The Brownsville Herald

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.

Brownsville Beerfest LLC has come up with a new way to party to benefit nonprofit and civic groups: Agave Fest, a tequila-centric fundraiser scheduled for May 4 at Market Square.

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.

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.

The Port of Brownsville Business Park has landed its first tenant, Westa Inc., which has promised to invest $20 million building a “state-of-the-art wheat flour mill” and wheat storage silos at the 118-acre business park.

The former finance director for International Educational Services, or IES, is scheduled for a re-arraignment hearing on Tuesday morning in Brownsville federal court.

This week's offerings include Lisa Mitchell-Bennett's column, Tu Salud Si Cuenta! that speaks about the benefits of spending time with nature. Other offerings include letters regarding which administration is better for the country, political cults and an invitation to an event honoring military mothers for Mother's Day. In addition, a participant in recent Texas Revolutionary War reenactments describes the events.