SOUTH PADRE ISLAND — Texas game wardens on patrol during Spring Break unearthed more than 900 pounds of marijuana hidden among the sand dunes of South Padre Island.

While patrolling the coastline between beach access points 5 and 6 on Friday, game wardens noticed heavy foot traffic leading from the water’s edge to the dunes.

After a quick search of the area, several partially buried, plastic-wrapped packages were located.

Further investigation led to the discovery of more than a dozen bundles of drugs buried in the sand. In total, 946 pounds of marijuana were seized.

With thousands of people flocking to the Island for Spring Break and Semana Santa, or Holy Week, Texas game wardens have increased their presence in the area, working alongside the U.S. Coast Guard and Customs and Border Protection Marine Interdiction Agents to assist with security efforts.

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HARLINGEN — Christians around the world come together today, the holiest day of the year, to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Easter is a universal celebration of victory over death and a new beginning.

Last night, on Holy Saturday, area residents rejoiced in the renewal of their faith during the Easter Vigil at St. Anthony’s Catholic Church in Harlingen.

“Easter is a time of new life and rejoicing in a new beginning for all of us. It’s a renewing of our faith,” said 13-year-old Reeve Reyna, a student at Coakley Middle School.

Noe Sepulveda, 64, also said the risen Christ represents a new beginning for “all of us.”

“Because of the promise of the resurrection, the Lord said that we would also rise,” the Weslaco resident said.

“For us, it means that we, as Catholics, have the promise of heaven through the life and death and rising of Jesus.”

Sepulveda goes to St. Anthony’s because that’s were his grandchildren go.

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RIO HONDO — Considering taking the back way to South Padre Island or a direct shot to Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge?

Think again.

For the next nearly two years, the 11.4 mile stretch of General Brant Road between FM 1847 and FM 510 will be under construction.

Earlier this week, Texas Department of Transportation reported the start of the project, which includes widening and rehabbing the roadway. Previous discussions about the road includes an additional ocelot crossing tunnel feature to help protect the endangered cats living in the area.

TxDOT public information officer Octavio Saenz said the $15.5 million project is part of the statewide transportation improvement program. Along with the widening and reconstruction of the road, there also will be drainage, striping and signage improvements.

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HARLINGEN — Livingway Family Church Pastor Bill Moore said, “Easter is like the Super Bowl to any child of God.”

It was with Super Bowl-like enthusiasm that more than 150 children ranging in age from 1 to 11 geared up with colorful baskets and poised themselves behind yellow caution tape.

Every child wiggled with excitement and anticipation yesterday for the Easter egg hunt on the grounds of Marine Military Academy.

On the other side of the caution tape lay thousands of colorful eggs, all filled with candy.

When the word “go!” was yelled, that was it.

With the same energy of an Olympian, children dove and slid to the ground, plucking eggs left and right.

Everything was orderly and no one pushed. The children were told during a church service by Livingway Family Church Pastor Anne Moore that there were plenty of eggs to go around.

The church’s executive assistant, Melissa Sosa, said the volunteers prepared about 10,000 eggs.

No one left empty handed. Every child who attended left with eggs and a prize.

In a show of generosity, church officials handed out more than $20,000 worth of prizes.

Each child left either with a stuffed animal, bike, gift card or goody basket.

HARLINGEN — The city’s unemployment rate, reported for February, shows it matched the April 2015 number, which is the lowest it has been since early 2008.

At 5.5 percent, that is a tick better than the January figure of 5.6 percent.

That compares to the 2015 numbers of 6.5 percent for January and 5.9 percent for February.

The trend is happening all across the state and country.

Harlingen’s rate is just slightly higher than the United States rate of 5.2, which was down from the January 5.6 percent number.

Overall, the not seasonally adjusted numbers in the Rio GrandeValley also are down slightly. The Brownsville-Harlingen metropolitan statistical area dropped to 6.8 in February, down from 7.1 in January. A year ago, it was 7.4 percent.

The McAllen-Edinburg-Mission metro area also dropped significantly, to 7.5, down from 8.1 in January. A year ago, the unemployment rate was 8.0 percent.

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LYFORD — Soon, work crews will stop using their cell phones to reach “dead spots” along the city’s northern edge.

That’s because city commissioners have approved a $1,800 purchase of communications equipment to replace parts of a radio system.

Officials have ordered a base radio and antenna and two mobile radios for the city’s public works department, Mayor Henry De La Paz said yesterday.

Public Works Director Javier Lopez said the department’s old communication system cannot transmit into the city’s northern section.

“They’re outdated,” Lopez said of the antenna and radios. “Some areas don’t pick up at all so we have to use our personal phones.”

De La Paz said officials needed to improve the department’s communication system.

“This helps us to communicate between each other. If someone runs into problems, we need to communicate,” De La Paz said. “The antenna range doesn’t cover the entire city. There are some dead spots.”

HARLINGEN — It’s either print or perish in the printing business.

And with a market saturated with desktop publishing and home printing, the two local printers decided to form a strategic alliance to profit by offering more services from a one-stop shop.

“We have been trying to do this for a number of years,” said Brent Hunter, formally JaMar Printing owner. “It’s working quite well for the both of us.”

Hunter joined a partnership with Miguel Plata, founder of CM Graphics, to create CM/JaMar.

CM Graphics has been specializing in printing large signage as JaMar has been printing business cards, brochures and more.

As the two business owners began helping each other out over the years, a conversation about a merger was born.

The CM Graphics and JaMar Printing owners decided to join forces instead of continuing to compete against each other for local business.

“We can do anything from screen printing, car wraps to business cards,” Hunter said. “We can do it all.”

On Thursday, the Harlingen Area Chamber of Commerce held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the newly organized printing company with its members, business owners and local leaders.

“We take care of corporate customers down to the local individual,” Hunter said.

Plata said everything has worked out well as they continue to offer their services to their clients throughout the Valley from Rio Grande City to South Padre Island.

“Brent has the business knowledge and I have the creative knowledge,” Plata said.

HARLINGEN — The iPad can be difficult for some people to work and navigate.

So the Harlingen Public Library developed a one-day course to help people learn their way around the tablet.

People interested in the class must sign up at the reference desk and bring a fully charged iPad to the class on Saturday, April 9, from 1 to 4 p.m.

Librarian Assistant David Sanchez is a computer systems management specialist who will be hosting the class.

Sanchez has been working at the library for two years. In that time, he has offered training in computer basics, email basics, social networking, Microsoft applications and computer safety.

By popular demand, the library requested Sanchez design a helpful activity to show patrons helpful tips on the iPad.

“It’s going to be a good tutorial and people are going to learn more about their iPad,” Sanchez said.

“The iPad can be a little bit tricky when you just get it,” Sanchez said. “There is a learning curve.”

He will be available to answer questions for iPad users and supply them with tips on security, networking, messaging and troubleshooting.

“We have so many people coming here looking for answers to questions about their iPad,” said Mabel Hockaday, reference services librarian. “A lot of people get these devices as a gift and they really don’t know how to use them.”

Hockaday said the class is needed very much.

“David has been doing a lot of these technology courses in the past,” Hockaday said. “People keep coming back to his classes.”

HARLINGEN — Carnegie Hall.

The very name of the music venue in New York City invokes feelings of prestige, flawless talent and an unreachable goal.

But Matthew Garcia seems to have made it synonymous with his name. Garcia, a freshman at the Harlingen School for Health Professions, has performed at the respected institution the past two years.

Now he’s been accepted to the National Youth Orchestra 2, also known as NYO2. The training residency, presented by Carnegie Hall and its Weill Music Institute, will take place June 18 to July 4.

“It’s really an honor to be able to play with such high-caliber artists,” said Matthew, 15, a viola player who plans to pursue a career as a cardiothoracic surgeon.

That’s right. It turns out music is a passion he plans to continue while he studies and practices medicine.

“I think the heart is the center of everything in the body,” he said. “Being able to help something with that much power and make it better is a challenge.”

In the midst of saving lives, he hopes to play in a symphony on the side. He seems to have a pretty good start.

He began playing viola only three years ago, but for the past two summers he’s been a member of the International Youth Middle School Orchestra at Carnegie Hall. Last summer he was a featured soloist at Carnegie Hall.

He was quick to apply for the NYO2 program, an intense training and performance session involving musicians from the Philadelphia Orchestra and The Julliard School. He sent a recording of himself playing, plus an essay, and three recommendations as part of the application.

Even with his talent, he didn’t think he’d be accepted. He received the news earlier this month, however, he’d be playing this summer with about 80 musicians like himself from throughout the United States.

“I’m looking forward to how much I can learn from it and better myself as a musician,” said Matthew, who is currently number 1 in his class.

During the residency, he and his fellow musicians will perform in both Philadelphia and New York City.

He’s already looking forward to next year when he hopes to play with the National Youth Orchestra. NYO2, he says, is sort of a “little brother” to NYO.

His sophomore year will also include studies about surgery and medical terminology.

REYNOSA — Hundreds of Mexican soldiers arrived this past week to help contain the violence that resurfaced across the border state of Tamaulipas since they left at the end of last year.

A total of 900 soldiers from the Secretary of National Defense (SEDENA) arrived to a border city airport Wednesday and were welcomed by Tamaulipas State Gov. Egidio Torre-Cantú.

“My biggest welcome to this extraordinary group that comes to join the efforts put forward every day by many men and women to build a safer Tamaulipas,” Torre-Cantú said in Spanish. “The coordinated work between federal and state forces has been and will continue to be a fundamental factor.”

In 2011, 2,790 Mexican soldiers from SEDENA first arrived in Tamaulipas to reinforce state and local police during an unprecedented surge in violence. Murders in Tamaulipas jumped more than 90 percent and kidnapping reports more than doubled between 2011 and 2012, according to a 2013 travel warning from the U.S. State Department.

El Mañana, a daily newspaper in Tamaulipas reported the capture of 15 high-profile members of cartels operating within the state brought calm to Tamaulipas, but that was broken with the departure of the military in December.

In Reynosa, some 30 patrol vehicles were left inactive after the military police left the city and since then the number of persecutions, shootouts and the burning of vehicles has increased, El Mañana wrote last month.

Last weekend state police killed nine men in two separate incidents after they were attacked by armed assailants.

The first encounter — between state police and a group of armed civilians — occurred a week ago Saturday on the 15th kilometer of Nueva Ciudad Guerrero, Mexico, which is across the Rio Grande from Roma.

Authorities suddenly came under gunfire by an unspecified number of people from several vehicles, according to a state news release. Police fired back, killing seven of the alleged assailants. It is unclear if any of the police forces were killed or injured.

The second shootout happened in the city of Valle Hermoso, southwest of Matamoros, early last Sunday, resulting in two deaths, according to a state news release. State police were patrolling Calle 13 — between the colonias of Adolfo Lopez Mateos and Hidalgo — when they came under fire at about 12:30 a.m.

A gunfight ensued between police and a trio of suspects who were shooting out of a gray 2008 Jeep Grand Cherokee, the release states. Two of the three men died during the shootout.

During Wednesday’s ceremony, Gen. Patiño Canchola, of SEDENA, said these efforts in Tamaulipas align with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto’s orders that all institutions should work together to achieve the objective of a peaceful Mexico.

“Mr. Governor, you can be certain that the performance of these troops will back up at all times the actions of those in charge of public security of the state in their functions, which will make them stronger,” Canchola said in Spanish.