Good morning, McAllen.

Palm Valley Animal Society broke ground Wednesday on a $6.1M expansion of its Laurie P.

Andrews facility in Edinburg. The project adds three climate-controlled buildings including an intake center & space for 218 kennels, and will consolidate operations by 2028 to improve care for 787 animals.

Mission Small Business Expo is set for Wednesday, Sept.

16 (9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.) at the Mission Event Center, featuring speaker Andrew Davis with ‘The Loyalty Loop’ presentation. Entrepreneurs and community leaders will benefit from networking, resource halls, and a pitch competition while admission stays free.

Texas A&M University has named Pablo Javier Almaguer as director of its Colonias Program and will relocate headquarters to McAllen effective Sept.

14. He succeeds Oscar Muñoz after 31 years and is set to lead initiatives that expand essential services for border communities.

Sharyland Pioneer High School senior Matilde Curiel, Student of the Week, excels in academics, breast cancer research (presented in Washington, D.C.) and athletics while founding a nonprofit; she plans to study medicine and law to reform healthcare after graduation.

RGV LEAD has partnered with the Rio Grande Valley Builders Association to offer high school students hands-on construction training starting this week at select local sites.

The program aims to deliver job certifications so students can enter the workforce as skilled workers & help address the local labor shortage.

At a forum at South Texas College’s Mid-Valley Campus in Weslaco, Dr. Rashmi Chandran, CEO of AltaCair Foundation, said high obesity rates in the RGV do not rule out food insecurity — local research shows over half of colonia households face hunger.