Month: February 2015

Training at white sands missile range gave soldiers a chance to try out some new equipment, the training took place last week. Fort Bliss soldiers and U.S. Marines were divided into two teams to test the new technology.Those two teams consisted of the blue force-who were a team of U.S. marines, and in this case

Taxing sugary drinks is an idea being proposed by legislators across the country, and so far it’s failed in blue states like Washington, Maine and New York. But Texas Rep. Joe Farias of San Antonio thinks its time for texas to give the health tax a try. “I believe that Texas should adopt a penny-per-ounce

Socorro council members approved an ordinance to start the annexation process Thursday. Council members met with the county attorneys yesterday who told them they wanted Socorro to stop the annexation. Socorro thought moved forward in a 3 to 1 vote with Rep. Maria Reyes voting against the action. The new annexation plan will take out

President Obama signed a federal budget deal Friday. It’ll block closed slaughter houses from reopening. Officials said this is for commercial slaughter of horses, including one planned to open in Roswell. The budget withholds money for federal inspections of the slaughterhouses.That blocks the opening of plants in New Mexico, Missouri and Iowa. The last domestic

Police have arrested a young woman for allegedly causing a serious car collision that injured two early Thursday morning. They say she’d been drinking. Desiree Skaf, 21, was booked into the El Paso County jail Friday with two counts of accident involving personal injury or death and one count of intoxicated assault. Police say Skaf

Texas students aren’t funded fairly, according to state District Judge John Dietz. This summer he ruled the current school finances system is depriving our children of their share of educational opportunities. “Each school district should get the same amount of state aid per student,” said Socorro Independent School District Chief Financial Officer Tony Reza. But

Earlier this month an internal audit at Socorro Independent School District revealed the questionable “EIE Regulation.” It allowed the district to push Mexican transfer students past the tenth grade and as a result, the state accountability measuring stick, the STARR test. Four administrators were put on leave for helping create the regulation. Since then the

Socorro Independent School District has every intention of being heard in Austin next year. At Tuesday night’s board meeting, the board unanimously approved a resolution promising to lobby our local legislators. The goal is to bring equity to how school districts are funded. The lawsuit they’re supporting is hundreds school districts versus the State of

Thousands of students from the Socorro Independent School District are back in class Monday morning for the first day of school. The district also opened its 46th school, Mission Ridge Elementary School, located at 150 Nonap Road in far east El Paso. Mission Ridge is situated in an expanding area of east El Paso off

Four Socorro Independent School District administrators are cleared of wrong-doing Tuesday night, after an investigation into district-wide policies was concluded. They are longtime El Paso teacher, coach, and athletic director Pat O’Neill, who is now assistant superintendent of administration; Rebecca O’Neill, assistant super for elementary education; Dr. Cynthia Lopez, assistant super of secondary education, and

Fire crews are working around the clock on a series of wildfires Monday night. The latest one is right near a local national forest. The “Silver Fire” is on the southeastern edge of the Gila National Park, about 40 miles east of Silver City. Residents nearby have been evacuated. Investigators said it started Friday after

There is a shroud of mystery surrounding the financial picture of El Paso Children’s Hospital. ABC-7 learned this week that University Medical Center will form a committee to ensure the financial viability of El Paso Children’s Hospital, which owes it money. The not-for-profit hospital was built with $120 million in bonds that El Pasoans are

The White House says 2 million people have purchased insurance through exchanges set up by the Affordable Care Act.But a new loophole found in the law could encourage people to skip Obamacare all together. The idea came from two policy experts Sean Parnell and Timothy Jost. They’re encouraging people to sign up for short-term health

El Paso police are investigating a shooting that happened late Sunday night in the far east side of town. Police confirm one person was injured on the 2200 block of Tierra Blanca. No word on any arrests.

EL PASO, Texas – El Paso sheriff’s deputies were dispatched Saturday to a fatal rollover on eastbound Interstate 10 between the Eastlake on-ramp and the Horizon exit. The interstate was closed between both ramps due to the crash and traffic was diverted to the access roads. According to EPSO officials a Honda compact and a

Early Thursday morning, a San Elizario family found 14 of their sheep massacred. At first they blamed a pack of wild dogs, but learned it was the jaws of domesticated dogs that tore apart their herd. At 5:30 in the morning the Barrosos awoke to the sound of barking. They ran outside to see what

The Christmas decorations at a park in El Paso’s Lower Valley will return for a second year — this time, with even less flair, and lowered expectations. East El Paso/Lower Valley City Representative Lily Limon is trying a new approach this year with the holiday display at Shawver Park. The focus will shift away from

An ex-convict has been sentenced to 70 years in prison for beating and raping a North Texas woman last year before stealing her car. Tarrant County prosecutors announced Friday that 47-year-old Kenneth Dale Baker was sentenced after earlier being convicted of sexual assault and robbery. They say Baker was armed with a handgun in August

You have the costume, the basket… do you have the route? You can find out if registered sex offenders live in the area your ghosts and goblins will be trick-or-treating so they can skip the house. The databases, maintained by the Texas and New Mexico Departments of Public Safety, lets you search by address and

Scattered to numerous showers and thunderstorms are possible tonight and Wednesday morning. El Paso and Las Cruces expect a 50% chance for heavy rain, gusty winds and hail. Winds will generally be east at 5 to 15 mph except near thunderstorms. Another round of scattered storms are in the forecast Wednesday, storms will become more

UTEP football games against Texas Tech usually draw in large crowd. But with the kick off at 9 p.m. and the game possibly ending at midnight would the game draw in the same amount of fans? UTEP hasn’t had a kick off at 9 p.m. in 100 years. Tailgaters said the late kick off did

The UTEPcampus is still undergoing a lot of changes this football season. Withanew parking garage being built and the heart of the university under construction,some Miner fans ran into parking issues and had to adjust for the first tailgate of the season but was it worth the trouble? The grillswere sizzling, the footballswere flying and

In an effort to boost attendance at NMSUfootball games the University’s President Garrey Carruthers said he’d start giving away prizes to students who filled seats in the stadium. Cash prizes, even. Carruthers came under fire from a national cable news commentator earlier this week for taking the bold step. “We need more student attendance; we’re

Trying to getvisitors in the downtown area quicker access to the entertainment district is an issue the city has been dealing with for several years. “Right now, it takes about20 minutes to walk from the Museum of Art to Union Plaza because you have to go around the Convention Center,” said City Engineering spokesman Martin

“The Sun Bowl is part of El Paso,” said UTEP athletic director Bob Stoll. He said with the Sun Bowls history in the city there was no way they could ignoreits 50th birthday. “An important part of El Paso, it’san icon in the community,” said Stoll. ABC-7 spoke with Pete Vasquez, one of the firstUTEP

We know there are some die-hard Aggie and Miner fans in the borderland but the fight between Floyd Mayweather and Saul Canelo has been in the making for months now. Sports lovers had a tough desicion to make, a battle to see who wins the bragging rights between the Miners and Aggies or who wins

“No! I’d appreciate if we’d just get the hell off this ground and get to where we’re going,”yelled an unidentified man in a recently posted YouTube video. The man was pretty upset after a U.S. Airways crew member asked him to remove his service dog from the seat and place him on the floor. “I’m

UTEP will play New Mexico State University for the 91st time in their history when they play at 6 p.m. Saturday. The game will be at Aggie Memorial Stadium. Tickets are available at Ticketmaster locations and range from just under $14 to a little over $23 – not including service charges. Learn about each team

Allan Sepkowitz said he wasn’t surprised to hear that Andre Jones life was cut too short. Jones who was a stand out defensive tackle at Andress High School was found dead in an El Paso hotel room at the age of 24. “Just seemed like his path was earmarked for something drastic to happen,” former

A former security guard at the William Beaumont Medical Center told ABC 7 he thinks the gate security leading to the William Beaumont Medical Center Hospital complex is not efficient. Around 58 security guards received RIF (Reduction in Force) layoffs notices back in September. The last day for the guards to work is on Jan.