GUARDIAN NEWS: GOP efforts to create a new conservative congressional district in Corpus Christi could result in the Rio Grande Valley losing its two experienced U.S. House members, Solomon Ortiz and Rubén Hinojosa. That was one of the scenarios painted by Texas House members at an in-depth meeting about redistricting hosted by the Weslaco Area Chamber of Commerce and sponsored by TXU on Wednesday. The scenario seemed to take members of the audience by surprise.

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GUARDIAN NEWS: U.S. Sen. John Cornyn has had talks with the FBI about the agency beefing up its surveillance of wire transfers going to drug cartels in Mexico. According to an investigation by the Washington Post, no more than one percent of all cash going south to the cartels is captured by the U.S. and Mexican authorities. Cornyn was asked about this investigation and the alarming statistic it revealed on his visit to the Hidalgo port of entry last Friday.

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GUARDIAN NEWS: The chair of the Texas Border Coalition’s workforce development committee has praised the work of the Texas House Committee on Border and Intergovernmental Relations. Blas Castaneda testified at a hearing the committee held in Austin on Friday. The focus was on how to improve economic opportunities along the border, a specific charge given the committee by House Speaker Joe Straus.

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VETERAN'S VOICE: There is a passage in a book by Martin Schram titled 'Vets Under Siege' that seems to sum up the sentiment of many South Texas veterans. “For decades, we have known at some level of consciousness that the men and women who serve in the military are too often dishonored and disserved by our government once they return home,” Schram writes. It is as if the statement had been written to specifically identify Rio Grande Valley veterans.

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BORDER LIFE: South Texas and the border region have lost two great icons in the last two weeks, one from the world of politics, economics and business and one from the world of music and the arts. Esteban "Steve" Jordan is a great loss to us. He was recognized worldwide not just here locally as a master of the accordion. He did not just play Conjunto style, but jazz, rock, you name it, he could do it.

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