https://www.texastribune.org/about/staff/berenice-garcia/The latest news by Berenice Garcia.enSat, 24 May 2025 12:58:33 -0500https://www.texastribune.org/2025/05/24/starbase-spacex-boca-chica-beach-texas-legislature/The Texas Senate agreed Friday to make it easier for the new city, home to Elon Musk’s SpaceX, to shutter the beach during rocket launches.By Berenice GarciaSat, 24 May 2025 12:58:33 -0500https://www.texastribune.org/2025/05/24/starbase-spacex-boca-chica-beach-texas-legislature/https://www.texastribune.org/2025/05/22/texas-daylight-saving-time/Federal action would be needed to make the change legal. Lawmakers at both the state and federal levels have debated the question for decades.By Berenice GarciaThu, 22 May 2025 17:28:54 -0500https://www.texastribune.org/2025/05/22/texas-daylight-saving-time/Texas lawmakers want the state to end changing the clocks back and forth. But Congress must act first.Sunrise over the historic Alamo in San Antonio.Robin Jerstad for The Texas Tribunehttps://www.texastribune.org/2025/05/21/texas-screwworm-cattle-industry-border/U.S. Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz hope to fund an operation to kill the parasitic fly before too much damage is done.By Berenice Garcia and Jess HuffWed, 21 May 2025 14:20:58 -0500https://www.texastribune.org/2025/05/21/texas-screwworm-cattle-industry-border/The U.S. has once again suspended live animal imports at the southern border as fear of screwworm grows.Cattle are brought across the U.S.-Mexico border at the livestock import/export facility in Santa Teresa, New Mexico on January 22, 2021.Justin Hamel for The Texas Tribunehttps://www.texastribune.org/2025/05/16/spacex-faa-launch-approval-starbase-texas/The federal approval comes after vote from residents — mostly SpaceX employees — to form a new city at the Rio Grande Valley beach.By Berenice GarciaFri, 16 May 2025 15:07:09 -0500https://www.texastribune.org/2025/05/16/spacex-faa-launch-approval-starbase-texas/https://www.texastribune.org/2025/05/15/texas-water-rio-grande-valley-drought/Leaders hope to treat groundwater and capture more rain as the water from one of the nation’s most iconic rivers becomes less reliable.By Berenice GarciaThu, 15 May 2025 13:00:00 -0500https://www.texastribune.org/2025/05/15/texas-water-rio-grande-valley-drought/An aerial view of the Tres Lagos neighborhood in McAllen on May 12. Developed by Rhodes Enterprises, the community includes thousands of homes, restaurants and the McAllen campus of Texas A&M.An aerial view of the Tres Lagos neighborhood development in McAllen on May 12, 2025. Thousands of homes span the development which includes restaurants and a food truck park.Michael Gonzalez for The Texas Tribunehttps://www.texastribune.org/2025/05/03/spacex-starbase-texas-vote-elon-musk/Critics of Elon Musk and SpaceX say that a new city will give more power to a company they believe is harming the environment.By Berenice Garcia, The Texas Tribune, and Lauren McGaughy, Texas NewsroomSat, 03 May 2025 05:00:00 -0500https://www.texastribune.org/2025/05/03/spacex-starbase-texas-vote-elon-musk/https://www.texastribune.org/2025/05/02/texas-spacex-starbase-election-candidates-elon-musk/All three — running unopposed — have longstanding connections with SpaceX, Elon Musk’s company headquartered in South Texas.By Berenice GarciaFri, 02 May 2025 05:00:00 -0500https://www.texastribune.org/2025/05/02/texas-spacex-starbase-election-candidates-elon-musk/https://www.texastribune.org/2025/04/29/mexico-texas-water-deal-donald-trump/The latest development in a years-long push by South Texas farmers and officials to get Mexico to fulfill a 1944 treaty would still fall short of what is owed.By Berenice GarciaTue, 29 Apr 2025 15:03:43 -0500https://www.texastribune.org/2025/04/29/mexico-texas-water-deal-donald-trump/https://www.texastribune.org/2025/04/24/starbase-texas-election-space-x/City leaders, who will be elected in May, will have just a short window to decide what services to provide, like police or fire, and how to tax residents.By Berenice GarciaThu, 24 Apr 2025 05:00:00 -0500https://www.texastribune.org/2025/04/24/starbase-texas-election-space-x/https://www.texastribune.org/2025/04/21/texas-pope-francis-death-catholic-church/Some churchgoers in the Rio Grande Valley remembered the leader of the Catholic Church as a forward-thinking figure who cared for everyone.By Berenice GarciaMon, 21 Apr 2025 19:30:06 -0500https://www.texastribune.org/2025/04/21/texas-pope-francis-death-catholic-church/Jeanie Piña, 67, pays her respects in front of the image of Pope Francis at the Basilica of Our Lady of San Juan del Valle in San Juan on Monday, April 21, 2025.Jeanie Piña, 67, pays her respects in front of the image of Pope Francis at the Basilica of Our Lady of San Juan del Valle in San Juan, Texas on Monday April 21, 2025. Gabriel V. Cárdenas for The Texas TribuneGabriel V. Cárdenas for The Texas Tribunehttps://www.texastribune.org/2025/04/15/texas-democrats-rio-grande-valley/In 2024, President Donald Trump won all four counties in the Rio Grande Valley, once considered a reliable Democratic stronghold.By Berenice GarciaTue, 15 Apr 2025 05:00:00 -0500https://www.texastribune.org/2025/04/15/texas-democrats-rio-grande-valley/Newly elected Texas Democratic Party Chair Kendall Scudder addresses attendees at a town hall event in McAllen on April 12.Newly elected Texas Democratic Party Chair Kendall Scudder addresses attendees at a town hall event in McAllen on April 12, 2025. The event organizers invited CD-15 Congresswoman Monica De La Cruz to the event, but she did not attend.Michael Gonzalez for The Texas Tribunehttps://www.texastribune.org/2025/04/11/texas-deportation-hearing-venezuelans-trump-alien-enemies-act/The ruling extends a temporary restraining order for three Venezuelan migrants detained in South Texas who are facing deportation.By Berenice GarciaFri, 11 Apr 2025 15:36:25 -0500https://www.texastribune.org/2025/04/11/texas-deportation-hearing-venezuelans-trump-alien-enemies-act/https://www.texastribune.org/2025/04/03/spacex-starbase-texas-legislature-beach/The lawmakers behind the bill promised there would not be an increase in the number of days the beach is closed.By Berenice GarciaThu, 03 Apr 2025 17:13:56 -0500https://www.texastribune.org/2025/04/03/spacex-starbase-texas-legislature-beach/A new legislative proposal changes who has the authority to close Boca Chica Beach in the Rio Grande Valley for SpaceX launches.Members of the ENTRE Film Center, a local film center and regional archive, hosted the gathering at Boca Chica to celebrate the beach and motivate people to fight for its preservation, which they view as being in jeopardy since the arrival of Elon Musk's SpaceX. Aug. 8, 2024.Ben Lowy for The Texas Tribunehttps://www.texastribune.org/2025/04/03/rio-grande-valley-south-texas-storms-floods-historic/The region is still cleaning up after last week's storms in which at least six people died.By Berenice GarciaThu, 03 Apr 2025 05:00:00 -0500https://www.texastribune.org/2025/04/03/rio-grande-valley-south-texas-storms-floods-historic/https://www.texastribune.org/2025/03/28/south-texas-march-storm-flood/Homes were inundated with water and cars were abandoned across the Rio Grande Valley region.By Valerie Gonzalez, Associated Press, and Berenice Garcia, The Texas TribuneFri, 28 Mar 2025 16:32:26 -0500https://www.texastribune.org/2025/03/28/south-texas-march-storm-flood/https://www.texastribune.org/2025/03/13/texas-fema-federal-grants-immigrants/A letter sent this week claims the grant recipients, including many Texas cities and counties, may have illegally “induced” undocumented immigrants to enter the country.By Uriel J. García, Alejandro Serrano and Berenice GarciaThu, 13 Mar 2025 16:12:36 -0500https://www.texastribune.org/2025/03/13/texas-fema-federal-grants-immigrants/Migrants walk from a Department of Homeland Security tent facility in front of the McAllen bus station to Catholic Charities RGV Humanitarian Respite Center on April 22, 2021.Migrants walk from a DHS tent facility in front of the McAllen bus station to Catholic Charities RGV Humanitarian Respite Center on April 22, 2021.Jason Garza for The Texas Tribunehttps://www.texastribune.org/2025/03/10/texas-mexico-water-texas-senate-donald-trump/Farmers and elected officials told a Senate committee Monday that the lack of water is becoming dire, with little relief in sight.By Berenice GarciaMon, 10 Mar 2025 15:55:08 -0500https://www.texastribune.org/2025/03/10/texas-mexico-water-texas-senate-donald-trump/Water levels at the Falcon Dam in Starr County were dangerously low in 2022 amid a drought. On Monday, a panel of Texas senators approved a resolution asking the U.S. State Department to force Mexico to send the state water its owed.Water marks are seen on the dam gates and concrete at the Falcon Dam in Starr County on Aug. 18, 2022. This area of the reservoir is normally under water, but because of an extended drought, water levels have been below 20% full since earlier this year. The Falcon Dam was dedicated by U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Mexican President Adolfo Ruiz Cortines in 1953.Michael Gonzalez for The Texas Tribunehttps://www.texastribune.org/2025/03/06/south-texas-dhr-hospital-pantry-legislature-food-desert/As the Edinburg facility and others seek to assist people experiencing food insecurity, state lawmakers have more than a dozen bills that could tackle Texas’ food deserts.By Berenice GarciaThu, 06 Mar 2025 13:00:00 -0600https://www.texastribune.org/2025/03/06/south-texas-dhr-hospital-pantry-legislature-food-desert/Evangelina Yzaguirre in her home in Alton on March 1. Yzaguirre a cancer patient at DHR Health, a local hospital system, receives food aid from the hospital pantry program.Evangelina Yzaguirre, a cancer patient at DHR, receives food aid from the hospital food pantry program.Ben Lowy for The Texas Tribunehttps://www.texastribune.org/2025/02/25/starr-county-texas-operation-lone-star/The counties hope to access state money to help pay for some criminal justice work, such as prosecuting drug cases and overtime.By Berenice GarciaTue, 25 Feb 2025 05:00:00 -0600https://www.texastribune.org/2025/02/25/starr-county-texas-operation-lone-star/https://www.texastribune.org/2025/02/21/texas-rio-grande-bakery-undocumented-immigrants-los-fresnos/Before federal agents arrested them, the couple who runs the bakery in Los Fresnos said they “knew this would happen one day,” a federal agent testified at court hearing.By Berenice GarciaFri, 21 Feb 2025 16:02:49 -0600https://www.texastribune.org/2025/02/21/texas-rio-grande-bakery-undocumented-immigrants-los-fresnos/