By MARK REAGAN, MATT WILSON AND BRYAN RAMOS | STAFF WRITERS
Every year, journalists at The Monitor cover hundreds of stories that focus on the community, local governments like city councils and boards of education and fast-breaking news events.
While all stories are important in one aspect or another, there are always a handful each year that are particularly more notable than others.
ABORTION
One such story was the April arrest of a Starr County woman on a murder charge for a “self-induced” abortion.
The Monitor learned of the woman’s arrest through checking jail records.
After the newspaper published this story, state, national and international news and commentary outlets picked it up.
Just 48 hours after her arrest, the Starr County District Attorney’s Office dismissed the charges, saying she should not be prosecuted.
But the story wouldn’t end there. About two months later, in June, the Supreme Court overruled Roe V. Wade, which affirmed the right to an abortion.
Much like throughout the nation, the Supreme Court’s ruling spawned protests against the decision, exhibiting public outcry throughout the Rio Grande Valley.
Then in August, a trigger law went into effect in Texas that now bans almost all abortions with few exceptions, such as a patient’s life being in jeopardy as a result of a pregnancy.
Also, a casualty of the Supreme Court’s decision included the Whole Women’s Health Clinic in McAllen, the only abortion clinic in the Valley which closed and moved to New Mexico. The building was then purchased by a crisis pregnancy center, an anti-abortion organization.
HISTORIC ELECTION
While Republicans didn’t get the so-called “Red Wave” they sought in the traditionally blue South Texas, they did secure a historic congressional victory.
Republican firebrand Monica De La Cruz became the first Hispanic woman to represent District 15 in Washington D.C.
De La Cruz first proved her mettle in 2020 when she nearly unseated Democrat Vicente Gonzalez.
However, Texas Republicans redistricted Gonzalez’s McAllen home into neighboring District 34, which encompasses most of Cameron County and redistricted District 15 to include more rural, northern counties to make it lean Republican, which catapulted De La Cruz to the Capitol.
She beat progressive Democrat Jessica Cisneros in November and will be sworn in Tuesday to start the new Congress.
NOT GUILTY
Residents in Edinburg and people living throughout the Valley have waited since 2019 to find out whether the former mayor there, Richard Molina, would be found guilty or not guilty on multiple charges of illegal voting and a count of engaging in organized voter fraud.
Molina had been charged with his wife, Dalia, and a slew of other people.
In August, a jury of his peers heard the evidence and his defense — that he was innocent because he made a mistake of law — and found him not guilty of all of the charges, putting an end to the case that was prolonged due to the pandemic.
Then, in November, the Hidalgo County District Attorney’s Office dismissed all of the other charges against the rest of the defendants in the case, clearing their names.
UTRGV FOOTBALL
The University of Texas System Board of Regents approved a recommendation to increase the intercollegiate athletics fee at UTRGV as voted on by student referendum supporting the creation of a football program and expansion of spirit programs during a Nov. 17 meeting.
The green-light from the UT System Board of Regents was the final go ahead UTRGV needed to create a football program, a women’s swimming and diving team, added spirit programs and marching bands.
UTRGV announced the hiring of Travis Bush as its first head football coach on Dec.12. Bush’s prior coaching stops include Houston, Texas Christian, Texas at San Antonio and Texas State at the college level, and one year in the NFL with the Buffalo Bills. Bush is the son of former Donna High, PSJA High and PSJA North head football coach Bruce Bush.
UTRGV football will sign its first recruiting class in 2024 and conduct a practice season in the fall of 2024, and will officially kick off its first season competing at the Division I level in August 2025. The Vaqueros plan to play their home games at H-E-B Park in Edinburg.
SCHOOL THREATS
Valley schools seemed — finally — to be getting back to some sense of pandemic normalcy until May 24.
The Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde on that day changed the focus for local school systems to safety and security, a focus intensified by a number of local copycat threats that have not resulted in a tragedy but have resulted in upwards of 20 individuals being charged since May.
Most of those charged were students, juveniles. Some of those threats seemed to be not very serious; but, as local law enforcement said, almost anything was serious enough in a post-Uvalde world.
Other threats in the Valley seemed chillingly serious. Most notably, police arrested four teens in Donna armed with a rifle and body armor who allegedly planned to shoot people at Donna High on the last day of school.
They were arrested the day after the shooting in Uvalde, part of a streak of arrests at several school districts that week that police described as unprecedented.
Tensions were high. Parents pulled their kids from class.
At one point, police arrested a Mercedes security guard for allegedly calling in his own bomb threats.
Local school district leadership say they have responded, putting safety front and center; however, it’s often difficult to see precisely what measures are being put in place. Safety measures are mostly confidential, they say, so a potential school shooter can’t probe out weaknesses.
Some measures have become apparent: some districts are getting their police bulletproof shields, many have eyed new fencing and ways to make entry more difficult.
La Joya ISD hired 22 new officers and began posting them at elementary schools.
In general, Valley districts seem to be acting like if one of those threats does slip through the cracks, they don’t mean to be caught unprepared.
