Month: April 2018

An El Paso Rabbi is making international headlines for his book that details the history and traditions of Crypto-Jews. Rabbi Stephen Leon published “The Third Commandment and the Return of the Anusim” in July of 2017. The book gives perspective of Spanish-descent Jews whose ancestors were forced to convert to Catholicism. The book is available

Prosecutors have charged a 54-year-old suburban Houston man with four counts of solicitation of capital murder for trying to hire a hit man to kill his ex-girlfriend, her parents and her current boyfriend. Authorities say Rajesh Bakshi met last week with an undercover Houston police officer who Bakshi thought was a contract killer. Harris County

The driver of a big rig involved in the deaths of 10 smuggled immigrants in Texas last year was sentenced Friday to life in prison. James Matthew Bradley Jr. pleaded guilty in October to a count of transporting the immigrants resulting in death and a conspiracy count. If he had gone to trial and been

Congressman and New Mexico gubernatorial candidate Steve Pearce says he’s in favor of overhauling the Internal Revenue Service. Pearce said Thursday the federal tax-collecting agency is operating under antiquated technologies and processes and that’s why he was among those in the U.S. House to support legislation aimed at modernizing the agency. The New Mexico Republican

An appeals court in Texas has struck down a law barring intimate photos and videos from previous or current relationships from being shared online without consent. The 12th Court of Appeals in Tyler dismissed the law Wednesday. The ruling says the law violates the First Amendment by restricting expression based on the content of photographs

Actress Natalie Portman has snubbed a prestigious prize known as the “Jewish Nobel” because of “extreme distress” over recent events in Israel, triggering an angry backlash Friday from some in the country’s political establishment. Portman was to have received the award in Israel in June, but told the Genesis Prize Foundation through a representative that

The U.S. Army will not meet its mission to recruit 80,000 active duty soldiers this year and has officially lowered that goal. But Army leaders said the service has been able to encourage more experienced service members to stay on the job to satisfy a growing demand for troops. Army Sgt. Maj. Daniel Dailey said

The Democratic National Committee has sued President Donald Trump’s campaign, his son, his son-in-law, the Russian Federation and WikiLeaks, saying they conspired to help Trump win the 2016 presidential election. The DNC filed the lawsuit Friday in federal court in Manhattan. It seeks unspecified damages and an order to prevent further interference with DNC computer

The El Paso Independent School District will name its Teacher of the Year in a ceremony Friday night. It just so happens that one of the 10 finalists, Zulema Estrada-Pina from Lee Elementary School, was once a student of fellow finalist Mercedes Brissette from Irvin High School — and each serves as an inspiration to

A former U.S. Customs and Border Protection (C.B.P.) officer has pleaded guilty in Las Cruces federal court to obstruction of justice, the Justice Department announced this week. Christopher Holbrook’s charge comes after a falsification of a report regarding his use of force against an individual, referred to only as R.A.M., on March 23, 2015. At

The El Paso Independent School District gave an inside look at student safety drills in wake of the Columbine High School shooting anniversary Friday. Marguerite J. Lundy Elementary School Assistant Principal Margaret Clay said teachers are given a checklist to follow, and must act quickly to shelter students. “We just communicate to our faculty that

The El Paso Police Department needs the public’s help in identifying a man it says was caught exposing himself to a child under the age of 10. Officials say he exposed himself to a child looking at items at the Fallas Paredes store at the Fox Plaza Shopping Center at 5559 Alameda on March 14th.

UPDATE: All lanes going east and west bound are now open, according to a police department tweet. ORIGINAL STORY: A wreck involving several vehicles shut down the freeway’s westbound lanes in West El Paso. It appears a dump truck fell off the frontage road near the Transmountain overpass onto the I-10 West lanes below. Police

The Chihuahuas have won the first three games of their seven-game road trip after defeating the Reno Aces Thursday night by a final score of 6-5. El Paso jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first on a Franmil Reyes homer. The Chihuahuas then added two more in the second. Kyle

The El Paso Fire Department said firefighters were called to the 1000 block of Quartz Street. Fire officials said it happened around 9 p.m. Thursday. A spokesperson for the fire department said the fire was put out in less than 30 minutes and no injures were reported. We’ll update this article as we get more

The weather made for some cool temps Thursday evening. Some areas got a few sprinkles while others saw some heavy rains. there were no major damages reported throughout the region and flooding in the area was at a minimal. In the lower valley near loop 375 and North Loop Drive the weather made the perfect

Several El Paso attorneys claim there’s evidence of misconduct at the Department of Public Safety’s El Paso regional crime lab, possibly compromising thousands of DWI convictions. Criminal defense attorneys Brent Mayr and Thomas Carter and forensic toxicologist Amanda Culbertson say a lab analyst at the crime lab failed to properly test DWI blood alcohol samples.

El Paso County Sheriff’s Department have a identified a suspect allegedly responsible for the murder of 19-year-old Jose Guadalupe Reazola whose body was found in the desert on April, 4. Deputies identified 18-year-old Arath Jauregui as the person responsible for Reazola’s death. Deputies were called to the desert area near Marvin Lane and Century Drive

A Las Cruces judge dismisses case by a magistrate judge, who was trying to be added back on to a ballot after she claims her party affiliation was accidentally changed while replacing her driver’s license. “I have been a lifelong Democrat,” Samantha Madrid told Judge James Martin. “I have never changed my party affiliation in

Praised for “nerves of steel,” the Southwest pilot who skillfully and calmly landed a Boeing 737 amid engine failure went to school in southern New Mexico. “I”m just really proud of her,” said her Tularosa High School classmate, Alynn Hooper, who now works there. Tammie Jo Shults was also one of the first female fighter

The Justice Department’s inspector general has sent a criminal referral about fired FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe to federal prosecutors in Washington, his lawyer said Thursday. The referral to the U.S. attorney’s office for the District of Columbia does not mean McCabe will ever be charged, but it does raise the prospect that the longtime

The federal government cannot withhold public safety grants from cities that refuse to cooperate with President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement policies, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday. The three-judge panel of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago agreed with the decision last year of a lower court judge who imposed a temporary

Federal regulators plan to fine Wells Fargo as much as $1 billion as early as Friday for abuses tied to its auto-lending and mortgage businesses, The New York Times and other news outlets reported, citing unnamed sources. The potential $1 billion fine would be largest ever imposed by the Office of the Comptroller of the

In a month, UTEP football head coach Dana Dimel and the rest of the coaching staff will be hosting the 2018 UTEP Youth Football Camp. The camp is offered to children in grades K-8 without any extra requirements. Participants may sign up for the May 19 camp as either an individual or a team with

The morning a homeless man was shot and killed in Albuquerque, police say surveillance videos showed him running down a street before sunrise, and then gunfire flashed in the dark. Ronnie Ross, a 50-year-old from the Navajo Nation town of Shiprock, had been shot a dozen times, including once in the forehead and temple, and

The Army says it’s considering 15 cities for the headquarters of its planned Futures Command , which will keep track of emerging technology and innovations that could be used in warfighting. The Army notified the cities this week and asked for detailed information. The contenders are Atlanta; Austin, Texas; Boston; Chicago; Dallas; Denver; Houston; Los

El Paso cab companies are not too happy with a city proposal to make changes to the Transportation for Hire Ordinance. In 2016, El Paso city council voted to deregulate local cab companies to level the playing field and allow them to compete with ride sharing companies like Uber and Lyft. Now the city wants

The San Elizario Genealogy and Historical Society will host the 27th Annual History Conference and Rio Grande Festival at the Adobe Horseshoe and San Elizario Grounds. The conference will begin Thursday, April 26 and run through April 29. The conference highlights the arrival of the Don Juan de Oñate Expedition in 1598. A reenactment of

The Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso is creating a new lab focusing on breast cancer thanks to a $2 million grant from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas. The lab will be headed by Dr. Shrikanth Gadad and will complement cancer research already being conducted at the university’s Center of

The New Mexico Attorney General’s Office has reached a $3.4 million settlement with two credit card companies over excessive fees charged during credit and debit card transactions. Attorney General Hector Balderas announced the settlement with Visa and MasterCard on Thursday. He says the agreement provides compensation and helps to enforce the state’s consumer protection laws.