Steve Clark
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Past articles by Steve:
Vela: Capitol police unprepared
District 34 U.S. Rep. Filemon Vela said U.S. Capitol Police leadership should have been prepared for the violent, pro-Trump mob that broke through barricades and stormed the Capitol building in Washington D.C. on Wednesday, though he stressed the failure is not a reflection on individual police officers themselves. These Capitol police, individual officers, they’re like … → Read More
Forecast sees pricier gas, eventually
It feels wrong to use “silver lining” and “global pandemic” in the same sentence, though one slightly less terrible aspect of the terrible year that was 2020 is that gasoline prices have been, well, pretty low. The party’s bound to end, but not for a while yet, according to industry analyst GasBuddy.com. The company on … → Read More
SpaceX preps for new launch
A successful static-fire engine test shortly after 4 p.m. Wednesday clears the way for a high-altitude launch from Boca Chica Beach of SpaceX’s Starship SN9 prototype, possibly as early as Friday. SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk, meanwhile, has teased the possibility of launching two Starships simultaneously from Boca Chica in the near future. The … → Read More
SpaceX's Starship program racks up wins in 2020
It was a year of milestones for SpaceX’s Starship development program at Boca Chica, most recently on Dec. 9, when the SN8 achieved the first, mostly successful, high-altitude flight of a Starship prototype. The test, which ended in an explosion when the SN8 landed too hard after a well-executed descent from 41,000 feet, was preceded … → Read More
$5M gifted to United Way of Southern Cameron County
United Way of Southern Cameron County has a received a major recognition of its work in the form of a $5 million gift from author and philanthropist MacKenzie Scott. It is the largest gift in the nonprofit’s 65-year history. The donation was announced on Dec. 15 as part of a nearly $4.2 billion charitable blitz … → Read More
Tesla location coming to Valley next year
BROWNSVILLE — The Rio Grande Valley’s first Tesla electric vehicle service center/showroom is coming early next year and will be located on the southbound frontage road of I-69E just north of the Brownsville Sports Park. The address is 7045 N. Expressway. Connie Miner, retail and redevelopment manager for the city of Brownsville, said the 14,234-square-foot … → Read More
Locals share impressions of Starship launch
On Dec. 9, 2020, for the first time in history people in Brownsville and other Lower Rio Grande Valley communities were able to look up into the sky and see a rocket, SpaceX’s SN8 Starship prototype, which launched from Boca Chica Beach at 4:45 p.m. The Brownsville Herald spoke to a few who witnessed it … → Read More
Vela named to NATO assembly
U.S. Rep. Filemon Vela has been named deputy head of the U.S. Delegation to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Parliamentary Assembly (PA), which is made up of more than 250 delegates from 30 NATO countries who provide oversight of NATO operations and act as a conduit between the alliance and lawmakers of member countries. Vela, … → Read More
Starship test rocket soars, ends with crash landing
“Awesome test. Congrats Starship Team!” was SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk’s response a few minutes after the explosive crash landing of SN8 following a successful launch to 41,000 feet and “belly flop” descent with engines off. It appeared from SN8’s engine bay camera that only two of the craft’s three engines re-ignited for touch … → Read More
UTRGV bids farewell to historic radio telescope
The collapse of the massive radio telescope at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico on Dec. 1 was felt more than 2,000 miles away in Brownsville, in a figurative sense at least. The Arecibo Remote Command Center (ARCC), founded at the University of Texas at Brownsville in 2006, was named for the 57-year-old telescope, the … → Read More
RGV Reef sinks two more boats
Friends of the RGV Reef sunk their fourth vessel on Nov. 15 as work on the massive artificial reefing project off South Padre Island continues. The 78-foot former shrimp boat was christened the Genco Energy Services/Murray Meggison in recognition of the company’s donations of necessary equipment to support the project, which has resulted in an … → Read More
Port steel project is still uncertain
BROWNSVILLE — Two and a half years after signing a lease option agreement with the Brownsville Navigation District board on 800 acres at the Port of Brownsville for a proposed steel mill, Big River Steel still hasn’t said whether it’s actually going to build a mill here. The option agreement came roughly a year after … → Read More
Texas DMV waiver still in effect
The Texas Department of Motor Vehicles temporary waiver for titling and registration requirements is in effect, which means that an expired registration sticker shouldn’t get you pulled over, but you should still be insured and carry proof of insurance. Gov. Greg Abbott on March 16 announced the temporary extension for obtaining initial vehicle registration, renewing … → Read More
Bicyclist circumnavigates state in 58 days
BROWNSVILLE — Aaron Chamberlain arrived at Xeriscape Park at the foot of Gateway International Bridge at 12:18 p.m. Wednesday, 58 days after departing from the same spot for a counterclockwise, circumnavigational bicycle tour of the state dubbed Vuelta de Tejas, or Tour of Texas. A police vehicle siren sounded and a boom box blasted celebratory … → Read More
UTRGV intern program offers help to local businesses
The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Center for Innovation and Commercialization (CIC) is offering paid internships to students in the UTRGV Robert C. Vackar College of Business and Entrepreneurship to help out small businesses that have had to cut staff because of the coronavirus pandemic. The program is being made possible through a $300,000 … → Read More
Valley MPO nabs top award
The Rio Grande Valley Metropolitan Planning Organization has been awarded the Association of Metropolitan Planning Organizations’ top award. Brownsville Mayor Trey Mendez submitted the nomination in the MPO Coordination and Partnership category, though the AMPO panel of judges decided that the RGVMPO — formed last year through the merger of the Brownsville, Harlingen-San Benito, and … → Read More
Port-based company will build nation’s largest dredge
Keppel AmFELS at the Port of Brownsville last month announced it had won a contract to build the nation’s largest trailing suction hopper dredge for Manson Construction Company, headquartered in Seattle. It will be the first dredge built by AmFELS, which has diversified into shipbuilding in recent years after its mainstay business — offshore oil … → Read More
University professor charts behavior during pandemic
Elena Quercioli’s life’s work lies at the intersection of economics and epidemiology in a field known, as a matter of fact, as “economic epidemiology.” As with all serious studies of economics, it’s complicated. But for over a decade the assistant professor of economics at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Robert C. Vackar College … → Read More
South Texas recycler receives warships
BROWNSVILLE — The Navy’s first guided missile destroyer, the USS Charles F. Adams (DDG 2), was one of two decommissioned U.S. warships that arrived at the Port of Brownsville last month for dismantling and recycling by International Shipbreaking LLC/EMR Group. The Charlie Deuce, as it was nicknamed, served as the flagship for surveillance of Soviet … → Read More
Virus numbers to jump; Old cases are from state ‘data dump’
Esmeraldo Guardo, administrator of Cameron County Public Health, warned at a press conference today that the county’s latest update on COVID-19 cases due out today would contain more than 100 previously unreported cases but that the public should not be alarmed, explaining that the cases were part of a large “data dump” from the state. … → Read More