HARLINGEN — With two machines blasting foam flurries at the same time it looked a lot like what a blizzard does, this without below freezing temperatures.

Students at Texas State Technical College let the flurries fall onto their hands and tongues just like people do during snowy winters further north.

The student government organized the snowfall to welcome everyone back for the spring semester.

“It’s fantastic for the students and the employees as well,” said Julie Gonzales, human resources manager. “We try to do something every quarter to bring the students and employees out for a little break.”

The human resourses department paired up with the student government to rent a second machine that was used to pump more fake snow flurries into the air for an afternoon of fun.

Students walked through campus in front of the student center in sunglasses and books in hand enjoying the snowfall on campus.

Students also were in line for cookies and hot chocolate.

Many were taking selfies together and photos in the snow.

“Now is a good time to welcome students and show them how cool TSTC is,” said Belinda Palamino, student advisor. “We have a vibrant student life on campus and we wanted to show it.”

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HARLINGEN — With two machines blasting foam flurries at the same time it looked a lot like what a blizzard does, this without below freezing temperatures.

Students at Texas State Technical College let the flurries fall onto their hands and tongues just like people do during snowy winters further north.

The student government organized the snowfall to welcome everyone back for the spring semester.

“It’s fantastic for the students and the employees as well,” said Julie Gonzales, human resources manager. “We try to do something every quarter to bring the students and employees out for a little break.”

The human resourses department paired up with the student government to rent a second machine that was used to pump more fake snow flurries into the air for an afternoon of fun.

Students walked through campus in front of the student center in sunglasses and books in hand enjoying the snowfall on campus.

Students also were in line for cookies and hot chocolate.

Many were taking selfies together and photos in the snow.

“Now is a good time to welcome students and show them how cool TSTC is,” said Belinda Palamino, student advisor. “We have a vibrant student life on campus and we wanted to show it.”

The student government organized the afternoon event and coined it “snow place like TSTC.”

Biology major Ruth Gutierrez was so excited about the event she made sure to pull her children out of day care to enjoy the snow.

Ruth said her children have always wanted to see snow and they were so excited to see it here on campus with her.

HARLINGEN — A developer’s expansion of a $12 million project to build a psychiatric hospital will create about 225 jobs.

Last night, city commissioners approved Strategic Behavioral Health’s request to amend an agreement with the Harlingen Economic Development Corporation.

Originally, the Palms Behavioral Health Center planned to include 72 beds in a 52,000-square-foot building at the corner of Hale Avenue and Victoria Lane.

As part of the project, the hospital planned to create 200 jobs.

But the developer has expanded the project to include 94 beds in a 60,000-square-foot building.

The developer’s decision to expand the hospital will create about 25 additional jobs, Mayor Chris Boswell said after the meeting.

The hospital’s expansion will boost the project’s cost to $13 million.

“There is such a demand for their services, they figured out the building was too small,” Raudel Garza, the EDC’s chief executive officer, told commissioners.

The EDC has offered the developer $1,000 to $1,500 for each job created, depending on the job’s pay scale, Garza said before the meeting.

Meanwhile, the city has offered the developer $200,000 for job creation to be paid over a four-year period.

“It’s a great project for our community,” Boswell told the audience.

The hospital will staff psychiatrists, psychologists, therapists and nurses.

Strategic Behavioral Health operates hospitals in College Station, El Paso, Las Vegas, Nev., and Colorado Springs, Colo.

As a result of the expansion, the developer extended the project’s completion date from Jan. 31 to Oct. 1.

HARLINGEN — Police are investigating the first murder of the year.

According to a Harlingen Police Department news release, officers were called to Harlingen Medical Center at 2:07 a.m. Wednesday morning for a man who died of a gunshot wound.

Investigators learned the shooting happened inside an apartment at the Rosemont Apartments at 1901 E. Tyler, just east of 19th Street.

The suspect in the shooting is a 16-year-old Harlingen boy who is being charged with the murder of a 32-year-old Brownsville man.

He currently is being held at the Daryl Hester Juvenile Detention Center where he will see the judge.

According to witnesses, the victim was at a party at the apartment complex when he began to fight with another man.

During the altercation, the suspect shot the victim in the back, police said.

“Investigators believe this is a known and invited subject to persons at the apartment and an isolated incident where an individual used deadly force against another during an altercation,” police said.

The victim died at the scene and was then transported Harlingen Medical Center.

HPD’s Major Crime Unit and Organized Crime Unit led the investigation, interviewed witnesses, processed the initial scene and were able to identify the suspect, police said.

Shortly after 2 p.m. yesterday, members of HPD’s Organized Crime Unit, Major Crimes Unit, HPD SWAT, and the U.S. Marshalls Gulf Coast Violent Offender & Fugitive Task Force arrested the suspect at the 1400 block of Morgan Boulevard.

The name of the victim is being withheld until proper notification of family.

Police also have declined to release the suspects name because he is a juvenile.

No other information was provided by police.

SAN BENITO — Police Chief Martin Morales loves this city. That’s why he has stayed here so long to protect and serve it.

In an effort to make himself more known to the community, Morales, a man with more than 30 years of experience under his belt, met with the community to discuss his department.

Yesterday, The San Benito Chamber of Commerce hosted Coffee with the Chief, in what they hope is the first of many more to come.

Morales, Captain Mario Parea and Captain Michael Cortez sat in on the session designed to bring together the community who may have had questions about police matters.

It’s all about connecting public officials with the public community, said Chamber President Lionel Betancourt.

“The Chamber’s role in this town is to create transparency among all of us,” Betancourt said. “This is something we can build on.”

Morales, who became chief in 2011 has been with the department for about 28 years.

During the morning coffee session, he provided guests a short run down of his department and the main functions.

The police department currently employs 43 officers, along with eight civilian staff members.

“We have different divisions within the department that handle different things,” Morales said. “Each person has their duties.”

For the rest of this story and many other EXTRAS, go to our premium site, www.MyValleyStar.com.

Subscribe to it for only $6.99 per month or purchase a print subscription and receive the online version free, which includes an electronic version of the full newspaper and extra photo galleries, links and other information you can’t find anywhere else.

SAN BENITO — Police Chief Martin Morales loves this city. That’s why he has stayed here so long to protect and serve it.

In an effort to make himself more known to the community, Morales, a man with more than 30 years of experience under his belt, met with the community to discuss his department.

Yesterday, The San Benito Chamber of Commerce hosted Coffee with the Chief, in what they hope is the first of many more to come.

Morales, Captain Mario Parea and Captain Michael Cortez sat in on the session designed to bring together the community who may have had questions about police matters.

It’s all about connecting public officials with the public community, said Chamber President Lionel Betancourt.

“The Chamber’s role in this town is to create transparency among all of us,” Betancourt said. “This is something we can build on.”

Morales, who became chief in 2011 has been with the department for about 28 years.

During the morning coffee session, he provided guests a short run down of his department and the main functions.

The police department currently employs 43 officers, along with eight civilian staff members.

“We have different divisions within the department that handle different things,” Morales said. “Each person has their duties.”

There currently are five detectives who handle investigations throughout the city. There is a trained SWAT Team, negotiator team and one canine officer who currently is in training.

For the last year, the department has utilized the use of body cameras. Morales said the body cameras alleviated tension between members of the community and officers.

“Complaints against officers have gone down,” Morales said.

According to the policy, body cameras must be turned on when interacting with the public and initiating traffic stops.

This, Morales said, deters the public from making false accusations toward police officers and also helps in obtaining first-hand accounts of situations.

“It keeps everyone in check,” Morales said.

One of the common misconceptions Morales said he deals with on a daily basis is the community not being able to put his face to his name.

He’s there, he’s the chief of police and he wants the community to know it.

“People need to know who I am,” he said. “That way I can serve the community the best way possible.”

For the future, the chamber plans to have more coffee breakfasts with community leaders.

A goal according to Betancourt is to have a meeting where people can sit down with newly-hired City Manager Manuel De La Rosa and Superintendent Dr. Adrian Vega.

The dates for those meetings will be announced at a later date.

HARLINGEN – You may be a great-grandparent, but you’re still going to need your broadband fix.

With fewer Winter Texans coming to the Valley, and their crucial economic input declining, many businesses that depend upon them are becoming more aggressive in their marketing as they compete for more computer-savvy retirees.

One way they’re doing that is by offering free broadband Wi-Fi in the region’s RV parks.

Marlen Slovak, resort manager at Park Place Estates in Harlingen, has just overseen a park-wide installation in November of Wi-Fi for the park’s 847 sites.

So far, she says, its working.

“A lot of people, especially people coming in from Canada, use a lot of Skype (the real-time video conferencing website and app) and other types of communication to stay in touch with their relatives back home,” Slovak said. “A lot of people do their banking online because they don’t want to change their banks to those here in the Valley.”

Park Place has been more ambitious than some other parks in trying to cover the entire site with what Slovak called “basic Wi-Fi.”

Other parks offer a mix-and-match, with some free Wi-Fi, and others with “hot spots” throughout the park that offer more reliable Internet connectivity.

Debbie Vogel, manager of the Eastgate RV and Mobile Home Park in Harlingen, said her park offers some basic Wi-Fi but also has hot spots where residents can connect to the Internet on their laptop computers, their iPads or their phones.

“I truly agree that it needs to be in the park,” Vogel said. “You have to remember, the generation right now is computer-savvy. They can’t leave home without it. I can’t!”

Jane DuBois, acting manager at The Fig Tree RV Resort in Harlingen, says her park has offered free Wi-Fi for at least three years.

“People really like it,” she said. “They pay their bills online because they’re down here for six months and away from home.

“It’s for business as well as pleasure, as well as keeping up with their kids,” said DuBois, who keeps up with her “active Air Force son” via the Internet. “I appreciate that I can send him an email anywhere in the world.”

But as anybody with Wi-Fi in their homes can attest, sometimes the signal strength can be frustratingly spotty.

“A lot of people use it, so it’s been an educational thing for them because they need to understand sometimes when they can’t get on because there are so many people on our system,” DuBois conceded.

To help with those frustrations, she said, her resort does offer a hot spot in the clubhouse where Internet connectivity is more reliable.

Stability is indeed a key issue for many park residents. Park Place Estates stresses that what they offer is “basic” Wi-Fi in an attempt to temper expectations about high-speed broadband connectivity with their Wi-Fi.

“There are some areas where we’re working on some dead spots,” Slovak said. “But that’s just about adding some extra access points.”

An ongoing University of Texas Rio Grande Valley survey of Winter Texans taken every two years shows a continuing decline in both numbers and, not surprisingly, their economic impact on the Valley.

For example, the survey in 2010 found Winter Texans contributed an economic impact of $802.5 million annually to the Valley. In 2012, that figure was $751 million, and in 2014 the most recent UTPA survey found that economic impact figure had fallen to $710 million a year.

Part of what is driving the push for free Wi-Fi at RV parks is increased competition for Winter Texans and their dollars. RV parks are searching for appealing new amenities like Internet connections.

Broadband home access availability can be an issue at RV parks in

the Valley as well, which may be part of the reason RV parks offer free Wi-Fi.

Many parks are located between cities, or on the outskirts of cities, and in some cases there are few broadband options available for homeowners who want to pay for their own broadband service.

That factor makes providing Internet access via Wi-Fi an even more important marketing tool for RV parks.

HARLINGEN — City officials will spend an additional $475,000 to build the city’s new fire station.

Last night, city commissioners awarded a $1.5 million contract to Harlingen-based Couric Enterprises to build the station whose original budget was about $1.1 million.

Commissioners awarded the bid to Couric Enterprises, the second low-bidder, two weeks after the low-bidder, Harlingen-based Pietra Construction, withdrew its bid of $1.2 million.

Pietra Construction did not disclose the reason it withdrew its bid to build the 5,277-square-foot, two-story fire station at the corner of Stuart Place and Brennaman roads.

Officials will use $475,000 in bond money to meet Couric Enterprises’ bid, City Manager Dan Serna said.

Officials agreed to award the contract to Couric Enterprises rather than request new bids that could come with higher costs.

Officials said they would try to keep the project’s original specifications.

Architectural plans call for a station that will blend in with the neighborhood at the corner of Stuart Place and Brennaman roads, Commissioner Tudor Uhlhorn said.

“This has a residential look and it’s going to be in a residential area,” Uhlhorn told the audience.

Couric Enterprises plans to build the station within nine months.

For years, Harlingen leaders planned to build a station to bring fire service to the fast-growing west side, where the city has annexed land as far as Bass Boulevard.

In 2003, voters approved a bond issue to build the fire station on five acres purchased for about $240,000.

The new station will cut emergency response time to about four to five minutes, Fire Chief Rogelio Rubio said.

Currently, the city’s Dixieland Road fire station often handles emergency calls to the west side.

From Dixieland Road, fire trucks often take six to eight minutes to reach the west side, Rubio said.

Rubio plans to shift firefighters’ schedules to be able to staff the new station without hiring new firefighters.

The project has faced some opposition.

Last July, some area residents and neighbors opposed plans to build the new station, arguing the proposed facility would bring noise, devalue their homes and help lead to the area’s commercialization.

Despite the opposition, commissioners approved staff’s request for a permit to allow the fire station to be built in the residential and agricultural area.

Harlingen police are investigating the shooting of a Brownsville man who was shot in the back during a party. It is the first murder of the year in the city.

According to a department news release, officers were called to Harlingen Medical Center at 2:07 a.m. for a man who died of a gunshot wound.

Investigators learned the shooting happened inside an apartment at the Rosemont Apartments at 1901 E. Tyler, just east of 19th Street.

According to witnesses, the 32-year-old Brownsville man began fighting with a juvenile at the party and was then shot in the back. The victim died at the apartment and was then taken to the hospital.

Police say shortly after 2 p.m. this afternoon they arrested a juvenile at the Spring Creek Apartments at 1400 Morgan Blvd.

The teen is charged with murder. The victim’s name and age have not been released.