Donna North's Melvin Gomez (10) celebrates his goal with teammate Antwan Balzadua (12) during a District 32-5A contest against Weslaco East on Tuesday at Bennie La Prade Stadium in Donna. (Andrew Cordero | Special to RGVSports)
DONNA — The Donna North Chiefs continued their perfect start to district play Tuesday, steamrolling the Weslaco East Wildcats 6-0 at Bennie La Prade Stadium in Donna.
The Chiefs improved to 4-0-0 in District 32-5A on the year, outscoring their first four opponents 24-1 during that span. The loss marks the first of the year for the Wildcats after winning their previous three contests in penalty kicks, dropping them to 0-1-3 on the year.
“We’ve been blessed to be able to score,” Donna North head coach Andres Sanchez said. “In reality, our defense has stepped it up. We have that combination of both sides of the ball doing their job really well. It is still early in the season so a lot of things can happen, but we’re thankful for the good start we’ve had so far.”
Five different players found the back of the net during the Chiefs’ victory, including four during the second half.
Melvin Gomez got the scoring started during the opening period, delivering a laser shot from outside the box to give the Chiefs a 1-0 lead midway through the first half.
A deflected corner kick by Gomez resulted in the Chiefs’ next score, with Jonathan Juarez corralling the loose ball inside the box and tapping it in to make it 2-0 at the break.
Donna North’s Jonathan Juarez (25) taps in the ball for a score during a District 32-5A contest against Weslaco East on Tuesday at Bennie La Prade Stadium in Donna. (Andrew Cordero | Special to RGVSports)
“We watched the film and saw where we could take advantage and it was the sidelines,” Sanchez said. “They tend to put a lot of men in front of the goal, so we took the sidelines and asked our players to take shots from far. It paid off. Once that happened, it forced them to attack us and that opened up space for us to take advantage of it.”
The Chiefs kept their foot on the gas during the second half, with Richard Martinez blowing past the defense and finding paydirt to make it 3-0 just two minutes into the final period.
Donna North’s Richard Martinez (13) dribbles the ball during a District 32-5A contest against Weslaco East on Tuesday at Bennie La Prade Stadium in Donna. (Andrew Cordero | Special to RGVSports)
Goals by Chris De Leon and Enrique Torres gave the Chiefs a commanding 5-0 lead with just 20 minutes remaining, with Martinez adding the final touches on the victory with a booming goal during the final minute.
The shutout marks the third during district by the Chiefs’ defense, with only Donna High scoring against Donna North during a 6-1 loss by the Redskins.
Donna North’s Enrique Torres (11) slides to take the ball away from Weslaco East’s Miguel Padron (13) during a District 32-5A contest against Weslaco East on Tuesday at Bennie La Prade Stadium in Donna. (Andrew Cordero | Special to RGVSports)
“This defense is a great complement,” Sanchez said. “Yeah, the goals are there, but the reason they are is because we don’t have to play from behind. We keep the ball under control and on the ground. It just makes it easier for our offense.”
Donna North looks to continue creating distance atop the standings at 5:30 p.m. Friday, when it is scheduled to take on Harlingen South (1-3-0) at Harlingen South. The Wildcats return home for a tilt against the Brownsville Veterans Chargers (3-1-0) at 5:30 p.m. Friday.
The WWE "Monday Night Raw" show at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas on Aug. 24, 2009. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images/TNS)
By Wendy Lee | Los Angeles Times
LOS ANGELES — WWE’s flagship weekly pro wrestling show “Raw” will be coming to Netflix in January 2025, a significant step for the streaming video giant as it continues to add more sports content and live events to its programming lineup.
Under the deal, Netflix will stream “Raw” exclusively in the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, Latin America and other territories starting in January 2025. The streamer will also carry WWE shows and specials outside the U.S., including “SmackDown” and “NXT,” its live events like WrestleMania, as well as WWE documentaries and series in 2025.
Mark Shapiro, president and chief operating officer of WWE’s parent company, TKO, said the partnership with Netflix will expand the reach of the wrestling entertainment brand and bring weekly live appointment viewing to Netflix.
“This deal is transformative,” Shapiro said in a statement. “It marries the can’t-miss WWE product with Netflix’s extraordinary global reach and locks in significant and predictable economics for many years.”
Netflix has been increasing its investment in sports entertainment and live events, hosting live a celebrity golfing tournament called the Netflix Cup in November 2023, which featured Formula 1 drivers and PGA Tour golfers. Earlier this month, Netflix and the CW network announced a licensing deal for Netflix to stream the final five episodes of “Inside the NFL” after they air on linear television.
The “Raw” deal is the first time the show has left traditional television since it began three decades ago. It brings to Netflix a “huge and passionate multigenerational fan base,” said the streamer’s chief content officer, Bela Bajaria.
“By combining our reach, recommendations, and fandom with WWE, we’ll be able to deliver more joy and value for their audiences and our members,” Bajaria said in a statement.
“‘Raw’ is the best of sports entertainment, blending great characters and storytelling with live action 52 weeks a year and we’re thrilled to be in this long-term partnership with WWE.”
“Raw” is the top show on the USA Network, where it brings in 17.5 million unique viewers over the course of the year, WWE and Netflix said. The show has 1,600 episodes and helped the careers of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and John Cena.
The deal is for an initial 10 years for an aggregate rights fee of more than $5 billion, with an option for Netflix to extend the agreement, according to a filing TKO made with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Analysts and industry observers have often raised questions about whether Netflix should get into the business of live sports programming.
Last year, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos said in an earnings presentation in January, “We’re not anti-sports, we’re pro-profits.”
“We’ve not been able to figure out how to deliver profits in renting big league sports in our subscription model,” Sarandos said in January 2023. “Not to say that won’t change. We’ll be open to it, but that’s where it is today.”
In October in an earnings presentation, Sarandos said, “We are in the sports business, but we’re in the part of the sports business that we bring the most value to, which is the drama of sport.”
Concertina wire lines the path as members of Congress tour an area near the Texas-Mexico border, Jan. 3, 2024, in Eagle Pass, Texas. A divided Supreme Court on Monday, Jan. 22, allowed Border Patrol agents to cut razor wire that Texas installed on the U.S.-Mexico border, while a lawsuit over the wire continues. (Eric Gay/AP File Photo)
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday gave the federal government permission to cut or remove razor wire and other obstructions from the U.S. border along the Rio Grande. The greater issue of whether the state has the authority to place such obstructions on the international border, however, remain unresolved.
That resolution needs to come as soon as possible.
Indeed, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton immediately declared Monday that “this fight is not over,” and Gov. Greg Abbott’s office announced that “this case is ongoing, and Governor Abbott will continue fighting to defend Texas’ property and its constitutional authority to secure the border.”
As legal experts have long asserted, however, the international is not state property, nor does it have any authority to enforce federal law. Many people hope the Supreme Court can finally settle the debate over state encroachment on federal authority, and put an end to the rash of actions and lawsuits by Texas and other conservative-run states that test limits on state authority regarding federal law.
The court’s one-line ruling voided an injunction placed by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals after the state sued the federal government in December when Border Patrol agents began cutting through coils of razor wire that prevented them from accessing the river, which they are charged with patrolling.
The Joe Biden administration and others who oppose the state’s potentially lethal border blockade are celebrating Monday’s order as a victory. However, they surely hoped the court would take the opportunity to settle the question of state jurisdiction at our national border once and for all. Instead, the case goes back to the Fifth Circuit for that determination, and it is scheduled to hear arguments on that issue on Feb. 7.
While Monday’s action might hint at how the Supreme Court justices might be leaning on the jurisdictional matter, few expect the regional court, which is called the most conservative in the country, to take that hint and rule in favor of the federal government. The case surely will return to the high court, which could have saved a lot of time, and perhaps some migrants’ lives, with a definitive ruling this week.
The jurisdictional issue was thought to have been settled long ago, as the court has asserted federal authority in countless border and immigration cases, some of them similar to those that it will consider in the near future. The new conservative majority, however, and their willingness to rescind decisions made by their predecessors, has emboldened conservative state officials into testing the new group with a rash of new actions regarding immigration as well as voting rights, discrimination and other civil rights issues.
Monday’s order was made by a narrow 5-4 majority. Conservative Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett joined the three liberal justices in the majority statement. It is hoped, however, that a majority of the current court will still respect precedent, the Constitution and humanity, and issue final rulings that discourage challenges such as Abbott’s border blockade in the future.
Sasi's Thai is located at 937 Frontage Road in Brownsville. (Travis M. Whitehead)
Sasi’s Thai is located at 937 Frontage Road in Brownsville. (Travis M. Whitehead)
BROWNSVILLE — The blue-green lights breaking through the cold and the wet of a January night beckon me into the welcoming warmth of a place thick with aromas and music of a faraway place.
A part of that faraway place has travelled here and has taken the name “Sasi’s Thai”. An older man asks, “Dining in?” I nod yes, and he gestures to the room filled with shiny black tables set and polished wooden chairs with red upholstery.
“Anywhere you like,” he says, and I take a table in a corner near the door.
The menu before me is a rather plain and unassuming menu. It doesn’t have a flashy or eye-catching design, and in this case the menu doesn’t have to be flashy.
And here’s why: Spring rolls, chicken satay, fried tofu.
Crab Rangoon.
Tum yum, won ton soup and pad se ew.
The foreignness and the unknown and the excitement of it all makes a fancy menu unnecessary. These listings speak for themselves. They are a refreshing departure from the familiar into the unfamiliar and the innovative and the new.
However, I’ve come in looking for one particular dish – pad Thai. When I first learned of this restaurant at 937 Frontage Road in Brownsville, I experienced the memory of another Thai restaurant in the McAllen – Mission area. I created that memory about twenty years ago, and so vivid was the memory of those delicious noodles that they instantly appeared again.
So, I look now over the menu and turn it over and find pad Thai at the very top: noodle stir fry with egg, carrots, onions, bean sprouts and peanuts, and a choice of meat.
I motion to the waiter and place my order and request chicken. He asks a question I’ve never heard before: “Spicy level zero to four.”
“One,” I answer.
As he leaves, I consider for a moment the quietness of the place. The white walls and the warmth and the cleanliness of Sasi’s bear a sharp contrast to the wet and the cold and the dark outside. It is a sort of sanctuary into which I can take refuge from the winter into a more temperate place or perhaps even a tropical place.
The Eastern music with its intricacies and its complexities woven together flows along the walls and the fans on the walls depicting elephants and streams and quiet pools. A painting shows more elephants beneath a red sky. I like the way they stand like shadows against that red sky.
The pad Thai at Sasi’s Thai is composed of noodle stir fry with egg, carrots, onions, bean sprouts and peanuts, and a choice of meat. (Travis M. Whitehead)
My plate now sits before me, the noodles and the eggs and the peanuts for which I have longed for.
The steam rises as I take my first bite and it is spicier than I thought and it is only a one and I wonder if I should have chosen a spice level of zero. I’m reminded now of the disastrous mishaps in Mexico when I have bitten into a chili hiding in a dish that makes jalapenos look like gummy bears.
However, this spicy doesn’t torture me so much. I have my glass of water and keep eating a little slower and actually slower is what I seek in all things. Perhaps this spice is a reminder to continue on the path of the slow and the reflective because that is where we truly experience the spice and the flavor and the music of all things.
I’m reminded now of the poem by William Wordsworth, “The World is Too Much With Us.”
“Getting and spending we lay waste our powers, little we see in nature that is ours,” he writes.
I see so much here in this quiet place, the couple leaving toward the door and the older man waiting the tables saying, “Take Care Guys,” and they replying, “You too,” and then “Stay out of the snow.”
I see the peanuts and the egg and the chicken all mixed together and the steam rising and I experience each individual flavor and the mixture of those flavors. I see the two young women walk briskly into this clean and well-lighted place, energized by the cold and excited about having spicy and delicious Thai food.
“Dining in?”
“Yes,” they answer, and so it goes on into the night, the warmth and wonder of Thai food in a sanctuary from the cold and rainy night.
Victor Godinez, 28, walks in to the courtroom after a bathroom break as he stands trial for the death of Texas Department of Public Safety Trooper Moises Sanchez in the 389th state District Count on Monday, Jan. 8, 2024, in Edinburg. (Joel Martinez | [email protected])
A jury on Tuesday night found a 28-year-old Edinburg man guilty over the killing of a Texas Department of Public Safety Trooper nearly five years ago.
The verdict follows more than six hours of deliberation in the death penalty trial against Victor Alejandro Godinez, who was accused of killing Moises Sanchez.
Sanchez, who was shot on April 6, 2019 died in August in Houston following a surgery in Houston.
Godinez was also found guilty of two counts of attempted capital murder of a peace officer for shooting at two Edinburg police officers during his manhunt.
He has been on trial since Jan. 8.
Godinez now faces the sentencing phase of his trial, where prosecutors will seek the death penalty.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated for clarity.
Closeup of computer dcreen with favicon and address bar (Adobe Stock)
McALLEN — When the COVID-19 pandemic first shut down schools in the spring of 2020, local leaders found themselves facing a different crisis: how to continue educating students who could no longer go to their classrooms.
In the digital age, the answer seemed simple: hold online classes where both teacher and student could attend from the socially distanced safety of their own homes.
But in a place like the Rio Grande Valley, where more than a fifth of the population lives below the poverty line, that answer was far more complicated.
The digital divide here was more of a yawning chasm that threatened to keep thousands of children from accessing school for what was then an interminable amount of time.
Leaders in McAllen, however, saw the pandemic as a catalyst for making a pipe dream reality.
“Mayor Darling has always, always wanted to do this, but the problem was that the technology wasn’t there back then,” McAllen IT Director Robert Acosta recently said.
Acosta was speaking of plans former McAllen Mayor Jim Darling had to make broadband internet more accessible to McAllen residents.
However, when the pandemic stopped the world in its tracks, there were some silver linings, including an influx of federal funds earmarked for expanding broadband infrastructure.
As a result, McAllen was able to use some $3 million in COVID-19 relief funds via the CARES Act to connect some of the poorest neighborhoods in the city.
Former mayor Jim Darling asks everyone to turn on their Wi-Fi during a news conference with the school district and the city Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2020, in McAllen. (Delcia Lopez | [email protected])
“It was like a fire was lit. It wasn’t a question of, ‘Can we do it?’ or ‘Should we spend the money?’ It was, just, we know we need to do it. And that came from the commission, the mayor, the city manager,” Acosta said.
“Roy was very proactive in helping us get this approved and get it to the commission,” he added, referring to McAllen City Manager Roel “Roy” Rodriguez.
“We think that it was a huge win for the community that we were able to use those federal funds that we got from COVID,” Rodriguez said after a McAllen City Commission meeting Monday.
The city, in collaboration with McAllen ISD, identified “hotspots” throughout town where families with lower incomes lived.
Once those areas were identified, the city got the go-ahead from local electricity providers to place the access points on their utility poles.
“Both AEP and Magic Valley, both of them helped out and they were tremendous,” Acosta said.
Within 90 days, Acosta’s department had set up approximately 1,000 Wi-Fi “access points” on light poles across McAllen.
The access points allowed students to access the internet from home, rather than having to search out places to find free Wi-Fi, such as city parks, where they would be at the mercy of the elements.
“I think we covered probably about 65-70% of the city, of coverage, in those areas,” Acosta said.
A Wi-Fi tower is seen in La Balboa neighborhood near Roosevelt Elementary on Thursday, Sept. 3, 2020, in McAllen. (Delcia Lopez | [email protected])
Now, more than three years later, city officials are proud if what they were able to accomplish over such a short timeframe.
They’re prouder still that the Wi-Fi access points continue to be an important resource for McAllen’s most disadvantaged populations.
“It’s very gratifying. Again, that’s one of the highlights that COVID brought to our attention is that intense need. The magnitude of that need was so big and I’m just glad that we were able to do it,” Rodriguez said.
Even now, between 3,000-3,500 devices connect to the access points every day, Acosta said.
What began with $3 million in startup funding from the federal government has now become the city’s commitment to continuing the service.
It costs McAllen about $150,000 per year to maintain and operate the access points, including rental fees for the power poles they’re attached to.
Nonetheless, Rodriguez described being able to provide the Wi-Fi service as “a huge win for our community.”
Martha Gonzalez, far right, stands with other family members as she holds the World War II Victory Medal posthumously awarded to her father veteran Francisco Gonzalez by U.S. Congressman Vicente Gonzalez at Mercedes City Hall on Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2024, in Mercedes. (Joel Martinez | [email protected])
The World War II Victory Medal posthumously awarded to the family of veteran Francisco Gonzalez by U.S. Congressman Vicente Gonzalez at Mercedes City Hall on Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2024. (Joel Martinez | [email protected])
MERCEDES — In 1973, Francisco Gonzalez lost his veteran’s records in a fire.
Tuesday afternoon his family got them back in a ceremony at Mercedes City Hall.
“I’m very happy,” said Francisco Gonzalez’s daughter, Martha Gonzalez.
“He was a very good dad,” she said.
A community of supporters had gathered to see Congressman Vicente Gonzalez, D-Brownsville, present those reconstructed records to the veteran’s family.
“Mr. Gonzalez was a World War Two veteran from Mercedes, Texas,” the congressman told the veteran’s family who had gathered for the event along with members of the American Legion and the American Legion Auxiliary.
“He served honorably in the U.S. Army from 1943 to 1945,” Gonzalez continued. “Mr. Gonzalez’s daughters are here to receive their father’s rightfully earned recognitions.”
One of those daughters, Martha Gonzalez, reached out to the congressman last year and explained the challenges she’d encountered trying to get her father’s records reconstructed. The congressman was the perfect man for the job. His father’s Korean War records had been lost in the same fire and he’d had those reconstructed.
Martha Gonzalez is presented with the World War II Victory Medal posthumously awarded to her father veteran Francisco Gonzalez by U.S. Congressman Vicente Gonzalez at Mercedes City Hall on Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2024, in Mercedes. (Joel Martinez | [email protected])
“We were able to contact the National Personnel Records Center to request their assistance in identifying where Mr. Gonzalez had served so parts of the records could be reconstructed,” the congressman said.
“They’ve been reconstructing these records through information that’s been brought to the families and some of the records in other places and sometime other countries,” he said. “They were able to confirm Mr. Gonzalez was in active service and his honorable discharge status last year Nov. 2023.”
Upon that confirmation, the National Personnel Records Center issued Mr. Gonzalez his long-awaited World War Two Victory Medal and an Honorable Service Lapel Pin,” said the congressman. “I am overjoyed today that we were able to help this family honor their fathers service and dedication to our country.”
Everyone applauded as the veteran’s three daughters accepted the medals.
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Photos of World War II veteran Francisco Gonzalez are displayed at Mercedes City Hall on Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2024, in Mercedes. (Joel Martinez | [email protected])
The discharge papers of World War II veteran Francisco Gonzalez are displayed at Mercedes City Hall on Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2024, in Mercedes. (Joel Martinez | [email protected])
Martha Gonzalez react after receiving her father's World War II Victory Service Medal posthumously awarded to veteran Francisco Gonzalez by U.S. Congressman Vicente Gonzalez at Mercedes City Hall on Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2024, in Mercedes. (Joel Martinez | [email protected])
Veterans react during a ceremony as a World War II Victory Medal was posthumously awarded to the family of veteran Francisco Gonzalez by U.S. Congressman Vicente Gonzalez at Mercedes City Hall on Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2024, in Mercedes. (Joel Martinez | [email protected])
Martha Gonzalez, far right, stands with other family members as she holds the World War II Victory Medal posthumously awarded to her father veteran Francisco Gonzalez by U.S. Congressman Vicente Gonzalez at Mercedes City Hall on Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2024, in Mercedes. (Joel Martinez | [email protected])
The World War II Victory Medal posthumously awarded to the family of veteran Francisco Gonzalez by U.S. Congressman Vicente Gonzalez at Mercedes City Hall on Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2024. (Joel Martinez | [email protected])
Martha Gonzalez is presented with the World War II Victory Medal posthumously awarded to her father veteran Francisco Gonzalez by U.S. Congressman Vicente Gonzalez at Mercedes City Hall on Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2024, in Mercedes. (Joel Martinez | [email protected])
It was bittersweet for some, such as his daughter Leticia Ortega, because he died in 1993.
“It’s wonderful,” she said. “It’s something that should have been done when he was alive. I’m very glad that they were able to.”
Everyone described him as a quiet man who earned an honest dollar as a truck driver.
Friends of Francisco Gonzalez remembered him well. Guadalupe Garcia, 86, used to ride with him when he’d take migrants up north.
“We got along really well,” Garcia said. “He was a very wise man.”
Sports medicine and general orthopedic surgeon Dr. Daniel Romanelli stands in his office with a signed soccer ball and framed jersey from the 2008 Olympic champion U.S. Women’s National Soccer team. (Courtesy: DHR Brownsville)
Dr. Daniel Romanelli, a sports medicine and general orthopedic surgeon who has worked at the highest levels of competitive sports and who can perform cutting-edge procedures like Tommy John surgery, has joined DHR Health Brownsville Hospital.
Romanelli was a traveling physician with the 2008 Olympic champion U.S. Women’s National Soccer team and again with the 2015 team. His experience as a sports doctor spans 23 years, first at Division I New Mexico State University, then as a traveling physician with both men’s and women’s U.S. national soccer teams.
“I have over 23 years of experience at a very high level. For 16 years I took care of Division I New Mexico State, their basketball team, baseball team, women’s volleyball. We helped out with football because that’s a beast you kind of take care of by yourself. New Mexico State is known for athletics and its baseball, basketball and volleyball teams are always top 50 programs in the country,” Romanelli said in an interview earlier this week at DHR-Brownsville.
Romanelli is a second opinion consultant with University of Texas Rio Grande Valley athletics, mostly with the baseball team, caring for athletes in Edinburg and seeing them here, he said.
A native Spanish speaker, Romanelli is originally from Argentina and came to the United States as a young child. He practiced in McAllen for three years before relocating to Brownsville this past November.
“And in regards to soccer from 2002 to 2015, for 13 years I traveled with both the men’s and women’s soccer teams, starting out with the U-17s, the U-20s, the under 23s and on the women’s side the full team, so various places around the world I’ve traveled with different teams,” he said.
“The teams that were notable were 2008 I went to the under 20s World Cup with the USA women’s team. At that time the stars were Alex Morgan, Sidney LaRue. They won the World Cup that year I was with Coach Diccio and Coach Stone and so we went down to Chile and they had a great tournament,” he said.
In 2010 Romanelli was in Germany with the under-21 team.
Sports medicine and general orthopedic surgeon Dr. Daniel Romanelli reminisces of his experience as the traveling physician for the U.S. men’s and women’s soccer teams. (Courtesy: DHR Brownsville)
“They came up short, but that was with Coach Jill Ellis. The stars again were Sidney LaRue, Alex Morgan and then in 2015 it was with the full U.S. national team and at that camp it was with all the big stars that you read about and saw on the TV, which is Abby Wambach, Alex Morgan, Tobin Keith, Kelly O’Hara, Heather O’Reily the list goes on and on with the U.S. national team, and Hope Solo was the goalkeeper, so it was spent traveling with them in Mexico covering their games as a traveling doc,” Romanelli said.
“My personal background is I’m from Argentina originally. I came here at a very young age. I speak Spanish. I played soccer growing up from very small up until my 20s and so I understand the game, I follow the game, I watch it regularly on the weekends I have my favorite teams I like to root for,” he said.
“So I guess what I bring here that hasn’t been here is an expertise in sports medicine that is equivalent to some of the procedures, the new cutting edge procedures that you would see in the big towns, San Antonio, Austin, Dallas, Houston,” he said.
“I bring that type of repertoire, in regards to reconstructing knees. ACL reconstructions are with the most current techniques, which are independent tunnels and using quadricep autograft … more technical things, but it is worth noting because it’s bringing the more current types of procedures to the Valley that are being offered in big cities, so really there shouldn’t have to be a lot of kids having to leave now to go to San Antonio or Austin or Houston or Dallas to be taken care of because they can come here,” Romanelli said.
“The majority of things I can handle and if I can’t handle it I’ll be the first one to tell them, and I will find them the right doctor for their particular problem. For instance, I’m very good friends with some of the doctors that take care of the universities in and around Texas so I can make calls to other sports specialists and get people in and into their office as a referral if it’s something I don’t do,” he said.
Sports medicine and general orthopedic surgeon Dr. Daniel Romanelli poses in his office with a green soccer ball and framed mementos during his time as the traveling physician for the U.S. men’s and women’s soccer teams. (Courtesy: DHR Brownsville)
“One thing I do here that I don’t think anybody does here in the Valley is Tommy John surgery, so when a pitcher or a baseball player hurts their elbow and tears their ulnar collateral ligament I can repair it for them and reconstruct it using tissue from another part of their body to reconstruct the ligament, and that’s something I’ve offered since I arrived here, which I don’t think anybody else in the Valley is doing,” he said.
Romanelli also surgically reconstructs knees, offering a procedure called MACI.
“So if you’re playing soccer and if you get an injury and you injure a piece of cartilage off your knee and it’s down to bone and it’s a good size, then I can go in, first arthroscopicly go in and assess the lesion and if it’s a certain size, then I can actually take a biopsy of your bone cartilage, send it off to the lab, they can grow it on a pig skin or a cow skin with your cells and re-implant it back into your knee, and basically what that does is it restores the cartilage defect and that’s something I’ve been doing since 2000,” Romanelli said.
“So there’s a lot of things that if you do get injured playing baseball, football, soccer, whatever sport you have, I would love to see that particular athlete and assess them and If I can help them I certainly will and if I can’t I’ll get em to the right doc so they can get better and ultimately can get back to sports. I think that’s what I bring plus the 23 years of experience at a very high level of sport, and the other thing is I’ve been covering junior high and high school athletics for 25 years now between here and Las Cruces, New Mexico, and Flagstaff, Arizona.”
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to correct misspellings.
LEFT: This photo shows a puppy transferred to a New York shelter that was raided by police there. RIGHT: This photo shows a puppy before it was transferred to a New York shelter that was later raided by police. (Courtesy: City of Harlingen)
HARLINGEN — The Rio Grande Valley Humane Society sent more than 50 dogs and cats to a New York animal rescue shelter before a raid in which its owner was arrested after authorities found more than 100 animals in “extreme conditions of filth and crowding” in her home, authorities said.
The Humane Society’s transfer occurred while the city was contracting the agency to operate the Harlingen animal shelter.
On Friday, city officials took over the shelter’s operations a month after they terminated the Humane Society’s $400,000 annual contract, claiming the “no-kill” agency breached the agreement when it failed to take in Harlingen residents’ pets and some animal control officers’ intake requests.
On Jan. 17, authorities with the Mohawk Hudson Humane Society in Menands, New York, and the Colonie Police Department arrested Jennifer Ulh, the owner of Empawthy Animal Rescue in Latham, New York, for cruelty to animals after finding 47 dogs, 52 cats and three ferrets in her 1,200-square-foot home in Cohoes, including 15 dead cats and one rabbit in a freezer, Marguerite Pearson, the Mohawk Hudson Humane Society’s spokeswoman, said Tuesday.
The officers “encountered extreme conditions of filth and crowding” in the rescue shelter, the Mohawk Hudson Humane Society said in a press release. “Empawthy Rescue is not a registered pet rescue or shelter, as required by New York State Agriculture and Markets law.”
On Tuesday, Uhl, who could not be reached for comment, did not respond to a message sent to the rescue shelter’s website.
Authorities were filing a charge stemming from “over-driving, torturing and injuring animals, including failure to provide proper sustenance” against the Empawthy Animal Rescue shelter, the press release said.
“It is believed that animals came from overcrowded shelters in other states as far away as Texas, as well as private individuals and online ads for unwanted pets,” the press release said.
The Mohawk Hudson Humane Society was taking care of the animals.
“All animals were taken to the Society’s Menands Animal Care Center where they will be evaluated by veterinary staff, bathed and receive other needed care,” the press release said.
Meanwhile, the Rio Grande Valley Humane Society had transferred a puppy which became sick at the rescue shelter, Mayor Norma Sepulveda said.
“A severely emaciated puppy was taken to the Capital District Veterinary Referral Hospital where measures are being taken to attempt to save her life,” the Mohawk Hudson Humane Society said in its press release.
On Tuesday, Pearson said the puppy named Sprite was facing “critical” days as she tries to recover.
“Sprite is out of the hospital,” she said. “She is continuing her recovery with an experienced foster and the next few days will be critical for her.”
A view of the facade of the Rio Grande Valley Humane Society in Harlingen in Wednesday, Dec. 27, 2023. (Miguel Roberts | The Brownsville Herald)
On Tuesday, Melissa Saldana, the Rio Grande Valley Humane Society’s interim executive director, said members are traveling to the New York humane society to help.
“In light of the impending closure of our Harlingen facility, we were presented the opportunity to send animals to New York for a better life,” she said in a statement. “We learned that an out-of-state rescue we collaborated with is facing hoarding charges. Fortunately, Colonie Animal Control and Mohawk Humane Society intervened, rescuing the animals found and providing them with the necessary care they need. RGVHS appreciates the timely rescue by the animal control and Humane Society. Thanks to a sponsor, our team is flying out to New York to assist them through this process.”
In a statement Tuesday, Sepulveda said officials’ decision against renewing the Rio Grande Valley Humane Society’s contract stemmed from “serious concerns regarding their transparency and operational practices.”
“The recent raid and subsequent arrest of the director of Empawthy Animal Rescue, the rescue organization used by RGVHS, further validate our concerns,” she said.
“Among the documentation requested of the RGVHS was a list of rescue organizations they partner with,” Sepulveda said. “After significant delay in producing the list, the city was provided a list. However, they failed to disclose their partnership with Empawthy Animal Rescue.”
“Nonetheless, shortly before the raid, RGVHS posted on social media praising the partnership and crediting Empawthy with transporting a ‘combined number of 48 dogs and 11 cats’ to ‘loving new homes,”’ she said. “We have since learned that during the Empawthy raid 16 animals were found dead in a freezer and another 47 dogs and 52 cats were removed. It begs the question, ‘How many of those animals were Harlingen animals that were supposedly transported to loving homes?’”
In her statement, Sepulveda said, “RGVHS’s partnership with an organization like Empawthy, who is not properly registered as a rescue, highlights a critical failure in due diligence.”
“RGVHS not only failed to provide requested documentation, including a complete list of rescues they worked with, but also failed to appropriately address the aftermath of the crisis,” she said. “Their decision to remove social media posts that previously praised their partnership with Empawthy only adds to the concern. This lack of transparency and accountability in handling such a serious matter is deeply troubling and the citizens of Harlingen deserve better. It reinforces our decision to sever ties, reaffirming our commitment to working with organizations that maintain the highest standards of integrity and animal welfare.”
“The RGVHS’s ‘no-kill’ mission requires they have a 90% ‘save rate,’” Sepulveda added. “However, this ideology, while noble in its intent, can lead to serious challenges. The situation at hand underscores the necessity of balancing the ‘save rate’ with the quality of care provided to these animals. It also brings to light the importance of transparency in the operations of such organizations. I would hope that RGVHS will take this opportunity to re-evaluate their animal welfare practices, ensuring they are not only focused on the quantity of lives saved but also on the quality of life and care provided. Animals deserve better.”
The city’s operation of the Harlingen shelter comes months after officials began requesting the Humane Society present detailed financial information to determine whether the agency was using the city’s $400,000 annual payment to help Harlingen residents.
When the Humane Society presented some information weeks after an October deadline, officials questioned whether nearly $1 million was spent on payroll.
In 1988, the city first contracted the Rio Grande Valley Humane Society, under its former name, the Harlingen Humane Society, to operate the shelter.
About four years ago, the Humane Society, under past Executive Director Luis Quintanilla and a revamped board of directors, turned the shelter into a “no-kill” operation, slashing its numbers of euthanasia procedures.
In November, Quintanilla resigned after about four years on the job.
A 61-year-old Mission man died in Willacy County after falling from an overpass on Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2024. (Courtesy of the Texas Department of Public Safety)
A 61-year-old Mission man died in Willacy County after falling from an overpass on Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2024. (Courtesy of the Texas Department of Public Safety)
A 61-year-old Mission man died Tuesday morning in a single-vehicle semi crash in Willacy County.
The Texas Department of Public Safety said in a news release that the crash happened at 5:22 a.m. on U.S. 77 north of FM 1017.
The driver of the SAIA Motor Freight Line, Alejandro Delbosque Jr., was traveling southbound when he lost control for unknown reasons and fell off the overpass.
