Month: January 2014

The Amigo Airsho is heading to the Santa Teresa Airport this year. While the announcement won’t officially be made until Thursday afternoon at a news conference, Karen Perez, the chairwoman of the board of the Dona Ana County Commissioners, told ABC-7 the move is a done deal. Perez said the airshow will be in early

Two men are in custody after a high-speed chase on Interstate 10 early Tuesday morning involving El Paso police and sheriff’s deputies. When ABC-7 heard of the pursuit on emergency scanners, authorities were already on I-10 east between Joe Battle and Horizon Boulevard. The chase finally came to an end 18 miles later in Tornillo,

County Commissioner Carlos Leon told ABC-7 that his office has uncovered more than $8 million in unspent capital improvement projects dating back to 1998. Leon has been searching old county bank accounts for money to pay for a hotly-debated countywide radio system. According to him, a lot of the money has already been earmarked for

Thank you to everyone who watched the telethon Saturday! Especially the ones who donated! Saturday night hundreds of people pledge their monetary support in the Save-a-Life telethon presented by Mission Chevrolet. By the end of the night the grand total was $118,000. Borderland residents, and those watching on the world wide web, opened their hearts

The body of former Major League Baseball player Frank Castillo was recovered Monday afternoon, according to Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office officials. Castillo, a former standout pitcher for Eastwood High School in El Paso in the early 1980s who played in the major leagues for 13 years, drowned in Bartlett Lake in Arizona near his home

One mountain rescue spurred a second in El Paso early Sunday morning. A family went hiking in the Franklin Mountains on Saturday afternoon. The family began hiking around 5:30 p.m. At some point two young boys, ages 16 and 19, left the group and got lost. The family called 9-1-1 and reported them missing when

El Paso Bishop Mark Seitz is in Brazil this week for the Roman Catholic Church’s World Youth Day celebrations. He has been tweeting pictures and updates of the experience. He is in Brazil with several youths from El Paso. Seitz tweeted a picture Thursday with a caption stating the crowd was gathering in the morning

Jurors found El Paso businessman Billy Abraham not guilty of intoxication manslaughter after deliberating for more than five hours. Instead, jurors determined he was guilty of a lesser charge: driving while intoxicated. It took jurors only a few minutes to head back to their chambers and deliberate on a sentence. Abraham is looking at 180

Two people were hospitalized early Friday morning after a head-on crash in far east El Paso. The incident happened at 2:15 a.m. on Zaragoza between Pellicano and Vista Del Sol. Police at the scene tell us a man and a woman were both taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries. While police have not

Dona Ana County vector control officials have been busy with this week’s heavy rain. The rain left behind the perfect breeding grounds for mosquitoes. “If you see standing water and it’s holding five, six, seven days, they can hatch in these temperatures,” said Kenneth Sholar, vector control supervisor. Tiny black specks are swimming through standing

Jurors were sent home Thursday in the early afternoon. A lot of testimony occurred on day four of the Billy Abraham intoxication manslaughter trial, but it was a short day nonetheless. Abraham faces one charge of intoxicated manslaughter. Investigators say he was behind the wheel of his Sierra pickup truck when Jay Grady, 47, was

Surrounded by Juarez youngsters in the water, ABC-7’s Paul Cicala sank knee deep into the Rio Grande, just south of the border fence. He then, energetically shouted: “Next time you are -that- El Paso resident who angrily proclaims: ‘There’s nothing to do in the border area’ … Well, think again! There’s much to offer here

Homes in the village of Columbus, N.M. were pummeled by rain and heavy winds on Tuesday. Tuesday’s storm ripped through almost 30 homes. “It was really devastating, really shocking because I’ve never been through that,” said Eugene Sierra, a resident of Columbus. “When I got here there were trailers flipped over, roofs taken out, it

The state rested its case against El Paso businessman Billy Abraham on Wednesday afternoon. The historic property owner is charged with intoxication manslaughter. Prosecutors say he killed Jay Grady, 47, a homeless man in downtown when he was driving drunk three years ago. Prosecutors told Judge Patrick Garcia they had nothing further in their case

Fifty-four dogs and a cat! That’s what El Paso Animal Services found at a home located in the middle of an East Side neighborhood this week. The home is at 2704 Fierro Street, just off of Yarbrough and Montwood drive, near Eastwood Middle School. According to the Central Appraisal District, the home is owned by

El Paso City Council on Tuesday denied the Texas Gas Company’s request to increase rates. The Texas Gas Company requested the city approve an increase that would amount to an additional $1.55 a month for the average residential customers and $5.01 a month for commercial customers. According to the company’s Manager of Regulatory Affairs, Larry

El Paso City Council on Tuesday voted 6-2 to use Montana Rapid Transit System funds to renovate the Luther Building for the relocation of city offices. The motion passed 6-2. City Rep. Carl Robinson abstained and City Rep. Eddie Holguin voted against the move. The City estimates it’s going to cost $13.3 million to renovate

The El Paso Public Health Department is being recognized for its efforts to maintain successful Human Papillomavirus vaccine rates. The vaccination program ranks the highest in the state of Texas. The Department of State Health Services announced that El Paso County’s HPV vaccine rate is currently 45.1%. That number is compared to the state average

An El Paso artist hopes to highlight the history of crypto-Jews in the Southwest through a kosher taco truck. About six years ago, artist Peter Svarzbein started photographing crypto-Jews, Hispanic or Latinos of Jewish descent who had to keep their faith a secret after the Spanish inquisition, and their descendents. Svarzbein wants to show the

The debate tied to a new $10.3 million sheriff’s radio system flared in county commissioner’s court, Monday. The county has $4.5 million slated for the project. He’s asking for an additional $5.8 million. That money would pay for a year-long implementation of new P25 radios from Motorola and an interlocal agreement with the city of

Current projections show new software for the El Paso County auditor will be roughly $4 million under budget. That estimate includes contingencies for overages. The original estimate was $9 million — it was paid for by bonds issues in 2012 that are gaining interest. Edward Dion, the county’s auditor, said the cost was much lower

Neighbors near the 1500 block of Upson in El Paso’s Sunset Heights neighborhood awoke to screams Saturday morning. ABC-7s Alec Schreck was among the people who came outside. He smelled smoke billowing out of a basement and heard a child screaming, “Let me out — Daddy help me, it’s on fire.” Schreck, and other neighbors,

Typically, being under budget is a good thing. However, in the case of a recently discovered over budgeted project in El Paso County, there will be no tax relief. The over budgeted project was part of the $110 million certificates of obligation passed September 2012. The move raised taxes in the county. With taxes already

A text message seeking ransom money is one of the clues police have as they search for a man they say may have been kidnapped. Police say 45-year-old Luis Rodriguez vanished Thursday morning from a job site in east el Paso. Rodriguez is self-employed. A friend received a text message at 11:30 a.m. indicating Rodriguez

July 22, 2013 update: Seats filled up quickly as spectators squeezed into the benches of an El Paso courtroom this morning for the intoxication manslaughter trial of El Paso businessman Billy Abraham. It’s taken three years to get to this point. Abraham is accused of hitting and killing a man named James Grady while Abraham

A young woman who gave birth just weeks ago died after crashing her car into a retaining wall along Interstate 10 Thursday night. Stephanie Apodaca, 17, leaves behind a one-month-old son and her husband of 10 months, Mario Leyva Dominguez. The incident happened just before 10 p.m. Thursday at the intersection of Gateway West and

When it rains most of the afternoon and early morning, as was the case Thursday, hiking is usually -last- on the “things to do” list. However, there -is- an excellent option here in El Paso, with the Franklin Mountains State Park literally splitting our beautiful border city in half. It’s sad to say, but, I’d

When it rains most of the afternoon and early morning, as was the case Thursday, hiking is usually -last- on the “things to do” list. However, there -is- an excellent option here in El Paso, with the Franklin Mountains State Park literally splitting our beautiful border city in half. It’s sad to say, but, I’d

The questions continue to swirl around a $10.3 million dollar radio system the El Paso County sheriff wants installed. The radios used now by deputies in the county match federal mandates, however, they’re less reliable than analog radios used just two years ago. Most agencies throughout Texas already use what is referred to as a

Murfreesboro, Tenn. – The UTEP women’s basketball sustained a hard-fought 69-58 loss at Middle Tennessee Wednesday evening. The Miners (13-3, 2-1 Conference USA) shot a better percentage from the floor (42.9 to 39.0) while also outrebounding (43-36) the Blue Raiders (14-3, 3-0 Conference USA) but were plagued by an inability to take care of the