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BROWNSVILLE, Texas - Cameron County Judge Eddie Treviño, Jr., has made the case for a “yes” vote on the Cameron County Arena project. In an in-depth audio interview with the Rio Grande Guardian, Treviño points out that property taxes will not be used to fund the project. Rather, he said, much of the money will come from an existing venue tax source. “Let’s go back. In the November 2016 election, the voters of Cameron County approved what we call the venue tax. But I think it should more aptly be named the visitor tax,” Treviño said. “Basically, that visitor venue tax is paid by anyone who stays in a hotel or short term rental or rents a motor vehicle here in Cameron County. That visitor taxes is collected by the short term owner and/or vehicle rental company, so that 2% is a visitor tax, it is not a property tax.” Treviño gave two examples of projects that have come about as a result of the venue tax - the Isla Blanca Amphitheater on South Padre Island, and the South Texas Ecotourism Center Project at Laguna Vista.  He said the tax can only be spent on economic development or tourism related projects. “That's it. You can't use it to fix your potholes. You can't use it to fix drainage. You can't fix it to do anything that's not tourism or economic development related.” Treviño said there has been a lot of “misinformation put out there” that a yes vote is going to impact property taxes, etc.  “The resolution that the County Commissioners Court approved sets out that this particular project, while it may have other funding sources, the property tax will not be the source of that.” Asked why the new arena is needed, Treviño said: “The reality is Cameron County is growing at a very, very extreme rate right now, thanks to the development and the expansion of SpaceX, thanks to the commitment at Starbase. And then now you've got the LNG industry taking full force at the Port (of Brownsville), along with other potential projects, steel industry related projects, other economic development projects and master planned development. Cameron County as a whole is growing by leaps and bounds.” Treviño said a new arena in Cameron County will have the potential to be more of a destination venue that the two arenas in Hidalgo County - State Farm in the city of Hidalgo, and Bert Ogden in Edinburg. “The difference we've got here is it would be part of a master planned development. The plan is to develop hotels, restaurants, retail, commercial in that area, kind of a mini La Cantera-type situation, so that if you want to go to an event, a concert…  and you don't want to be driving back and forth, you want to be able to have a few drinks… you can stay on site at a hotel or whatever, or you can walk to the restaurants before or after a particular event. That's what I think is going to set this project apart.” Treviño said that in addition to misinformation about property taxes being used to pay for the arena, some people are saying the county commissioners are going to benefit financially from the project.  “That's disappointing, because that's not how I how I run my life. I would never be in public office, and certainly not for any long, extended, period of time, if that's how I did things,” he said. Treviño added that he has been in touch with UT-Rio Grande Valley and its leadership is interested in being part of the arena. He said building a new arena would make it more likely that UTRGV would hold its graduation ceremonies in Cameron County. Go to www.riograndeguardian.com to read the latest border news stories and watch the latest news videos.

STEM Nation 2025 is a student conference organized by the Rio Grande Valley Philanthropic Foundation. STEM stands for Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics. The conference takes place at the Bert Ogden Arena on Tuesday, May 29, 2025. Diane Milliken Garza, executive director of RGV Philanthropic Foundation says the conference is important because while Hispanics comprise 20 percent of the population across the nation, only two percent of Hispanics work in STEM fields. This podcast features Milliken Garza and her good friend, Kathryn Lueders, general manager of Starbase. Lueders will be one of the keynote speakers at the conference.  Go to www.riograndeguardian.com to read the latest border news stories and watch the latest news videos.

AUSTIN, Texas - Dan Diorio is senior director of state policy for the Data Center Coalition.  Via a zoom, Diorio recently gave an update to the Rio Grande Guardian International News Service on the legislation he is tracking in Austin. He was joined on the zoom by Guillermo Aguilar of Blackstone Consultants. The Data Center Coalition’s website explains what data centers are. “Data centers are the foundation of the digital infrastructure on which our modern society and economy are built. Data centers are physical locations that organizations use to house their critical applications and data. Anything that takes place online “in the cloud” is powered by a data center,” the coalition stated, on its website.   “Data centers aggregate our collective computing demands – everything from sharing photos with friends and family to streaming our favorite shows to supporting online learning and storing important medical and financial information – efficiently and securely in one location.”   The coalition added: “Previously, these types of computing resources were dispersed across businesses, which was far less efficient and secure. In 2010, nearly 80 percent of data center computing was done in smaller traditional computer centers, largely owned and operated by non-technology companies. By 2018, approximately 89 percent of data center computing took place in larger cloud data centers.” Diorio brings over 16 years of experience in state and federal government affairs and public policy. He began his career in the Massachusetts State Legislature where he served as legislative director to State Senator Scott P. Brown. Diorio followed Brown to Washington, DC, and the United States Senate where he worked as a Legislative Assistant handling a large portfolio of issues including energy and the environment, education, labor, immigration, and transportation. Diorio next handled state and federal government affairs for a Boston-based demand response provider. While there he helped form the Advanced Energy Management Alliance, a national trade association for demand response companies and end-users. Upon moving out west for sunshine and dry weather, Diorio covered election administration policy for the National Conference of State Legislatures. Diorio was also the vice president of legislative affairs for Colorado for the GoWest Credit Union Association. He advocated for credit unions and managed legislative campaigns in both Colorado and Wyoming. Most recently he was chief of staff of Strategic Affairs for C6-Zero, a start-up advanced manufacturing company, where he led public affairs, government affairs and organizational development. Diorio received his Bachelor of Arts in History from Boston College and has a Master of Public Administration degree from the University of Colorado Denver. He lives in Denver with his wife and two children. On the zoom, Diorio spoke about the legislation his group is tracking and how some pieces of legislation related to data centers have good and bad parts to them. Together with Aguilar, Diorio spoke about the chances of South Texas landing major data center projects. Here is an audio recording of the zoom. Go to www.riograndeguardian.com to read the latest border news stories and watch the latest news videos.

BROWNSVILLE, Texas - When he appeared as a panelist at RioPlex’s Texas Port to the Stars FDI Summit in Houston, Brownsville Mayor John Cowen, Jr., said this is the best time ever to be the leader of his city.  Cowen said: “I think we have an extremely strong value proposition. I always tell people it's the greatest time ever to be mayor the city of Brownsville. We have over $40 billion of capital investment projects in our area. And what I'm most proud of is, for example, NextDecade, which is building their $18.4 billion liquefied natural gas plant,  they're hiring 70 percent local talent. SpaceX, they have over 3,200 direct employees. Over 70 percent local talent. That says that we have the human capital needed for companies to be successful in our region.” Cowen gave similar remarks in an interview with Ron Whitlock Reports at Rally in the Valley 4.0, an event held recently at the Brownsville Events Center by the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation. Asked by veteran broadcaster Ron Whitlock about the state of the Brownsville economy, Cowen said: “I always tell everyone that this. This is the best time ever to be mayor of Brownsville. We’ve got so much growth happening in Brownsville and outside of Brownsville. I think we've been able to showcase our workforce with with SpaceX and with Bechtel, and NextDecade at the Port (of Brownsville). Each of those huge projects have been able to use over 70 percent local workforce. So I think that shows that we have the skilled workforce needed for large scale industrial projects to be successful.” Cowen said the key thing now is for the city to work with local educational institutions to ensure that the pipeline continues.  “I think we're doing a great job of that. And I think, you know, we'll have some more announcements later, more projects that are coming to Brownsville, and we're excited to continue that growth.” Whitlock also interviewed Rafael Vela, executive director of Workforce Solutions Cameron at Rally in the Valley. Vela praised GBIC for hosting the event. He said there needs to be more such events across the region.  “There can never be enough of these events. As important as this is, there should be a dozen of these events throughout the Valley. So what we hope to do is expand with our partner, GBIC, and get other communities in the area to do the same thing. Not just in our service area, not just in Cameron County, but really the whole Valley,  because it can be so impactful.” Whitlock agreed. He said every panelist seemed to have a “little nugget of important information” that was disseminated to the 400-plus students present.  “One was, don't be afraid to fail. You'll learn more from failure than you do from success. That was just one of the nuggets that was disseminated here today,” Whitlock said. Whitlock also interviewed Joe Esparza, the commissioner representing employers on the Texas Workforce Commission.  “We are here at Rally in the Valley because we support initiatives that encourage students to get more involved with internship opportunities. We also support employers with resources on like a cost-sharing program, through our cooperation with the (Texas) Higher Education Coordinating Board,” Esparza said. “It’s important because we're developing our next generation of workforce, and exposing students to as many industries as possible. That gives them a better grasp of where they want to be and how they're going to find success.” Go to www.riograndeguardian.com to read the latest border news stories and watch the latest news videos.

Carlos Ealy is assistant secretary of state for Mexican and Border Affairs in the Office of the Texas Secretary of State.  Ealy spoke at a reception held for the Texas Port to the Stars FDI Summit hosted by RioPlex at the Westin Galleria in Houston.  Here are his remarks from the stage. Go to www.riograndeguardian.com to read the latest border news stories and watch the latest news videos.