Valley Morning Star

09/23/2026

The trial is expected to begin on Oct. 5, Cameron County District Attorney Luis V. Saenz said.

A jury has been selected in the death penalty trial of a 20-year-old Brownsville man accused of shooting and killing a San Benito police officer after an hourslong chase across Cameron County, District Attorney Luis V. Saenz confirmed.

09/22/2026

The company announced the contract on Sept. 17, noting that the Landing Craft Utility vessels will represent the “first build” of vessels at Port Alpha, with production expected to begin in 2028 and initial deliveries starting in 2029.

Saronic Technologies, the Austin-based firm that in July announced the Port of Brownsville as the future site of its $3.2 billion “Port Alpha” next-generation shipyard, has been awarded a Navy contract to build Landing Craft Utility (LCU) vessels.

09/22/2026

Bekah Hinojosa, co-founder of the South Texas Environmental Justice Network, read public comments prior to the vote on behalf of landowners affected by the annexation who live out-of-state and could not be present to speak in-person.

Hinojosa criticized city officials for, she said, disallowing landowners to submit public comments via email, virtually or to watch the meeting online.

STARBASE — City commissioners voted unanimously Monday to approve the annexation of about 7,133 acres of land and voted to approve the voluntary annexation of 444 acres of land recently disannexed by Brownsville.

09/22/2026

A 32-year-old San Benito woman accused of causing the death of an infant in 2024 has been sentenced to 15 years in prison.

09/22/2026

Ultra runner Art Hurtado, who also heads the Cameron County Beach Patrol on South Padre Island, said he’s checked with other runners and right now he holds the record for 50 miles, 100 miles and the 100K distance among Rio Grande Valley runners.

Brownsville ultra runner Art Hurtado will stretch out this weekend to a distance most people would regard as unthinkable: 200 miles across half the state of Nebraska.

09/22/2026

Lucio Moya submitted three of his barbeque rubs to the contest — the orange pepper piquin, Bruto! and Beef Blend — each having their own story and inspiration from his life, the Valley and central Texas barbecue.

Those rubs landed the Roma business owner in the top 10 finalists for the 13th annual H-E-B Quest for Texas Best competition.

A bottle of a carne asada in the Valley is how Roma’s Lucio Moya describes one of his seasonings and those 956 flavors and inspirations are what landed his business In Your Smokin’ Face, as one of 10 finalists for the 13th H-E-B Quest for Texas Best competition.

09/22/2026

“Simply put, Texans must come first,” Gov. Greg Abbott wrote in a letter to Texas Commission on Environmental Quality Executive Director Kelly Keel.

“Data centers must pay their own way, protect our grid and water and complete the ERCOT and TWDB audits. Until they do, TCEQ will issue no permits sought by data center projects.”

Gov. Greg Abbott ordered the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality on Monday to stop issuing new permits for data centers, strengthening his moratorium on the industry’s development in Texas.

09/21/2026

A Venezuelan man shot by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer was in custody Monday at an ICE detention center in Texas after he was released from a hospital with a bullet still lodged in his back, the man’s attorney said.

AUSTIN (AP) — A Venezuelan man shot by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer was in custody Monday at an ICE detention center in Texas after he was released from a hospital with a bullet still lodged in his back, the man's attorney said.

09/21/2026

In response to Monday’s court’s rejection of the Center for Biological Diversity’s emergency injunction request, Laiken Jordahl said that “Trump and (Secretary of the Interior Doug) Burgum are gifting our public lands to SpaceX, clearing the way for bulldozers to tear into this wildlife refuge as soon as next week and turn a public treasure into a private payday."

A request by the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) for an emergency injunction to halt a land swap between SpaceX and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was rejected on Monday by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas.

09/21/2026

Federal authorities arrested him on Oct. 20, 2022 after the U.S. extradited him from Mexico, where authorities there had arrested him in Mexico City in 2016.

A high-ranking Gulf Cartel member who had been sought by federal authorities for a decade has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for his role in a scheme that saw nearly seven tons of ma*****na smuggled.