HARLINGEN – “Hey, mom. Hey, dad. I made the honor roll.”

That’s exciting enough when you’re a student in the public schools. However, if you ARE a public school – or in this case a district – the stakes are much higher. Now it’s the AP Honor Roll or, more specifically, the 6th Annual AP Honor Roll.

The Harlingen school district has made the list this year.

The AP Honor Roll is issued by the College Board, a not-for-profit organization which connects students to college success and opportunity. The AP Honor Roll gauges how well school districts are encouraging students to take AP courses.

Harlingen is one of more than 400 other school districts across the United States to make the list. Santa Rosa and Sharyland school districts also made it.

The College Board lists three main criteria for a district to make the honor roll.

First of all, large school districts must increase student participation/access to AP courses by

4 percent for a period of three years. Harlingen did better than that, said Alicia Noyola, chief academic officer.

“We actually had an 8 percent increase,” Noyola said.

The Honor Roll also requires an increase in the number of students scoring a 3 or higher. On this point, Noyola sounded almost jubilant.

“We had an 18-percent increase in the number of students who scored 3 or better,” she said.

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HARLINGEN – A new 24-hour emergency medical facility is scheduled to open its doors to patients tomorrow.

Neighbors Emergency Center is located at 1725 N. Ed Carey Drive.

Neighbors Health System Inc., the parent company of the clinic, is based in Pearland. With the addition of Harlingen, the company operates 18 emergency clinics in Texas.

The company’s website indicates it has plans to open 10 additional emergency clinics in Texas, including sites in Brownsville and McAllen.

Harlingen will be the first Neighbors Emergency Center in South Texas.

“We are proud to serve the Harlingen community,“ said Dr. Paul Alleyne, chief medical officer, in a statement. “We believe Harlingen will greatly benefit from Neighbors’ personalized 24-hour emergency care experience while offering the same level of access and services as a hospital-based emergency room.“

Emergency clinics such as Neighbors are an expanding part of the medical treatment field. While not as well-equipped as a full-sized, full-spectrum hospital, the emergency clinics can treat patients in the areas of trauma/injury, cardiology and more. They have imaging and lab services onsite, the company says.

The emergency center in Harlingen will accept most major private insurance plans.

Neighbors Health System Inc. is a privately held emergency health care facilities management company that was founded in 2009.

AUSTIN — Cristina Balli, who promoted her Rio Grande Valley roots across much of the United States as executive director of Texas Folklife, has resigned to pursue “cultural” projects.

A Brownsville native who served as director of San Benito’s Narciso Martinez Cultural Arts Center, Balli served as Texas Folklife’s executive director since 2012.

“I will miss all the friends, colleagues, and contacts I have made throughout the state and, indeed, the country in this role,” Balli said yesterday.

Balli said she will work as a consultant on projects that include grassroots folk music.

She also will organize and teach workshops in feminine spirituality.

“It’s exploring the feminine face of God that’s been ignored because of patriarchy,” Balli said. “I’d like to take it to the general population outside academia.”

At Texas Folklife, Balli first worked as program director, launching the Big Squeeze accordion contest, a statewide competition that spotlights young accordionists who hold on to Texas’ diverse cultural roots.

Through eight contests, the program has showcased many young Valley accordionists.

In 2004, Balli began showcasing the Valley’s arts and culture as director of the Narciso Martinez Cultural Arts Center in San Benito.

Three years later, she took a job with the city of San Benito, working as its tourism and fund development coordinator.

Later that year, she led a drive to open the museum that houses the Freddy Fender Museum, the Texas Conjunto Hall of Fame and Museum and the San Benito History Museum.

HARLINGEN — As four women argued and debated for 20 minutes about what to do, a man lay dying on an apartment floor in the early morning hours of Jan. 20.

Court documents show that’s what happened following the shooting of Brownsville’s Byron Pineda.

New details have emerged regarding the death of the father of three, Pineda, 32, who was fatally shot by a 16-year-old Harlingen teen. The teen’s name is not being reported because he still is a minor.

According to municipal court documents, Stephanie Lee Lopez, 31, Crystal Rae Ramos, 24, Lorraine Camero, 24, Isis Rene Rivera, 33, debated for 20 minutes on what to do with Pineda while he lay dying after being shot in the back at the Rosemont Apartments, 1901 E. Tyler Ave., just east of 19th Street.

Ramos stated she told the other women to get Pineda out of her apartment because she was worried she would be evicted, the documents stated.

“Ramos said no one wanted to take Byron to the hospital because no one wanted to get involved with the incident. Ramos stated that Lopez wanted to leave Byron by the dumpsters,” the documents stated.

“All the girls in the apartment argued and debated about how they were going to cover up the shooting for about 20 minutes while Byron Pineda was gasping for air.”

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HARLINGEN — The night started out innocently, but after a couple jabs and laughs, nobody was safe.

Dr. Nolan Perez, noted physician, relentless education advocate, husband and father, took a few for the cause last night at the 27th Annual Celebrity Roast to benefit the Literacy Center of Harlingen.

In front of a full house gathered in the upstairs clubhouse at Valley Race Park, several of Perez’s best friends showed him how much they loved him, both with kind words mixed in with some serious ribbing.

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SANTA ROSA — The old Family Dollar may soon become the city’s new center for administrative offices.

“This is a pretty good indication of what we’ve been able to accomplish in 2015,” said Chris Lopez, city administrator.

After negotiating back-and-forth with the owners of the building for seven months, the Hutton group out of Tennessee finally agreed to a deal with the city.

The city entered a contract to pay $1,400 a month over the next 15 years to buy the building.

Lopez said the city made a down payment of $25,000 and will begin making monthly payments for the facility in October 2016.

The original asking price of the building was $600,000 before the city entered the contract to buy it for an estimated $250,000.

The building is expected to become a one-stop location for city business.

The 13,000-square-foot building will house the city administration, city police, municipal court and utilities office.

“We’re happy about it and the community is happy about it,” Lopez said. “The realty group is very generous in their approach in the deal.”

It appears to be a win-win for all involved.

The Family Dollar building has been vacant for more than a year.

The store closed it doors after having to compete with Dollar General, which also moved into town.

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SOUTH PADRE ISLAND — If you thought it was safe at the Island, city officials will try to make it safer with a license plate scanner aimed to stop major criminal activity.

Police Chief Randy Smith said the cameras will help identify stolen vehicles, wanted and missing people and major criminal investigations.

There will be two cameras that will catch dual lanes coming in and leaving the Island.

“We’re hoping to have the cameras operational within a month or two,” Smith said. “Ideally we would like to have them here for spring break.”

The camera data will be stored at the High-Intensity Drug Trafficking South Texas Partnership Houston office.

Chief Smith said the Island police will have to request information from the HIDTA agency.

They have the ability to store large amounts of data and will serve as a checks and balances preventing information from being manipulated.

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HARLINGEN — The night started out innocently, but after a couple jabs and laughs, nobody was safe.

Dr. Nolan Perez, noted physician, relentless education advocate, husband and father, took a few for the cause last night at the 27th Annual Celebrity Roast to benefit the Literacy Center of Harlingen.

In front of a full house gathered in the upstairs clubhouse at Valley Race Park, several of Perez’s best friends showed him how much they loved him, both with kind words mixed in with some serious ribbing.

Most of the jokes about Perez involved his short stature and his career as a gastroenterologist.

Emcee of the event was Dr. Art Cavazos, superintendent of Harlingen CISD, who prepared a few zingers for his own defense. He works with Perez, who is the president of the HCISD board.

Roasters were Drs. Linda Burke, Cesar Maldonado and Ruben Torres, and David Sanchez and Dan Sanchez.

The roast opened with a video message from Sen. John Cornyn, who congradulated Perez for is work and sent him a “good luck on all the jabs.”

Cavazos took control and left nobody out, stating the roasters could “do whatever is necessary.”

That’s when a referee came from the back of the room, blowing his whistle. The referee wasn’t even off limits to Cavazos or the other roasters. The next 90 minutes were filled with laughter and jokes all around.

Prior to the event, several people talked about Perez and why the event was so popular.

“Dr. Perez is a huge advocate for education,” said Shane Strubhart, director of Public Relations/Community Engagement for the Harlingen Consolidated Independent School District and a member of the Literacy Center’s board.

Pam Warner, also a member of the Literacy Center board and a tutor, previously served as director of nursing as well as director of medical services at Valley Baptist Medical Center. She said tickets for last night’s roast sold out quickly.

“We had to turn some people away,” she said.

She called it a testament to the esteem in which Dr. Perez is held, and not just in Harlingen, but across Texas.

“He’s a very, very good physician, and a huge community contributor,” Warner said.

Prior to the roast, Dr. Perez said he was pretty sure his sense of humor would be put to the test. He hoped it wouldn’t be him who was put to the sword.

“The more important thing that will be put to the test will be how much I can take,” he said with a laugh. “There are a lot of folks that like to dish it … and tonight I’m going to be on the receiving side.

“It’s something I couldn’t turn down,” he said. “It’s all about the charity. The Literacy Center does great things in Harlingen. For that reason, you know what? I’ll be a clay pigeon and they can all take shots at me.”

Dr. Perez has served as a member of the board of Harlingen CISD since 2010, and has been an untiring advocate for education in the Valley.

He is the chief executive officer of Gastroenterology Consultants of South Texas, RGV Wellness Center and GI Research of South Texas, all located at 512 Victoria Lane in Harlingen.

Dr. Perez is a native of the Rio Grande Valley, graduating from Port Isabel High School. He earned a BA at the University of Texas at Austin, and his medical doctorate from the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.

Following medical school, he served in the U.S. Navy as a medical corps officer where he received the Navy Commendation and Navy Achievement medals.

He completed his residency in internal medicine at the Regional Academic Health Center in Harlingen, and fellowship training in gastroenterology at Wayne State University/Detroit Medical Center.

He is board-certified in gastroenterology and a fellow of the American College of Physicians and the American College of Gastroenterology.

He was appointed to the Texas Women’s University Board of Regents by Gov. Greg Abbott in 2015. He also serves on boards including the Texas Lyceum, Lone Star National Bank, UT System Chancellor’s Council executive committee, UTRGV Development Board executive committee, the University of Texas at Austin Development Board executive committee, RGV Angel Network, FIRST in Texas Foundation and more.

He is married to Sandy Perez, and the couple has two children.

Last year’s roast, which raised more than 40,000 for the Literacy Center, honored Mary Jo Vela.

SANTA ROSA — The old Family Dollar may soon become the city’s new center for administrative offices.

“This is a pretty good indication of what we’ve been able to accomplish in 2015,” said Chris Lopez, city administrator.

After negotiating back-and-forth with the owners of the building for seven months, the Hutton group out of Tennessee finally agreed to a deal with the city.

The city entered a contract to pay $1,400 a month over the next 15 years to buy the building.

Lopez said the city made a down payment of $25,000 and will begin making monthly payments for the facility in October 2016.

The original asking price of the building was $600,000 before the city entered the contract to buy it for an estimated $250,000.

The building is expected to become a one-stop location for city business.

The 13,000-square-foot building will house the city administration, city police, municipal court and utilities office.

“We’re happy about it and the community is happy about it,” Lopez said. “The realty group is very generous in their approach in the deal.”

It appears to be a win-win for all involved.

The Family Dollar building has been vacant for more than a year.

The store closed it doors after having to compete with Dollar General, which also moved into town.

Santa Rosa’s City Hall has been working out of the former community center for more than three years.

Prior to that, the City Hall was located in a building that is now used as a warehouse for city equipment.

It had been damaged by Hurricane Dolly in 2008. A few years later, City Hall had to be relocated due to more flooding.

Lopez said the city council wanted to make the purchase happen and they worked together to find the funding in the city budget to get the much needed city facility.

Area engineers are working with the city drawing up ideas of what the New City hall could look like in the future.

Santa Rosa City Alderman Ramiro Ochoa said the city will begin to make improvements to the building within the next six months.

“This is an opportunity for us and we intend to take advantage of it,” Ochoa said. “We just need to secure some more monies to modernize the building.”

The city leaders do not want the building to give any reminders of the Family Dollar after it receives a makeover.

“It’s going to be a challenge but we’ll figure it out,” Ochoa said.

SOUTH PADRE ISLAND — If you thought it was safe at the Island, city officials will try to make it safer with a license plate scanner aimed to stop major criminal activity.

Police Chief Randy Smith said the cameras will help identify stolen vehicles, wanted and missing people and major criminal investigations.

There will be two cameras that will catch dual lanes coming in and leaving the Island.

“We’re hoping to have the cameras operational within a month or two,” Smith said. “Ideally we would like to have them here for spring break.”

The camera data will be stored at the High-Intensity Drug Trafficking South Texas Partnership Houston office.

Chief Smith said the Island police will have to request information from the HIDTA agency.

They have the ability to store large amounts of data and will serve as a checks and balances preventing information from being manipulated.

“The reason I voted for it was for the safety of the Island residents and visitors,” said Dennis Stahl, council member. “The main purpose is to keep people safe.”

Island council officials voted unanimously to approve the license plate scanner a recent city meeting.

The Island leaders will work with Texas Department of Transportation to install the license plate reader on poles and cameras on the TxDOT’s roadway and right-of-way.

The money for the scanners and poles was approved last year.

“We’re not Big Brother,” Stahl said. “We just want to know when people who are law breakers and known criminals are on the Island.”

Stahl said the project has been in discussion for more than a year and is modeled off another coastal community where it has been proven to work.

“We’re not looking for the guy who’s not paid their speeding fine or any other traffic violation,” said Mayor Bharat Patel. “What it will register is major criminal activity.”

Patel said if a vehicle has been involved in major crime it will show up on a computer and the police will be alerted immediately.

The police will contact the appropriate agency to let them know a vehicle that is wanted for involvement in a crime is on the Island.

“It’s more of a deterrent,” Patel said. “We felt we had to have something here to prevent major criminal activity.”