Good Morning El Paso: 06.24.15

know the name of the motorcyclist who died after a crash on transmountain last night. / also–the latest details on why a man barricaded himself inside an eastside bank for more than five hours this week—police have told abc-7n why he did it. ” “it’s a specialized engineer project. the cable is specific to what they’re trying to do.” and—abc-7 learned what the city is now working on to get the long awaited san jacinto plaza complete. / a very good morning el paso, las cruces, and juarez. i’m stephanie valle. good morning, everyone. good morning! today we’re watching a partly cloudy start to the morning that will lead to rain chances through today! we’re forecasting better and more widespread rain chances as we head into the next 48 hours. today the chances will start to pop around lunch time and particularly for the borderland in the mid afternoon to evening. temps are very nice this morning but they’ll get humid in the afternoon warming to the upper 80s and low 90s. we’ll track those rain chances through the week coming up in minutes! new information this hour on the motorcycle crash that killed an el paso man. his father just called our newsroom this morning confirming he is 30-year-old alfred grayson. this picture is from his facebook profile. grayson has just completed his degree from the university of phoenix earlier this year. the el paso sheriff’s office says the wreck happened around 7-30 last night on transmountain at mile marker 20. officials say he was wearing a helmet. grayson was taken to university medical center where he died. transmountain west was closed for hours during the investigation. we can tell you transmountain is open again. still no word on the identity of the man killed in a car crash yesterday morning. it happened on vista del sol near george dieter just before 2 a.m.. police only telling us he was 26 years old and was not wearing a seat belt. they are looking into whether speed or alcohol were factors. after the death of a bus driver on i- 10 on monday… some frustrated drivers want to know who makes the decision to shut down the entire freeway. back to the beginning of the story … a los paisanos driver suffered a fatal heart attack on i- ten, just east of downtown. he was able to pull the bus over to the left shoulder.. but it caused a nearly three-hour closure of i-10 east. now here is what police had to say. “due to the death of the driver special traffic investigators responded to the scene and took over the investigation. we recognize the impact these types of investigations have on motorists … ” “however, the safety of the investigators, and the need to document the entire scene, led to the decision to shut down the roadway.” we asked if all lanes need to be closed for this type of investigation … we were told, quote: “they have to construct a scaled diagram of the entire roadway, including emergency lanes.” more details are coming out about monday’s swat situation at an eastside bank. police say the man barricaded himself inside — because he was upset about his checking account. the man is 56-year- old carlos ramos. authorities say he was also upset that a 15-dollar credit card purchase he tried to make — was declined. he allegedly told employees that he had a bomb. ramos is charged with making a terroristic threat. this all started at around 5-30 at the compass bank just off of yarbrough near montwood monday evening. the bank and the nearby shopping center were evacuated and no one was injured. a man wanted for murder in new mexico is in custody… after being on the run for nearly 20 years. 37-year-old paul sanchez was arrested at his home in east el paso. authorities say in september of 1996 — sanchez gunned down a man outside a dance hall in albuquerque. when agents tried to take him into custody — sanchez allegedly lied about who he was and gave authorities fake documentation. he and his family later admitted his true identity. sanchez is accused of first degree murder and is awaiting extradition back to albuquerque. an el paso woman admits she is guilty to preparing fraudulent tax returns. now she faces 3 years in prison. 43-year-old blanca ramos estrada was also ordered to pay a 250-thousand dollar fine. estrada is the owner of blanca and sons tax service. she admitted to inflating income amounts for her clients in order to maximize their refunds under the earned income credit. the i-r-s says estrada’s actions cost taxpayers $140- thousand dollars. the el paso city council is more than 200 million dollars in debt! but it was for projects that have already been paid for! this is why: past city councils approved debt but didn’t issue it – so that the city could hold off on paying interest until it was absolutely necessary. so the city will often use money it has on hand to pay for projects. and then pay itself back by taking out debt approved by prior councils. so the nearly 208- million approved today will pay the city back for street, drainage, park and even some quality of life bond projects. mark sutter: “one set of electe officials doing the certificates of obligation authorization say in 2010 and then in 2015 you can have a lot of new faces up there on the elected officials side who are now asked to approve the debt to pay for those projects.” mayor oscar leeser today said he wants to change the way the city issues debt. so that it would take out the money as soon as it approves the debt. that would also mean though that taxpayers would pay for interest on the debt much earlier. do we finally have a completion date in sight? in this abc-7 update, the long awaited completion of the downtown san jacinto plaza has yet another end in sight. abc-7 learned that a utility project is underway … which was the subject of a change order approved just last week by city council. crews have also poured the concrete that will hold the plaza’s canopy city officials say it’s the canopy that is slowing things down because cables were ordered from germany: once the canopy is up, all that will be left is to install is the lagartos statue, landscaping and amenities. the city still won’t give an exact date but hopes the plaza will be completed early fall. happening today– a 12-million dollar project to house artists in downtwon is finally getting its start. good morning el paso’s denise olivas is live with the story …denise? the artspace el paso lofts will soon add life to the growing art scene here in the city with a four- story building of low cost apartments. it’s meant to keep artists and their families in the area where most of them work– downtown el paso. here are renderings of what the lofts are expected to look like– there will be 51 live and work spaces for artists. the building is located next to the doubletree hotel. this project has been in the making four about six years. the community foundation and the city of el paso are behind this effort. the project will be paid for with nine- million in federal low-income housing tax credits. the el paso community foundation using nearly three million of its own funds and property. the artspace lofts are walking distance from the dowtown arts district. a minnesota-based company that has built similar living spaces in more than 20 states will create the new downtown addition. now it’s time to take a look at the tx-dot traffic cams… a trade measure president barack obama really wants … is now at the brink of final approval in the senate. a combined effort by obama and republican congressional leaders rescued the measure. it appeared to be nearly dead less than two weeks ago. a final vote is expected later today on the bill that would give obama “fast track” negotiati authority for trade deals. if approved, the president could propose trade pacts that congress can reject or ratify but not change. how did our senators vote on fast track .. john cornyn voted yes. ted cruz did an about face from last week and voted no. new mexico senators tom udall and martin heinrich — both democrats — voted no. deadly storms, high winds and rain pummelled the east coast overnight. half-a-million people are left in the dark this morning after heavy rain and strong winds battered the east coast – from the mid-atlantic through new england. the wild weather wreaked havoc for tens of millions of people. from virginia to maine — we’ll have more from the severe weather acorss the east coast coming up in just a bit. still to come— las cruces police are changing it up and taking the roles of car thieves, how their giving residents a big eye opening lesson. also — a traffic alert for those in new mexico— a big bridge project is going to cause headaches with major detours. meteorologist krystal klei has your detailed forecast. krystal… and this is abc-7, where news comes first! several residents of the