Good Morning El Paso 01.05.16

the rain has been falling steadily overnight throughout the borderland–you can see a lot of action on the weather radar still—but will it continue for the rest of today? / the president will announce his new executive action on gun control today—what that means for purchasing guns on the internet or at gun-shows. “”it’s time for you to leave o community. go home to your families and end this peacefully.” it’s day 4 of the occupation of a wildlife refuge in oregon, and their stance against a prison sentence is not the only demand they have. / and it’s back to school for most of the kids around the borderland today—how a new initiative from the socorro district is working to make streets safer for students. we’re taking a live look right now at the roads this morning courtesy of our tex dot traffic cameras. the rain has been coming down steadily since about midnight. as you can see the roads are slick out there for your morning commute. no major accidents being reported as of right now–so just be careful as you head out the door this morning. / a very good morning el paso, las cruces, and juarez. i’m stephanie valle. and i’m hillary floren. good tuesday morning, everyone. before we get to the details of the forecast we do have an abc-7 traffic alert from the new mexico department of transportation. nm-dot tells abc-7 highway 70 from mile marker 162 to mile marker 167, is snow packed and icy. motorists should reduce speed and proceed with extreme caution in this area. highway 70 will be open all day but be very careful of these difficult driving directions. we also want to mention that employees at white sand missle range will have a delayed tart today at 10 a.m. due to the weather in that area also. / the first in a series of pacific storms systems will continue to roll across the borderland today keeping the region cloudy and seasonally cool with areas of light lowland rain and lingering mountain snow. several more systems will track across the region this week and keep the weather unsettled. more rain and mountain snow can be expected wednesday…friday… and over the weekend. the lowlands could see a light mix of rain and snow by weeks end and into the weekend with colder temperatures to start next week. details on the week ahead are coming up! today president obama will address the nation with his plan to take executive action on gun control. targeting the so- called gun-show loophole–pledging that anyone trying to buy a gun on the internet or at a gun show will have to undergo a background check. abc’s lana zak has the latest on this story developing now. / james hillin, owner, full armor firearms vonita gray , gun owner ana zak, abc news washington . “join or renew your membershi with the national rifle association, get into the gun show for free.” across th country, sales at gun shows and firearms stores have been especially busy .. james hillin, owner, full armor firearms “any time that the president gets up there and starts talking about gun control, people will actually go and get guns potential gun restrictions was a motivating factor for this buyer– “because of all the gun laws al these strict rules that are coming out. every day, every month there’s a shooting and people want to be protected. ” today, president obama will announce new actions that are exepected to focus on mental health issues, update the background check system and close the so-called gun show loophole that allows some people to buy guns without background checks. potus these are not only recommendations that are well within my legal authority and the executive branch, but they are also ones that the overwhelming majority of the american people, including gun owners, support and believe in. this gun owner says she doesn’t like excutive action, but thinks legal gun owners, don’t mind background checks. anyone who carries a gun, has a carry permit, like i do, is gonna not mind having some kind of verification. tag: the president and his critics agree–requiring background checks at gun shows and online wouldn’t have affected many of the recent mass shootings, but advocates say it could make it harder–for some people who shouldn’t have guns to get them… lana zak, abc news, washington. verbatim: today is day four of the occupation of the malheur wildlife refuge in oregon. as the days go on… the group lead by ammon bundy are getting comfortable in the buildings of the wildland refuge. “”we feel like we have exhaust all other prudent measures and have been ignored.” bundy says they’re here to stand up for local rancher dwight and steven hammond who were convicted of arson and reported to federal prison monday. it’s not the only demand they’re having. “”that would be for the federa government to remove its unconditional presence here in the county.” until then…they say they’re there to work and they say they’re getting supplies from supporters. bundy said his group would be willing to leave if the community asked them to. county officials say there is a community meeting planned sometime this week to discuss the issue tonya couch — the mother of ethan couch, known as the “affluenz teen” — is set to appear in court in los angeles today . authorities will determine whether to extradite her back to texas. she and her son were detained in puerto vallarta, mexico last week. ethan is still being held in mexico city. they fled the u-s after video appeared online that appeared to show her son violating the terms of his probation. ethan gained notoriety when he received probation after being convicted in a drunk driving accident that killed four people in 2013. his lawyers coined the term “affluenza” in thei defense — the basically argued that he couldn’t tell right from wrong because his wealthy parents never punished him. / abc-7 is still waiting to learn more details about the arrest of an el paso elementary school principal. according to jail records joel valencia is charged with assault causing bodily injury and family violence. valencia is the principal at zach white elementary — that’s in the el paso school district. a district spokesman could not comment on valencia’s arrest saying it is a personal matter. all the major school districts in el paso go back to school today– except for ysleta isd — students have an extra day. las cruces public schools don’t go back until next week. over in the socorro district.. keeping students who ride the bus safe. drivers– if you live near socorro schools you’ll want to take extra precautions this morning. abc-7’s denise olivas is live with more. not only will drivers have to be extra careful with the rainfall we’ve seen all morning– but also in areas where school buses pick up and drop off students. beginning today– drivers who ignore buses displaying a stop arm will be ticketed. the city of socorro is now working with sisd to help decrease the number of drivers who ignore buses. also now every sisd school bus is equipped with a camera system to catch violators in the act. cameras were tested out last spring semester and approved last year. passing a school bus with its stop- arm in use could result with minimum fine of $300 dollars. as of now, drivers in the city of socorro will be fined. but there are sisd schools in the el paso and horizon city limits. we’ll talk about that in our next half hour. now it’s time to take a look at the tx-dot traffic cams… traffic cams… still much more to come here on good morning el paso— manny pacquiao is hanging up his gloves after his next fight in april—we’ll tell you what his plans are after retirement. / plus—it was a close call when this semi nearly jackknifed into an apartment complex on monday—we’ll tell you where. meteorologist krystal klei has your detailed forecast. krystal… and this is abc-7, where news comes first! over in portland oregon, emergency rooms have been busy treating