Valley Morning Star

Remember when the federal government reclassified ketchup as a vegetable to make school lunch offerings comply with nutritional guidelines? The Reagan-era move enabled schools to use the condiment as a larger element when preparing students’ meals, for example.

When Garth Stevenson, a nature musician and composer, carried his 6-foot-tall double bass instrument with him to Antarctica, he had a life-changing experience when he imitated whale calls on his instrument. He ended up drawing 12 sei whales to the edge of the icebreaker where he stood making music. Having grown up in the mountains of Western Canada, Stevenson has always connected his music to nature, but this experience in Antarctica revealed the two-way connection between humans and our natural world.

WESLACO — Wanting to try something new and different, I came to Lê Phở House — a Vietnamese kitchen in Weslaco — with an open mind and I left with a stomach full of delicious noodles, broth, beef and a curiosity into a new cuisine.

Despite receiving warnings from an auditor with the Office of Inspector General, the chief executive officer of International Educational Services Inc., or IES, advised his financial director “not to adjust the salaries to the cap limit” as they were told, according to a plea agreement between federal prosecutors and IES’ finance director.

SAN BENITO — The city’s two rival factions are heating up the polls at the city’s Community Building, turning the bustling voting site into one of the hottest across Cameron County as steady flows of residents cast ballots during an eight-day early voting period.

HARLINGEN — Meet Alberto and Yolanda.

HARLINGEN — After years of planning, city and state leaders are ready to break ground Wednesday on a $20 million project aimed at building Valley International Airport’s tallest control tower.

It is April 17, 1836, and Mexican General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna once again cannot go to sleep. He has split the Mexican Army of Operations for the Tejas Campaign into three fronts. All have the same mission: Suppress and end the Texas Revolution movement. The army retook the Alamo in Bejar (San Antonio) on March 6. The campaign will not be complete until Gen. Sam Houston and the remaining Texas militia is captured or forced east across the Louisiana border into the United States. Houston hurriedly led his men eastward in full retreat.

Early voting for the May 4 elections began Monday morning.

An ice cream shop known for its custom ice cream sandwiches is set to open next month on South Padre Island — just in time for summer.