AUSTIN, Texas — In August 2019, Texas was devastated by the back-to-back mass shootings in El Paso and Midland-Odessa that left 30 people dead and dozens more injured. The massacres were so shocking and gruesome that it moved the state’s two top Republicans to do what was previously unthinkable — talk about gun control. Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt.
Continue Reading
EL PASO, Texas — South El Paso residents may get a knock on their door from Beto O’Rourke on Saturday. The former El Paso congressman is one of dozens of volunteers who were canvasing the city’s 79901 Zip code to register residents for the Covid-19 vaccine. Volunteers in north Texas were doing the same in
Continue Reading
WASHINGTON, DC — Cowboys for Trump founder Couy Griffin is headed home to New Mexico after nearly three weeks in a Washington jail, after a judge on Friday said she will trust Griffin to show up for trial in connection with the Jan. 6 siege on the U.S. Capitol. U.S. District Court Chief Judge Beryl Howell on
Continue Reading
AUSTIN, Texas — Republican Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan shook up the chamber’s leadership this week, signaling who his top lieutenants will be during his first session overseeing the lower chamber. But a Democrat — state Rep. Joe Moody of El Paso — is once again serving as speaker pro tem, a position he held under former House Speaker Dennis Bonnen
Continue Reading
ALAMOGORDO, New Mexico — New Mexico is challenging a decision by a federal court to combine the state’s lawsuit over contamination at Holloman and Cannon U.S. Air Force bases with similar litigation brought by hundreds of other jurisdictions around the country. The New Mexico attorney general’s office and the state Environment Department announced they have filed a
Continue Reading
SANTA FE, New Mexico — The New Mexico state Senate is wading into ambitious reform proposals designed to rein in the use of deadly force by police, expand cannabis sales, provide free college tuition and criminalize threats against public officials. More than 150 bills were introduced as the state Senate holds a rare floor session amid the pandemic
Continue Reading
EL PASO, Texas — The El Paso County Democratic Party chairperson on Monday called for both state and city investigative audits into El Paso’s Covid-19 vaccination efforts. It comes as ABC-7 has received numerous complaints from viewers who say they registered for the vaccine in December and have not yet been called back by the
Continue Reading
AUSTIN, Texas — Republican Gov. Greg Abbott said Texas is on a comeback from a pandemic that has killed more than 36,000 people here — third-most in the U.S. — and steered America’s biggest red state Monday night into a thicket of battles over voting, policing and immigration that are likely to deepen political divides in the
Continue Reading WASHINGTON, DC — A federal judge on Monday refused to release jailed Cowboys for Trump leader Couy Griffin of New Mexico as he awaits trial in Washington in connection with the siege on the U.S. Capitol. U.S. Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui ordered Griffin, an Otero County Commissioner, held without bail on charges that he knowingly entered
Continue Reading
LAS CRUCES, New Mexico — Members of the Las Cruces City Council unanimously voiced their opposition to U.S. Rep. Yvette Herrell’s rejection of electoral votes that certified Joe Biden’s presidency. In her first speech in Congress, the newly elected Republican congresswoman objected to counting the electoral votes from Pennsylvania and Arizona, saying the actions “disenfranchised”
Continue Reading
WASHINGTON, DC — President Joe Biden’s administration has deported hundreds of immigrants in its early days despite his campaign pledge to stop removing most people in the U.S. illegally at the beginning of his term. A federal judge last week ordered the Biden administration not to enforce a 100-day moratorium on deportations, but the ruling
Continue Reading
El Paso, TX — Local YWCA chapters across the state are calling on the Texas Legislature to enact legislation that will increase access to quality child care in hopes of helping working mothers that have suffered a massive burden during the coronavirus pandemic. YWCA Texas affiliates are asking for policies that will equitable quality child
Continue Reading
DALLAS, Texas — Faced with the threat that the state might slash its vaccine allocation, Dallas officials in late January reversed course on a plan that would have prioritized doses for people living in the county’s most vulnerable ZIP codes, primarily in communities of color. A divided Dallas County Commissioners Court had voted to prioritize vaccines at
Continue Reading
SANTA FE, New Mexico — A bill that would legalize medically assisted suicide for terminally ill patients in New Mexico passed its first hurdle this past week and is backed by the state’s governor. In a Democratic-led party-line vote, the Elizabeth Whitfield End-Of-Life Act passed the House Health and Human Services Committee 7-4. The bill is named
Continue Reading
AUSTIN, Texas — Texas Republicans are again trying to limit the ways transgender youth can participate in athletics. Lawmakers have filed legislation that would ban transgender girls and women who attend public K-12 schools, colleges and universities from playing on single-sex sports teams designated for girls and women. One bill filed by Rep. Valoree Swanson, R-Spring, is
Continue Reading WASHINGTON, DC — The jailed leader of Cowboys for Trump has been held in solitary isolation for two weeks as he refuses to take a coronavirus test and has rejected initial offers to speak with an attorney or judge following his arrest in connection with the Jan. 6 siege on the U.S. Capitol, according to
Continue Reading
SANTA FE, New Mexico — The Democratic speaker of the state House is restricting access by lawmakers to the House floor and closing off conference rooms after the disclosure that a Republican legislator tested positive for Covid-19, along with several positive tests among legislative staff. Speaker Brian Egolf of Santa Fe said that as of
Continue Reading
HOUSTON, Texas — A federal judge in Texas said Friday that he’ll likely extend his hold on the Biden administration’s deportation moratorium until February 23. Earlier this week, Judge Drew Tipton of the Southern District of Texas, a Trump appointee, blocked the administration’s 100-day pause on deportations, delivering a blow to one of President Joe
Continue Reading EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) — U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-El Paso, has sent a letter to the Federal Emergency Management Agency asking for the agency to host a mass vaccination site in El Paso. In a tweet, the congresswoman shared the letter she sent Thursday night to Robert Fenton Jr., the acting FEMA administrator. NEW:
Continue Reading
WASHINGTON, DC — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has made it clear she has no interest in working with Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. The congresswoman from New York tweeted Thursday that she disagreed with Robinhood’s decision to abruptly stop transactions of GameStop stock following the company’s Reddit-inspired rise. Ocasio-Cortez described the decision as “unacceptable” and said she would support a hearing by the
Continue Reading
EL PASO, Texas — Former El Paso Democratic congressman Beto O’Rourke said in a radio interview that he is contemplating a run for governor of Texas next year against Republican incumbent Greg Abbott. Abbott will be seeking his third term in office and O’Rourke told ABC-7’s media partners at KLAQ radio that he’s considering a
Continue Reading
ODESSA, Texas — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Thursday signaled that the state plans to sue the Biden administration over executive orders it issued this week imposing new regulations on the energy industry in a sweeping move to combat climate change. Abbott’s comments came after he held a roundtable discussion in Odessa on the significant
Continue Reading
SANTA FE, New Mexico — An economic relief package is taking shape at the New Mexico Legislature as a state Senate panel has endorsed a $600 rebate to low-income workers and a separate bill that would waive licensing fees on liquor stores. Residents of New Mexico who earned up to $31,200 during 2020 would be eligible for
Continue Reading WASHINGTON, DC — Defense attorneys for jailed Cowboys for Trump leader Couy Griffin urged a federal judge Wednesday to release the Otero County commissioner and gun rights advocate as he awaits trial in Washington in connection with the siege on the U.S. Capitol. Federal prosecutors want Griffin, a resident of Tularosa, New Mexico, held without bail
Continue Reading
WASHINGTON, DC — In what is the most ambitious U.S. effort ever to stave off the worst effects of climate change, President Joe Biden is aiming to cut oil, gas and coal emissions and double energy production from offshore wind turbines through executive orders he signed Wednesday. The orders getting his signature target federal subsidies
Continue Reading
SANTA FE, New Mexico (KOAT) — Republican lawmakers in New Mexicoare looking to eliminate a tax for retirees. The majority of U.S. states do not tax social security income for retirees. “We’re one of only 13 states that taxes that kind of income,” John Garcia, the executive vice president for the Homebuilders Association of Central
Continue Reading A federal judge’s action Tuesday preventing President Joe Biden’s 100-day pause in deportations demonstrated the land mines that await the new administration in the nation’s courts. The short-term order by the Texas-based judge could also force a confrontation up to the US Supreme Court, where the Biden legal team already faces hard choices over how
Continue Reading SANTA FE, New Mexico — School districts across New Mexico will be allowed to bring students back into classrooms early next month, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced during her State of the State speech on Tuesday afternoon. In a major pull-back of restrictions that were based on county-level Covid-19 case rates and hospital capacity, the governor said
Continue Reading
HOUSTON, Texas — A federal judge in Texas temporarily blocked the Biden administration’s pause on deportations Tuesday, delivering a blow to one of the administration’s first immigration actions. The court order stems from a lawsuit filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton challenging the 100-day pause on deportations, which took effect Friday. The complaint cited
Continue Reading
UPDATE: WASHINGTON, DC — The U.S. Senate has rejected a Republican attempt to dismiss Donald Trump’s historic second impeachment trial, a vote that allows the case on “incitement of insurrection” to move forward but also foreshadows that there may not be enough votes to convict him. The procedural vote to set aside an objection from
Continue Reading