by Claudia Lorena Silva The Ysleta Independent School District is asking voters to allow it to raise its tax rate beyond what is allowed by the state to save it from a dire financial status – a proposition which if approved would have little to no impact on the vast majority of homeowners’ tax bills. The
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by Claudia Lorena Silva The El Paso Independent School District Board of Trustees will decide Tuesday whether to call for nearly half a billion dollars’ worth of bond propositions during the Nov. 3 election to bring updated cooling systems and other improvements to its campuses. District officials are expected to present three bond options to the
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by Elida S. Perez The El Paso County Commissioners Court is considering a preliminary $542 million general fund budget for the next fiscal year that could require a tax increase of about $164 a year on the average value home. The county introduced its preliminary budget and proposed its voter-approval tax rate Monday, though the court
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by Cindy Ramirez and Robert Moore July 28, 2026 Benjamin Alire Sáenz is pictured in his writing studio in 2020, the year he received the Texas Institute of Letters’ Lifetime Achievement Award. His award-winning body of work includes the PEN/Faulkner-winning “Everything Begins and Ends at the Kentucky Club” and the bestselling “Aristotle and Dante” novels. (Mark Lambie /
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by Priscilla Totiyapungprasert El Paso City Council candidate Arturo Alluin spent thousands of dollars in campaign funds on clothing and restaurants, according to his campaign finance report filed July 16, raising legal and ethical questions about the expenditures. Alluin is running to represent District 8, which includes Downtown, the Southside and Westside. Alluin owns several restaurants
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by Priscilla Totiyapungprasert El Paso health officials have confirmed one case of cyclosporiasis, an intestinal illness caused by a parasite, this year. The report comes during a multi-state outbreak that has prompted the Federal Drug Administration to investigate contaminated produce. The cyclospora parasite, known for causing severe diarrhea, is not new to the region. Isolated cases
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by Claudia Lorena Silva The El Paso Independent School District is considering taking a series of bond proposals to voters in November to begin improving its aging school facilities, making safety upgrades and addressing classroom needs. Deputy Superintendent David Bates on Tuesday presented a long-range master plan, outlining the cost of addressing all the district’s needs
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by Claudia Lorena Silva The Socorro Independent District adopted a balanced budget for the second year in a row and is looking to start rebuilding its savings next year after a decade of spending more than it generated in revenue. The SISD board voted unanimously Wednesday to adopt a $462.1 million general fund budget with a
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by Elida S. Perez The Texas 8th Court of Appeals Tuesday upheld a lower court’s decision that the city of El Paso’s environmental franchise fee tacked on to residential water bills is an illegal tax. The court ruling Tuesday creates the possibility that the city could have to refund tens of millions of dollars collected since
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by Robert Moore Most of the plaintiffs suing Walmart and a bank as a result of the 2019 El Paso mass shooting have reached settlements in recent weeks, court records show. But the retail giant ended potential talks with 29 other plaintiffs following an appeals court ruling that paused the civil court proceedings. The latest developments
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By Robert Moore Two members of the El Paso Independent School District Board of Trustees announced their resignations Friday, a day after the board voted to declare financial exigency and make unprecedented cuts to the district’s budget. Daniel Call and Valerie Ganelon Beals, who both represent areas of West El Paso, told El Paso Matters they
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by Priscilla Totiyapungprasert Nearly 180 detainees are under quarantine for possible measles exposure at Camp East Montana, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility on Fort Bliss, city health officials told El Paso Matters on Wednesday. The facility initiated quarantine after 16 detainees were identified as contacts of two confirmed measles cases at a detention facility in
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by Cindy RamirezMay 30, 2026 Share Facebook Nextdoor Reddit Citing severe medical neglect, violent use of force and excessive use of solitary confinement of migrants, the ACLU of Texas and other legal and human rights organizations late Friday filed a lawsuit against Immigration and Customs Enforcement over inhumane conditions at Camp East Montana. The 78-page lawsuit
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by Claudia Lorena Silva More than 400 El Paso Independent School District jobs, including teachers and central office staff, may be cut as the Board of Trustees will vote Tuesday whether to declare financial exigency and implement a massive savings plan that includes layoffs. EPISD Superintendent Brian Lusk is recommending the board make the declaration and
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by Claudia Lorena Silva The Socorro Independent District expects to approve a balanced budget this June for the second year in a row, as it traverses a multi-year plan to rebuild its savings after nearly a decade of spending more than it generated in revenue. The district is planning to adopt a $465.5 million budget with a $550,000
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by Claudia Lorena Silva A public school consultant is recommending that the El Paso Independent School District declare financial exigency — similar to bankruptcy for educational institutions — and initiate a stabilization plan that could include mass layoffs in the face of an unexpected budget shortfall for the current school year. EPISD officials said the district
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by El Paso Matters Staff May 8, 2026 This is your weekly news roundup, which takes a quick look at some developments in government, politics, education, environment and other topics across El Paso. Judge Delays Hearings for El Paso Death Row Inmate David Leonard Wood Hearings on the future of El Paso death row inmate David
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by Daniel Perez The White House fired all members of the National Science Board Friday, including Heather Wilson, president of the University of Texas at El Paso. President Donald Trump appointed Wilson – who previously served as his secretary of the Air Force – to the board in March 2020. The six-year term was to have
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by Robert Moore April 24, 2026 Cement Lake, between Interstate 10 and Paisano Drive in the Upper Valley, was purchased by El Paso Water from the Texas Department of Transportation in December 2025. (Photo courtesy of Google Earth) Share Facebook Nextdoor Reddit El Paso Water purchased a 300-acre Upper Valley site last month to preserve open
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by Robert Moore April 12, 2026 Share Facebook Nextdoor Reddit 📣 We use your feedback to strengthen our reporting. Tell us what’s working and what’s missing. Take our 2026 reader survey. Hal Marcus, an artist, musician and promoter of the beauty of El Paso, died Sunday morning after a battle with cancer. He was 74. “Our beloved Hal
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by Claudia Lorena SilvaMarch 31, 2026 A judicial candidate in the May 26 Democratic primary runoff election is married to a registered sex offender with an extensive arrest record and ties to a bail bonds company that has faced legal repercussions for kidnapping and assault, court records show. El Paso County Court at Law No. 2
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The El Paso Catholic Diocese, faced with potential “astronomical” judgments in a dozen lawsuits alleging clergy sexual abuse, filed for bankruptcy reorganization Friday. The 12 lawsuits involving 18 plaintiffs, filed between 2022 and 2025 in Las Cruces, allege sexual abuse by priests at a number of New Mexico parishes between 1956 and early 1982, when
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by Priscilla TotiyapungprasertMarch 3, 2026 First-time candidate Annette Griego ousted incumbent El Paso County Commissioner Sergio Coronado for the Democratic nomination in Precinct 4 on Tuesday, while Miguel Teran won a tight race over incumbent David Stout in Precinct 2. Griego captured 57% of the total votes in her race, while Teran had 53% of the
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by Robert Moore, February 12, 2026 U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar of El Paso and three members of the New Mexico congressional delegation are asking the Trump administration for a classified briefing on this week’s airspace restrictions that they say “created widespread fear, uncertainty and chaos in the region while disrupting commercial, medical, private, and military aviation
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by Daniel Perez February 6, 2026 Sign up for essential news about El Paso. Delivered to your inbox — completely free. A nearly two-year investigation found no wrongdoing in a grant application that led to a potential $160 million award for a UTEP-led collaboration to expand aerospace manufacturing in the El Paso region. The finding by the
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by Robert Moore February 5, 2026 Sign up for essential news about El Paso. Delivered to your inbox — completely free. Charges against two former Socorro Independent School District trustees, and the wife of one of the school board members, have been dismissed after prosecutors agreed the indictments failed to state an offense under state law. Then-trustees
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by Robert Moore February 2, 2026 A section of the privately-funded border wall, seen from Ciudad Juárez, rises from the bank of Rio Grande toward Mount Cristo Rey in October 2020. (Corrie Boudreaux/El Paso Matters) Sign up for essential news about El Paso. Delivered to your inbox — completely free. Right-wing nationalist leader Steve Bannon boasted to
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by Robert Moore, February 1, 2026 Eighteen-year-old Heidy was stopped by immigration agents on Jan. 14 as she drove to community college classes in a Minneapolis suburb. An immigrant who came from Ecuador when she was 11, Heidy tried to explain that she and her mother had been granted the right to live and work in
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by Elida S. Perez December 22, 2025 Facebook X El Paso County Chief Administrator Betsy Keller (Courtesy of El Paso County) Sign up for essential news about El Paso. Delivered to your inbox — completely free. Amid budget constraints, El Paso County Chief Administrator Betsy Keller opted to forgo a pay raise and any contract changes following
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by Priscilla Totiyapungprasert, El Paso MattersDecember 18, 2025 Jacob Cintron, CEO of University Medical Center of El Paso, received a 14% pay raise this week, increasing his salary to $1,128,582. Cintron’s new compensation is retroactive to Oct. 1, the start of the 2026 fiscal year. The hospital’s seven-member board of managers voted 6-0 to approve
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