MISSION — Santos “Trey” Villarreal spent his high school days throwing touchdowns and outrunning defenders as a star quarterback for the Mission Veterans Patriots. He then went on to play college football as a linebacker at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, where he was crowned a two-time NCAA Division III National Champion. But the toughest …

EDINBURG — Rio Grande Valley FC announced a change to its stadium attendance policies Friday morning, which will bring fans back into the stands for the first time since the USL Championship’s regular season restart after play was suspended for several months due to the ongoing novel coronavirus pandemic. According to a news release, Toros …

Mission CISD announced it has approved an extension of at-home remote learning for another five weeks through Nov. 1 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. While there will be no in-person learning until Nov. 2 at the earliest, Mission CISD says no final decisions regarding the start of fall sports have been made just yet. Currently, …

LA JOYA — Another high level Rio Grande Valley high school baseball prospect is headed to the Big 12 conference. La Joya High junior left-handed pitcher JC Gutierrez recently announced his verbal commitment to play baseball at Texas Tech, a Division I university in Lubbock. “It felt amazing to finally verbally commit to my dream …

I dropped my kindergartner off at school this week. There were no tears as I left, walking back to my work station 10 feet away. Virtual school pulls some magic out of watching your child become a little more independent. For parents of older children, distance learning is probably like being a fly on the …

Expanding web access Valley schools’ digital divide has never been more critical than during the pandemic. According to the Federal Communications Commission, more than 21 million Americans lack access to high-speed internet, and an estimated 1.8 million Texans, most of them in rural areas, don’t have high-speed internet access — including areas surrounding McAllen and …

Many people will get a break this weekend, when many businesses observe the Labor Day holiday on Monday. Traditionally the three-day weekend is considered the last chance to take a minivacation. The holiday couldn’t come soon enough for some people who have gone stir crazy from staying at home all summer, whether it’s because they …

A new normal Will we ever go back to normal? Is today the new normal for the future? These are questions that we cannot answer today. Today, we live in the present and make changes as we perceive the present situation. Whoever thought that one day in the future we will be given an order …

Tunnels from Mexico into the United States have long been routinely found; however, they’ve generally been limited to areas west of Texas, where it’s easier to carve a subterranean path through the sands of the Sonoran Desert. Last week, however, a new route was discovered in the Rio Grande Valley — channeling beneath the river …

Have you ever been lost in a dream, wandering endlessly through the corridors of time, glimpsing at images in mirrors of unremembered faces and places? Have you ever felt the coldness of a stare or an unwanted glance that told you more than words could ever say? Have you ever felt alone in the middle …