Jorge A. Vela

McAllen

Multimedia Journalist at Nexstar Media Group

Hola! General Assignments Reporter for @lmtnews and a freelancer for @nytimes and have published work @usnews. Love people, traveling, soccer and La Familia!

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Articles

Students react to visa revocations at UTRGV

1 week ago | valleycentral.com | Jorge A. Vela

EDINBURG, Texas (ValleyCentral) — Nine international students at The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) have had their student visas revoked and have been ordered to leave the United States. Students say they are in shock visas were revoked at their campus and also all pointed out they know at least one or two international students who are worried about what will happen next.
Advocates raise awareness of extreme temperatures in Texas prisons

2 weeks ago | valleycentral.com | Jorge A. Vela

EDINBURG, Texas (ValleyCentral) — Texas Prison Community Advocates (TPCA) are raising awareness over prison conditions in Texas and making a big plea as the summer weather begins to arrive. “I can’t keep my dog in these conditions,” said Amite Dominick, Director of TPCA. “I can’t do that. Why is it okay to treat a human being like that?”Advocates visited the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, where students got into a mock prison cell.
Petition urges Edinburg CISD to change bad weather make-up day

2 weeks ago | valleycentral.com | Jorge A. Vela

EDINBURG, Texas (ValleyCentral) — One Edinburg parent decided to make a petition against a bad weather make-up day. The Edinburg Consolidated Independent School District decided to make the day after Easter, April 21, a work development day. This is despite the fact that the academic calendar indicates April 21 was an off day for both students and teachers. The day was also not originally set up as a bad weather make-up, according to the academic calendar.
Red Cross partners with organizations for flood assistance

2 weeks ago | valleycentral.com | Jorge A. Vela

HARLINGEN, Texas (ValleyCentral) — The Red Cross has partnered up with different organizations to help with post-flood recovery efforts. One of these organizations is the Harlingen Consolidated Independent School District (HCISD) in efforts to help children whose homes were impacted. Partnerships like this help organizations know what areas still need help and discover new ones. Kayla Gonzalez, who is the executive director for the American Red Cross South Texas Chapter, says the need is non-stop.
Starbase general manager visits McAllen, makes announcements

2 weeks ago | valleycentral.com | Jorge A. Vela

MCALLEN, Texas (ValleyCentral) — The McAllen Convention Center today welcomed Starbase General Manager Kathryn Leuders where she made various announces as to their continuing mission. She also talked about the upcoming election to make Starbase the newest city of Cameron County. “This is not us moving away,” Leuders said.
Small businesses continue to recover from floods

3 weeks ago | valleycentral.com | Jorge A. Vela

HARLINGEN, Texas (ValleyCentral) — The Harlingen Economic Development Corporation (HEDC) and the City of Harlingen have come up with a grant program to help out businesses affected by last week’s flood. Many are still cleaning and analyzing their losses. “Its been very difficult the cleaning up,” said Terri Lee, who owns Valley Beauty Supply, LLC. “It has taken us a long time to get our show room the way it is and it just took merely hours for it to be destroyed.
Flood aid efforts continue days after storm

3 weeks ago | valleycentral.com | Jorge A. Vela

PHARR, Texas (ValleyCentral) — Flood aid continues in parts of the Rio Grande Valley where many people were affected. Hundreds of vehicles lined up at Jones Box Park on Wednesday to receive meals to take home. City of Pharr Emergency Management Coordinator Danny Ramirez said flood aid will continue for the next few days before they head into long-term recovery efforts. “We’re trying to get the community back to normal as soon as possible,” Ramirez said.
Trump administration wants social media profiles of legal immigrants

1 month ago | valleycentral.com | Jorge A. Vela

HARLINGEN, Texas (ValleyCentral) — The Trump Administration wants to inspect immigrant’s social media profiles as a way to enhance identity verification, vetting and national security screenings for those in the process of changing their status. Critics say this is a violation of freedom of speech.
Drop in people filing taxes as IRS-ICE deal nears

1 month ago | valleycentral.com | Jorge A. Vela

ALTON, Texas (ValleyCentral) — Tax preparers are voicing their concern over a possible deal between the International Revenue Service (IRS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to share information about suspected undocumented migrants in the country. One local tax preparer even reports a 50% decline in customers who usually get a Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) every year. “Its very controversial,” said Esperanza Sobrevilla, who is the owner of Maximo Income Tax.
Concerns grow over cyber attack at DHR Health

1 month ago | valleycentral.com | Jorge A. Vela

EDINBURG, Texas (ValleyCentral) — Two major cyber attacks in the Rio Grande Valley, one in Mission and the latest at DHR Health have sounded the alarm. One DHR employee is also expressing concern of the situation and the employee worries about what could happen if the situation continues. The person prefers to stay anonymous for purposes of job security. “When I first arrived on my shift, I walked into complete chaos in ambulances,” the employee said.