Puerto Vallarta, Mexico - There's always so much going on in Puerto Vallarta and around the Republic it can be difficult to keep up with it all. Here's a look at some of this week's Mexico headlines and Vallarta news, some community announcements, and a couple of this weekend's events that you won't want to miss.

Southwest Airlines gets OK to fly from Houston to Mexico City, Cabo San Lucas
DallasNews.com

On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Transportation gave Southwest Airlines the necessary authority to fly from Houston to Mexico City and Cabo San Lucas after Mexican authorities indicated they would look favorably on Southwest's request. Southwest plans to launch service from Houston to a number of non-U.S. cities in October after a five-gate international facility is finished at Hobby Airport. Last Saturday, it launched one flight a week to Aruba – service possible because travelers on the Aruba-Houston flights can go through a Customs and Border Protection pre-clearance center at the Aruba airport. Southwest spokesman Brad Hawkins said the airline was pleased with the decision. "I think it has enormous consequences not just for our Houston customers but for anyone we fly on those routes through our new facilities in Houston beginning in October," he said. Southwest also plans to add flights from Hobby to Belize, Cancun, Puerto Vallarta, San Jose, and Costa Rica.

Development Heats Up on Puert Vallarta's South Side
TravelWeekly.com

Things touristic are heating up in Puerto Vallarta's charming Romantic Zone and areas just to the south, with hotel and beach club openings bringing new accommodations and activities options — and potentially more visitors — to a unique part of what's already one of Mexico's most distinctive and popular destinations. New hotels set to come on line amid the jumbled red-tile roofs of the Romantic Zone include boutique properties Pinata PV, with six rooms; the five-villa Luna Liquida Boutique Hotel; and the large, 130-suite Almar Resort Luxury All Suites & Spa, on Los Muertos Beach. Almar, which closed in 2012 for its current $25 million reimagining and renovation, sits across the street from the luxury, adults-only Mantamar Beach Club Bar & Grill, under the same ownership. Just down Los Muertos Beach from Almar and Mantamar, Swiss-born hotelier and restaurateur Michel Pascal Ferrari has opened three of an eventual 13 luxury, beachfront pool suites at his new Sapphire Ocean Club. All units will be on the market by October. In December, the all-inclusive Hyatt Ziva Puerto Vallarta opened on the site of the former Dreams property after a $20 million redevelopment, and the luxury, adults-only Hotel Mousai, located on the white-sand Garza Blanca beach, officially opened in January. According to Sectur, Mexico's tourism ministry, the new Romantic Zone and Mismaloya properties open as Puerto Vallarta enjoys a boom in visitors, flights and cruise ship arrivals.

Vote on Mexico's Controversial Water Bill Postponed
TeleSurTv.net

A Mexican congressional vote on proposed legislation that could lead to the privatization of the administration and distribution of Mexico's water has been delayed. As a result of a unanimous vote Monday by the political coordination commissions of Mexico's House of Deputies, the General Water Law was off of Tuesday's list of debate and vote until "further notice." Manlio Beltrones from the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), who proposed the measure, affirmed Monday that the main political parties requested that the vote be postponed "although with different reasons as to why." It was mainly members of the minority coalition that have rejected the measure that the ruling coalition says will protect the constitutional right that the resource "belongs to the nation." Miguel Angel Montoya, a legislative advisor to opposition parties against the bill says that it is ultimately a push to hand the control of water over to the mining and energy sectors. Although the vote has been postponed, it is expected that civil groups and opposition lawmakers will protest the measure in front of the House of Deputies.

Mexican Actress Stephanie Sigman to be Latest 'Bond Girl'
MetroNews.ca

Mexican actress Stephanie Sigman will become the latest "Bond girl" when she appears in 007’s upcoming movie "Spectre." The official 007 website "Inside the World of James Bond" is announcing Sigman's role in the 24th Bond movie. It says she will play a character named "Estrella" opposite Daniel Craig as Bond. Sigman starred in the award-winning 2011 Mexican film "Miss Bala," about a beauty pageant contestant involved with drug traffickers. Linda Christian, the Hollywood starlet of the 1940s who was born in Mexico, was arguably the first Bond girl. In 1954 she starred as James Bond's love interest in the television adaptation of the novel Casino Royale. Christian died in 2011 at the age of 87. Nicaraguan-American actress Barbara Carrera appeared as Fatima Blush in 1984's "Never Say Never Again."

Weekend Events in Puerto Vallarta and Around Banderas Bay
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• 2nd Annual Puerto de Chacala Music & Art Festival

• Dine for a Cause with Broadway Bares at Taste @ Casa Cupula

• The Amazing Cashetta at Act II's The Red Room Cabaret