Ingredients

Lemonade

1/2 cup granulated sugar

3 1/2 cups boiled water

1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (3 or 4 lemons)

White Peach Puree

1 cup white peaches, cored and roughly chopped

1 tablespoon water

Instructions

1. Before juicing the lemons, rub the skin aggressively with ½ cup of granulated sugar. This will release the natural oils in the lemon skin and perfume the sugar for the simple syrup.

2. In a small bowl, combine ½ cup of recently boiled water with perfumed granulated sugar to create a simple syrup. Stir until the sugar has completely dissolved. Set aside.

3. Combine the remaining 3 cups of water, lemon juice and simple syrup in a pitcher. Stir. Place in the refrigerator and keep chilled until ready to serve.

4. While lemonade is chilling, purée peaches and water in a food processor until liquefied. Strain, reserving the juice and discarding the peach pulp.

5. Add puree to lemonade and chill mixture longer if necessary. Pour over ice and serve with complementary herbs if desired—we recommend a sprig of thyme in each glass.

Ingredients

Lemonade

½ cup granulated sugar

3 ½ cups boiled water

½ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (3 or 4 lemons)

Watermelon Puree

1 cup seedless watermelon, cubed

Instructions

1. Before juicing the lemons, rub the skin aggressively with ½ cup of granulated sugar. This will release the natural oils in the lemon skin and perfume the sugar for the simple syrup.

2. In a small bowl, combine ½ cup of recently boiled water with perfumed granulated sugar to create a simple syrup. Stir until the sugar has completely dissolved. Set aside.

3. Combine the remaining 3 cups of water, lemon juice and simple syrup in a pitcher. Stir. Place in the refrigerator and keep chilled until ready to serve.

4. While lemonade is chilling, purée watermelon in a food processor until liquefied. Strain, reserving the juice and discarding the pulp.

5. Add puree to lemonade and chill mixture longer if necessary. Pour over ice and serve with complementary herbs if desired—we recommend a sprig of mint in each glass.

HARLINGEN — The police have identified a man who was struck by two cars Sunday night.

Police said Brandon Bivian Lopez, 20, of Mercedes, was found in the 1200 block of north Expressway 77 at 10:30 p.m.

Officers said he was struck by at least two motorists and that one of the drivers fled the accident scene.

He is listed in critical condition at Valley Baptist Medical Center but expected to survive.

Police are asking anyone who may have witnessed the accident or can identify the victim to call them at (956) 216-5401 or (956) 425-8477.

The Star recently ran a scalding 1,000 word letter by a Harlingen resident attacking all things liberal or Democratic as socialism.

I assume he believes his Social (oops!) Security check, his Medicare coverage and price supports for Valley agriculture are OK though.

Would the editor allow me 42 words to explain this gentleman’s end of the political spectrum?

Conservatism is based in the felt experience of having power, seeing it threatened, and trying to win it back. It is fundamentally inspired by hostility to emancipating the lower orders, and defending power and privilege against movements demanding fairness and equality.

I believe that’ll do it.

M. Dailey Harlingen

Candidates involved in today’s primary runoff races in Cameron County did some last minute politicking yesterday — with help from their supporters — trying to persuade registered voters why they are the best person for the job.

The polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. around the county, and voters can cast their ballots in either Democratic or Republican runoff races.

Photo identification is required at the polls. There are separate voting locations for Democrats and Republican races.

One of the biggest races on today’s ballot is the Democratic Party nominee for county judge. The race pits former Brownsville mayor Eddie Treviño Jr. against former Cameron County commissioner Dan Sanchez.

Treviño received 12,935 votes to Sanchez’s 10,705 votes in the March primary. A third candidate, Elizabeth Garza received 5,679 votes. Treviño failed to receive the majority of the vote thus forcing today’s runoff election.

The winner of this race will more than likely be the next county judge because there is no Republican candidate for this position.

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Reporter Fernando Del Valle contributed to this report.

RAYMONDVILLE — For years, many teachers have left the school district for higher-paying jobs.

For the second year in a row, officials are planning raises to help keep experienced teachers on staff.

Last night, school board members held a budget workshop to review the district’s plan to raise salaries.

Superintendent Johnny Pineda has proposed average raises of about $1,000 for the district’s 146 teachers.

Meanwhile, Pineda recommended auxiliary staff, made up of 71 employees including teachers aides and maintenance and transportation workers, receive average raises of about 2 percent.

The proposed salary package would come out to $383,339.

Officials plan to dip into next year’s general fund budget and federal allocation to fund the package.

The school board has not proposed next year’s budget. But the current general fund budget stands at $19.3 million.

Pineda said his recommendations are based on a three-year plan aimed at bringing teacher salaries closer to state averages.

This year, he said, marks the plan’s second year.

Pineda said the district worked with the Texas Association of School Boards to develop the program.

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HARLINGEN — South Texas used to abound with dense chaparral, but development and land-clearing for agriculture has reduced the available scrub thorn to the Laguna Atascosa Wildlife Refuge and pockets of land in Willacy and Kenedy counties.

There are few, if any, safe corridors for ocelots to cross the 15 miles which separate the refuge and those areas.

Four ocelots have been killed by vehicles in a three-county area in South Texas this year, federal officials said yesterday.

All of the ocelots killed in 2016 were young males. Since last June, seven ocelots — six males and a female — are known to have perished under the wheels of vehicles.

Three of the ocelot deaths in the past year occurred on FM 186 in Willacy County; one occurred on Highway 100 in Cameron County; one occurred on FM 2925 just west of Arroyo City; one on I-69 East just inside Kenedy County; and the other ocelot fatality occurred on Buena Vista Road in Cameron County.

Federal officials noted efforts are being made to reduce ocelot-vehicle interactions, primarily by adding wildlife underpasses to let ocelots cross roads safely.

Construction of wildlife underpasses has begun on FM 106, also known as General Brant Road, which borders and runs through the refuge and is currently being upgraded.

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SAN BENITO — Bye, Bye Marriott.

Marriott International Inc. has told city officials they will not build in San Benito.

The $19 million hotel and conference center was expected to be a big project for the area and sparked much enthusiasm among city officials and the community.

Announced with a ceremony just more than a year ago, officials had hoped the new venture would create profitable tax revenue for the city as well as many jobs, prosperity and growth.

The announcement comes a year after the Economic Development Corporation first announced the project at 2550 W. Expressway 77/83 on a three-acre site owned by the EDC.

At that time officials said ground would be broken in six months. That never happened.

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SAN BENITO — With the meeting of pen to paper, a couple of soon-to-be high school graduates fulfilled their lifelong dreams of getting the chance to play sports in college.

On Monday, San Benito’s JR Gaitan and Armando Medrano inked letters of intent to play sports at the next level.

Gaitan, a standout on the Greyhounds baseball squad, committed to Southeastern Community College in Burlington, Iowa. Meanwhile, Medrano, a star wide receiver for the ’Hounds’ football team, pledged to play for the University of Texas of the Permian Basin in Odessa.

“It’s an accomplishment to be here,” said Gaitan as a bevy of family and friends, all donned in SCC Blackhawks T-shirts, looked on in the San Benito High School Varsity gymnasium.

“It was a dream to play baseball at the next level, and now I’m here and I’m ready to go.”

Full story at RGVSports.com

HARLINGEN — For the second time, Harlingen native Rudy Delgado Jr. has been named Officer of the Year, this time with the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department.

Delgado, 35, who is married to fellow Harlingen High School graduate Sonia Benitez Delgado, won his initial award in 2012 while serving with the Rancho Cucamonga Police Department.

This year he won while working at the sheriff department’s training center where he is an instructor for the tactical response and rescue training team.

“I’m the active shooter instructor now for the county, just doing training,” Delgado said yesterday. “We work with the fire department so they can go into the ‘warm zone’ we call it to treat victims.

“We just go around the county teaching our deputies how to respond to these types of situations,” Delgado said.

Delgado’s foundation for his training position was laid during his stint in the U.S. Marines following his graduation from Harlingen High.

He served for four years, with his last year being at Camp Pendleton in California.

“I kind of look at it like I’m still serving like I was in the military but here,” Delgado said. “I take work seriously these days.”

After leaving the Marines, Delgado worked for a private security firm that had a contract to provide security at the Playboy mansion in Beverly Hills.

He also worked on protection details for dignitaries and celebrities.

Delgado described California as “a lot busier” than Harlingen, but that he and his wife manage to return to visit family and friends at least once a year. The couple has four children.

Part of the reason it seems busier could be because of Delgado’s volunteer work that has raised thousands of dollars for local charities. He also is a member of the Alumni Program of the Wounded Warrior Project.

“Texas is still home to me,” he said. “I love the fact that I grew up in Harlingen and I still keep in contact with Coach (Manny) Gomez.”

“That was my foundation for everything,” Delgado said of Harlingen and Harlingen High. “I’m really proud that’s where I’m from.”