Good Morning El Paso: 02.27.16

paso weekend”.. the racing is back, but the problems aren’t over for the sunland park racetrack … with jockeys, owners and businesses still feeling the crunch. a small kansas town is in mourning after a gunman leaves several dead… and even more lives shattered in a close-knit community. and super tuesday is just days away, as candidates on both sides of the isle make their last-ditch pitches to get out the vote. and in stormtrack weather, iris! this is all the news you need to start your saturday, february 27th. abc- 7’s “good morning el paso weekend” starts right now! good morning and thank you for joing us… i’m andrew j. polk. after a closing for more than a month, horse racing is back at sunland park! the outbreak of the equine herpes virus forced the track to cancel racing and put some barns under quarantine back on january 21st. now racing has started up again… but the virus is still at the track. on thursday another horse tested positive for the virus. since january more than 70 horses have tested positive and today there are 30 still in isolation. and until those 30 are out – the racetrack will remain under quarantine – but racing will continue. since the track hasn’t had any races for the past month, for the next couple of days — the track is putting all the money together from the races they missed: “”why penalize 1400 horses whe you have a few sick. we are doing our best to get back to live racing”if there is a horse in isolation we will not be able to open our doors”” we also spoke with a trainer who has horses in the same barn as the horse that tested positive. he can’t race any of his horses because they remain under quarantine: “obviosuly everyone i frustrated, obviously owners are paying the bills and are not recouping some of the money.” “its definitely frustrating, bu once again we took all the measures we could. “all we want is this to be over as soon as possible” the combined purse total for this weekend will be 1.3 million dollars. that’s about 300- thousand dollars in prize payouts per day. the latest investigation into former city manager joyce wilson shows the move to delay the issuance of the ballpark bondes for the 20-13 mayoral election may have been politically influenced. abc-7 learned of the delay through an open records request. it resulted in city taxpayers possibly losing millions because the city didn’t get the best rate for the bonds. so was the move political? according to the investigative report – wilson refused to name the several city reps she says brought up the idea of delaying the issuance of the bonds until after the election. but all the city reps from that time say they didn’t ask wilson to delay the issuance. the report did show that in june the contractor building the ballpark told the city it need more money – which created further delay. wilson could have and was scheduled to bring the bond issuance to council on april 30th but didn’t. mary stillinger, the attorney representing wilson took issue with ross fischer’s ethics investigation report. in particular a line stating wilson was being advised not to cooperate with the investigation. “i believe the false statemen was made in bad faith for the purpose of putting ms. wilson in a negative light with the public.” “i am demanding that yo immediately correct your false and malicious statement.” we spoke with stillinger earlier this evening. she says wilson has nothing to hide — and fischer didn’t give them enough time to answer his questions: “it’s a very reasonable request to say we need more time to answer this. mr fischer never got back to me…and that is not the case.” ross fischer stands by the accuracy of his statements. in the letter to stillinger obtained by abc-7 he said quote: “i do not believe ms. wilso acted unilaterally in delaying the issuance of the bonds; i believe her when she writes she acted at the request of others. i was merely seeking help in identifying the parties who are ultimately responsible.” “i will gladly update the relevant portion of my report should you allow ms. wilson to respond to my inquiry … the residents of el paso would all benefit from her answers.” end quote. bernie sanders and hillary clinton are attempting to court african american voters — before voters cast ballots in the south carolina democratic primary. meanwhile republicans trade insults — while they campaign towards super tuesday. mary moloney explains. donald trump is getting a big boost from new jersey governor chris christie. new jersey) : “there is n better fighter than donald trump.” a newly aggressive marco rubio has his own take on the billionaire. presidential candidate) : “friends do not let friends vot for con artists.” rubio ridiculed trump’s misspelling of words on twitter. presidential candidate) : “leight weight chocker marc rubio looks like a little boy on stage, not presidential material. he meant to say lightweight but he spelled it leight so he got that wrong.” trum responded by mocking rubio sipping water during his 2013 state of the union response. presidential candidate) : “it’s rubio!” hillary clinton and bernie sanders also took verbal swipes. each attempting to gain traction before the south carolina primary. presidential candidate) : “she’ a very good speaker, i admit that. but to get $225k for a speech to goldman sachs you gotta be really good.” sanders reiterating his call for clinton to release transcripts of her private paid speeches. the new york times editorial board — which endorsed clinton — backing sanders on the issue. saying voters have every right to know what mrs. clinton told these groups. presidential candidate) : “mayb what she said behind closed doors is different than what you’re saying to the american people.” clinton said she would release her speeches – if the other presidential candidates do the same. presidential candidate) : ” think you should be judged on what you’ve done.” i’m mary moloney reporting. early voting in texas ended yesterday … but you still have time to cast your vote when texas and 10 other states hold their primary on super tuesday. …stormtrack weather now! let’s get your first forecast with stormtracker iris lopez westerly winds will bring warm dry weather to southern new mexico and west texas through next week with temperatures remaining above normal through the period. an upper disturbance with a weak cold front may also produce breezy to windy conditions on monday followed by slightly cooler though still warmer than average temperatures on tuesday. police have identified the man gunned down outside a greyhound bus station earlier this month… but they say they need your help finding his family. 55-year-old victor rodriguez was shot and killed back on february fourth in downtown el paso. this is a picture of rodriguez. police say he was born in san antonio and lived in amarillo. the shooter — 43- year-old hector leroy — was trying to rob rodriguez when he shot and killed him. border patrol agents in the area heard the shots and chased leroy. police say leroy tried to carjack a driver at gunpoint. when agents caught up to him, he refused to drop his weapon. the agents then shot and killed him. if you have any information about rodriguez’s relatives– you are asked to call detective robert posada at 212-4075 or 212-40. a small kansas town is in mourning after a gunman shot and killed three of his co-workers. the gunman – 38-year-old cedric ford – died after a police officer shot him. taisha walker reports. hesston is showing it’s resilence. the community bouncing back after a mass shooting at excel industries brought pain and grief to the small kansas town. dave weaver, newton, clip #1 1:37 you always think well it won’t happen here in a nice, quiet community. but we need to be aware that it can happen anywhere 1:45 dave weaver heard the gunshots … not knowing the alledged shooter was someone he had crossed paths with several times. 3:33 i heard two definite pop pops and then i heard about 30 seconds and maybe a minute later a heard a volley that went you know like an assault riffle 03:48 in a small town … it’s common to know everyone. praying for the victims and the community … kept jeff schultz up all night. clip #16 jeff schultz, hesston 14:53 this was just an act of vengeance, insanity and somebody who really didn’t have ties to the community. those people had nothing to do with his problems he was having 15:02 candles and balloons filled heritage park … and the community came together to pray for the dead … the injured .. and the heartbroken. clip #87 enis hamidovic, works at excel 48:14 i feel lucky that i’m alive but at the same time i feel deep regards and regrets for people that lost their lives and the ones that were injured as well 48:23 police arrested a woman – and charged her with providing weapons to ford. 28-year-old sarah hopkins is accused of knowingly giving firearms to a felon. meanwhile, eleven people are still recovering in the hospital. one person is in critical condition. the abc-7 i-team is learning new information on the allegations against an elderly man in dona ana county. including when the man allegedly sexually assaulted two girls. this is 78-year-old alfonso jimenez’s mug shot — taken when he was booked into the county jail on molestation charges. his neighbors tell our new mexico mobile newsroom crew they never expected anything like this, the abc-7 i-team now knows the alleged sexual assault happened in december 20-13 in a picnic area in mesilla park, outside las cruces. the criminal complaint states the girls were seven and eight years old at the time. a warning the allegations you are about to hear are disturbing. they told investigators jimenez offered them candy… then started kissing the girls… which led to touching them… and having them touch him. jimenez is being held on a half million dollar bond. thanks to a humane society employee… a puppy facing possible death will have a chance at a forever home after it was saved from being put in a dumpster. abc- 7’s jerry najera has the details. this is one of those stories that breaks your heart it’s got so many people talking on our facebook page but wait there’s a good ending to this story. this is 7-week-old riley she might be whimpering because she had a bad morning. el paso humane society spokeswoman kadolight flores shows me the dumpster were the puppy was found only walking distance from the shelter. but it was because of humane society employee jose ortega attentiveness that riley was saved. “i saw a guy walking to the trash can behind me and he had a puppy” ortega tells me he confronted the man and asked what he was doing. “well i found this puppy and my kids don’t want to keep him and i don’t have time for this” for orteg things didn’t seem right “i asked hi again what are you going to do and he said im going to dump him” ortega took the dog from the man. and says he didn’t get the man’s name or license plate because his head was spinning. “when i went inside i didn’t even notice but i was yelling at my director and she said i was kind of reddish because i was so angry because people don’t understand these are puppies they don’t deserve to be put in the trash can” once inside riley got some tender loving care “so far she seems like a pretty happy puppy” the rotweiller mix is doing ok but previous owners cut off her tail and it needs time to heal. flores says sadly this is common “we have peopl who come in all the time saying that they found animal that were dumped at the business were they worked or hospitals or schools” as fo ortega he wants people to think twice before they abandon any dog. “if you don’ want them bring them to us we’ll find another place or look for another shelter because that’s not a way to put a dog in the trash can” and before you pic up the phone–since rileys 7-weeks-old she can’t be adopted just yet but there’s plenty more pups up for adoption flores says if you see anyone abandoning an animal you can call 311 to report it. and wants to remind everyone abandoning an animal is a class c misdemeanor you can be fined or serve time in jail. residents asked, and are now getting a lot… and coming up on good morning el paso weekend, it may be more than they bargained for. what one upper valley neighborhood is looking at now. and later – the feds giving new mexico some more time to meet stringent new i-d requirements… with governor martinez planning to change how undocumented immigrants get licenses. it is , right now we’ll take a live look at traffic this morning: stormtrack weather is next! you’re watching abc-7… where news comes first! westerly