Month: March 2011

The Sun City was making preparations all day for various Mardi Gras events around the area. Beer, live bands and beads will fill Union Plaza on Tuesday evening for the Mardi Gras block party. All nine bars participating in the festivities made sure there was plenty going on to keep revelers happy. Union Plaza wasn’t

Day 18: It’s the kind of binge that only Charlie Sheen would be proud of. See the pie in the picture to the left? It looks like something you would have seen in the candy-filled room in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. And it tasted even better. Maybe I should back up. It all started

UTEP senior guard Julyan Stone was one of five players named to the Conference USA All-Defensive Team on Tuesday. Joining Stone on the squad were four other seniors — SMU forward Papa Dia, UAB guard Aaron Johnson, Houston guard Zamal Nixon and Southern Miss guard Sai’Quon Stone. Dia was named the C-USA Defensive Player of

Fans planning to attend the Conference USA basketball games Wednesday, March 9, through Saturday, March 12, can avoid battling traffic and struggling to find parking by riding Sun Metro. Spectators can park at the Union Plaza Transit Terminal (UPTT), 400 W. San Antonio, and board Sun Metro’s SMART 101. Parking at the UPTT is $5

A morning jog left Sonia Brown slightly out of breath Tuesday morning. But as she talked about running for City Council representative for District 5 in East El Paso, Brown, the wife of pastor Tom Brown, found her second wind. The Browns and the group, El Pasoans For Traditional Family Values, successfully got a measure

Wicked winds whipped through the Borderland on Monday afternoon. Dirt and dust blanketed most of El Paso and Las Cruces. By Monday night, the winds had died down. But now some residents are left picking up the pieces the wind left behind. “This is typical west Texas winds, but I was sitting in the room

A 20-year-old woman who made international headlines when she accepted the job as police chief in a violent Mexican border town was fired Monday for apparently abandoning her post after receiving death threats. Marisol Valles Garcia was given permission to travel to the United States last week for personal matters but failed to return to

A man was shot with a Taser gun in Canutillo early Sunday after El Paso County sheriff’s officials said he lunged at deputies. Raul Medrano, 31, was arrested and charged with endangering a child. Deputies were dispatched to a family disturbance in the 500 block of Talbot shortly after midnight. When deputies arrived, authorities said

A Good Winter Means Lot?s of Water! A reader of Spotlight El Paso emailed me a few weeks ago wondering about water run-off this Spring from the snow pack in Southern Colorado and Northern New Mexico. We always hope for good winter snows up north since, when spring arrives, the melting that takes place transfers

Time to Change Your Clocks! Don?t forget to change your clocks March 12th (Saturday night) before you go to bed! Every spring (actually 7 days before spring officially arrives now) we move our clocks one hour ahead and “lose” an hour during the night and each fall we move our clocks back one hour and

On a typical day, the Organ Mountains are a picturesque view, but by Monday afternoon, you would never even know it. Picacho Peak was also invisible, camouflaged in a thick haze. Gusty winds howled through Las Cruces, coating the city in a layer of dust and creating treacherous road conditions. “45 or 50 miles an

This week?s MANHUNT MONDAY Most Wanted Fugitive is an individual sought for a sex crime that occurred several years ago. The target is identified as MODESTO MELENDEZ JR. (57) of El Paso, TX. 2004/2005 In October 2010, Sheriff?s Officials received an outcry from a 14 year-old girl through her mother that about 5 years ago

Three people have been taken to the hospital after flames tore through a Northeast El Paso home Monday morning. Emergency crews responded to the house fire on the 5100 block of Orleans around 5:30 a.m. Firefighters at the scene reported the house was fully engulfed in flames. It took an hour and a half to

El Paso Electric officials say are two poles down at U.S. 54 at McCombs, leaving 2,000 customers without power in the area. Winds have been kicking up dust in the area throughout the day. The high will reach into the lower 80s with west winds from 15 to 25 mph, increasing to 30 to 40

ABCNews It’s hard to see how Charlie Sheen will “win” this one: today, Warner Bros. fired Sheen from TV’s No. 1 comedy, “Two and a Half Men.” “After careful consideration, Warner Bros. Television has terminated Charlie Sheen’s services on ‘Two and a Half Men’ effective immediately,” Warner Bros. said in an e-mail statement. CBS, the

El Paso Police Chief Greg Allen terminated Zake Rivera’s employment with the El Paso Police Department Monday. Rivera was arrested and booked into the El Paso County Detention Facility on February 25, 2011 on one count of Sexual Assault stemming from an on-duty incident. Chief Allen said last month the incident happened while Rivera and

The 33-year-old man who was found dead near a ditch last month died of bleeding to death after being being hit several times to the neck and chest, according to the medical examiner’s office. Juan Jose Esquivel, of the 9800 block of Isaac in El Paso, bled to death “due to multiple sharp force injuries,”

UTEP senior guard Randy Culpepper was tabbed first team All-Conference USA for the second straight season, and senior guard Julyan Stone was appointed second team all-league on Monday. Culpepper becomes the second Miner player to garner back-to-back first team All-Conference USA honors, joining Stefon Jackson who was selected in 2008 and 2009. Stone earns his

The El Paso Marathon, including a half-marathon and a 5K race, will take over El Paso streets Sunday. The full marathon is a multi state route that starts in downtown El Paso, runs by the University of Texas at El Paso, the historic residential district of El Paso, enters into New Mexico, passes by the

The owner of a controversial El Paso bar is speaking out about a drug search involving federal agents at his mother’s lower valley home. “The average person would say, ‘I’m embarrassed, I’m scared. What are people going to think?’” said Mike Armstrong, owner of the Three Legged Monkey. But Armstrong isn’t your average person. He’s

A woman and her two children stranded in the Franklin Mountains have been found and are in the process of being rescued as of Sunday night. Emergency crews said an El Paso County sheriff’s deputy first made contact with the three and guided the fire department’s rescue team to their location. El Paso fire officials

A woman is dead after crashing the car she was driving, according to Department of Public Safety officials. The crash happened at about 7 p.m. Sunday on Interstate 10 west, north of Westway. The name of the woman driver has not been released. Officials said she was declared dead at a local hospital. The 20-year-old

With El Paso’s fantastic weather all year, there’s always plenty to do. UTEP’s campus, home of the Don Haskins Center and Memorial Gymm, has one of the most unique architectural designs in the world. Many of the campus buildings are in the style of Bhutanese temples. For other area attractions, click here.

For the first time the City of El Paso has been named the City with the lowest crime rate in the United States with a population of over 500,000 residents. Since 1997, El Paso has been ranked in the 2nd or 3rd spot of Safest Cities by this independent study. The El Paso Police Department

El Paso police arrested two men after a fight at the Cincinnati Bar Saturday evening. Officers were called to the Cincinnati Bar shortly after 11 p.m. after a fight was reported. Police learned the 33-year-old Raul Perez Jr. and 37-year-old Raul Perez, no relation, were being escorted from the bar by employee Ricardo Gomez when

El Paso Convention and Visitors Bureau Director Bill Blaziek recently lost out on a proposal to bring 700 ? 800 people to El Paso for a 2012 Catholic Youth Conference. Bill brought gifts, showed a Power Point presentation and produced a pitch far superior to three other Southwestern cities. It didn?t matter. The stigma of

New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez said her plan to expand ?Katie?s Law?n is one step closer to happening. The law is named after Las Cruces murder victim Katie Sepich. Currently only specific felony arrests, such as those related to murder, kidnapping and abduction, are included in the law. The proposed expansion would require DNA samples

The second murder trial of David Marmolejo is set to begin in San Antonio on Monday. Judge Gonzalo Garcia, defense lawyers, prosecutors and court staff left from El Paso Friday. Garcia’s office told ABC-7 Marmolejo was already there. The trial will last two weeks. It was July 2009 when Gloria Marmolejo, David?s mom, went missing.

El Paso Rhinos’ goalie Trent Casper stopped all 28 Tulsa Rampage shots and the Rhinos beat Tulsa, 4-0, to take game one of the best-of-three Mid-West Division semifinals. Tyler Ridgedell scored first for the home team, followed by Brent Grant on a tip-in from Carter Achilles — a hard-work goal from two fourth-line forward that

New information on the communication between El Paso Water Utilities and El Paso Electric during last month’s winter storm. The El Paso Times Reported Saturday morning that they have obtained e-mails between the two utilities that demonstrate a lack of coordination. The e-mails, written during the peak of the crisis, according to the newspaper, show