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Emily Gregory's upset in Florida House District 87 signals something Republicans are going to have a hard time explaining away. Donald Trump voted by mail in Tuesday's special election for Florida House District 87. He voted for Jon Maples, the 43-year-old financial adviser and Trump-endorsed Republican running to hold the Palm Beach County seat. Maples lost anyway. The district, which runs along the coast through Palm Beach Gardens, Jupiter, Juno Beach, and Hypoluxo, include

The footage is unremarkable at first glance. A father and son moving through an airport terminal. A small boy spreading his blanket across the floor, then wandering over to press his face against the window. Standard airport tedium, except that five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father, Adrián Conejo Arias, were not heading to a family vacation. They were heading to the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas, flanked by three escorts whose official capaci

Breast cancer does not give women time to think. The diagnosis comes, the surgical team swoops in, and somewhere between processing a potentially terminal illness and scheduling pre-op bloodwork, a woman is expected to make one of the most permanent decisions of her life about her own body. Most surgeons present that decision as though only one answer exists. It does not. A 2022 national survey conducted by The Harris Poll on behalf of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons

Helen Hyde was an American printmaker who spent the better part of fifteen years living in Japan mastering the traditional woodblock printing techniques she had first encountered as a student in Paris. By the time she left Tokyo in 1914, she had signed an estimated 16,000 prints and built a reputation on both continents. None of that is why she ended up in Mexico. While most people recuperate from cancer surgery by reclining on a soft pillow laying on a bed, Helen Hyde did th

Colon cancer used to be a disease of retirement age. Now it's killing men under 50 faster than any other cancer, and women aren't far behind. Researchers at Massachusetts General Brigham spent two decades following female nurses to understand why, and their findings point directly at the contents of America's shopping carts. A study tracking nearly 30,000 female nurses over 24 years found that women who consumed the highest amounts of ultra-processed foods faced a 45 percent

Americans grow up believing property ownership means total control. The white picket fence fantasy includes the dirt, the sky above, and everything in between. Except it doesn't. Most homeowners discover too late that buying land doesn't guarantee ownership of what lies underneath it. Mineral rights represent legal claim to subsurface resources like oil, gas, coal, and precious metals. These rights can be severed from surface rights, creating a split estate where one person o

Donald Trump has spent years telling Americans that voting by mail is an act of fraud. He's called it a disaster, a scam, and a scheme so thoroughly rotten it threatens the entire foundation of democratic governance. He's pressured Congress to gut mail-in voting access and publicly lobbied the Supreme Court, which heard arguments this week in Watson v. RNC, a Mississippi case that could dramatically limit mail ballot availability in fourteen states and Washington, D.C., with

Roma, Texas does not generate institutional firsts very often. That changed when Roma High School Class of 2026 senior Audrina Reyes committed to compete on the Texas A&M University-San Antonio Jaguar Cheer Squad, becoming the first Gladiator cheerleader in the school's history to earn a collegiate cheer placement. The Rio Grande Valley has long sent its athletes, educators, and professionals into the world beyond Starr County. This particular milestone, modest by national me

Does Your Vote Arrive Late… or Right on Time? Look, m’ija, if you thought voting was already complicated, now imagine that even when your ballot arrives is being debated at the highest court in the country. This week, the nine justices of the Supreme Court spent more than two hours arguing over something that sounds simple but isn’t: can mail-in ballots be counted if they arrive after Election Day, as long as they were sent on time? Let's break it down. The fight started over

I've lived in the 956 my whole life, and I can tell you with absolute certainty that stop signs here are purely decorative. They're suggestions at best, gentle recommendations from traffic engineers who clearly never consulted the locals before installing them. We see that red octagon and think, "How nice, a courtesy marker to let me know there's an intersection ahead." The rolling stop is our regional art form. It's a perfectly calibrated ballet of momentum and minimal braki

As Women’s History Month comes to a close, I don’t find myself reaching for names in textbooks or distant figures cast in bronze. My thoughts stay here, rooted in Starr County, with someone who is still very much writing her place in history—one page at a time. This is for Maria Santos Salinas, Santitos, because what she represents is not just memory. It is Historia Viva. I’ll be honest, I come to this with bias. The kind that only exists when love and time have been woven to

Noelia Castillo Ramos did not die quietly. Or easily. She died on Thursday, at a healthcare center in Sant Pere de Ribes, outside Barcelona, after nearly two years of courtrooms, appeals, and a father who could not seem to decide whether he wanted a daughter or a cause. She was 25 years old. Castillo's story began fracturing long before her death. At 13, her parents separated, her family lost their home, and she was placed into state-run social care. She carried that instabil

Martie Garcia Vela has been watching elections since she was 18 years old, working polling sites in the Dallas-Fort Worth area while putting herself through college. She knows the process. She knows what compliance looks like and what it does not. So when she filed a formal election complaint with the Texas Secretary of State following the March 3, 2026, General Primary Election in Starr County, she was not speaking from speculation. "I believe our free and fair elections are

Joe Lopez is back in the spotlight. The co-founder and longtime frontman of Grupo Mazz, one of the most recognizable names in Tejano music history, is now the subject of a new documentary titled The Truth, a project seven years in the making that centers his account of the criminal case that ended his career and sent him to prison for over a decade. The film premiered its teaser at a press conference in Harlingen, and the Tejano world is already paying attention. More than 70

2025 FRONTeras Magazine Vol. 1 No. 2 Issue Valley women are replacing old-school house makeup parties with K-beauty skincare. At 2 p.m. on a lazy Monday, a dozen women gather at a residence in Roma, Texas, lured by the promise of glass skin. Forget Mary Kay’s pink Cadillacs and Avon’s nostalgia-fueled doorbell hustle. This isn’t 1993. This is 2025, and the girls want collagen, niacinamide, and a dewy glow that feels like you just took a walk through Seoul. Magda Ramirez, the

2025 FRONTeras Magazine Vol. 1 No. 4 Issue My mother lived in her kitchen. She would stand at the counter with her hands buried in masa, lard under her fingernails, and always—always—a novela volume turned up loud enough to hear from the living room. Her aprons were iconic. She'd rotate through them like they were haute couture, matching her mood or the meal or whatever cosmic force guided her wardrobe decisions that day. She had one that looked like something June Cleaver wo

2025 FRONTeras Magazine Vol. 1 No. 4 Issue Once a month, Girl Scout leaders pack into Jesse's Enchanted Place in Rio Grande City, and Jesse Peña feeds them while they plan how to move mountains with limited resources and unlimited opinions. Tonight, there's chicken picada on the menu. Girl Scouts of Greater South Texas spans 26 counties and connects 17,000 girls with nearly 4,000 volunteers. The Rio Grande City/Roma service unit represents seventeen troops within that sprawli

2025 FRONTeras Magazine Vol. 1 No. 4 Issue Every December, Hollywood's favorite stunt-loving action star turns into a dessert fairy. Tom Cruise, who once dangled off a plane mid-flight for Mission: Impossible, spends his holidays shipping coconut cakes to everyone he's ever smiled at. Directors, actors, assistants, plus a few people who probably just waved at him in the parking lot—if they made the list once, they're on it forever. This isn't your grandma's tres leches. It's

2025 FRONTeras Magazine Vol. 1 No. 2 Issue How does a daughter honor her father? By taking the foundation he built... and expanding it with her own hands. When Karina Mascorro walks into her shop each morning, she isn’t just running a business—she’s continuing a legacy that began over four decades ago. Her father, Zaragoza Vela, first opened the doors of Starr Moulding Cabinet Maker Supplies in 1984. What started as a small woodworking business in Roma, Texas, has now grown i

2025 FRONTeras Magazine Vol. 1 No. 1 Issue They are the roadies, stylists, managers, and alarm clocks—all rolled into one They don’t wear trajes. They don’t carry instruments. But they know the difference between a vihuela and a guitarra. They know the difference between a falsetto and a bravado. And just like Santa Claus, they know when you've been good and when you've been mouthing off during practice. Mariachi moms are a force. They’ll sit through every concert, every comp