Opinion

Letters to the editor published in The Monitor, Valley Morning Star and The Brownsville Herald during the week of Feb. 18, 2024.

Samsung released its new Galaxy S24 phone this month. The big buzz is centered around how Galaxy users discover the world around them by incorporating AI (artificial intelligence) into photo manipulation, product searches for e-commerce, and much more. This is just one example of people getting excited over AI, but the truth is it’s hard to go anywhere these days without hearing someone talk about it.

Grocery shoppers might have noticed that sugar shelves aren’t always as well stocked as they normally are. It might seem odd, since a significant amount of the U.S. sugarcane crop is grown right here in the Rio Grande Valley.

Strengthening our economy is key to securing the future of our nation. With all Texans, including manufacturers, experiencing economic uncertainty like inflation and high interest rates, Congress needs to do its part in shoring up our economic resilience.

Texas A&M University has had a presence in the Rio Grande Valley for a long time — its AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Weslaco marked its 100th year serving the South Texas agriculture industry and earning renown with its development of the Supersweet 1015 onion and research of the Texas Rio Red grapefruit and other South Texas cash crops.

Texas is one of 15 states across the country that have declined to accept federal funding that could have helped replace the meals children lose during summer vacation.

Sexual predators are using a new tool to exploit children — AI image generators. Users on a dark-web forum shared 3,000 AI-generated images of child sexual abuse in one month, according to the Internet Watch Foundation.

Contributors this week continued to offer varied thoughts on our political parties and officials. In addition, animal shelters and pet care continued to draw attention as well as immigration, border security and other topics.

This is in response to Imelda Coronado’s eloquent letter on Jan. 17. Imelda’s allegations about the current administration in America include communism, socialism and leftist anarchy while at the same time she supports Republicans who are dismissing the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection as a peaceful protest.

Last Sunday's announcement that Senate negotiators had reached a deal that would free up foreign aid to the embattled states of Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan might have raised the hopes of some people. Soon after Congress members arrived at the Capitol on Monday, however, it was clear that those hopes would be futile.