Category Archives: Boca Chica Texas

BROWNSVILLE, Texas (ValleyCentral) A 30-year-old man survived a kidnapping only to be captured and murdered a few years later, authorities continue to look for his murderer two decades later.

As the lone survivor in a drug-related kidnapping, Genaro Melendez believed he was in the clear for years but he was kidnapped again in 2001.

Melendez was lured into a vehicle at approximately 2:30 a.m. on June 5, 2001, to never again be seen alive.

A few days later Melendezs body was discovered in an empty field, near Boca Chica Beach.

His body was found tied up and had sustained three shots through the head, according to Cameron County Sheriff at the time, Conrado M Cantu.

Sheriff Cantu told reporters from the Brownsville Herald that Melendezs body appeared to have been killed execution-style.

The investigation revealed that Melendezs murder was drug-related.

The Cameron County Sheriffs Office does have a person of interest in this case, however, no arrests have been made and the case remains active.

If you have any information on this case, please call the Cameron County Crime Stoppers at their hotline: (866)-350-5551 or (956)-350-5551.

Read this article:

RGV True Crime: Lone survivor of kidnapping captured then executed years later - KGBT-TV

Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted Friday that hes considering launching a new university: the Texas Institute of Technology & Science.

Its not clear how serious the mega-billionaire is, particularly considering the proposed schools obscene acronym and Musks reputation for joking on Twitter even to the point of violating securities laws.

That didnt stop netizens from seizing on the tweet, propelling the proposed schools acronym to Twitters top 25 trending list in the US on Friday.

Beyond jokes, Musk has a history of making raunchy acronyms in his business operations, including by planning the rollout of Teslas Models S, 3, X and Y vehicles to spell out S.3.X.Y. on the companys website.

When one Twitter user asked whether he had secured funding for the university, Musk responded, obv.

That could have just been a nod to Musks 2018 tweet in which he said he had funding secured to take Tesla private at $420 a share, which sent the stock price soaring and eventually led to a settlement between Musk and the Securities and Exchange Commission that was supposed to keep the mega-billionaire largely off Twitter.

In another follow-up tweet Friday morning, Musk said the proposed university would have epic merch.

Am thinking of starting new university:Texas Institute of Technology & Science

Musks own feelings about university, though, have been lukewarm. Hes repeatedly derided the experience, saying last year that colleges are for fun and to prove that you can do your chores, but theyre not for learning.

Hes also said Tesla wont have university requirements for jobs, because thats absurd.

Musk worth an estimated $302 billion has been ramping up his presence and that of his companies in Texas.

Last year, he announced that he was personally moving to the Lone Star State where theres no personal income tax and earlier this month he announced that his electric car company would move its headquarters to the Austin area as well.

Tesla will continue to expand its massive plant in Fremont, California, but Musk has said the company plans to begin production at its new factory in Austin next year.

Musks two other companies, SpaceX and The Boring Company, are both still based in Hawthorne, California.

But SpaceXs launch site, dubbed Starbase, sits in southeast Texas, near Boca Chica, an unincorporated seaside village in Cameron County. Musk has sought to expand the Starbase and actually create an incorporated US city in the area.

And The Boring Company has previously hinted of a similar expansion to Texas by teasing job postings in the state.

And theSan Antonio Express-News reported earlier this year that the company is in talks with San Antonio and Austin officials to create an underground transportation loop in Central Texas, like the one thatopened this summer in Las Vegas.

Musk isnt the only tech billionaire to expand his operations in Texas. Other major technology companies, including Oracle and Hewlett Packard, have left California for Texas in the past year.

State officials have been courting companies to make the move, dangling big-time tax breaks to put new facilities in the state through the Texas Economic Development Act.

And Austin, with its relatively low cost of living, strong university as well as popular events like South by Southwest, hasbeen a hot spot for tech companiesand their workers.

Link:

Elon Musk proposes the Texas Institute of Technology & Science - New York Post

The past few weeks have seen a flurry of activity at SpaceXs Boca Chica Launch Complex! In addition to the SN 20 prototype completing a static fire test with three of the new Raptor Vacuum 6 engines this month, the facilitys Mechazilla Launch Tower recently received a giant pair of steel arms. Once integrated with the ~135m (~450 ft) tower, these arms will be responsible for catching spent Starships and Super Heavy boosters as they return to Earth.

The Tower will also prepare missions by stacking first stage boosters with Starships and refueling these elements for the next launch. In this respect, the Launch Tower is a crucial piece of the Orbital Launch Site (OLS) architecture that Elon Musk has planned for Boca Chica. Once the Starship completes its Orbital Flight Test (which could happen soon!), Boca Chica will become a spaceflight hub where launches and retrievals are conducted regularly.

In addition to the Launch Tower, several elements will be added to the OLS as part of its Ground Support Equipment (GSE) site. This will likely include additional fuel tanks, water tanks, pipelines, a pumping station, and other amenities. Together, the Launch Tower and the GSE will enable SpaceX to launch, retrieve, refuel, and relaunch its vehicles, ensuring rapid reusability and minimized turnaround time.

These giant steel arms, nicknamed the chopsticks by the crews at Boca Chica, are mounted to a carriage-like structure. The Tower, meanwhile, is equipped with rails that have a series of skates, which the ground crews attached the carriage to using a series of large pins. Once the arms are integrated, they will be paired with a third Quick Disconnect (QD) arm that will stabilize boosters whenever they are in the process of being stacked with the Starship.

The QD arm is also tasked with distributing power, commlinks, and ~1.088 million kg (2.4 million lbs; 1200 US tons) of cryogenically-cooled propellant to the upper stage. This was the first component installed aboard the Launch Tower, which took place in late August, about a month after the crews finished stacking the Tower. Around the same time, construction began on the carriage-like structure and the two giant arms, which took about three months to complete.

The integration of the QD arm with the Launch Tower began on Oct. 6th, when the ground crews moved the carriage into a vertical position and reoriented the chopsticks so they were angled the right way. By Oct. 20th, they completed the first step of installing the carriage and arms onto the rail skates using the facilitys largest crane. Twelve connections need to be made in total before the catch arms will be a part of the Tower without the help of a crane.

However, before the catch arms can perform on their own, the ground crews also need to finish installing the hundreds of meters of steel cable that will support the carriage and arms and (with the help of a system of pulleys) lift it up and down. They also need to finish work on the giant cable carrier that will connect the structure to the ground and control systems.

In other news, Elon Musk recently divulged that the long-awaited Orbital Flight Test could take place sometime in November. Musk shared the news via Twitter (as always), indicating that the test could happen if all goes well and pending approval by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). This test will see the SN 20 prototype fly to an altitude of 200 km (124 mi), then make a soft touchdown on the landing pad.

Once complete, this flight will validate the Starship as an orbital vehicle and demonstrate its ability to return from space safely. For this reason, the SN 20 is the first prototype to be outfitted with heat-resistant tiles to protect the prototypes stainless steel hull from the scorching heat it will encounter during atmospheric re-entry. This update came a day after the SN 20 prototype successfully concluded the first static fire test of the Vacuum Raptor Engine 6.

These engines have a larger nozzle than the Raptor Engines optimized for sea level, which gives them improved performance in the airless environment of space. The SN 20 will also have three of these Raptor engines to ensure that it can make a controlled landing once its returned to Earths atmosphere. Once this orbital flight is complete, the Starship will officially be ready to move into commercial flights.

These developments are timely, given that Musk hopes to send the Starship on its inaugural mission by 2023. This mission is being financed by Japanese billionaire, entrepreneur, and art collector Yusaku Maezawa and will see a crew of eight artists making a circumlunar flight (the purpose of which will be to inspire art and raise SpaceXs profile). Musk has also indicated that his company plans to send uncrewed missions to Mars by 2024, followed by crewed missions by 2026.

Thats a tall order, for sure. And such a plan requires a robust testing schedule! But if this latest news from South Texas is any indication, SpaceX might make those deadlines!

Further Reading: Teslarati

Like Loading...

Follow this link:

Mechazilla is Getting its Arms. Now it can Catch Starships! - Universe Today

Theres a bird killer on the loose, a vicious murderer with an insatiable bloodlust for endangered species. His name is Elon Musk.

The Tesla tycoon hasnt been doing the dirty work himself, but Musks SpaceX is reportedly decimating birds around the companys facility in Boca Chica, Texas.

The surrounding land hosts an array of endangered animals, including sea turtles, ocelots, and hundreds of bird species, including the federally threatened Piper Rover.

Campaigners warn that SpaceXs operations are destroying their habitats. According to an analysis byCoastal Bend Bays & Estuaries Program, the regions Piping Plover population has shrunk by 54% in the three years since the arrival of SpaceX.

Boca Chica is incredibly important to birds, said EJ Williams, the American Bird Conservancys (ABC) VP for the Southeast Region, in a statement.

The SpaceX facility in Boca Chica is surrounded by federal and state public lands used by hundreds of thousands of individual birds of many different species throughout the year.

Activists have raised concerns about the harm caused by rocket explosions, sonic booms, debris dropping from the sky, and increased traffic in the area. They also worry about the environmental impact of SpaceXs plans to drill for gas in the area.

Residents have also accused SpaceX of ruining the neighborhood. Musk, however, has previously appeared dismissive of the effects on their lives.

Weve got a lot of land with nobody around, so if it blows up, its cool, he reportedly said in 2018.

Musk may strive tosave humanity by colonizing space, but its a shame he has to destroy some species on Earth in the process. Flying on SpaceX rockets wont feel quite as fun if theyve been built on tiny bird skeletons.

Follow this link:

SpaceXs success is built on the bones of tiny birds - The Next Web

SpaceX's goal in making humanity a multi-planetary species is particularly polarizing. To space industry advocates, it could be the best hope to use this opportunity to become a spacefaring civilization. But to others, it is a high-risk venture for the people and the environment, specifically in its Starbase in Boca Chica.

The aerospace manufacturer has to get a new launch license from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to demonstrate that Starship can reach orbit, reenter, and touch down.

(Photo : Wikimedia Commons)SpaceX Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas

As FAA shared on their website, SpaceX proposes to conduct Starship launch operations from Boca Chica Launch Site in Cameron County, Texas. The spacecraft will be lifted off the ground using its Super Heavy rocket boosters.

FAA noted that SpaceX must apply for and obtain an experimental permit and vehicle license from the Office of Commercial Space Transportation of FAA to operate the launch of Starship/Super Heavy legally.

Last month, FAA released a draft programmatic environmental assessment (PEA)of the plans laid out by SpaceX for Starship's launch. According to an article in The Space Review, the report assesses the environmental effects of launch activities and whether and how they can be mitigated.

It is reported that the PEA could lead to FAA's more intensive environmental impact statement. The assessment included the air and water quality, as well as the noise and visual effects. But it also noted that the final decision would be made after the US Fish and Wildlife Service performs a determination of potential adverse effects on the endangered species in Boca Chica.

PEA has opened a public comment period that is heard through public hearings virtually at Zoom so people could tune in from their homes or wherever they may be and provide their comments.

Moreso, it created two different schools of thought about the Starship/Super Heavy launch. Supporters pressed the FAA to move full speed ahead on approving the environmental review and give SpaceX a license for Starship orbital launches from Boca Chica. On the other hand, others expressed their displeasure and call on FAA to develop an environmental impact statement (EIS).

Finding a balance between environmental and space industry needs is not a new challenge. But experts said that it is something that everyone should work through or otherwise it could significantly impact the industry's ability to move forward.

ALSO READ: Starship SN15 Launch: SpaceX Told Boca Chica Residents to Evacuate Ahead of Major Launch

Residents in Boca Chica have learned to live, or perhaps tolerate, living near a rocket company for over five years. As The Atlanticreported, a typical neighborhood would get notices to mind their own space, but residents in Boca Chica often receive notices that their windows might shatter due to the rocket launches.

Due to this, SpaceX has offered to buy their houses three times the market value. Some have accepted the offer, while others rejected it despite knowing that Musk is preparing to launch a giant rocketship that might go into orbit soon.

In a letter, SpaceX admitted that they did not anticipate at first that Cameron County residents would experience significant disruption. But its expansion has shown that spaceflight activities and compliance to FAA as well as public safety regulations would make it challenging to minimize disruption.

So why does SpaceX want Boca Chica so badly? Perhaps it is because the infrastructure to support a departure gate from Earth in that area is slowly emerging despite Cameron County being a far cry from Cape Canaveral.

RELATED ARTICLE: Elon Musk's SpaceX Launch Site in Boca Chica Causes Harm To Wildlife, Environmentalists Claim

Check out more news and information on SpaceX in Science Times.

Read the original post:

SpaceX Battle in Boca Chica: Which is More Important Environment or FAA License to Launch Starship for the Space Industry - Science Times

Elon Musk has had a busy year so far: multiple SpaceX launches from Boca Chica, announcing Tesla headquarters move to Texas, hosting Saturday Night Live, and pumping up Dogecoin not quite to the moon. Most dads would be content to sit back and call it a year. But most dads wouldnt name their kid X A-12. Musk is not like most dads, which is probably why he thought it was a good idea to announce the release of a new beer, Giga Bier, by his automobile company, Tesla.

Musk made the announcement during the Gigafactory Berlin-Brandenburg County Fair, a festival to celebrate the grand opening of Teslas new Gigafactory in Grnheide, outside Berlin. It wasnt a full announcement but more of an exclamation mark to a list of things the new Tesla manufactory will feature. And were even gonna have a beer, he said in front of a large screen showing renderings of the Giga Bier bottle, designed in a modern and angular style reminiscent of Teslas Cybertruck. Judging by the mock-up, the bottle appears to be translucent. (The company may want to send that element back into R&Dbeer comes in colored bottles to prevent skunking.) There was no mention of what type of beer this is going to be. He was in Berlin, so perhaps we should expect a Berliner weisse.

Its also unclear where exactly the beer will be sold. A clue can be found in Teslas recent registration of two trademarks with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The company trademarked Giga Bier, the German name that adorned the bottle during Musks presentation. The other is the English version: Giga Beer. Now, here comes that Texan twist: an Austin brewery-to-be named Starbase Brewing registered its own trademark, on the same application date, for GigaBeer.

Starbase Brewing calls itself the Official Brewery of Mars, which is pretty bold for a brewery that has yet to open. (That detail hasnt stopped its anonymous owners from selling T-shirts.) Despite being named after the SpaceX launch facility in Boca Chica, the website makes it clear that Starbase Brewing is not affiliated, associated, authorized, endorsed by, or in any way officially connected with SpaceX, or any of its subsidiaries or its affiliates. We are huge fans, though. The company is currently building out the space that once housed the now-closed Orf Brewing in Austin, but eventually plan to have at least one brewpub in Boca Chica itself. The ultimate goal, according to the site, is to open the first brewery on Mars. GigaBeer could be just the thing to launch Starbases beer dreams into orbit.

Like Tesla, Starbase did not respond to a request to comment (true fans, indeed). Did its owners register a very similar trademark out of fandom, or have they been contracted to brew the beer for Tesla? As with a good lager, the mysteries of Giga Bier will become clear with time. (Asked about the potential competition, Michael Graham of Austin Beerworks said, What a coincidencewere developing an electric car! Judging by the quality of Austin Beerworks beer, Tesla would have stiff competition if this were true.)

This isnt the first time Musk has entered the booze market. In 2020, he released Tesla Tequila, which came in lightning boltshaped bottles and was produced by Nosotros Tequila in Hermosa Beach, California. The tequila is no longer officially for sale, but the empty bottles are still being resold online for up to $1,000. Giga Bier bottles, full or empty, are sure to be a smashing success.

We cant predict how Giga Bier will taste or even if it will ever come to fruition, but thats not really the point. Musk has already done what he does bestriled up his adoring fandom and gotten the internet buzzing about the potential launch. Theres no word on whether this beer will be self-drinking, but lets hope not. That wouldnt be any fun.

See the article here:

Everything We Know About Elon Musks Tesla Beer - Texas Monthly

BROWNSVILLE, Texas (ValleyCentral) Friday, ValleyCentral will head out to the city of Brownsville for the matchup between the Rivera Early College Raiders and the HarlingenSouth Hawks.Before the Friday night game kicks off, we are taking a look at Brownsvilles pastand present to get a sense of what the citys future may look like.

Brownsville, Texasis becoming the talk ofthe Rio Grande Valley, and arguably,aroundthe world. FromSouth Padre Islandto McAllen,the eyes and ears of entrepreneurs, socialites, and casual residents are on Brownsville, and the consensus is, nows the time to invest in Brownsville.

After several years of being economically and socially overshadowed by competitiveValleytowns to the West, Brownsville is now enjoying its renaissance.Waves of renewed interestcan be seen in the city through the establishment of new businessesandthe creation of art, but also through the preservation of whatwas already there.

TofullyappreciateBrownsville, one must get toknow a bit of its 173 years of history.Brownsville historian, Eugene Fernandez, produced 180 segments on individualpoints in the citys history and says Brownsville has seenvariousmajor periods of growth throughout its history.

The city was founded in 1848 at the end of the Mexican-American Warand through the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgowhichrecognized thesouthern-most boundaries for the United Statesas theRio Grandeand allowed for colonization. The Treaty alsoset the precedent for the intertwined relationship between Brownsville and Matamoros that carries on to the present day.

The next boom camein the 1860sduring the Civil War; Brownsville and Matamoros served as a port for importing and exporting goods to confederate troops.Another significant occurrence in the historyof the area was the Battle ofPalmitoHillwith was the final battle of the Civil War. The historical marker islocated is down Highway 4, near SpaceX.

Theres a long-time debate out there about whats the most historic city inTexas? Everybody pops up and they say San Antonio; thats simply not true. Because if you take the Missions out of San Antoniotheres nothing that San Antonio did that came up on the world stage, but Brownsville has time after time after time been on the world stage, and one of them was the Battle ofPalmitoHill, said Fernandez.

Remnants of the establishment of the city can be found all over the downtown area;manybuildings inspired by French architecturein the 1850s still stand. Many of these buildings are receiving much-needed maintenance and updates with money donated by the Musk Foundations and through investments from business owners. They will soon be the highlights of a revitalizedhistoricdowntownBrownsvillethat includes modern attractions.

Brownsvilles close proximity to SpaceXs Starbase on Boca Chica has attracted attention from space enthusiasts around the globe. On any given day, tourists will travel out to Boca Chica to see the lunch site from which humans may one day leave to Mars.

Circlingaround tofootball, tonights game will be played at the 10,000-seatSamsMemorial Stadium. The stadium wascompleted in 1957 with generous contributions from theSamsFoundation; the same foundation that also established the Gladys Porter Zoo.

Of the seven early college high schools in Brownsville, Rivera EarlyCollege High School was thefourth to be established in 1988.The game will kick off at 7 p.m. You can watch our CBS 4 On the Road show live at Sams Stadium for our 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. shows and our Local 23 Road Trip at 4 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. As well as our behind the scene coverage on our social media platforms.

Read more here:

City of Brownsville: Preserving the past and launching into the future - KGBT-TV

The launch of the artificial satellite Sputnik 1 into orbit on 4 October 1957 propelled with it the conquest of space to the top of the agenda of the worlds major powers, where it assumed a place alongside the traditional areas of strategic competition: land, sea and air. And while driven in part by the human desire to go beyond the frontiers of the known, the space race must above all be understood as a central element in the struggle for planetary hegemony among a handful of global powers.

While other state actors attempted to stake out territory for themselves in the waning years of the Cold War, the confrontation essentially always boiled down to two players: the United States and the Soviet Union. The US saw itself as the worlds most advanced technological centre, with the self-appointed role of leading humanity. It thus came as a shock and a major blow to its prestige when its rival in Moscow, which was not believed to have that level of development in space and missile technology, overtook it with the aforementioned launch of Sputnik 1. Against the backdrop of the Cold War, and with the USSR already having conducted its first nuclear test in 1949, the thinking in Washington was that if Moscow could place a satellite into orbit it could also launch the nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missiles it had just tested that same year with the very powerful R-7 Semyorka rocket.

The US response led by the Department of Defence, which proves that the space race was and is, above all, a strategic and military matter was immediate. Washington greatly increased support for the Navys Project Vanguard, aimed at launching its first intercontinental ballistic missile and placing the satellite Explorer 1 into orbit on 31 January 1958. The same year saw the creation of ARPA (Advanced Research Projects Agency, soon to be renamed DARPA, the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency) and NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Agency, on 29 July). The UGM-27 Polaris (submarine-launched ballistic missile) programme was also created and President John F. Kennedy would go on to approve the development of 1,000 LGM-30 Minuteman missiles.

Thus, by the time the first humans landed on the moon (20 July 1969), the arms race was already in full swing, with both sides building up tactical and strategic nuclear arsenals that plunged humanity into the grim scenario of Mutually Assured Destruction in which we are still immersed today.

With the secondary nuclear powers of Britain, France, China, India, Pakistan and Israel looking on, the two superpowers would go on to equip themselves with the so-called nuclear triad, strategic missiles based on land, submarines and bombers, and accumulate more than 60,000 nuclear warheads.

At the same time, the US and the USSR improved the technology of their launch vehicles, building increasingly powerful engines in a civil race no less intense than its military counterpart. While Washington is often considered to be the winner of the space race (which, beginning with Apollo 11, focused on developing low-orbit space shuttles), it is Moscow that should receive the most credit, not only for being the first to place a satellite into orbit, but also for achieving the first manned space flight (12 April 1961), first spacewalk (18 March 1965), first space station (Salyut 1, 19 April 1971) and first permanent orbital station (Mir, 20 February 1986).

The implosion of the USSR in December 1991 and the subsequent end of the Cold War paradoxically led to increased cooperation between the US and Russia. This was fuelled by economic interests and, above all, Washingtons fear that the deep crisis in which its main rival found itself would lead to the flight of Russian space scientists to North Korea or Iran. The result was a new era of collaboration that culminated in the International Space Station (ISS) when the Mir reached the end of its life in 2001.

While the ISS is a joint endeavour involving 15 countries and remains active today, it would be a mistake to assume that the conquest of space has ceased to be an area of active military competition between major players. On the contrary, this century has seen the space race take on new life, infused with new players and new features.

Additional countries with very ambitious objectives have joined the traditional competitors. Today, more than forty countries have active space programmes at different stages of development.

Despite its considerable technical and economic resources, the European Union appears to have withdrawn from this competition due to its unwillingness to speak with one voice on the international stage. China, in contrast, has entered it with full force.

While thousands of satellites already orbit the planet and navigation systems such as GPS, Galileo, Beidou and Glonass are already operational realities, the most novel aspect of the new space race is the central role occupied by private business actors, with companies such as SpaceX (Elon Musk), Blue Origin (Jeff Bezos) and Virgin Galactic (Richard Branson) leading the way. And while state actors continue to play an important role, public-private partnerships have become the new established framework for cooperation. In 2016, the space economy was already estimated to be worth around US$326 billion annually (three-fourths of which is accounted for by the private sector). Morgan Stanley projects that it will be worth US$1.2 trillion by 2040.

Indeed, by reducing costs, until recently thought to be impossible, the competition between these private sector players, coupled with increasingly astonishing technological developments, is to a large extent making such projects feasible. As a result, both China (which landed a lunar rover on the far side of the moon in January 2019) and the United States are once again considering lunar missions (though the Biden administration has admitted that it will be impossible to go to the moon by 2024 with the Artemis programme). And the horizon continues to expand with plans to reach Mars and beyond. The goals of such missions include both prestige as well as more tangible benefits such as telecommunications, data acquisition, space mining and tourism.

And while these aspects have attracted the bulk of media attention, technological development applied to the militarisation of space continues unabated.

With countries such as Russia currently engaged in the most ambitious programmes in their history to modernise their strategic arsenals, and with China catching up, this technological momentum suggests that the militarisation of space will be inevitable. The only international treaty governing space law, the Outer Space Treaty, signed in 1967 with the express purpose of prohibiting the use of space for military purposes, does not appear to be a sufficiently adequate instrument for preventing it.

This article has been translated from Spanish.

Read the original post:

Can the militarisation of space be avoided? - Equal Times

The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Department of Intercollegiate Athletics that the mens and womens golf and tennis programs will be hosting a pair of free clinics in Brownsville. Courtesy Image.

Texas Border Business

RIO GRANDE VALLEY, Texas The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Department of Intercollegiate Athletics announced on Thursday that the UTRGV mens and womens golf and tennis programs will be hosting a pair of free clinics in Brownsville, with the golf programs doing so on Oct. 31 and the tennis programs doing so on Nov. 6, as part of a partnership with the City of Brownsville and presented by Chick-fil-A Boca Chica.

The golf programs are hosting two clinics at Riverbend Golf Club (4541 US-281), with the first one for kids ages 18 years and younger running from 2-to-3:30 p.m. on Oct. 31. That will be followed by a clinic for kids with special needs from 4-to-4:45 p.m.

With the clinics falling on Halloween, kids are encouraged to dress as their favorite golfers to receive special prizes.

Those interested in the clinics can register with Riverbend Golf Club in person or by calling (956) 548-0192. Walk-ups will be accepted.

The tennis clinic runs from 10-to-11:30 a.m. on Nov. 6 at the Brownsville Tennis Center (3 Event Ctr.) and is open to all ages and skill levels. Those interested in participating are asked to send an email to UTRGV Womens Tennis Head CoachWest Nottatwest.nott@utrgv.eduby Nov. 5 at 5 p.m.

Walk-ups on the day of the clinic will still be able to participate. Anyone interested in participating that does not own a tennis racquet will be provided with one to use for the day.

The tennis programs will then treat participants, their families, and fans to an intrasquad match at 12 p.m. that will feature the mens and womens teams split into two groups with mixed doubles kicking off the action. The City of Brownsville is pleased to host golf and tennis enthusiasts alike at our Brownsville Tennis Center and Riverbend Golf Club, Brownsville MayorTrey Mendezsaid. We appreciate the opportunity to partner with UTRGV and excited to see our local athletes enjoy the clinics alongside their families and friends.

Excerpt from:

Athletics to Host Golf and Tennis Clinics in Brownsville - texasborderbusiness.com

In last weeks newsletter, I wrote about how murals can be an opportunity to tell stories about a community.

Of course, it also matters who is doing the telling and what it is theyre saying.

In early September, the border city of Brownsville (Puro 956, cuh!) announced a plan to revitalize the downtown business district through a series of commissioned murals, all part of an effort to recover spaces for artistic expansion in the center of the city, according to a news release. The first of these works of public art would be painted on the side of the historic Capitol Theatre by Los Angeles-based artist Teddy Kelly.

I would venture to say its going to be one of the largest murals in the [Rio Grande Valley], if not the biggest, Ramiro Gonzalez, Brownsvilles then-director of community and government affairs (he is no longer employed by the city) told Valley Central News at the time.

It may be the largest mural in the RGV, but to some Brownsville residents it feels like a mischaracterization of their hometown.

If youre not from here and you go see it, youre going to think that it represents Brownsville and youll be mistaken in what the culture is here, said Gabriel Trevio, a local artist with more than 20 years of experience.

Were sending the wrong message, and its creating the wrong image that has nothing to do with the local culture.

Trevio isnt wrong. Kellys 6,000-square-foot mural is replete with geometric shapes and pastel colors. Its the perfect background for Instagram selfies, sure, but the only sign that youre in Brownsville is the block letters BTX, shorthand for Brownsville, Texas, no doubt an aspirational nod to ATX, or Austin.

Some took umbrage with the selection of a California artist instead of someone local. The mural revitalization project was funded by the Musk Foundation, tech billionaire Elon Musks charity organization. For his work, Kelly was paid $20,000, more than half of Brownsvilles 2019 median household income of $38,588.

That money was supposed to benefit our community, said Melissa Mendoza, another local artist and vocal critic of the mural project. How is it benefiting us if that money gets on a plane and heads back to California to stimulate their local economy?

Im sure local artists would have been able to use that money; they would have been able to use that money to go to [Mayor Juan Trey Mendezs] pizza place downtown. Hes always telling us to keep everything local, to support local businesses, but then they themselves dont even support the local artists. Its sad.

Mendoza wasnt always a critic of Mendez, saying she campaigned for him because she saw a young, motivated, handsome Chicano lawyer whose job it was to stand up to the powerful people.

Now, she feels the mural is a slap in the face. It also feels like a sign of whats to come.

The SpaceX launch site in Boca Chica Beach is about 25 miles northeast of the Capitol Theatre mural. Dubbed Starbase, Texas by Musk, the location appears to play a central role in the billionaires quest to colonize Mars.

Please consider moving to Starbase or greater Brownsville/South Padre area in Texas & encourage friends to do so, Musk tweeted in March, the same day a prototype rocket exploded as it was trying to land. SpaceXs hiring needs for engineers, technicians, builders & essential support personnel of all kinds are growing rapidly.

Which brings us back to the mural project. Yes, downtown Brownsville is in the midst of a revitalization, but whom is it for?

What is happening in Brownsville is exactly what has happened in larger municipalities 10 years ago, which is that art is being instrumentalized as a way to create capital incentives, said ChristinaMaria Xochitlzihuatl Patio Houle, co-founder of the south Texas arts collective Las Imaginistas, noting the longtime relationship that exists between capital and art, citing the patronage of Renaissance artists by the rich and powerful.

Its instrumentalized beautification for the sake of mobilizing gentrification.

For his part, Mayor Mendez has defended the mural, acknowledging in an Instagram post that not everyone would like it.

Felipe Romero, communications and marketing director for the city, also sent the following statement to The Times:

The city continues to support Brownsvilles dynamic art and culture scene, with projects like the Brownsville Mural Program, Calle Calaveras, and Lazos de mi Ciudad. The Brownsville Mural Program has grown to be a collaborative effort to blend diverse talents from around the world. With several art projects on the horizon, the city is staying committed to providing opportunities for artists through community engagement.

On Tuesday, local blog El Rrun Rrun reported that the second mural for the revitalization project was nearly completed, this time created by Mexican artist Sofia Castaneda.

The Times reached out to the Musk Foundation via telephone and email but has not received a response.

For more on the effects that SpaceXs launch site is having on Boca Chica Beach, dubbed the poor peoples beach, I recommend this Texas Observer story by Gus Bova, as well as this New York Times report.

Today is Latina Equal Pay Day, the date that signifies how much longer Latinas have to work to catch up to the 2020 wages of their white, non-Latinx male counterparts.

The wage gap is larger for Latinas they earn 57 cents for every dollar a white, non-Latinx man makes than it is for women belonging to other racial and/or ethnic groups. According to Equal Pay Today, Asian American and Pacific Islander women earn 80 cents on the dollar, Black women earn 63 cents on the dollar, and Native women earn 60 cents on the dollar.

But wait, it gets worse. According to a 2020 report from the National Womens Law Center, the wage gap will cost Latinas more than $1 million over the course of a 40-year career.

The pay gap impacts our ability to have what we need to live our lives with security, Mnica Ramrez, co-founder of organizations Alianza Nacional de Campesinas and the Latinx House, wrote in an op-ed published in Latina.

It impacts our ability to pay for our children to go to college, to save for the future, and to have confidence that we will have the financial footing to retire one day.

These daunting figures have real-life consequences, and if the claim is that the future is Latina which I believe in then closing the wage gap is imperative if we want it to be less dystopian.

How do we fix this? I dont know, but I am a big supporter of salary transparency.

From a workers perspective, without accurate information about peer compensation, they may not know when theyre being underpaid, UCLA economist Emiliano Huet-Vaughn told the New York Times in 2019, noting that it naturally becomes harder to make the case that one is suffering a form of pay discrimination if you dont know what your co-workers are earning.

For more on the pay gap, I recommend this episode from Radar 2021, Telemundos English-language digital news program.

Last Friday, thousands of Puerto Ricans took to the street to protest LUMA Energy, a power company that took over the management of Puerto Ricos electrical grid after it was privatized. As Paola Rosa-Aquino of New York Magazine reports, Puerto Ricans have seen their electric bills already among the highest in the United States skyrocket and have been subjected to so many rolling blackouts the government declared a state of emergency. According to the Guardian, Puerto Ricos unreliable and battered grid has led many to turn to solar power.

My colleague Suzy Exposito has this commentary on J Balvin and Tokischkas music video for Perra, which has been heavily criticized for its displays of misogynoir and was quietly removed from YouTube.

From the Nevada Independent, a mariachi music program is growing in schools across Clark County.

There has been no meaningful immigration reform nine months after President Biden promised to aggressively advocate for legislation that creates a clear road map to legal status and citizenship for 11 million. In her latest, Times columnist Jean Guerrero asks who is going to step up to be the champion of immigrants in the post-Trump era.

The best thing on the Latinernet: Whoever got the brilliant idea of mashing up promotional footage of the upcoming Dune movie with Vicente Fernandezs Para Siempre, please reveal yourselves! Im not kidding when I say it took me a second to realize that this video wasnt the intro to an upcoming Televisa telenovela. Its the Timoteo Chvez and Zendaya Colmenar that does it for me.

The detail, intention, and focus we put into our ofrendas is a translation of the love and respect we will always hold for our ancestors, no matter how much time has passed.

(Valeria Olgun / For The Times)

Valeria Olgun is a Xicana visual artist and community organizer raised between South San Francisco and her moms burrito shop. She refers to her work as lighthearted love letters, using it to connect with others with similar experiences and identities through shared joy.

This comic was inspired by the love for our ancestors that transcends death. Although theyre no longer present, we continue loving and respecting our loved ones. The detail, intention and focus we put into our ofrendas is a translation of the love and respect we will always hold for them, no matter how much time has passed.

Are you a Latinx artist? We want your help telling our stories. Send us your pitches for illustrations, comics, GIFs and more! Email our art director at martina.ibanezbaldor@latimes.com.

See more here:

Latinx Files: RGV's fight over another kind of border wall - The San Diego Union-Tribune