NOT THIS MUCH NEWS ANYWHERE IN THE COUNTRY
By G. Romero Wendorf
I’m a news hound, and while it’s true that some people have referred to me as a dog before, the real reason is that I love news. In fact, I read it for relaxation. See what wild news there is to tell.
As such, I look at a lot of newspapers over the course of any given week, both daily and weekly. To read so many of them, I have to get to them online, even though personally, I still prefer print. The point is, I don’t come across any that have as much to report as the Rio Grande Valley. In particular Hidalgo County. We are the center of the universe as far as news is concerned. Compared to us, I find the rest of the country to be pretty much a bore. No other area of the country has as much going on as we do. Or so it would appear.
Some of it, quite a bit of it actually, isn’t the sort of news that would make a chamber of commerce happy, eager to send it out to the Fortune 500. But it’s news nonetheless, and it’s interesting news. I could write a book about a lot of it and people from out of the area would think I was making it up. Curanderas, crooked politicians, politiqueras, emerging medical centers, entrepreneurs, a booming economy, drug cartel members buying million-dollar homes, drug cartel members getting arrested, we have it all.
Our bi-culturalism makes us unique. We start a sentence in English and end it in Spanish.
Our proximity to the border is another unique factor; the fact that Mexico is what it is and right on our front door; the pace at which we’re growing; the new stuff coming into the area; the way we can exit the expressway from the far left lane, skipping across four lanes of traffc without skipping a beat while texting. And then every winter, the Snowbirds show up and throw us into overdrive as they crowd the restaurants and golf courses, its owners thankful for the business.
News I’m still working on but didn’t get fnished for this week include:
• Why did Sharyland ISD’s former board president take a trip to meet with the TEA chairman last February and not tell the rest of the board about the trip? And what was discussed? And why would the TEA chairman meet with a representative from a school district under investigation for alleged wrongdoing?
• The city of San Juan finally has struck a deal with the bond company that took over the work Texas Descon was doing on its water plant. Scheduled completion date: January 2017.
• Why did San Juan’s mayor and mayor pro tem get into it last week during a city commission meeting over possible raises regarding certain department heads? And why did the mayor boycott the executive session even though the city attorney said the personnel discussions planned were all legal?
• Why did the office of the Texas AG, himself currently under indictment for three felony counts, hit one of the Weslaco city commissioners with 16 charges of violating the state’s Election Code right before a special election?
• Why did PSJA ISD raise its taxes? And by how much (not much).
• When it comes to violent crime, how do the Valley cities compare, one vs. the other?
• Julio Davila, former bail bondsman and boyfriend to a former DA’s investigator, and the guy who helped bring down the former sheriff – how much jail time did he get, and where’s he going to spend it?
• San Juan City Commissioner Shay Cantu, as reported in last week’s Advance, has been missing some city commission meetings due to his work in Austin since being elected last May, but how many has he missed? Turns out, a total of seven, of which, only one was a regular meeting. The other six were either special, called meetings or workshops.
• What’s new with the investigation of the Melissa Patterson murder charge and when does her attorney think her case might go before a grand jury?
• What’s new with the controversy over McAllen’s proposed median on north 10th?
• Why does Donna ISD need a bond? And why is it overstaffed by approximately 350 people (not teachers), according to one board member?
• Turns out, it is a crime to report malicious gossip online. But what does the law say?
• Is it true that more than 27,000 illegal immigrants from Central America have passed through the doors of Sacred Heart Church in McAllen over the course of the past 12 months?