Star Special Reports

- Lonely ride
- Rio Metro passengers increase after slow start
- By FERNANDO DEL VALLE/Valley Morning Star
- SAN BENITO — A new public transit system is increasing its passenger count after a slow start, officials said.The Rio Metro bus system that links San Benito, La Feria, Santa Rosa and Primera is picking up about 136 passengers a month, Rodney... Full story

- Blaschka Tower
- Harlingen landmark could get a new life
- By COREY RYAN/Valley Morning Star
- Honky-tonk music flowed from a nearby saloon. A young teenager and her friends stood on Jackson Avenue across from the Empire State Building of the Rio Grande Valley, taking in the downtown scene.America was at war with Japan and Germany. In... Full story

- Future of Gangs in Harlingen
- Reaching youths in changing times
- By COREY RYAN/Valley Morning Star
- Ann McLelland fought tears when she spoke about attending the high school-equivalent graduation ceremony last summer for 15 of her Harlingen Secondary Alternative Center students.Principal for 11 years of this school, which regularly works with... Full story

- Life as a Gang Member
- A path to violence for Harlingen youths
- By COREY RYAN/Valley Morning Star
- The 12-year-old took a beating in order to be friends with what would become his first crew.Six teenagers, who were four to six years older than him, took turns bashing him with their fists, each getting one minute.One guy put a soap bar in a tube... Full story

- Police Combat Gangs
- Taking back the streets
- By COREY RYAN/Valley Morning Star
- The gunshot rang out like the first crack of thunder in a building thunderstorm.It was a Friday night in October, no different than any other high school football Friday night in the Rio Grande Valley.Police were responding to an earlier gunshot... Full story

- Rise of Gang Violence
- Birth of the Gang Unit
- By COREY RYAN
- EDITOR'S NOTE:In June 2008, Officer Carlos Diaz became the first Harlingen police officer shot in the line of duty in this century. The ambush by a local street gang leader - which Diaz miraculously survived - forced the city of Harlingen to... Full story

- OCELOT HAVEN
- Rancher sets aside 1,300 acres for endangered cats
- By CHRISTOPHER SHERMAN/The Associated Press
- RAYMONDVILLE — Few things would venture into the dense thorny scrub favored by the endangered ocelot. But with little of south Texas considered suitable habitat for the remaining 50 or fewer rare cats, the ocelots remain vulnerable.The Nature... Full story

- Memorable Decade
- Valley Morning Star ranks the top events over the past 10 years
- Valley Morning Star
- 1-Hurricane Dolly stormed ashore July 23, 2008, as a Category 1, drenching the Valley with as much as 20 inches of rain, flooding whole neighborhoods across Cameron County. Winds gusting as high as 107 mph flattened billboards and all but blew away... Full story

- GANGS ON THE WEB
- Thug-themed videos show everything from gang signs to writing about drugs
- By COREY RYAN/Valley Morning Star
- The image of a young man with a gray baseball cap, large diamond earrings and big black sunglasses appeared on the screen inside a Harlingen police station briefing room last month.Officers of the Gang Eradication Unit listened to the man,... Full story

- THE ENFORCERS
- There’s no such thing as a typical day at the office
- By STEVE SINCLAIR/Valley Morning Star
- A hunter spots a buck standing in a pasture along a road in rural Cameron County.It’s not deer season, but even if it was, shooting deer from a vehicle is against the law in Texas. But the buck is just too tempting to pass up.The hunter... Full story

- Lonely ride
- Rio Metro passengers increase after slow start
- By FERNANDO DEL VALLE/Valley Morning Star
- SAN BENITO — A new public transit system is increasing its passenger count after a slow start, officials said.The Rio Metro bus system that links San Benito, La Feria, Santa Rosa and Primera is picking up about 136 passengers a month, Rodney... Full story