Monitor, Star, Herald editors pick Valley’s most important stories of 2024

3 days ago 40

By now you would have been inundated by listicles and stories that attempt to wrap up the year in news with a nice, shiny bow. Some feature the “top 10” style of stories that impacted the community, and others follow what was trending all year, which essentially are the most-read articles.

One can gather much from those stories, but the common thread in all of them is that they review two considerations in news and editorial development: What does the reader want, and what do they need.

Admittedly, MyRGV.com, the digital home to AIM Media Texas newspapers The Monitor, Valley Morning Star and The Brownsville Herald has already published a collection of the 10 stories you read the most in 2024. That’s where you came in, informing us of what your reading habits are and how diverse you can be in that regard.

Those stories reported a tragic death of a high school football player from McAllen, news that affected travel and tourism and business, as well as human smuggling and border security matters.

But then there’s the news that we at AIM Media Texas felt you needed to know. The matters that affect your health, your safety, your local governments, your votes and by extension your pockets and your way of life.

Without further ado, here are eight (we like to be different) of the most important stories to the Rio Grande Valley in 2024, as decided by the editors.

VALLEY VOTES TRUMP

To say the 2024 presidential election will go down in history is an understatement.

President-elect Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt. President Joe Biden dropped out of the race at the last minute and the Democrats propped up Vice President Kamala Harris to run in his place.

And it became clear early on Election Night on Nov. 5 that Trump was heading to a second term in the White House.

It was also the first time that the entire Valley had more ballots cast for a Republican nominee for president than a Democratic one.

And there are ripple effects from this bolstered by heightened interest in the border by Republicans that began in earnest in 2020.

For instance, U.S. Rep. Monica De La Cruz, R-McAllen, was elected to a second term, though the Valley voted for her Democrat opponent Michelle Vallejo. However, the margin of victory was wider for De La Cruz than in 2020.

And state Rep. Janie Lopez, R-San Benito, fended off a challenge from a well-known and backed Democrat from Brownsville to serve another term in the Texas Legislature.

WATER SCARCITY

This year was a momentous one in the water world — one that had devastating impacts for local farmers and sent ripples across international diplomatic relations.

In February, the Rio Grande Valley sugarcane industry collapsed, ending a 51-year history of growing sugar here.

Local farmers laid the blame for the industry’s failure on years’ worth of unpredictability over when Mexico would deliver water to the U.S., as obligated by a 1944 binational water sharing treaty.

The fall of the sugarcane industry set off alarm bells among local, state and federal leaders, who began clamoring louder than ever before for something to be done.

Leading the charge has been De La Cruz, the freshman congresswoman who has characterized the impacts that water scarcity has had on local farming as a national security issue.

In October, Maria-Elena Giner, commissioner of the U.S. International Boundary and Water Commission, announced that Mexico was offering a small volume of water to the United States — one that amounted to just one-tenth the volume Valley farmers consume per year, on average.

Throughout December, levels at the Valley’s two reservoirs have hovered at just over 20%.

It’s a sobering statistic farmers, with their already sorely depleted water accounts, are keeping in mind as they prepare to make spring planting decisions come February.

FALLEN OFFICERS

The Valley has become all too familiar with reports of law enforcement officers being killed while on duty and this year was no different.

On March 8, Border Patrol Agent Christopher Luna died in a helicopter crash in La Grulla. He was 51.

On Sept. 30, Cameron County Precinct 1 Constable Ruben Garcia, 49, died after a distracted driver crashed into him on State Highway 48 and Marine Way while he was assisting in another crash. The driver has since been charged with manslaughter and remains jailed.

In February, prosecutors handling the case against two men accused of killing San Benito police Lt. Milton Resendez in 2023 announced they would seek the death penalty against one of suspects in the case. Both suspects are charged with capital murder of a peace officer.

On Jan. 31, following 12 hours of deliberations and 16 days of testimony, a jury sentenced an Edinburg man to death for the April 2019 shooting that resulted in the death of Texas Department of Public Safety state trooper Moises Sanchez.

SPACEX RAMPS UP ACTIVITY

It was a busy year for launch activity at SpaceX’s Boca Chica/Starbase rocket development and testing complex.

While the company conducted the first two uncrewed test flights of its massive Starship-Super Heavy vehicle in 2023, SpaceX conducted four launches from Boca Chica in 2024.

Those flights happened in March, June, October and November. The October launch featured the successful capture of the booster — a first. And President-elect Trump attended the launch in November.

SpaceX also already has its permit for its next launch early next year and has proposed launching up to 25 times a year at its facility at Boca Chica Beach.

The company has also filed a petition with Cameron County to incorporate into a municipality.

A GREAT NEED

The need has been great — for decades.

Driscoll Children’s Hospital Rio Grande Valley, which opened in Edinburg on May 1, is a $105 million project that features state-of-the-art equipment that will limit the need for Valley residents to travel outside the region for care.

The eight-floor facility includes a level III neonatal intensive care unit, digital door signs and whiteboards, a Language Line cart that helps translate various languages, a CT machine with a 560-slice count and a pneumatic tube system.

Meanwhile, Driscoll this year opposed a state plan to award Medicaid and Medicare contracts to a for-profit insurer, potentially impacting the children’s hospital’s ability to serve low-income Valley residents.

Earlier this year, the state announced it would be awarding Medicaid contracts to Aetna, which would have impacted an estimated 1.8 million low-income Texans who have been under the health plans of nonprofits like the Driscoll Health Plan, a managed care organization which serves much of the South Texas region and the Rio Grande Valley.

Driscoll Health Plan has served 24 South Texas counties including Hidalgo, Cameron, Willacy and Starr for about 26 years.

The dispute remains tied up in courts after a Travis County judge ordered a temporary injunction halting the state’s plans in October.

UTRGV STRIDES

This year marked numerous milestones for the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, including fundraising and enrollment achievements and the first combined, Valley-wide graduation ceremony.

UTRGV started off the school year with its highest first-day enrollment ever with 34,343 students and the largest incoming freshmen class with 6,962.

The university announced $284 million in fundraising since its inception in 2015.

And UTRGV hosted its first combined commencement with students from the Edinburg and Brownsville campuses at Bert Ogden Arena in Edinburg. A total of 2,728 students graduated.

SUPERINTENDENT SHUFFLE

Leadership changes abounded in the McAllen, Brownsville and Harlingen school districts over the last year.

In Harlingen, the school board entered into an agreement leading Superintendent J.A. Gonzalez to resign amid concerns his administration pulled $23.2 million out of the district’s $38 million fund balance to cover unbudgeted expenses.

Gonzalez came to the district after serving as McAllen ISD’s superintendent.

Brownsville ISD, meanwhile, changed superintendents following the departure of Rene Gutierrez to the top job at McAllen ISD in early 2024.

BISD in March signed a one-year contract with Jesus H. Chavez to become superintendent of schools following a well-received stint as interim.

HIDALGO COUNTY COURTHOUSE

A saga that has weighed on Hidalgo County officials like an albatross for six years finally appears to be approaching its conclusion.

On Dec. 6, Hidalgo County Judge Richard F. Cortez hosted a tour of the new courthouse after receiving its certificate of occupancy from the city of Edinburg.

Just days later, the Texas Commission on Jail Standards inspected the facility and also gave its nod of approval. Now, the county can begin the process of moving in.

The news came nearly four years after the courthouse’s builders originally planned to complete the project.

Delays on the project sparked frustrations with officials and there was talk of litigation.