Good Morning El Paso 01.29.16

rain showers across the lowlands el paso is mourning the loss of a coach from andress high school — this morning — your condolences to his family. / “”let’s address the elephant n in the room…” the last g-o-p debate went on without the frontrunner — the big moments, and who stood out . / plus, new this morning— a new baggage check system is in the works for the airport, how it will ensure your bags get to where you’re going… / a very good morning el paso, las cruces, and juarez. i’m stephanie valle. and i’m hillary floren. good morning, everyone. west to southwest winds will bring warm dry weather to southern new mexico and west texas today through the coming weekend with breezy to windy conditions also developing saturday and sunday. a deep low pressure system with a cold front will move across the region on monday causing very windy cooler weather along with rain showers across the lowlands and snow on the mountains. mostly dry but very cool weather is expected for next tuesday and wednesday. new this morning … abc-7 confirms that legendary el paso football coach allan sepkowitz has died. he died yesterday evening, according to the andress high school alumni association. coach sep… as he was called… was el paso’s winningest high school football coach. he suffered from a stroke last month. coach sep was recovering from brain surgery he had the week of christmas. he was 76-years-old. here are some comments you all posted overnight—izzy says my deepest condolences to a highly respected man. may he rest in peace. regards ex-t-bird. and patti says… “such a sweet man.. going to be missed very much. rest in peace coach sep. you can always share your thoughts and memories about coach sep on this story, on our facebook page. we’ll have more of your comments coming up later during our second half hour of good morning el paso closing arguments begin today in the murder trial of thomas mcnair. he’s one of five people accused of killing a homeless man and setting his body on fire in a vacant downtown building in 2014. the jury watched the entire taped interview with mcnair and police detectives — where mcnair detailing how the group killed gerardo luna — who was known as “mexican jerry.” the jury al heard, mcnair claim another suspect, brittney stewart, led the plot to kill luna. it’s your voice your vote and it was the final debate before the first votes are cast.. and the national front runner was not there. still .. donald trump’s influence was felt. / “everyone on this stage i stupid, fat and ugly we have the donald trump portion out of the way ” but cruz’s jokes soon turned tense…. “cruz i would note that the las four questions had been rand, please attack ted, jeb, please attack ted — let me just say this. chris wallace it is a debate, sir. cruz sot if you guys ask one more mean question, i may have to leave the stage.” just a few miles away, trump held his own event. and said he raised millions for vets. while back at the debate without trump, the candidates took on issues from abortion, to immigration. fox moderators said they didn’t know even after the event started if trump would surprise them by attending. construction of a massive altar in juarez is moving at a rapid rate. continuing our complete coverage of the pope’s visit to juarez… this is at the old juarez fairgrounds where pope francis will hold mass during his visit on february 17th. the altar will be more than 12 feet long and it’s made from regional materials. it’s being held by four, 3-ton rocks. father mario manriquez from the juarez diocese says it will be a simple altar yet dignified for the sanctity of the eucarist. we’re told it is 50-percent complete and that it should be done by february 10th. on this side of the border –law enforcement is answering more questions from residents whose neighborhood will be closed off during the pope’s visit.. it was held at the armijo rec center in the segundo barrio. it’s part of a series of community meetings meant to help clear up any confusion. police are only allowing people in and out of the neighborhood on the day of the pope’s visit… if they live there! and they’ll need a pass. also — there’s only one entrance and exit. both are at delta and coles. you can see both locations on this map — it’s the area highlighted in green. residents are concerned if there’s an emergency — crews won’t be able to reach them — but officials say the opposite is true: “if we have an influx of severa hundred thousand people that would create gridlock… still needs access for emergency services.” once again — this map shows exactly where you can enter and leave your neighborhood on february 17th. police have designated delta and coles as the entrance and exit points. remember, you must get a pass to come and go that day … and you can only do it on foot. you won’t be able to drive in or out of that neighborhood. it’s being done to keep south el paso secure when pope francis visits juarez, just a few yards from our border — but is it too much? our station’s general manager kevin lovell weighs in tonight. this “kevin o seven” editorial … … is part of our complete coverage! why is the city of el paso keeping non- residents out of the southside during the pope’s historic visit to juarez? an editorial in this morning’s el paso times hits the mark: “let faithful see pope francis from highway.” thi border highway should be closed to traffic but remain open so people can stand here and see and hear what is going on over there. there will be an estimated half million people closer to the pope in juarez than anyone standing on this side of the river. hundreds of local , state and federal law enforcement personnel will already be in south el paso. why is the city pushing our citizens away? for almost all of us, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity to get a glimpse of the pope. come on el paso, wake up! let us see and feel the presence of pope francis. kevin lovell abc-7. our very own estela casas will be the e- m-c for the upcoming event at the sun bowl —two cities, one faith—abc-7’s bob harp spoke with estela about the honor to host such a prestigious event—we’ll have that interview coming up during our second half- hour—right here on good morning el paso. / when you board an airplane– one of your concerns may include– “i hope m luggage doesn’t get lost.” ne this morning– we’re looking into a new baggage inspection system for the el paso international airport that’s expected to ease those worries. good morning el paso’s denise olivas is live with the story …denise? the airport’s assistant director tells us this new system is expected to consolidate inspection and screening services for airlines and tsa. right now — depending on which airline you fly with– that’s where your luggage goes for inspection. the new proposed system will send your luggage to one central area where the bags will be checked. airport assistant director sam rodriguez says an automated system will then distribute the bags to the airlines: “it’s going to be mor efficient…ending up on your plane” cosntruction is expected to begin late this year into 2017. will the construction phase affect travelers? we’ll take a look at that in our next half hour. now it’s time to take a look at the tx-dot traffic cams… we have an abc-7 traffic alert to pass along… that will be affecting a very busy section of montana in central el paso. the good news is that it’s not today… it’s next week. but it will be all of next week. we are talking about this stretch of montana between paisano drive and trowbridge. that’s right by casa ford, mcdonalds, and the whataburger. it’s going to be closed every day next week from 9 in the morning till 4 in the afternoon… so el paso electric can upgrade their transmission lines. you can get around it by using paisano and trowbridge. / still much more to come here on good morning el paso — “:24 those kinds of ads are wildly popular hybrid of ad and buzz marketing abc-7 went looking for answers after several viewers asked us what these ads were all about—we’ll tell you what the revolution is –coming up. and later—-the worldwide health organization is trying to stop the spread of the zika virus—we’ll tell you how the f-d-a is trying to stop it from spreading here in the u.s. meteorologist krystal klei has your detailed forecast. krystal… and this is abc-7, where news comes first!