BROWNSVILLE — Thousands of people — dressed in colorful Charro Days outfits — lined both sides of Elizabeth Street at the 79th Grand International Parade on Saturday in Brownsville.

The parade ran through the historic downtown district, starting shortly after 1 p.m. Saturday, the concluding day of Charro Days.

According to Interim Executive Director of Charro Days Inc., Elsa Cisneros, the Grand International Parade is the biggest of all the week’s parades, hosting approximately 15,000 to 20,000 people. It is significant in that it acts as a huge celebration, highlighting the special union between the border cities of Mexico and the United States, she said.

“The Grand International Parade brings the two sister cities of Brownsville and Matamoros together,” Cisneros said. “Most importantly, it gives both communities something to look at and enjoy.”

The parade had approximately 115 parade entries, including those from schools, businesses and organizations. Also present were city dignitaries from both U.S. and Mexican states.

Mexican-actress Itati Cantoral served as the parade’s Mr. Amigo 2015. Her father and famed singer-songwriter Roberto Cantoral served as Mr. Amigo in 1981.

Alberto Alegria, who came to watch the parade, said he’s been attending these parades ever since he arrived in Brownsville 25 years ago. Originally from Port Isabel, he said that he was brought to Brownsville after marrying his wife, Maria. Now working for the Brownsville Independent School District, he said that attending the Grand International Parade has become a tradition for his growing family.

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MERCEDES — Soon, the city of Mercedes will have an outside theater at the CivicCenter for concerts and social events.

The amphitheater is in the process of being built. Large, rounded metal structures are being erected to place a canopy over the stage.

As the structure goes up, it’s not easy to figure out what it’s going to be.

It has been drawing some attention as residents have been trying to figure out what the angular steel structure is going to be.

It’s the shape of an eye and lends itself to the imagination on what it could be.

Once it’s all done, it will give onlookers a 360-degree view of the action on the stage.

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HARLINGEN — The Stingrays are giving each other thumbs up after their recent Special Olympics successes.

“I placed both in bowling and basketball competitions,” said Josue Mendiola, 21, a student in the life skills program at HarlingenHigh School.

Josue and his six other teammates are pretty psyched about their victory last weekend in Sharyland where they took home several medals at the Rio GrandeValley area basketball competition. They were already doing a victory dance for their triumph in the bowling event Feb. 5 in the 2016 Special Olympics Texas Winter Games in Austin.

Josue won the silver at both events. A big smile swept across his face as he expressed his feelings about the event.

“I had a good time because I was on the team with my friends,” Josue said.

Josue and the other Stingrays play a variety of sports at Special Olympians and it’s paying off in a big way.

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HARLINGEN — He’s coached football.

He’s been a Title One director.

Now, Fred Cavazos is an adaptive physical education coach for the Harlingen school district, working with students who have special needs.

“I’ve always had a passion for working with special needs students,” Cavazos said. “When an opportunity opened I couldn’t pass it up.”

The school district has two adaptive P.E. coaches and several Special Olympics coaches. Adaptive P.E. coaches must obtain a TExES certification (Texas Examination of Educational Standards), plus an EC-12 certification in special education.

The Texas Educator Certification website says TExES tests are designed to measure a candidate’s knowledge in relation to an established criterion.

Cavazos said as an adaptive P.E. coach, he and Ozzie Ochoa, the district’s other adaptive coach, work with students in the life skills program. They work on a student’s upper and lower body strength and coordination. He and Ochoa work closely with the district’s Special Olympics coaches to prepare them for competition.

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HARLINGEN — A total of 38 high school sophomores, juniors and seniors of the Youth Leadership Harlingen program visited local businesses and explored the creativity, culture and quality of life in Harlingen on Monday.

Participating organizations were Downtown Harlingen, HarlingenArts & HeritageMuseum, HOPE for Small Farm Sustainability and FamilyCrisis Center.

Students opened the day with a tour of Downtown Harlingen where they visited many of downtown’s murals and historical landmarks. The tour was led by Downtown Harlingen Tour Guide Joie Rose Laney.

Participants of the Youth Leadership Harlingen class then traveled to the HarlingenArts & HeritageMuseum where they toured the grounds and learned more about Texas culture — particularly the many historical sites and artifacts associated with the Harlingen area.

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HARLINGEN — Jennah Gonzalez doesn’t write her notes in a notepad when she’s conducting an interview for a story.

No. Unlike the olden days when we used pens and notepads, the Zavala Elementary fifth-grader brings an iPad to her interviews complete with a video recorder.

“I barely finished my ‘Whoooo’s New?’” said Jennah, 11, propping her head against her hand, grimacing with frustration. Such is the life and long hours of a reporter, even for a student newspaper called “Zavala Owls Monthly Newspaper.”

The nine-member news staff is part of the Zavala Media Club and includes the Zavala Owls Weekly News. The “Weekly News” delivers a news broadcast each Friday in the school cafeteria.

“We come up with stories to tell about things going on in the district,” said Ayla Garcia, news anchor.

Ayla, 9, and the three other members of the news crew spend the week developing stories. When they’re ready, they head to the green room where their sponsor, Xochitl Lara, records their broadcast.

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HARLINGEN — Scores of veterans showed up yesterday at a local facility for some much-needed medical care.

The VA Health Care Center at 2601 Veterans Drive was open on a Saturday as part of the Veterans Affairs’ Second National Access Stand Down.

“We’re trying to see more patients,” said Joe Perez, acting director of the Veterans Affairs Texas Valley Coastal Bend Health Care System.

Hugo Martinez, VA public affairs officer, said more than 100 staff members at the clinic volunteered to work yesterday.

VA medical centers through the country yesterday had a team of health care professionals ready to tend to veterans with a variety of medical conditions. The first National Access event on Nov. 14 was a “great success,” says the va.gov website.

It succeeded well at the local level, too, so the local VA held its own stand down Feb. 6.

Between 50 and 60 veterans were at the clinic for primary care as well as more specialty conditions such as gastrointestinal ailments, pulmonary problems, urology and cardiology, Perez said. The stand down is necessary because sometimes the number of veterans seeking medical care begins to pile up.

The stand downs are necessary to catch up.

“We do pretty well,” said Perez. “But some patients may have been waiting 30 days. We’re trying to provide more time.”

There were also mental health professionals ready to see veterans.

Perez and Martinez both believed there will probably be more stand downs very soon, considering the interest.

For more information, call Hugo Martinez at 956-430-9303.

[email protected]

HARLINGEN — Alysa Gomez’s chef’s knife sliced easily through the potatoes as she prepared the dish she’d cooked so many times to prepare for competition.

Alysa, 17, was making braised chicken with a side of buttered parsley potatoes for the SkillsUSA Texas District 13 Leadership and Skills Conference. The Harlingen High School senior competed Feb. 13 in the culinary arts event with about six other students from throughout the Valley. She learned Saturday she’d advanced to the state competition April 1 and 2 in Corpus Christi.

She was thrilled to learn of her success.

“I thought it was pretty awesome,” she said. “I was competing against all guys.”

A majority of the events took place Feb. 19 and 20 at Texas State Technical College. However, the culinary arts, commercial baking and restaurant services events took place a week earlier at the Harlingen High School cafeteria. SkillsUSA advisors said there were so many events they couldn’t all be accommodated at the same place and time.

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RAYMONDVILLE — Across Willacy County, stray dogs and cats are running “out of control.”

That’s why the Harlingen Humane Society wants to open a dog holding center and cat sanctuary here.

In a meeting Thursday, county commissioners delayed action on the organization’s request to donate county land for the project.

The county, whose financial crisis led officials to eliminate a lone animal control officer’s job, does not have an animal shelter.

“There are a lot of animals all over the county and it’s out of control,” George Solis, Precinct 2’s justice of the peace, said yesterday. “It’s everywhere.”

Pat Turman-White, the Harlingen Humane Society’s president, is asking for about an acre to build the dog holding center and cat sanctuary.

Turman-White said she plans to ask Willacy County businesses and landowners to donate $75,000 to $100,000 for the project.

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CORPUS CHRISTI — The Santa Rosa Warriors haven’t been taken to the limit in a game since before district play nearly two months ago.

In Friday’s Class 3A area-round matchup against the Odem Owls, that changed.

Despite watching a 15-point second-half lead get widdled down to three in the waning seconds, the Warriors bent but didn’t break as they held on for a 47-44 victory Friday night at Veterans Memorial High School in Corpus Christi.

The win sends the Warriors to the regional quarterfinals for the third-consecutive year, but after watching key players get into foul trouble and other miscues late, there won’t be any celebrating.

“Hopefully (this game) wakes (the team) up,” Santa Rosa head coach Johnny Cipriano said after the game. “We started off OK, but Matt (Garcia) is in foul trouble so I didn’t start him in the second half and Leo (Lara) getting in foul trouble hurts, too. We didn’t execute the way we should. Not finishing with the same people you started with changes the momentum of the game.

“We missed crucial free throws and layups that would’ve put the game away earlier, but Odem did a good job of adjusting to what we were doing.”

Full story at RGVSports.com