Good Morning El Paso 03.03.16

the supreme court remains deeply divided as it considers its first abortion case since the death of justice antonin scalia. “what in his background would lead us to believe that he is going to help unite us when his go-to method of operation is just tear down the other person. ” republicans this morning are saying it’s a battle for the heart and sole of the g-o-p as donald trump continues to inch closer to the nomination for president. we have the latest from the campaign trail. the final results are still not in from tuesday’s election for the district attorney’s seat here in el paso–so what’s next? / plus—the wounded warriors are headed to ft. bliss this weekend–what they’re doing here in the borderland. a very good morning el paso, las cruces, and juarez. i’m stephanie valle. and i’m hillary floren. good morning, everyone. we will continue the dry and very warm pattern through sunday as an upper ridge of high pressure persists over the western u.s. the ridge does start to drift east of the borderland saturday and sunday…gradually allowing clouds to move in. a pacific frontal system moves in late sunday night… spreading some showers across the area through monday…along with breezy days both sunday and monday. the showers will last into wednesday morning before the system moves off to the east and the skies clear. high drama at the supreme court. crowds gathered on wednesday for the biggest abortion battle in decades. high drama at the supreme court. crowds gathered on wednesday for the biggest abortion battle in decades. “amanda williams/executiv director, lilith fund for reproductive equality) “now repeat after me. ‘we are all worthy.’ ‘we are not alone.’ ‘and we should not be ashamed.’ ” justice anthony kennedy appears to hold the outcome in his hands, on a court operating with eight justices. the case deals with texas regulations that would drastically cut the number of abortion clinics in the state. the regulations have been copied elsewhere. abortion providers in texas say the law would slash the number of facilities in the state by three-fourths. the state says the aim is to improve patient safety. opponents say the law, which is being copied in other states, is a ploy to end abortion. coming off of trump’s super tuesday win… the republicans will gather to debate tonight, with trump facing fox’s megyn kelly, and one less candidate on the stage …abc’s lana zak has the latest from the campaign trail. it”s your voice, your vote. with donald trump’s high poll numbers materializing into votes…and now a commanding lead in the delegate count, republicans are working to stop the man on-track to lead the gop. trump nats today, mitt romney, is expected to make his case against the front-runner… trump already on the attack, – tweeting- “looks like two-tim failed candidate mitt romney is going to be telling republicans how to get elected. just 4 years ago, the two men stood side by side. donald trump: “it’s my honor, real honor and privilege to endorse mitt romney. and with ben carson the only republican hinting at leaving the race, ted cruz is now trying to encourage the supporters of others to abandon their #1 choice in favor of his promise to stop trump. sot cruz been supporting ben carson or john kasich or marco rubio, all good honorable men, we welcome you to our team,” 20:44:01 cruz arguing he is the only person that can prevent a president clinton…or president trump. clinton event nats on the democratic side … hillary clinton taking on the air of nominee, at a star studded fundraiser? clinton sot ” thank you all so much” while bernie sanders argued the democratic race is not yet settled. “she’s not so inevitable today!” tag the washington post is reporting this morning that the clinton aide who established her private email server has been granted immunity by the fbi… campaign aides say they are “pleased” he cooperating. lana zak, abcn, w who will be el paso’s next district attorney? current d-a jaime esparza tells abc-7 he is ready for a runoff election. in order to avoid a runoff, he needs 50 percent of the vote plus 1! his opponents are yvonne rosales and leonard morales. these are final numbers from el paso and hudspeth counties, and partials from culberson county. right now, esparza is 47 votes short of being able to avoid that runoff with rosales. the culberson county courthouse was closed yesterday for texas independence day. esparza says he’s proud of his record and dismissed his opponent’s claims that he has not been able to solve el paso’s d-w-i problem. we will hear more from esparza about the runoff election as well as why there are provisional ballots being used in just a bit right here on good morning el paso. two other races are headed for a runoff. maria ramirez and gina palafox will square off may 24th for place number three in the 8th court of appeals. the incumbent, steven hughes, was not able to secure re-election last night despite several key endorsements. he was appointed in 2014. also headed for a runoff — the race for county tax assessor-collector. incumbent ruben gonzalez and former chief deputy tax assessor-collector — siria rocha — were unable to receive more than 50 percent of the vote. they will go to a runoff. gregory gonzalez came in last. about two hundred people waited more than 2 hours to vote on tuesday! and tons of problems are to blame. first, absent poll workers and fewer voting machines led to long voting lines at mesita elementary earlier this week. some even left without voting after waiting so long. the elections adiministrator said two poll workers didn’t show up for their shifts and the precinct didn’t notify the elections department! plus – voting usually takes place at the mesita auditorium. but after a play there monday night – voting was relegated to a much smaller room that fit fewer machines. the election administrator, lisa wise is encouraging voters who waited in the lines to call her office so they can fix the problem. / a special election to replace city representative larry romero could be held may 7th. city officials tell abc-7 that’s the date they’re looking at, but council has to approve it. the item is on the agenda for next tuesday. abc-7 has been able to confirm that jim tolbert is running in the special election. tolbert challenged romero for the council seat and filed an ethics complaint against him. the other candidate is veteran advocate david nevarez. police need your help this morning finding the car involved in a deadly hit and run. new this morning— this is 33-year old ruth desoto. police say she died yesterday morning after she was thrown from her vehicle in a rollover and then hit by another car. the crash happened around 3-30 in the morning on u-s 54 north and hondo pass wedesday. when she was ejected and several drivers pulled over to help. that’s when police say a dark colored compact car ran over de- soto as she lay injured on the highway — then drove away. the car may have damage to the front end and may be missing the entire front right headlight housing. if you know anything, call el paso police. desoto leaves behind a daughter. her family has a gofundme account to help care for her daughter. you can find the link on our home page–kvia.com—unde r the links mentioned section. we are now getting a look at the woman police say caused a deadly hit and run crash. police say 28-year old brandy lina holguin hit and killed a 63-year-old man with her truck as he tried to cross the street on saturday. it happened on mccombs in northeast el paso. holguin allegedly tried to drive off but was stopped by witnesses. court documents state she smelled of alcohol. she’s charged with intoxication manslaughter. . a las cruces man is accused of inappropriately touching a 12-year- old girl. police say 28-year-old josue ortiz ornelas knew the victim. he would allegedly get into bed with her and then molest her. he’s charged with criminal sexual contact of a minor. new this morning- wounded, ill and injured soldiers from all over the country are here in the borderland trainging for the 2016 army trials at fort bliss. the trials include a series of adaptive sporting events the showcase the resilient spirit of those competing. abc-7’s evan folan has more on the trials… over one hundred soldiers are training for next weeks competition which could land them a spot on the the army’s national team. soldiers and veterans have spent months preparing for next week’s trials – where they will face off in a variety of sports inclduing: archery, cycling, shooting, sitting volletball, swimming, track and field, basektball and wheelchair basketball. but to many of those competing – it’s a chance to show others that they arent different from anyone else. “all levels of injury and illness that people have gone through, our population is not really different than anyone else. we just have a lot of high risk areas where a lot of people have been injured.” this morning soldiers will train for archery and air pistol and rifle shooting. again, the real competition starts on the 6th and runs through the 10th. winners will represent team army during the defense warrior games in june! now to an abc-7 traffic alert we want to remind you about .. already underway this week— there are going to be some lane closures on alameda for the the alameda brio rapid transit system. texas gas service will be doing utility relocation work that will require those temporary lane closures. the lane closures will last approximately five weeks and will be located near these intersections with alameda — at vocational — george orr; plus…alameda at davis, flicker, ange and yarbrough. now it’s time to take a look at the tx-dot traffic cams… we still have much more to come here on good morning el paso— if you haven’t made it out to the border highway to check out the ramp the pope used to bless the border—you’re going to want to do it soon- and later–an emotional reunion between grandfather and his grandson after he falls out of their moving van— it was all caught on tape–we’ll take a look. meteorologist krystal klei has your detailed forecast. krystal… and this is abc-7, where news comes first! the ramp used by pope francis to bless the border will