Free fall shows return for second year to SPI Weekend evenings this fall on the Laguna Madre waterfront will once again be filled with the sounds of music. Twenty three bands spread out over 12 shows will make up this year’s South Padre Island Concerts on the Bay Series. “We have booked everything, openers and headliners, and we have some exciting people this year,” said Stormy Wall, one of the...
Ladies Kingfish Tournament expects 300 anglers This one is all about the women. The last of three big fishing tournament weekends, anglers will take to the water for the 33rd Annual Ladies Kingfish Tournament on Saturday. But unlike the Port Mansfield Fishing Tournament and the Texas International Fishing Tournament that precede LKT, the only anglers allowed to compete are women. Sponsored by the South Padre Island Chamber of Commerce,...
Port Isabel has a new Event and Cultural Center that officials hope will provide local businesses with opportunities and encourage Port Isabel and South Padre Island to continue to work together. The ECC recently opened near the PortIsabelHistoricalMuseum in the ChampionBuilding. ECC director Mari Galvan said the center will provide local businesses with many opportunities. It has an 8,000-square-foot ballroom named the Queen Isabella, which can be divided into...
Still aglow from news about SpaceX, Brownsville City Commissioners were still looking skyward Tuesday night as they discussed the city’s pursuit of funds to build a new terminal at the Brownsville South Padre Island International Airport. Aviation Director Larry Brown said the initial phase of the project, which includes an environmental assessment and 20 percent of the design work, will be funded largely by the Federal Aviation Administration,...
A 685-pound blue marlin took top honors in the Offshore Division at the 75th Texas International Fishing Tournament that ended Sunday, Aug. 3 with the awards ceremony at the South Padre Island Convention Centre. With a total registration of 1,245 anglers and 421 boats, the 75th saw an increase over last year’s registration numbers. Highlights included the 685-pound blue marlin brought to the weigh-in dock on Friday by the...
Yet another decommissioned “supercarrier” is coming to the Port of Brownsville for scrapping, and it’s the biggest one yet. In fact, the dismantling of the former aircraft carrier USS Constellation by International Shipbreaking Ltd. will be the largest ship-recycling job to take place in the United States. Until the Constellation contract, the former USS Forrestal and the former USS Saratoga were the largest ships slated for salvaging by...
The historic 75th Texas International Fishing Tournament is in the record books, and this year’s Bay Grand Champion is Captain Todd Casey who fishes out of Port Isabel and South Padre Island. If you are wondering how the Bay Grand Champ was celebrating the morning after his historic win…well, he was back on the bay fishing with his son Nolan. Captain Todd Casey says, “Yeah, Nolan has been fishing with...
Elon Musk’s commercial space-transport firm, SpaceX, is building a commercial launchpad in South Texas along the Gulf of Mexico with help from more than $20 million in state and local incentives. Local officials believe the launch site, east of Brownsville near Boca Chica Beach, will create 500 jobs over a decade and require as much as $100 million in capital investment. Beyond the $15.3 million Texas is giving the...
Gov. Rick Perry today announced that the state is offering $15.3 million in state funds to bring SpaceX’s commercial rocket launch facility to Cameron County. Contingent upon final approval of local agreements and receipt of additional required permits, the facility will create 300 jobs and pump $85 million in capital investment into the local economy. “SpaceX is excited to expand our work in Texas with the world’s first commercial launch...
U.S. Army Reserve Lt. Forrest Taylor was reapplying sunblock beneath the hot South Texas sun when a man in a white car drove up to where his group was setting up camp at the bay access point near the South Padre Island Convention Centre. “You here to protect the border?” the motorist asked. “No sir,” Taylor said, replacing his cover and explaining that his group was performing its monthly...
