Gppd Morning El Paso 01.19.16

el paso police alert the fire department about a house fire — the details from our round the clock news team. / the excitement for the pope’s visit is building — weeks before his visit to juarez. today – we learn if borderland schools will cancel classes. / “”he’s a nasty guy. nobody lik him. nobody in congress likes him” donald trump and ted cruz are duking it out for iowa voters — just a few weeks before the february caucuses. but there is one candidate not consumed by trump this morning. / a very good morning el paso, las cruces, and juarez. i’m stephanie valle. and i’m hillary floren. good morning, everyone. we will get to the first forecast in just a bit but first to round the clock coverage from the eastside. the el paso fire department is investigating the cause of a house fire earlier this morning. it happened just after 1 a.m. at the 3100 block of vogue street. when our ’round the clock crew arrived the fire was already under control. fire crews say police alerted them to the fire when one of their units was passing by and saw smoke and flames. fire crews told abc-7 the fire was in the back of the home near the attic. they also say the house was vacant and no one was injured. neighbors say the occupants had just moved out. little change to our weather pattern from the past several days. mostly dry west to northwest flow will continue through this week with several weak upper disturbances passing across the area. mostly high clouds will be associated with these disturbances.. though the one moving across wednesday will also bring breezy afternoon conditions as a weak cool front accompanies it. another disturbance pushing through on sunday will give just a slight chance of showers sunday and sunday night. temperatures will be mostly well above normal…except near normal temperatures thursday as the cool front has pushed through. we’ll look at your forecast in detail coming up! the race is on to get ready for the pope’s historic visit to juarez. today… we could learn which school districts are cancelling class. juarez is also planning for closures that day. / ” talking to the mayor of juarez, they are going to have a lot of closures in the city starting at midnight the 17th … i think if you do plan on going over into juarez, the best way is going to be walk over, absolutely .. security will be very tight on february 17th. it will be a massive undertaking for law enforcement agencies… as well as for sun metro to keep the crowds moving — and local hotels to have as much space to offer as possible. school districts are facing the possibility that many teachers, staff, and students will be calling in or absent that day. two of el paso’s biggest school districts are having meetings tonight to decide whether it’s best to call the day off an make up class on another day. abc-7’s denise olivas continues our complete coverage … behind me bowie high school– one the schools that will be likely impacted by the popes visit next month. today the el paso independent school district could take action on whether the entire district will be off that day. other schools directly across from where the pope will hold a mass– guillen middle school and aoy elementary. today’s episd board meeting agenda says if the district decides to cancel classes it could make up the day on feb. 15– presidents’ day. episd students are scheduled to be off that day. meanwhile the socorro school district also possibly making last minute changes to its school calendar. sisd is also having a board meeting where it is expected to make the decision. last week, the ysleta school district sent out a statement that read quote: the ysleta independent school district is currently evaluating options of possiblyclosing schools due to the visit of pope francis to ciudad juarez on february 17.oncea decision has been determined, yisd will notify our students, parents, staff, and thegeneral public.” those decisions today very important for parents so they can start adjusting their plans for that day. utep announced last week it will cancel classes all together. another factor that could impact schools and businesses that shut down that day are the road closures that will be in effect during the pope’s visit. so far… we know the border highway from the bridge of the americas to downtown will be shut down. mayor leeser says the city will announce more information on road closures — next week. for those who can’t make it into juarez… the el paso diocese is hosting a celebration at the sun bowl. we’ve learned who the first entertainer confirmed to perform at the sun bowl is: “natural sound: tony melendez humming and playing guitar with toes” .. nicaraguan american singer- songwriter – tony melendez. this is video of melendez playing for pope john paul the 2nd during the pontiff’s visit to los angeles in 1987. melendez was born without arms, but learned to play the guitar with his toes. he now has a ministry. admission at the sun bowl is 15 dollars — 10 dollars for members of a catholic church. each church has an access code that church administrators will be sharing in their bulletins or by making an announcement. that code will allow you to get that 5 dollar discount when you purchase your tickets. we will have more coverage on pope francis later during this newscast. for more on the pope’s visit… visit our website, kvia- dot-com-slash-pop e. you’ll find a variety of stories…. … inlcuding the pope’s full itinerary . you’ll also find a story about an execution case in texas that pope francis is following closely. the man is condemned to die this week and vatican officials say they’ve been in touch with him. that’s all at your fingertips right now at kvia dot com. the final sprint to iowa. less than two weeks left before the caucuses — and candidates are criss-crossing the state today. plus, the war of words heats up. abc’s megan hughes has the latest. it’s your voice, your vote. / :10 1:20 at liberty university trump made an appeal for evangelical voters- sot trump: “two corinthians right? two corinthians 3:17, that’s the whole ball game. where the spirit of the lord, right?” the spirit of the campaign? that’s a different story. trump blasting cruz on this week– sot trump tw: “he’s a nasty guy nobody likes him. nobody in congress likes him. nobody likes him anywhere once they get to know him.” cru tweeting this janet jackson video in response to being called nasty?. nats – “nasty! don’t mean a thing to me.” cruz says he’s getting under trump’s skin sot cruz: “donald seems to be a little rattled” while trump questions cruz’s canadian roots- cruz’s campaign continues to hammer trump over his quote “new york values” releasing this 1999 video?trump in his own words. sot trump mtp: hey i lived in nyc and manhattan all my life okay, so you know my views are a little different than if i lived in iowa, perhaps one person not talking trump: hillary clinton. asked on the campaign trail about whehter he would divide the american people and destroy america?clinton dodged. sot clinton: “wow. well that’s a pretty good summary,” sanders is standing by his attacks on clinton from this weekend’s debate?telling abc news in columbia- sot sanders: “she ha received $600,000 in one year as speaking fees from goldman sachs. if that’s not true, i will apologize. tag: sanders is going big in iowa today with four events. trump has three in the all-important hawkeye state. the republican national committee says it has cut ties with n-b-c news and instead will partner with c-n-n for february’s super tuesday debate. the decision comes two-and-a-half months after the r- n-c suspended its partnership with n- b-c news following the debate in boulder, colorado. republicans criticized how that debate was handled and say c-n-b-c moderators had a mean-spirited tone and presented a series of “gotcha questions. the republican debate will now air on c-n-n on thursday, february 25th. that’s just five days before republican voters in texas and 13 other states head to the polls and caucuses for “super tuesday” on mar 1st. searchers combing the seas off the hawaiian island oahu have found three of four life rafts deployed after a helicopter collision. developing now— they says they’ve spotted the fourth raft, but no one was on board. coast guard officials say there is no indication anyone was on board the three rafts recovered, either. two choppers smashed into each other off oahu’s north shore late thursday with 12 marines on board. so far, there has been no indication that anyone survived. more than 60 marines have been involved in the search, along with navy divers and county, state and federal agencies. ” “we’ve been finding metal debris. we can’t confirm if it’s part of the aircraft, but you know, again, anything and everything that can point us in the right direction, that looks like a ch53 or a piece of a ch53, that’s what we’re going for.’ coast guard officials said they will consult with the marines to determine how much longer the search will continue. now to a few abc-7 traffic alerts — tex-dot is closing roads for the next phase of the go-10 projects. today at 9 a-m — the right lane on mesa from osborne to the i-10 east on-ramp will be closed untill noon. tonight – from 9 to 5 a-m the next day — the north mesa street on-ramp to i- 10 eastbound will be closed. so will the i-10 east off-ramp to mesa. that will also be closed wednesday night. txdot tells abc- seven — crews need to replace sewer lines. now it’s time to take a look at the tx-dot traffic cams… still; much more to come here on good morning el paso— relief may come sooner than expected for residents in southern california, as a new plan is in place for the gas leak that has been making residents sick. / plus—get out your telescopes— a rare sight can be seen tomorrow during the early hours of the morning..we’ll what’s going on. / meteorologist krystal klei has your detailed forecast. krystal… and this is abc-7, where news comes first!