MISD Files Emergency Petition With FCC For MITV 17

NEWS RELEASE:

McAllen, TX—The McAllen Independent School District (MISD) filed an Emergency Petition with the Federal Communications Commission Monday, September 20, 2010, asking it to issue a standstill order to protect public, educational, and governmental (“PEG”) channels such as MITV 17 and the City of McAllen’s MCN 12.

Beginning October 1, Time Warner Cable (TWC) has stated that it will stop providing PEG channels in an analog format, and will solely provide these channels in a digital format. The company will continue, however, to provide other basic tier programming, including broadcast channels in an analog format. As a result, on October 1, 2010, a TWC cable subscriber in Texas with analog equipment will be able to watch the PEG channels ONLY if the subscriber obtains additional cable equipment and may be subject to additional fees.

McAllen ISD Superintendent Dr. James Ponce believes TWC’s digitalization of PEG channels will harm the school district immediately and irreparably in three ways.

“First, we fear MITV will no longer be viewable by a substantial number of subscribers. This immediately will prevent us from communicating effectively with affected students and parents and the public,” said Dr. Ponce.

“Second, unless TWC provides the schools with converters for every television prior to conversion, we will lose the ability to view MITV 17 within our own classrooms. While Time Warner has promised to provide converters, we have not received them,” he added.

Dr. Ponce also suggested that MITV 17’s use as a curriculum tool would suffer if the channel was no longer universally available.

The McAllen Independent School District and the City of McAllen have said that Time Warner Cable has flatly refused to negotiate in any meaningful way.

Among the most important ways the City of McAllen uses its PEG Channel (MCN 12) is in the interest of public safety, delivering messages during emergencies.

“The City of McAllen is considering additional legal action to stop Time Warner Cable from altering the format or changing the channel location of these channels,” said City Attorney Kevin Pagan.

For more information, contact Miller & Van Eaton, P.L.L.C., at (202) 785-0600.

Nearly $1 Million Awarded For Bicentennial Hike & Bike Trail

The City of McAllen was recently awarded $913, 069 in federal funding for the 2.6 mile Bicentennial Boulevard Hike and Bike Trail extension. The approved total project value is $1,141,336. The City of McAllen will share the remaining cost of $228,267.

The project will beautify the proposed Bicentennial Boulevard Hike & Bike Trail extension, which currently terminates at Nolana Ave, and will extend it 0.4 miles north of Trenton Rd, along a maintained drainage ditch. The trail is being constructed by the City as part of the Bicentennial Boulelvard Extension which will extend the roadway to Trenton Rd.

The proposed trail will provide residents with a safer environment to walk or cycle to and from their homes to schools, churches, the International Museum of Art and Science, the City's Public Safety Building, city parks, shopping centers, and bus stops. The City will add 2.2 miles of trail to the current 12-mile city-wide trail systems that connects the north and south sections of McAllen while utilizing the funding to landscape and irrigate the corridor.

The proposed improvements will provide residents with an attractive and safe environment to walk, jog, run, and cycle, offering an alternative transportation route. The proposed trail amenities will include water fountains for people and pets, covered kiosks, landscaping, and parking nodes. The City will promote the use of the trails for "walk-a-thons" conducted by civic institutions.

At this time, the City is building, in coordination with McAllen Independent School District, a regional detention facility/recreational park incorporating the trail commodities. The City will join the proposed Bicentennial Boulevard Hike & Bike Trail to the 2nd St Trail via the McAllen Lateral Blueline ditch.

Proposed Hike & Bike Trail Map

Summer Family Nutrition Program To End September 30

From the RGV Foodbank:

McAllen, TX- The Food Bank of the Rio Grande Valley is announcing the end of the Summer Family Nutrition Program (SFNP) on September 30, 2010. Families that are eligible to receive the 200 pounds of food assistance can pick up the food between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. starting Thursday, September 23rd through the 30th, at Baptist Temple Church, located at 2001 Trenton Road, McAllen, Texas. This is the last week to sign up and receive food.

Program requirements include: At least one child under the age of 18 living at home, a household income at 185% of poverty rate and living in Willacy, Hidalgo or Cameron Counties.

To see if your family is eligible for assistance, contact the Summer Family Nutrition Program at (956) 682-8101. Other distribution times and places are listed on www.foodbankrgv.com under the “Food Distribution Calendar” link.

For more information on the Food Bank of the RGV and its other programs, contact: Omar I. Rodriguez, Manager of Communications & Advocacy, (956) 682-8101 ext. 36 or e-mail: omarir@foodbankrgv.com or visit www.foodbankrgv.com.

Health Officials Encourage Public To Prepare For Flu Season

Health department officials from the City of McAllen and Hidalgo County are encouraging the public to prepare for the 2010 flu season, following last year’s deadly global pandemic of H1N1.

“H1N1 impacted Hidalgo County extremely hard,” said Hidalgo County Health Director Eddie Olivarez, in an interview with the McAllen Cable Network. “We had the highest rate of mortality in the state of Texas, over 30 deaths.”

Immigration, tourism and rapid population growth, Olivarez believes, are all factors attributed to the higher occurence of the flu in Hidalgo County.

Last year, delayed and short supplies of the H1N1 vaccine created panic but this year Olivarez expects vaccines to be more readily available.

Recently passed legislation now allows local pharmacists to administer and distribute flu vaccines.

“If you combine the local pharmacies, private physicians, public and non profit clinics, county clinics, if you combine all of that together, accessibility to this vaccine is extraordinary,” said Olivarez.

Additionally, the seasonal flu vaccine will be combined with N1H1. The vaccine will be administered as one shot, instead of two.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, healthcare workers, pregnant women, young adults, small children, seniors and people with existing medical conditions are among those at a higher risk of contracting the flu.

“Prevention is extremely important,” stressed City of McAllen Health Director Josh Ramirez. “We remind everyone about the 3 C’s: Cover, Clean, Contain. Cover your cough and sneeze, clean your hands and contain your germs. Stay home if you’re sick.”

For more information about the 2010 flu season, visit www.flu.gov or visit www.cdc.gov/flu.

To find out where to get a flu shot, call the Hidalgo County Health Department at (956) 383-6221 or the City of McAllen Health Department at (956) 681-1900.

NWS Predicts Rainy Weekend For The Rio Grande Valley

From the National Weather Service:

Series of fairly vigorous upper level disturbances will move across northeastern Mexico and the Rio Grande Valley from east to west through the weekend and likely into early next week, acting on deep tropical moisture to produce widespread, frequent showers and thunderstorms with locally torrential rainfall. None of this is associated with Karl, which made landfall this afternoon near Veracruz (city). However, the broader circulation which birthed Karl is partly responsible.

Details, in Brief:

Friday's rain will begin "priming the pump" for increasing runoff as the weekend progresses. After this afternoon's rainfall (which could drop 1 to 2 inches near the coast and < 1 inch area-wide inland), expect a break Friday evening.

Friday Night: Showers/storms will become numerous over the Lower Texas Gulf waters and move onshore before daybreak Saturday.

Saturday: Widespread rain, locally heavy, will quickly cover most of the Rio Grande Valley and Deep South Texas through the morning and into early to mid afternoon before tapering off from east to west. 2 to 4 inches of rain east, and 1 to 2 inches of rain west (locally up to an inch or two more in persistent bands) is likely. A Flash Flood Watch will be in effect Saturday and expect plenty of nuisance flooding in poor drainage areas with perhaps some more serious property/life threatening flash flooding.

Saturday Night: Light to locally moderate rains may continue into the evening west, and redevelop in the Gulf after midnight before moving onshore again before daybreak Sunday.

Sunday: Could look a lot like Saturday. Another 1 to 3 inches area wide, locally higher in persistent bands. Concern is growing for very heavy rainfall Saturday night and Sunday across the foothills and higher terrain of the Sierra Madre. There is increasing confidence of more than 6 inches of rain falling in mountainous locations which drain into the Rio Grande Basin, and now some confidence of 10 inches or more occurring during this time frame.

Continuous updates available at http://weather.gov/rgv