Month: February 2014

The El Paso Zoo’s Asian elephants, Savannah and Juno, predicted this year’s Super Bowl winner Saturday. Each elephant cast a vote by selecting the helmet-shaped pinata left by the zoo keeper. Both Savannah and Juno chose the Seattle Seahawks!

A young mother is arrested after Dona Ana county Sheriff’s deputies said she was driving drunk with her two kids in the car. The sheriff said 23-year-old Blanca Borrego ran a red light and made a illegal turn. When they pulled her over, they noticed a strong odor of alcohol, and an open container. They

A truck slams into a dry cleaning shop on north Mesa and Resler in west El Paso Saturday afternoon. Windows were broken, glass shattered everywhere, and shoppers got quite the scare.ABC-7 was told by people on the scene, the driver thought she was hitting her breaks, but it was the gas pedal instead. She lost

A trial date has been set for Jenna Farrey. She is scheduled to stand trial on Dec. 15, 2014. Jenna Farrey is the mother of 5-month-old Jackson Farrey, whose body was found buried in the New Mexico desert. Jenna Farrey has been charged with injury to a child and her bond is set at $1.5

Life in prison or the death penalty — the two possible sentences for the man convicted Thursday of capital murder. Christian Martinez, 24, stabbed two women to death in January 2011. He followed 20-year-old Jovana Flores home from her jog on the east side. Martinez then stabbed Flores and her 58-year-old mother, Amalia, more than

Former El Paso County Judge Antonio “Anthony” Cobos was arrested Friday morning at his home in El Paso on fraud charges in New Mexico, according to officials with the Dona Ana County Sheriff’s office and U.S. Marshals office. U.S. Marshals deputies took 46-year-old Cobos into custody without incident around 8 a.m. He waived extradition and

Residents of a home in Northeast El Paso were forced to evacuate after it caught fire late Thursday night. The incident happened just before 11 p.m. on the 5000 block of Sagittarius. No injuries were reported.

Old farm land on Artcraft Road and Westside Drive may soon be the Upper Valley’s newest housing community. That news excites Yvonne Hernandez who describes her vision for what’s being called UV120. “Restaurants, parks, just walking places where we can go and walk and have ice cream or something to eat. That’s what we need

The employment contract for El Paso housing authority CEO Gerald Cichon is now in ABC-7’s hands. The contract shows a salary nearly on par with the city manager’s. Cichon makes about $230,000 a year in taxpayer dollars. A former employee is suing the authority and Cichon. He said they mismanaged funds and used unethical hiring

He’s been on the job about four months and Friday he stopped in El Paso. FBI Director James Comey was making his first visit to the Sun City and met with the El Paso office’s staff to hear their concerns. He also met with local law enforcement to find out what’s working and how to

Jan. 30, 2014: UPDATE: Jurors on Thursday afternoon found Christian Martinez guilty of capital murder in the stabbing deaths of two people three years ago. The jury will begin the sentencing phase on Friday. During closing arguments, defense attorneys said the state failed to prove that Martinez was sane. Attorneys for Martinez maintained he was

If you’re still not sure who to root for in Sunday’s Super Bowl, let the El Paso Zoo’s Asian Elephants, Savannah and Juno, decide for you. The two elephants will predict this year’s Super Bowl winner with each casting a vote by selecting the helmet shaped pinata set out for them in their exhibit by

Texas will develop two new math courses high school students can take in lieu of algebra II as it implements a major overhaul in academic curriculum. The State Board of Education on Thursday voted 13-2 to create algebraic reasoning and statistics classes for school districts statewide. A law passed overwhelmingly by the state Legislature in

Residents in an Upper Valley neighborhood got to vote electronically Wednesday night for changes they’d like to see on a major neighborhood thoroughfare. River Bend Drive between Frontera and Sunset Drive in west El Paso may look a lot different in a few years if the city approves funding for long-term transportation plans. Wednesday night

The City of El Paso Department of Public Health announced Wednesday that two more people have died from the flu this season. The number of flu-related deaths this season is now 13. The two most recent deaths involve an elderly and a middle-aged man, both of whom contracted the H1N1 virus strain, health officials said.

Owning a piece of history will cost you $25. Capstone Productions is selling pieces of the large ASARCO smokestack that stood from 1966 until its demolition on April 13, 2013. The bankruptcy trustee gave the pieces to Capstone Productions. And the seller of the pieces says they are safe. The smelter demolition crew collected the

The El Paso Fire Department confirmed the cause of an apartment fire Tuesday night in El Paso’s lower valley at the San Jose Trail Apartments. EPFD officials said a child playing with matches in a bedroom caused the fire on the second floor of the building. Firefighters were called out to the 7900 block of

UPDATE: Jurors continue deliberating the fate of Christian Martinez. They were sequestered overnight and escorted to a hotel after more than four hours of deliberating Wednesday. The judge reminded jurors not to watch any media coverage or read any newspapers while they were sequestered. During closing arguments, defense attorneys said the state failed to prove

A 37-year-old El Paso man has been arrested on child pornography charges. The El Paso Police Department’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force Unit on Jan. 27 arrested and charged Chris Frias, of the 1500 block of Mundy, with Possession of Child Pornography and two counts of Promotion of Child Pornography. He also is known

The contractor for the $7.5 million County Sportspark said this week he fears being liable for growing design concerns. It’s an update to a story ABC-7 first broke in November. Heaters in the concession stand are up and running. But even those arrived fashionably late. The contractor said the architect proposed gas heaters that didn’t

Jan. 28, 2014 Update: Law enforcement are at a culvert tunnel under I-25 in Las Cruces near Tortugas Arroyo investigating how a body ended up burning in the tunnel. Check kvia.com for more details as they become available. Jan. 27, 2014 Story: A body was found near the New Mexico State University campus Monday and

The man in charge of the El Paso ballpark construction said he’s going to oversee construction “until doors open” despite starting a new job. Chief Engineer for the City, Alan Shubert has accepted a Vice President position with the El Paso Water Utilities under one condition: that he be allowed to stay on the ballpark

Michael Stores learned cards used by customers at the Company’s stores may have been compromised. CEO Chuck Rubin said in a statement the company has not confirmed and is investigating a possible security breach on its system. “While we have not confirmed a compromise to our systems, we believe it is in the best interest

Update:Police confirm that a 41-year old driver caused the wreck and another one moments ago. The other crash happened at Transmountain and Gateway North. The driver is recovering at a hospital after a piece of metal went through his arm. Original: A family woke up to a tower of cars Saturday morning on the 10000

The Socorro Independent School District is making a substantial security investment with hundreds of new security cameras to keep an eye on students and campuses across the district. The effort to improve and expand the district’s security system is in it’s first month of construction with its completition expected by the summer. There will be

Editor’s note: This story corrects the judge’s comments. 210th District Court Judge Gonzalo Garcia said, “It can be said that any person who kills another individual is not in a right state of mind.” ABC-7 originally reported that he said only, “Any person who kills another individual is not in a right state of mind.”

The jury saw more unnerving evidence Thursday in the capital murder trial of Christian Martinez, 23. He’s the man accused of stabbing two women to death in January 2011. Police said he followed Jovana Flores, 20, home from her jog on the east side, then stabbed Flores and her mother, Amalia, 58, more than 100

Jan. 24, 2014 Update: News of 16-year-old Alonzo Perez’s death filled the halls at Franklin High School Friday with grief and sadness. Perez was killed Thursday afternoon when the 2005 Volkswagen Jetta he was driving crashed into a traffic pole on the 1300 block of Resler Drive. El Paso Police Department’s Special Traffic Investigations unit

The number of flu-releated deaths in El Paso has risen to 11 this flu season, the El Paso Department of Public Health announced on Thursday. The number of flu deaths was four last week. A Breakdown Of The Fatalities. Six involve patients considered middle-aged, between 31 and 65 years old. One patient was a young

Shorter wait times at ports of entry in El Paso could soon become a reality. The commuters whose lives depend on traveling back and forth are all too familiar with the hours-long wait times everyday. Efforts to shorten the wait times begin Sunday, January 26 at the Paso Del Norte Bridge with a pilot program.