Good Morning El Paso 04.02.16

hurricane force winds, tornadoes and more slamming parts of the country… leaving damage and more in the aftermath this morning. a ruling on a three- year old lawsuit involing a local school district settles things for now … but is spending between schools unfair there? and newly obtained video from our new mexico mobile newsroom shows the exact moments leading up to a deadly motorcycle crash. and in stormtrack weather, iris! this is all the news you need to start your saturday, april 2nd. abc-7’s “good morning el paso weekend” starts right now! good morning and thank you for joing us… i’m andrew j. polk. taking a live look at traffic this morning: an update to a traffic alert we’ve been tracking for you this morning. a crash at loop 375/border highway and the zaragoza exit in the lower valley has been cleared. again showing you the cesar chavez border highway near the zaragosa international bridge. everything seems cleared up. this is video recorded earlier from our tex-dot traffic cameras. reports of a possible rollover came in at about 5 45 this morning… with emergency crew radio communications indicating that fire crews were concerned the vehilce could catch fire. again, that crash has now been cleared. georgia and nearby states are dealing with the after math of severe storms this morning. a powerful storm ripped through south georgia bringing hurricane- force wind gusts of up to 83-miles per hour. straight-line winds damaged roof-tops and took down power lines at robins air force base in warner robins, georgia, about an hour south of atlanta. the base airfield was temporarily closed because of debris from the storm. no one was hurt. and looking across the region, rounds of severe weather slammed parts of the southeast. tens of millions of americans were affected by severe storms stretching from the gulf coast to the mid-atlantic. at least four reported tornadoes in the south caused major damage in new hope, mississippi, there were tornado warnings throughout the week. but there haven’t been any reports of injuries. thank fully el paso hasn’t had to deal with anything like that. getting to your stormtrack weather now! we’ve had a bit of a cool down but overall it’s not too bad outside. let’s get your first forecast with stormtracker iris lopez. good morning iris! mostly sunny skies will prevail this weekend along with slowly warming temperatures. expect highs a few degrees below normal today…but near normal temperatures will return for sunday. monday will bring lower 80s back to the lowland deserts. a weak cold front will drop in from the north tuesday night… bringing slightly cooler temperatures for wednesday and thursday. an upper level storm system may even try to bring some rain into the picture towards the end of the week. it’s back to square one it seems for the parents who filed a lawsuit against the clint independent school district… lawsuit against the clint independent school district… claiming students who live in clint are treated better than those in horizon city and montana vista. yesterday, the texas supreme court dismissed a lawsuit filed by two families with children enrolled in the clint i-s-d. the lawsuit accused the district of spending more on clint area students – giving them newer materials, smaller class sizes and more opportunities. abc- 7’s jerry najera spoke with the district’s superintendent and has more. our new mexico mobile newsroom crew is still following that car wreck we lawsuit against the clint independent school district… claiming students lawsuit against the clint independent school district… claiming students who live in clint are treated better than those in horizon city and montana vista. yesterday, the texas supreme court dismissed a lawsuit filed by two families with children enrolled in the clint i-s-d. the lawsuit accused the district of spending more on clint area students – giving them newer materials, smaller class sizes and more opportunities. abc- 7’s jerry najera spoke with the district’s superintendent and has more. justice jeffrey boyd dismissed the case saying there was a, quote, “lack of jurisdiction. he argued parents must go through the proper channels before filing the lawsuit. “while it is a victory for ou school district and perhaps for public education across the state more importantly for me is the reassurance to our community” clint independen school district super intendent juan martinez says he feels a bit relief know the lawsuit was dismissed. the families sued three years ago with the help of a local civil rights group. they accused the district of directing more funds to schools in the clint area. according to the paseo del norte civil rights project: in between 2009 and 2010 … spending per student was at $9,893 at clint high– $8,492 at mountain view high … and 6,471 at horizon high. the district questions the numbers, arguing there are many factors to take into consideration … like administrative costs. “small school tend to cost more basically because the salary of a p at a large school than a sry of principles, teachersr of students then obviously yat the school” martinez says eve area can make a difference “in r ow well for water versus hor irrigation water so there aremmunity depending where they ard state funds are specifically r the board have control over education we provide and the fundiny ruled by a formula based on the ny strictly specificallydents” martinez says any pt can pay him a visit. he also urgeon to attend the budget meetings so they be involved in the process. we did try to contact the paseo del norte civil rights project for a statement we were not able to get a response before this newscast. our new mexico mobile newsroom crew is still following that car wreck we brought you as breaking news thursday night.. because it’s turned into a search for this man. las cruces police say 22-year- old dillon edwards,,,, … was driving his girlfriend’s jeep near stanton and triviz in las cruces around 9 o’clock thursday night. police say he threatened to drive her to albuquerque .. so she began to dial 9-1-1. edwards allegedly punched her, and pulled her hair…. he was so distracted, according to police, he veered into oncoming traffic and the jeep was hit by a car. edwards allegedly ran away from the crash… leaving his girlfriend behind with critical injuries. shes expected to survive. “nats of man jumping on motorcycle… and speeding away.” abc-seven with the new dash cam video showing a man on a motorcycle speeding away from an officer who was trying to pull him over. moments later, 23- year-old matthew richter would be dead. here he is with his family – now making funeral arrangements. the las cruces sun news reports matthew richter was from washington… … where he worked as a firefighter. his sister posted this photo on social media. she tells the sun news her brother moved to las cruces in december and was looking to find work as a volunteer firefighter. the dash cam video showing what led up to richter’s death … backs up the an n-m- s-u police officer’s story. … that richter sped away during a traffic stop… and slammed head on into a truck at university avenue and solano. sticking with new mexico, the dona ana county jail director is no longer facing fraud and embezzlement charges. the district attorney there now says there’s not enough evidence to move forward with a case against chris barela who’s accused of misusing money meant for the inmates. the charges can be re- filed if more evidence should come to light. barela is not completely in the clear though. he has to appear in court april 8th on the charge he took a weapon into the jail. looking around the world… one year ago today, as students in kenya were preparing to go on easter break, gunmen from the al-qaeda linked terror group al- shabaab stormed a university in northeastern kenya, killing 148 people – mostly students. now a university hundreds of miles away in kenya’s rift valley is inviting students to the school and to feel safe once again. cnn’s robyn kriel reports from the school that now houses almost all of the survivors of the deadly attack. :07–:23 :48–:57 1:34–1:43 like many university students ben mwiti is on a journey. but his is different than most. : “i tried to crawl. i crawle up to the door, that’s where i was rescued. but as they were rescuing me, some al shabaab started coming in and they killed that person who was rescuing us.” shot by terrorists during an attack on his university – ben lay for hours motionless – playing dead. one year on, after suffering debilitating injuries – ben is moving again :”i thank god that i am able to walk. currently i am using a bicycle.. i can’t walk for long distances.. but i can run. i can play. i can do very many things. ” : “that morning they caught u when we were in the morning prayers, in the hall, and when they shoot us i fall down.. first a grenade hit me on my face.” she can finally walk unassisted — and is proud of it. this school houses almost all of the survivors of the garrisa university massacre. hundreds of miles away from the site of the attack, it’s much more secure – and allows for diversion. still students fear more attacks, and remember friends they’ve lost. like judith chepkemboi. she was one of evaline’s roommates. of the six girls in their dorm room – only three survived. two of them still live together. roommate juliet nanjala carries one reminder of her best friend. : “i like this gift of mine even though it reminds me of judith i don’t want judith, wherever she is, to think that i have ignored her gift” judith’s not here anymore- but her friendship – an everlasting gift. robyn kriel cnn eldoret kenya if you’re looking for something to do around el paso today … take a moment and smell the flowers… poppies, to be precise. today is the 10th annual poppies fest in northeast el paso. it’s free for everyone and meant for the whole family to enjoy. the event starts at 10 this morning and goes until 4 in the afternoon, it will be held at the el paso museum of archaelogy which is located at 43-01 woodrow bean transmountain road. an important reminder there is no parking at the museum so visitors are encouraged to park at the epcc transmountain campus just of us-54. from the campus there will be plenty of shuttles to the event running all day. and even more things for the family to do today elegant penguin is holding the first annual couples and family expo, the event starts at 11 this morning and goes until 6 p-m at the el paso convention center. there will be a bunch of activities for the whole family including inflatables, laser tag, video games and the special guest mark brown. brown, is the author of the p-b-s series arthur the ardvark and will be there to read to the families and hold book signings. don’t forget to pick up your copy of the el paso inc. this week you’ll see: inside episd’s big plans to remake itself and become a national model for education. also – six years after the city ordered him to clean up a downtown building, what william “billy” abraham finally doing. and how you can vote for an el paso artist who’s in a big competition at the smithsonian. el paso inc. is online at elpasoinc.com, and available for home and business delivery. call 534- 4422 to subscribe. there’s some wild weather going on around the country… and still to come on good morning el paso weekend, that includes some very cold weather, like flurries in parts of texas. and later – they thought they had everyone fooled… until these would-be border jumpers were caught on camera. it is , right now we’ll take a live look at traffic this morning: and in stormtrack weather, iris! stormtrack weather is next! you’re watching abc-7… where news comes first!