EL PASO, Texas — A group of about 100 protesters gathered in downtown El Paso on Saturday, defying stay-at-home and social distancing orders, to stage an ‘Open Texas’ rally aimed at putting pressure on state and local officials to reopen the economy amid the Covid-19 pandemic. The group chanted “Open Texas” at times, as some motorists along
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LAS CRUCES, New Mexico – The Las Cruces City Council voted on Friday to extend the city’s emergency proclamation until at least May 15th. Resolution No. 20-147 will also automatically extend the city’s emergency proclamation with any extensions of Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham’s stay-at-home order, city staff confirmed. “No further action would be required of
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SANTA FE, New Mexico — Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and state officials on Friday showed no signs of backing down on restrictions designed to prevent the spread of coronavirus, as the number of cases exceeded 2,500 statewide and approached triple digits in the Las Cruces area. As of Friday, New Mexico had a total of
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AUSTIN, Texas — Gov. Greg Abbott proclaimed in an interview Thursday with ABC-7 that “Texas has done such a good job to slow the spread of the coronavirus” it will make it possible for the state to re-open “massive” amounts of businesses soon. The Republican governor told ABC-7 that an announcement would be coming up
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SANTA FE, New Mexico — New Mexico will extend an emergency public health order through May 15 as it convenes mayors and businesses leaders to consider the first minor changes to restrictions on economic activity, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and state health officials announced Wednesday. New Mexico now has 2,210 cases of Covid-19 with 71
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EL PASO, Texas — The City of El Paso is preparing to sue President Donald Trump’s campaign for more than a half-million dollars it owes from a “Make America Great Again” rally that Trump hosted last year in the Sun City. The move comes as the city is facing an estimated budget shortfall of $26
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AUSTIN, Texas — Gov. Greg Abbott, speaking from the Texas Capitol on Tuesday afternoon, said the state was experiencing positive trends in its efforts to combat the coronavirus. Over 20,000 Texans have tested positive, and 517 have died from the virus, according to state health officials on Tuesday, but Abbott mainatined “deaths continue to trend down, all
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AUSTIN, Texas — Texas is easing restrictions put in place to curb the spread of the coronavirus starting this week by letting retailers sell items for curbside pickup, resuming elective surgeries and reopening some state parks. (Editor’s note: El Paso County’s two state parks – Franklin Mountains and Hueco Tanks – are NOT included in
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AUSTIN, Texas — A few hundred conservative activists, some waving flags supporting President Donald Trump, demonstrated on the steps of the Texas Capitol building on Saturday to call for an end to social restrictions aimed at curbing the spread of the coronavirus. The protest in Austin, which wasn’t any bigger than the typical protests about
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LAS CRUCES, New Mexico — Democratic U.S. Rep. Xochitl Torres Small is maintaining a huge fundraising advantage over three Republican opponents who are trying to oust her from a critical seat in southern New Mexico. The Las Cruces Democrat raised nearly $760,000 during the first three months of 2020 and had $2.9 million in cash
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AUSTIN, Texas — As Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott formulated a plan this week to reopen the world’s 10th largest economy, he had to strike a delicate balance between two opposing forces: a push from the state’s powerful business community eager to get back to work and health professionals and economists warning that a premature restart
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The story of the 2016 election has often been told like this: “Donald Trump secured victory by breaking through the big blue wall in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.” It’s how you end up with all those stories about Trump voters in Midwest diners. Heading into 2020, there’s still a lot of focus on those pivotal
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LAS CRUCES, New Mexico — As restaurants operate at a fraction of the capacity they normally would, dairy farmers are forced to dump their milk, southern New Mexico’s congresswoman told ABC-7. “Cows will continue to produce milk even though there isn’t a place to take it,” said U.S. Rep. Xochitl Torres Small (D-Las Cruces). “Right
Continue Reading AUSTIN, Texas — Gov. Greg Abbott on Friday announced initial steps to begin the process of re-opening the Texas economy during the coronavirus pandemic. The announcement of eased restrictions in Texas came a day after President Donald Trump gave governors a road map for recovering from the nation’s economic pain. Abbott issued the following executive orders: All public schools,
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ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico — A federal judge on Friday rejected a mega- church’s request to throw out Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s ban on mass gatherings in places of worship, KOB-TV reported. On the day before Easter, the governor added places of worship to her emergency health order, which bans gatherings of groups of five or more people.
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SANTA FE, New Mexico — Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said New Mexico is not yet at a point where it can relax social distancing measures and reopen the economy in response to President Donald Trump’s announcement Thursday of a three-phased approach for states to restore normal activity. The first-term Democratic governor and former state health
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EL PASO, Texas — A state workers union on Wednesday called for Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to take immediate action following the apparent coronavirus-related death of an employee at the state-run El Paso Psychiatric Center. An outbreak of the virus affecting both patients and staff at the facility is responsible for at least 32 of
Continue Reading ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico — The Republican Party is urging New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham to allow non-essential small businesses to reopen with some requirements for social distancing. The first-term Democratic governor and state health officials have suspended a variety of nonessential business through at least April 30 in an effort to slow the spread
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AUSTIN, Texas — As much of the Texas economy remains at a standstill to minimize the spread of the coronavirus, Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday outlined a new program aimed at helping small businesses. Abbott announced that Goldman Sachs and the LiftFund, along with other community development financial institutions, were partnering to provide $50 million in
Continue Reading SANTA FE, New Mexico — New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said that she’ll do “what’s right” for her state to slow coronavirus spread even if President Donald Trump eases up on social distancing guidelines come May. “We’re going to make the decisions that safeguard New Mexicans,” the Democratic governor told CNN’s “State of the
Continue Reading AUSTIN, Texas — With nearly 11,700 Texans having tested positive for the coronavirus, including over 200 in El Paso, Gov. Greg Abbott expressed concern at a state capitol news conference Friday about the “trend lines” for El Paso. The governor said he’d had a conversation with Mayor Dee Margo about the situation in El Paso,
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HATCH, New Mexico — Covid-19 is quickly spreading and impacting the Borderland including rural communities like Hatch. Mayor Andy Nuñez, who has been mayor for about 20 years, told ABC-7 he wishes he can provide testing of Covid-19. “Nobody comes here to test us,” Nuñez said. “If we wanted testing, we need to go to Las
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SANTA FE, New Mexico — Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said the state’s case total was nearing 1,000 – with 989 diagnosed with the virus as of Thursday. There were 124 new cases statewide in the past 24 hours, including five new infections in the Las Cruces area. That brings Doña Ana County’s total cases to
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Former Vice President Joe Biden holds a wide lead over President Donald Trump in the national race for the White House, according to a new CNN poll conducted by SSRS. Biden leads Trump 53% to 42% among registered voters, roughly steady from CNN’s poll in early March. The nationwide picture shows Biden starts with an
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AUSTIN, Texas — With more than 9,300 cases reported in Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott on Wednesday announced plans to increase testing and face mask production in response to the growing coronavirus outbreak. He said Texas will ramp up testing with the help of drive-thru sites at Walgreens drug stores in various locations across the state.
Continue Reading WASHINGTON, DC — Sen. Bernie Sanders ended his presidential bid on Wednesday, making Joe Biden the presumptive Democratic nominee to challenge President Donald Trump in a general election campaign that will be waged against the backdrop of the coronavirus pandemic. Sanders initially exceeded sky-high expectations about his ability to recreate the magic of his 2016
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AUSTIN, Texas — A federal appeals court sided Tuesday with Texas in allowing it to ban most abortions while the state is under an emergency order that limits non-essential surgeries during the coronavirus pandemic. A panel of judges at the New Orleans-based Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a decision by a lower court that
Continue Reading AUSTIN, Texas — With over 7,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott said Monday that 30 patients from a Texas City nursing home who tested positive were receiving experimental treatment with a malaria drug. Abbott said the patients are “being tested with the hydroxychloroquine to determine whether or not it will be
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LAS CRUCES, New Mexico — Congresswoman Xochitl Torres Small has big plans for New Mexico’s economic recovery, which she outlined during a telephone town hall with 200 business leaders this week. One of the congresswoman’s top priorities moving forward is to protect those business owners and tenants who no longer have enough cash flow to
Continue Reading SANTA FE, New Mexico — Fifty-one additional residents in New Mexico have tested positive for the coronavirus, bringing the state’s total to 543 cases, officials announced Saturday. Another death was also reported, a man in his 60s from McKinley County, raising the state’s fatality total from the virus to eleven. The majority of the new
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