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Good Morning El Paso Weekend 04.09.16

more arrests and developments in the terror investigations in europe… as the latest city targeted remains on high alert. a homeless teen now charged with murder in texas… after a u-t student is found dead in the middle of campus. and the embatttled head of the dona ana county jail could soon be back on the job… after new developments to the list of charges he was facing. this is all the news you need to start your saturday, april 9th. abc-7’s “good morning el paso weekend” starts right now! good morning and thank you for joing us… i’m andrew j. polk. police arrested a woman in who was added to the f-b-i top ten most wanted list just this week. 33-year-old brenda delgado was captured in torreon mexico yesterday. she’s accused of plotting the murder of her romantic rival. police say she got her accomplices to kill a dallas dentist who was dating her ex- boyfriend. delgado is now facing capital murder charges. delgado is the ninth woman to be added on the f-b-i most wanted list since it was created in the 19-50s. 18 days after the brussels terroriss attacks, the city remains under it’s second-highest terror alert level. authorities made multiple arrests recently, including five men detained yesterday accused of having links to the brussels bombings. the latest arrests include the last known fugitive in last year’s paris attacks. one suspect, mohamed abrini, could be the mysterious “man in the hat” wh escaped the double bombing at the airport, but federal prosecutors said they still needed further verifications. abrini’s suspected role in the paris attacks has never been made clear. he was seen in the attack convoy en route to paris in the days ahead of the bloodshed, but disappeared afterward. a homeless teen is facing murder charges for the texas students killings. a judge has set a 1 million dollar bond for a 17-year-old police say killed a university of texas student in the heart of the campus. the travis county judge signed an arrest affidavit yesterday that says “there is sufficien probable cause to support the charge of murder” against meechaiel criner. an austin police says criner will face murder and perhaps other charges for killing first-year dance student haruka weiser. weiser, an 18-year- old oregon native, was last seen leaving the campus drama building sunday night. her body showed signs of assault and was found in a creek near the alumni center and football stadium. in response to the killing, university officials requested increased police presence on campus and are working with a state agency to review security. josie off cam: “do you have any words for sheriff vigil?” chris barela: “on the advice of a goo friend, i’m going to say this has been a good character builder.” chris barela — the jail director in dona ana county — could be back on the job as soon as monday. yesterday, we heard from him for the very first time since he was cleared of charges related to a fraud investigation. from our new mexico mobile newsroom … barela was cleared last week of fraud and embezzlement charges surrounding the misuse of money meant for inmates. thursday, a grand jury dropped a third charge of unlawfully taking a weapon into a jail. the d-a’s office says there was not enough evidence to move forward on any of the charges. abc-7’s josie ortegon caught up with barela and the county manager after yesterday’s hearing: josie off cam: “and how do yo feel about getting back to work on monday.” barela: “i extremely happy, i cant wait to get back in my chair, behind my desk, see my employees and start working.” julia brown: “how many more thousands of taxpayer dollars have to be wasted in what seems to be – apparently – not the pursuit of justice but the pursuit of personalities.” district attorney mark d’antonio signed off on the arrest and search warrants, criminal complaint and statement of facts. he even stood by sheriff ki vigil during a news conference soon after barela’s arrest. so, why wasn’t his office able to move forward with prosection? patrick hayes with the d-a’s office emailed abc-7 the following statement, quote: “there wa enough probable cause to justify the filing of the criminal charges. that’s why we signed off.” “in regards to the contraband charge, we thought there was enough evidence to present that charge to a grand jury.” hayes goes on to say… “however, the didn’t think there was enough evidence to take the case to trial and we respect their decision.” we have repeatedly reached out to sheriff vigil. he has been unavailable for comment. our new mexico mobile newsroom crew is following a series of pellt gun shootings in las cruces. thursday night, someone shot out the windows on two cars on the 28- hundred block of telshor. then, just down the block on commerce drive, pellets were shot in the direction of three l-c-p-d officers. one of the officers was hit in the leg. police say whomever is responsible could be charged with battery on a police officer. but finding the suspect may not be easy: dan trujillo: “there are severa outlets from the parking lot from where they believed these shots were coming from. there are several outlets onto telshor, right across telshor to the movie theater, they can go both ways on telshor and so the officers did not have time to, and of course it was dark also.” las cruces police are offering one- thousand dollar reward for informaiton that leads to an arrest. call 1-800-222-tips. that’s 1-800-222-8477. you can also send a tip by text message. it comes just a few days after three coronado high school cross country runners were shot at with a pellet gun in west el paso. the el paso sheriff’s office is asking for your help finding a wanted suspect. 19 year old saffire marie armenta is wanted for probation violation and buglary of habitation. deputies have not said when she was last seen. if you have any information or have spotted her you are asked to call the sheriffs office at 915-566-tips . the young man accused of driving drunk and killing two of his passengers is now waiting to hear his sentencing from the judge. 19-year old adrian dominguez pleaded guilty to two counts of intoxication manslaughter yesterday. before facing the judge, dominguez had to face the relatives of the victims as he walked into the courtroom. in may of last year — dominguez was driving a car with three other teens as his passengers. he lost control of the car on zaragoza near the ysleta port of entry. the car hit a guardrail and the impact launched it over a canal! the vehicle then rolled and caught fire. dominguez and one passenger were able to escape. however, 17-year-old jacob salazar and 18- year-old eric dominquez – died on scene: elizabeth salazar: “for the one who is drunk that is contemplating getting behind the wheel don’t do it – you ruin so many lives you don’t know what could happen” the judge will take a closer look at adrian dominguez’s background and should come back with a punishment within the next two months. getting to your stormtrack weather now! many are waking up to a soggy borderland this morning. let’s get your first forecast with stormtracker iris lopez. she’s live right now at the fountains at farah for the walk for wishes. good morning iris! city rep larry romero stepped down in december of last year citing health reasons. at the time, his wife told abc-7 romero suffered a stroke. even though he resigned, state law mandates romero remain on holdover status until his seat is filled, meaning he’s still getting paid. city rep claudia ordaz hopes to soon put an end to that: claudia ordaz: “we got briefing at our last meeting that within our charter, we actually do have that authority … if a member of council has three unexcused absences, council at that time has an opportunity to revoke the pay.” what upset ordaz even more was seeing these pictures of romero at the master’s this week on his son’s facebook page. local blogger jaime abeytia also posted this pic of romero boarding a plane on tuesday. city rep dr. michiel noe has been one of romero’s biggest supporters through his illness: dr. michiel noe: “i’ve been a supporter of due process throughout the whole process, that’s all.” darren off cam: “does it change your thinking now at all knowing he went to the master’s?” dr michiel noe sot: “well, the impression now is that he is able to get about, so yes, i would have to say it does.” noe said he’s unsure if he will vote not to excuse romero’s absence at the next meeting. but he did say he thinks either romero should start attending the meetings, or give up the salary. romero’s son told abc-7’s darren hunt the trip to the masters was a present for his dad’s 60th birthday. both el paso community college and utep are raising student tuition. abc-7 looked into what’s causing the tuition hike. public colleges get their money from the state, property taxes and tuition. it’s the state that is financially delivering less and less, hurting public colleges across texas. abc-7’s ashlie rodriguez has the story: state funding has eroded, so more and more we’re having to look at tuition. el paso community college trustees are asking students start paying between $10-$15 dollars more per credit hour. at utep, in state students will pay more than $160 per semester. out-of state, around $450. in light of the fact that we were decreased last year $3.2 in state funding, we feel like it is necessary for us to look at tuition as an avenue to raise revenue. this stems from texas’ own financial shortfall. a multi- billion dollar hole, and legislators who are wary of raising taxes– chose to balance the budget cut cutting funding from different programs. this included slashing more than $5 billion from public education, impacting the schools here in el paso. “”i think it is already a lo right now, i would like them not to raise tuition but utep is cheap as it is… i feel like if you are going to increase the tuition what is it going to go towards? is si going to go towards the students?”!” bot utep and epcc tell abc-7, raising tuition in light of the cut in state funding is necessary to maintain academic programs and competive salaries for faculty. “the message would just be this is a investment and this is something that is going to be extremely valuable for them when they receive that degree.” that was ashlie rodriguez reporting. in the case of n-m-s-u– the board chose to make cuts, rather than raise tuition. if you haven’t gotten your ticket for neon desert listen up! g-e-c-u is having a student discount sale today. right now tickets for the music fest start at 120 dollars but if you bring a student i-d you can get your ticket for 100 dollars– but make sure to bring it in cash. the tickets will only be available from 12 p-m to 4 p-m at the 11 thousand 9 hundred 87 block of rojas… and at 74-10 helen of troy. tickets are limited so make sure to get there as soon as possible and there’s a 2 ticket limit per person. don’t forget to pick up your copy of the el paso inc. in it you’ll find: how the city is cracking down on dangerous buildings in downtown, as inspectors go block by block. also, what are city manager tommy gonzalez’s new marching orders from council? only el paso inc. has the 20- page document. and get a sneak peek inside a new design store opening in el paso, with an emphasis on quality and craftsmanship. el paso inc. is online at elpasoinc.com, and available for home and business delivery. call 534- 4422 to subscribe. we’re definitley seeing some april showers here in the borderland… but coming up on good morning el paso weekend… how other parts of the country are seeing april snow instead. and later – a man escaped from a psychiatric hospital … after allegedly torturing a woman to death. it is , right now we’ll take a live look at traffic this morning: you’re watching abc-7… where news comes first!

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