Month: June 2011

A man in need of psychiatric help may have started an apartment fire in Northeast El Paso. An El Paso Police officer at the scene of the fire told an ABC-7 crew member that officers were originally there to serve the man a warrant to take him to a psychiatric facility. The man, who has

El Paso fire officials said a fire in a vacant home in Northeast El Paso seems to be suspicious. The blaze broke out shortly before one in the afternoon on the 4900 block of McGregor. Crews were able to bring the fire under control in about 20 minutes. Investigators still don’t know how the blaze

Sunday night on ABC-7 Xtra, a one-on-one with outgoing El Paso City Councilman Beto O’Rourke. During his six years in office, the city of El Paso went through a transformation. O’Rourke not only survived a recall attempt, but made a number of bold moves politically that prompted lots of reaction in the borderland. As always,

The Borderland’s long-time residents, the Tigua Tribe, become the new majority owners of the city’s oldest professional sports franchise. In a late-Friday afternoon news conference, the El Paso Diablos management introduced the Ysleta Del Sur Pueblo as majority owners of El Paso’s baseball franchise. The announcement was made at the Diablos home for the last

A young woman who says she left her post as police chief in her Mexican hometown and is seeking U.S. asylum because of death threats calls herself “sad and angry” after a policewoman from her hometown was wounded by assailants. Marisol Valles Garcia, 21, fled nearly four months ago from the small border town of

A new apartment complex in downtown El Paso is expected to help revitalize the downtown area. The Magoffin Park Villas are located between Magoffin and Myrtle and St. Vrain and Octavia in south central El Paso. “This is the first new housing construction in downtown in a very long time,” said El Paso Downtown Management

Attorneys are being tight-lipped about why Daniel Villegas’ evidentiary hearing has been postponed until August 8th. The convicted murderer maintains he is innocent and did not kill Armando Lazo and Robert England in Northeast El Paso 17 years ago. Villegas was slated to testify on Friday during his evidentiary hearing. That’s when prosecutors and attorneys

US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Officers make a multi-million dollar cocaine bust at an El Paso-area Port of Entry. CBP officials say that officers working at the Ysleta Port of Entry made the 79.64 pound cocaine seizure Thursday night, shortly before 10p.m. According to officials, a 1999 Ford Windstar minivan arrived at the port

A change of heart from the mayor of Anthony, Texas means the small town will not be selling fireworks ahead of the 4th of July. During a special town meeting Thursday afternoon, Mayor Art Franco explained his reasoning. Franco told his fellow town council members that after the city of Socorro decided to sell fireworks

A group of Sun City athletes is hoping to change the way people think about parkour. The fast-paced activity means “obstacle course” in French and is described by many simply as the art of movement. Athletes will do flips off walls, jump from rails and do other stunts in gyms and public places. “We want

Thousands of New Mexicans smoke marijuana, legally, for medical purposes. But are these same rights still upheld in jail? A Las Cruces man said certified medical marijuana patients, like himself, should be allowed to smoke in jail, and without weed, he said, he is not going. He must report to jail to serve a four-day

El Paso Electric will be boosting their power output as the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission (NMPRC) approved a proposed plant for the Borderland. The NMPRC approved the natural gas-fueled plant, Thursday. Officials estimate the new plant is expected to cost approximately $84 million to construct and will serve nearly 50,000 customers in the Las

The El Paso Diablos will hold a news conference Friday afternoon to announce the team’s new owners. ABC-7 reported the baseball team was close to being sold in May. Two sources close to the team told ABC-7 the team would stay in El Paso, although it is unclear whether the team will be owned by

It’s easy to tell Spec. Sean Perkins and wife Amanda are new parents by the way they dote on their newborn daughter Kylie. “Any time she makes a noise, I kind of jump, too,” said Perkins. “Words can’t describe how much I love her.” Mom Amanda feels the same way. “I would do anything for

El Paso, Texas the City with the Lowest Crime rate for a city with populations over 500,000 according to CQ Press sees another decrease in overall crime. Through Saturday, June 11, 2011 overall crime is down 8%, compared to this time last year. The crime categories with the largest decreases across the city are Vehicle

President Barack Obama says 10,000 troops will come home from Afghanistan by the end of this year as the U.S. mission shifts from combat to support after nearly 10 years of war. The president said a total of 33,000 troops would be withdrawn by next summer, as he announced what he called “the beginning but

El Paso’s public transportation agency has been named Outstanding Public Transit System of the Year. The award, bestowed by the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) recognized Sun Metro in the medium-size category, providing between 4 and 20 million rides each year. Sun Metro will hold a ceremony Thursday, June 30, at 10 a.m. at the

The US Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) cited Plastic Systems LLC of El Paso for numerous alleged violations. According to an OSHA release, the company was cited for eight serious, three repeat and one other-than-serious violation after an inspection at the plastic producer’s El Paso plant. Officials say the proposed penalties

El Paso county sheriff’s investigators say charges are pending against a 57-year-old man who decided to burn trash near a home Tuesday afternoon. The fire spread to a nearby home and storage shed, causing $20,000 in damage. It took firefighters 45 minutes to contain the raging flames that engulfed the home on the 19100 block

As the heat and the drought continue in the El Paso area; city, county and fire officials hold a news conference to urge residents to comply with both the burn and fireworks bans that are in place. On the heels of three large fires in the last seven days, El Paso County Judge Veronica Escobar,

A woman and her 4-year-old child were killed along with the driver of a FedEx trailer in an early-morning wreck on the westbound lanes of I-10. The westbound lanes of the interstate were closed at mile marker 117, which is just past the Border Patrol checkpoint west of Las Cruces Wednesday morning. A toddler was

Investigators from the Mission Valley Regional Command have charge a man and a woman with Theft over $1,500.00 on Friday, June 17, 2011. The investigation revealed that numerous brass vases were stolen from Mt. Carmel Cemetery over the past several months with the latest report made on Saturday, 06-11-2011. During the ongoing investigation investigators and

A Mission Valley officer making a traffic stop is advised that the vehicle he is stopping was involved in a beer run just moments prior. The investigation revealed that a Mission Valley officer stopped James Jose PEREZ driving a 1994 Pontiac Bonneville at Ramona and Wooldridge just after 2:00 a.m., Tuesday, June 21, 2011. The

The franklin mountains are one of the many natural treasures in the borderland. City council approved a plan to preserve pedestrian access through newly designated trailheads. The iconic mountains will soon have more foot traffic and visitors, thanks to a decision made by city council to provide new access to trails. “We have identified with

City Representatives Beto O’Rourke and Rachel Quintana said their goodbyes to the public and to city staff during their last city council meeting on Tuesday. While she addressed the city council to say goodbye Quintana cried and thanked her mother. “Without my mother’s support, I, 100-percent would not have been able to do this, she’s

El Paso County Sheriff’s officials say Lower Valley fire departments have extinguished a large, smokey fire in Tornillo. The fire broke out shortly before 1pm Tuesday afternoon along the 19000 block of Chamizo Street in Tornillo. According to fire officials on site, the Chamizo St. fire in Tornillo involves a vacant home that was fully

With unemployment at 9.1 percent, you would think jobless workers might jump at the chance to get a paying gig, but one El Paso business owner who’s hiring says he’s come across a bunch of people who prefer to stay home and live off unemployment benefits. John Pinney owns Delta Unlimited and he’s getting frustrated

As two El Paso city representatives get ready to leave public office, ABC-7 took a closer look at how they’ve spent the discretionary funds in their district, Each city representative is allocated money every year to use at their discretion – mostly for constituent requests that cannot be funded by the regular city budget. The

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers confiscated more than 1,000 pounds of marijuana during the weekend. The largest bust came on Sunday at the Bridge of the Americas, where agents found 440 pounds of the drug in a bus. During examination, a drug-sniffing dog alerted agents to the inside floor area of the bus.