HARLINGEN — Rio Grande LNG is hosting a free workshop this afternoon geared to inform local businesses about how they can benefit and be part of the proposed project.

Rio Grande LNG will hold the workshop in Harlingen from 2 to 5 p.m. today, at the University Center Auditorium on the campus of Texas State Technical College.

The company is in the process of applying to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to build a natural gas liquefaction export facility at the Port of Brownsville. The terminal would provide natural gas liquefaction, export and vessel and truck loading services.

During this workshop — which is free, but organizers are requesting RSVPs — those attending will be introduced to the LNG project, including an explanation of the goods and services needed during construction and operations. In that sense, the workshop will attempt to help businesses understand the qualification process in order to bid on work.

Among the examples of goods and services Rio Grande LNG will need if the project is approved, includes fuel, transportation, telecommunications, landscaping, office supplies, security, waste management, recycling, medical services, utility work, roofing, insulation, concrete, pump trucks, rental equipment, surveying and welding, among many other needs.

Workshops also have been and are being held in other communities, including South Padre Island, Brownsville and McAllen.

For more information or to register, go to www.riograndelng.com/workshop.

BROWNSVILLE – On Tuesday night, as the drizzle began to come down, there was nothing that was going to come between the Brownsville Vetearns Lady Chargers and victory.

With a comfortable 4-1 lead heading into the sixth inning, Chargers fans were cautiously optimistic, remembering their first encounter against San Benito, where the Lady ’Hounds rallied from five runs down in the sixth for the win.

However, this time was different.

Seven innings of solid pitching between Cassie Valdez and Mia Anzaldua produced 12 strikeouts and a 4-2 victory over the top ranked team in the state. The loss was San Benito’s first of the season.

“There was a lot of motivation from the first game because we thought that we dominated the game up until the last innings where we had some errors,” said Veterans head coach Rayner Cardenas. “That hiccup motivated us to prepare for tonight.”

Valdez had a big night going 3 for 3 from the plate with two RBIs.

“It’s a huge win because they’re really our biggest competition right now and with them being number one we wanted to prove everyone wrong,” said Valdez. “With us being the underdogs, we just came out here and did our job and worked as a team.”

For San Benito, the win steak ends at 24 straight, but San Benito head coach Kristy Leal said the loss will serve as a lesson.

“Hats off to her (Valdez), that kid can pitch,” said Leal. “They showed up tonight and, unfortunately, the ball didn’t roll in our favor, but it’s something that were going to learn from and I’m sure that we will bounce back.”

Despite the loss, it was San Benito that got on the scoreboard first in the top of the second after Meagan Ybarra hit a ball down the center of the park, causing an error from the centerfielder and Alina Jasso to score from second base.

However, the lead did not last long as the Lady Chargers responded with two runs of their own, taking a 2-1 lead into the third.

In the bottom of the third Brownsville struck again after a stand up double RBI from Valdez brought home Rheana Gomez to stretch the lead to 3-1.

In the top of the sixth, with pressure beginning to build on San Benito, the Lady Hounds force a 1-3 error as Destiny Hernandez finds home plate to cut the lead 4-2.

However, Anzaldua replaces Valdez midway through the sixth and strikes out two batters while not giving up a hit.

The Lady Greyhounds will get a chance to rebound from their first loss of the season against Brownsville Lopez on Friday at home at 7 p.m.

SAN BENITO — The mother of a baby who was taken off life support after being found unresponsive in a bathtub has been arrested.

Amber Marie G. Molano, 20, turned herself in to the San Benito Police Department yesterday on a first-degree felony charge of injury to a child.

A warrant had been issued out of the San Benito Municipal Court.

Police said Molano left her 7-month-old son Traviz Luke and a 2-year-old unattended in the bathtub at her Vista Park Apartment on Cornejo Drive.

Traviz Luke was found in the tub, unresponsive, and taken to Valley Baptist Medical Center in Harlingen, where he was placed on life support.

He died five days later after he was taken off life support.

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SAN BENITO — After three months of construction, La Posada Providencia has a new pavilion.

Now it’s ready for use.

The small yellow structure is poised on the front of the property.

Clients, shelter staff and members of the community all came together yesterday under the pavilion to dedicate the structure to La Posada and be reminded of its message, “welcoming the stranger.”

The pavilion is for the clients.

Sister Zita Telkamp, the shelter’s program director said, it’s her job to see they are cared for.

The clients, mainly women and children, have traveled hundreds of miles fleeing countries that haven’t been kind to them.

Most, if not all, are fleeing some type of religious persecution and govern-ment unrest.

As a safe haven, La Posada has relied heavily on the kindness of the community.

Yesterday, the shelter celebrated the new $20,000 pavilion.

This was made possible by a number of organizations, including the Sun-burst Rotary Club, District 5930 of Rotary International, Boggus Ford, carpenter Jimmy Vasquez, Sam Uribe Electric and Casa Engineering.

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MERCEDES — Spending time at the waterfall has been a pastime for many locals for decades.

It’s the area where Gregorio Ramirez, 31, died attempting to save his wife and daughter from drowning during a family outing outdoors this weekend.

While that appears to be the only fatality in that area in more than 10 years, there is a factor of danger according to Jaime Flores, Arroyo Colorado Water-shed Coordinator.

He might not have realized the force of the flow of the water or he could have cut his leg under the water, where there is a lot of debris, Flores said.

“In many bodies of water, especially the Arroyo Colorado, you might not see on the surface the velocity of the water or the depth of the water,” Flores said. “It can be misleading when you look at it from the surface of the water because it’s much different when you’re inside the water.”

Ramirez drowned in an area known to locals as the waterfall, but it’s actually a spillway where there is a canal going underneath the arroyo connecting the canal on the north and the south.

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HARLINGEN — Like many institutions, public libraries have struggled with the disruptive innovation of new technology.

But this week, the Harlingen Public Library Board signed off on a strategic five-year plan that embraces the changing ways we communicate.

The five-year plan covers growing and sustaining readers, training library patrons in technology, improving accessibility to library programs, enhancing the library experience and working on staff development.

“I have this vision of taking the library to the community,” library Director Dauna Campbell said yesterday. “We are a destination place, but we don’t have to be just that.

“We can take the library to where they are, and show them what we have online and what resources we have to offer,” she said.

Much of what is in the Harlingen library plan mirrors recommendations made by the American Library Association, the national umbrella for public libraries across the country.

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HARLINGEN — About six years after it was razed, a gas station’s underground tank site is still leaking.

Now, state officials are trying to trace the source of the groundwater contamination.

City commissioners are considering granting the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality’s request to drill a new well to monitor groundwater under a city parking lot in the 200 block of South Commerce Street.

“There’s contaminated soil underneath there,” City Engineer Javier Zamora said yesterday.

As part of the investigation, the agency is monitoring 10 wells in an approximately 500-foot radius of American Eagle Glass, 101 W. Harrison Ave., the site of another former gas station.

Last August, the agency found gasoline contaminates in a monitoring well located near the intersection of Commerce and Harrison at the site of the former Greg Toler’s Garage, which the city razed during the renovation of the Reese around 2010.

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MERCEDES — One local organization is looking forward to more days filled with trash, brush and junk.

A recent announcement of Keep Mercedes Beautiful making the state list of the Governor’s Community Achievement Award of Excellence made the group all the more eager to keep organizing cleaning activities for the city.

They awarded for their participation in Keep Texas Beautiful.

“The award has given us a lot of motivation to keep going and doing what we’re doing,” said Vanessa Marie Perez, chairwoman of Keep Mercedes Beautiful. “We’re very, very proud and everything we do we tribute it to our volunteers because without them we wouldn’t be able to do what we do.”

Perez led a large group of eager volunteers this past weekend cleaning up the city.

“We filled up 28 bags of trash,” said Perez. “We are out there for three to four hours and we went out there and did what we were going to do.”

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