Spammer, y el president de La Bonanza, Gabriel Villaseñor. Despues, los VIPs disfrutaron de una cena en el Klub Nautique en Mission. Aquí tenéis una grabación de audio de los comentarios realizados durante la cena.

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PHARR, TEXAS – RioPlex fu eel anfitrion de una ceremonia de colocacion para La Bonanza Avocados, una compañia familiar de aguacates proveniente de Uruapan, Michoacán el 14 de Nov. Invitados de la ceremonia incluyeron mas de 20 lideres de Negocios de Michoacán, que se encontraban en una mission commercial que incluyo una visita a SpaceX en Starbase. La ceremonia de colocacion se llevo a cabo en la Esquina de Las Milpas y Veterans Road en Pharr. La ceremonia incluyo discursos del alcalde the Pharr el Dr. Ambrosio Hernandez, el director de RioPlex, Joaquin Spammer, y el president de La Bonanza, Gabriel Villaseñor. Despues, los VIPs disfrutaron de una cena en el Klub Nautique en Mission. Aqui esta una grabacion del comentario dado en la ceremonia de colocalcion.

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EDINBURG, Texas - Ruben Cortez is vice president of the Texas Association of Education Service Centers.

In a recent interview with the Rio Grande Guardian, Cortez spoke about a larger than average drop off in school attendance by students living in heavily Hispanic areas.

Cortez was reticent about blaming the reduction on raids by ICE. However, leaders within La Joya ISD, Sharyland ISD, Brownsville ISD and McAllen ISD have all spoken about this being a factor.

Here is the interview.

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MCALLEN, Texas - The North American Development Bank is to allocate up to $100 million from its retained earnings over the next five years for urgent water conservation projects along the U.S.-Mexico border.

NADBank Managing Director John Beckham made the announcement at the two-day Rio Grande/Rio Bravo Binational River Symposium hosted by the Texas Water Foundation at the Embassy Suites by Hilton in McAllen.

Beckham said the grant money will be come out of the $400 million Water Resiliency Fund that the NADBank board of directors approved in August. The WRF has been set aside for priority infrastructure projects that conserve and diversify water supply sources throughout the US-Mexico border region.

Beckham said an additional $300 million in low-interest loans is also being made available through the bank’s regular loan program.

The call for projects will focus on the Rio Grande Valley initially, Beckham said, because of the dire need to conserve water in this region.

“The decision to do this project is border-wide. There is no area of the US-Mexico border region, which the bank operates in, that is not part of this project. Having said that, the Lower Rio Grande Valley on both sides of the border is extraordinarily urgent because of the conditions here, and so that is why we are starting with a call for proposals here in the Rio Grande Valley,” Beckham said, at a press conference.

Proposed projects must show clear results, such as water conservation, increase efficiency or development of new sources, NADBank said, in a press release. Examples of eligible efforts may include replacing old infrastructure, converting canals to pipelines, reusing and storing water and using technology that helps monitor and reduce water loss, the release stated. 

Project applications will be received until Jan. 8, 2026.

Editor's Note: Go to the Rio Grande Guardian website to read the full story.

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PRIMERA, Texas - The City of Primera recently held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Richmond Hills Drainage Project.

Cameron County Drainage District No. 5 played a key role in the project.

CCDD5 provided a timeline of the events:

Developer Julio Carranza required CCDD5 to use five acres on his property for drainage purposes. CCDD5 then partnered with La Feria Irrigation District to carry out the excavation work. The City of Primera then secured an ARPA grant from Cameron County to fund drainage improvements within the Richmond Hills subdivision.

Finally, the City of Primera secured a drainage easement linking the subdivision’s new drainage system to a new detention pond.

“This project stands as a testament to what can be achieved when individuals and government entities work together toward a common goal,” said CCDD5 President Steve Jennings.

“The project, in many ways, would not have been possible without the collaboration and shared commitment of all these partners.”

Ron Whitlock Reports covered the ribbon-cutting ceremony, securing an audio recording of everything said from the podium. That recording is featured below.

Among the speakers was U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez. 

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HARLINGEN, Texas - The Free Trade Bridge at Los Indios is the crown jewel of Cameron County’s international bridge system, according to the county’s economic development director, Ramiro Aleman.

The bridge is also known as “Los Indios-Lucio Blanco Bridge”, “Puente Lucio Blanco-Los Indios”, “Puente Internacional Libre Comercio” and “Los Indios Free Trade Bridge”. It is owned and operated by Cameron County. However, the cities of Harlingen and San Benito each receive 25% of the net revenues. The bridge facilities are located on a 127-acre tract of land.

Aleman spoke about Los Indios at a Rio Grande Valley Partnership Commercialization and Investment Tour event, held at TSTC-Harlingen’s Welcome Center. The event was sponsored by Harlingen Economic Development Corporation. 

“What I like to call the One Big Beautiful Bridge, Los Indios, is, I think, the crown jewel of the Cameron County International Bridge system, and you can quote me on that,” Aleman said.

During a panel discussion, Aleman was asked to give an update on Cameron County’s international bridge system.

“Cameron County is at the forefront of innovation when it comes to international trade. I say that because I think we just accomplished something that's never been done before, at least from our research,” Aleman said.

“Cameron County is on the verge of purchasing an ownership stake in the B&M Bridge from Union Pacific. I don't think that's ever been done before, at least through our research. With that purchase, Cameron County will now own Veterans Bridge at Los Tomates, which is a commercial and passenger bridge,” Aleman said. 

“And Gateway Bridge, which is passenger only, is about to have tremendous upgrades. Over $100 million in upgrades (is coming), plus an additional standalone pedestrian bridge which will ease crossings.”

Aleman then waxed lyrical about Los Indios.

“What I like to call the One Big Beautiful Bridge, Los Indios, is, I think, the crown jewel of the Cameron County International Bridge System, and you can quote me on that. The reason I say that is because it's an overweight corridor and an oversized corridor. You see all those wind turbines? They don't cross anywhere else but Los Indios, because that's the only bridge capable (of carrying such cargo). Not only that, but we also have a cold storage and a cold room facility for (fresh produce) inspections.”

Aleman said any type of fruit or vegetable can cross at Los Indios.

“Fruits or vegetables that need to keep that cold chain, they can cross through here and never break that cold chain. Also, USDA has an agriculture inspection facility there. So, anytime they find any type of anomaly in the product, they can identify it on site. If they have to send it to a lab, that can take hours, days sometimes. But the advantage of us having it at our location is definitely something that we should be promoting, because it is a big advantage for us,” Aleman said.

“I think it is a prime location that you are able to build on, especially here in Harlingen, because the overweight corridor goes right through the industrial park all the way to the Aerotropolis, and the Port of Harlingen. And so, I think that's a great opportunity for investments.”

Editor's Note: Go to the RGG Business Journal to read the full story. 

Editor's Note: Attached is an audio recording of everything Aleman said on the panel at the RGVP event. 

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