Victim identified, suspect in custody following fatal weekend Fort Hall shooting

KIFI on June 16, 2026

Par Kermani

FORT HALL, Idaho (KIFI) — Fort Hall Police have identified the victim and suspect involved in a fatal shooting early Sunday morning.

According to the Fort Hall Police Department, officers responded to a report of a shooting at a residence in the Nagitsy Road area around 2:07 a.m. on June 14.

When officers arrived, they found Jordan Denny, of Box Elder, Montana, dead at the scene.

RELATED: Fort Hall Police Investigating Fatal Shooting; Suspect in CustodyPolice say Didier Tendoy, of Blackfoot, has been taken into custody in connection with the shooting.

The Fort Hall Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are investigating the incident as a possible homicide.

No additional information has been released at this time.

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Oracle announces Project Jupiter open house in Santa Teresa

KVIA on June 16, 2026

Gabrielle Lopez

SANTA TERESA, N.M. (KVIA) — In an effort to teach New Mexico residents about the Project Jupiter data center planned for Dona Ana County, Oracle announced an open house meeting planned for Wednesday in Santa Teresa, New Mexico.

In a news release, Oracle said it wants to teach residents about the data center’s economic, community and environmental benefits.

Oracle said outreach efforts include bilingual conversations and advertisements to answer questions and gather feedback and partnering with local people on social media.

Part of the bilingual conversations includes an open house in Santa Teresa, Oracle said.

According to the City of Sunland Park, the open house includes a career fair. Representatives from Oracle, OpenAI, STACK Infrastructure and Bloom Energy will be there.

The open house takes place Wednesday, June 17 from 5:30-8 p.m. at the Sunland Park Sports Complex (4700 McNutt Rd.).

Oracle said the data center is expected to bring more than 4,000 construction jobs and 1,500 jobs when construction is done. Additionally, it said Project Jupiter will bring $384 million during construction and $113 million a year once the data center operates.

Project Jupiter committed $50 million to improve local water systems; $360 million to support schools, infrastructure and local services; and $6.9 million for workforce development, the Boys and Girls Club of Las Cruces and habitat restoration, Oracle said.

Oracle plans to fund all of the project’s energy costs and adopted a new power plan to reduce water usage, it said.

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San Elizario ISD to close 2 elementary schools, reorganize grade levels

KVIA on June 16, 2026

Gabrielle Lopez

SAN ELIZARIO, Texas (KVIA) — The San Elizario Independent School District Board of Trustees approved closing two of its elementary schools, Superintendent Jeannie Meza-Chavez confirmed with ABC-7 Tuesday.

Chavez said Lorenzo G. Alarcon Elementary and Lorenzo G. Loya Primary School will close. She said the district also approved a reorganization of some grade levels.

Josefa L. Sambrano Elementary School will serve Pre-K through second grade students, she said. Alfonso Borrego Sr. Elementary School will serve third through sixth grade students.

In a letter Meza-Chavez sent to faculty and staff, she said the district’s decision to close the campuses and reorganize grade levels is because of statewide enrollment declining, increasing costs and limited funding.

Staff members working at closing campuses will move to other schools on their first day back, the letter said.

“This transformation allows us to build a stronger, more sustainable foundation that will support excellence for generations of students to come,” Meza-Chavez said in the letter.

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EPISD adopts budget with reduced deficit after major spending cuts

KVIA on June 16, 2026

Rishi Oza

UPDATE (June 17, 2026) — At Tuesday’s meeting, board members mentioned the resignations of members Daniel Call and Valerie Beals, who resigned after the district voted to declare financial exigency earlier this month.

Call voted against the declaration, and Beals was not at the vote.

The district said it will accept applications and to appoint people to take over their seats until their terms finish in May 2027.

When the terms finish, there will be an election to fill their spots.

ABC-7 previously reported that community members can apply for the open seats.

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) — El Paso Independent School District trustees approved a budget for the 2026-27 school year that significantly reduces the district’s projected deficit following months of spending cuts and personnel reductions.

The board adopted a budget with $522.9 million in expenditures and $518.6 million in revenue, resulting in a deficit of approximately $4.3 million.

The shortfall is substantially lower than the more than $50 million deficit district leaders had previously projected.

District officials said a series of cost-saving measures implemented over the past several weeks helped stabilize the district’s finances.

“I think we feel very confident that now we’re in a position that we understand where our budget is. We understand how to navigate the school year to ensure that we don’t have any hiccups financially,” Superintendent Dr. Brian Lusk said. “And we feel very confident and good about where we’re headed for the next school year.”

According to the district, EPISD lost more than $22 million in revenue compared with the previous year because of reduced state funding.

Lusk acknowledged the financial challenges facing the district but said administrators focused on actions they could control locally.

“If we just spend our time worrying about the problem, that’s not going to help us with it,” Lusk said. “I’m really proud of our district, our trustees, and our team for figuring out a path forward, because we’re in a very good position now to have a budget that’s going to set us on a good path for next school year.”

The district reduced expenditures by $57 million from the previous year and eliminated 851 positions overall, including 525 campus-based positions and 326 central office positions. District officials said some of those positions were vacant, while others were eliminated through retirements and terminations.

EPISD also reduced payroll costs as a percentage of total expenditures. District leaders said payroll accounted for about 88% of expenditures last year and is now closer to the Texas Education Agency’s recommended range of 80% to 82%.

Despite the progress, district officials said work remains to fully balance the budget. Administrators will continue reviewing staffing assignments and other cost saving opportunities throughout the school year.

The district is also working toward ending its financial exigency status and hopes to be out of financial exigency by October.

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Eldon man charged with child sex crimes

KMIZ on June 16, 2026

Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

An Eldon man was charged in Morgan County on Tuesday with multiple child sex crimes after he allegedly assaulted a child on Monday morning.

Ronald Lee Brown Jr., 36, was charged with second-degree statutory rape, two counts of incent and one count of second-degree statutory sodomy. He is being held at the Morgan County Jail on a $300,000 bond. A court date has not been scheduled.

Deputies were called to St. Mary’s Hospital in Jefferson City as the youth was being evaluated by hospital staff after saying they were sexually abused by Brown, the statement says.

Law enforcement spoke with Brown, who allegedly admitted to abusing the youth after taking two ecstasy pills and drinking “half a fifth of tequila,” the statement says. Brown allegedly told deputies he thought the youth was his girlfriend, though that person allegedly lives in Chicago and was not in the home at the time, the statement says.

Brown allegedly admitted to multiple people about assaulting the child.

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Columbia man charged with 2 felonies in deadly Camden County crash

KMIZ on June 16, 2026

Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A 27-year-old Columbia man has been charged with two felonies in a fatal crash that occurred on Friday in Camden County.

Dylan Gibson was charged in Camden County with driving while intoxication that caused the death of another and DWI that caused serious physical injury. He is being held at the Camden County Jail without bond. A hearing was held on Tuesday morning and Gibson applied for a public defender, according to court filings.

The probable cause statement says troopers were called to a crash and found Gibson “throwing alcoholic shooters off the” Niangua Bridge. The trooper wrote that Gibson appeared to be intoxicated.

Court documents say Gibson took an on-site breath test and blew a .233, nearly three times over the legal limit to drive. After attempts to get details of the crash from Gibson, the trooper wrote that he admitted to trying to pass a car and another car hitting his vehicle.

Witnesses allegedly told troopers that they saw Gibson’s BMW “weaving all over the roadway prior to the crash,” the statement says.

The driver of the other vehicle — a 63-year-old Roach man – was pronounced dead at the scene and a 22-year-old passenger in the BMW had serious injuries, a Missouri State Highway Patrol report says. MSHP reports do not name those involved in crashes.

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Boone County Joint Communications enters agreements with several local agencies to upgrade radio system

KMIZ on June 16, 2026

Marie Moyer

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Boone County Emergency Management is continuing its multi-million dollar expansion of radio upgrades after the Boone County Commission and the Columbia City Council passed several Radio Grant Program measures on Monday and Tuesday.

Through the grant, agencies can receive portable, hand-held radios that are similar to walkie-talkies or mobile radios that are mounted and typically used in vehicles. Some agencies also requested pagers.

Tuesday morning, the Boone County Commission approved radios for several agencies. According to county documents, the Ashland Police Department requested 15 portable and five mobile radios valued at around $148,000. Boone Health requested 31 portable and six mobile radios for their ambulance team, valued at around $296,000. The Boone County Courthouse also requested 13 portable radios valued at around $94,000 for the county’s court marshals.

Boone Health spokesperson Christian Basi said the hospital moved to the new system to keep up with the latest technology for when they work with other public safety partners.

“If you have an event where you are looking at, for example, mass casualties, where you have many different people injured, there might be worse than injuries, and you have multiple agencies responding, it’s critical that you have technology that can talk to one another,” Basi said.

The commission previously approved the Hallsville Police Department receiving $116,000 of equipment earlier this month. This includes nine portable and seven mobile radios, according to city documents.

The Centralia Police and Fire Departments were also approved for equipment by the commission in early June. The fire department requested 24 portable and five mobile radios as well as 24 pagers. The police department requested 15 portable and 12 mobile radios.

The Columbia City Council also approved radios for city agencies on Monday, valued at around $3.8 million in total. The police department would receive 237 radios and 119 mobile radios valued at just over $2.5 million. The fire department would receive 71 portable and 55 mobile radios as well as 32 pagers valued at a little over $1 million. The city’s airport would also receive eight portable and four mobile radios as well as two pagers valued at a little over $100,000 dollars.

The Boone County Commission has final approval over the grant money.

Columbia Fire Department Chief Brian Schaeffer reports said the fire department currently relies on a “runner” to share information from inside a building to outside personnel or a telephone from inside the building they are responding to, if it’s not damaged.

“It’s personnel-intensive to do that to move people from an IDLH, or, an immediately dangerous life and health environment, outside to talk to somebody to basically play telephone,” Schaeffer said.

The radio grant program integrates a new radio system across all of its agencies. It is upgrading from “the legacy VHF radio system to a countywide interoperable 800 MHz Project 25 (P25) Phase 2 radio system,” according to Columbia city meeting documents from Monday night.

The new system uses shorter wavelengths when carrying messages and can penetrate through metal and concrete structures.

The BCOEM is also in the middle of getting grant funding for the University of Missouri Police Department, MU Health Care, Southern Boone County Fire Protection District and Boone County Fire Protection District.

The county began saving up for the radios in 2013 through the Boone County 911 Emergency Service Sales Tax. The entire radio program is expected to exceed $11 million. The sales tax was previously used for the construction of the BCOEM building and other technology improvements. The tax is expected to also help pay for the office’s switch to the updated Next Generation 911 system that many agencies are upgrading to across the country.

“We are now able to make that promise that we’ve had to the community as well as our partners to get this infrastructure up, get the technology updated, and to be able to provide these radios to our community and our responders,” Boone County Joint Communications Director Christie Davis said.

Davis expects all county agencies to make the switch to the new radio system by March 2027. Schaeffer added that radios for the CFD are expected by Dec. 1, 2026, but adds that the date can be affected by manufacturing delays.

“The taxpayers’ dollars for years have been collected waiting for this day to be able to purchase the equipment, to be able to purchase users, mobiles and portables, station alerting, all of these things are finally coming to fruition, which is great to see,” Schaeffer said.

Davis said the BCOEM has been in close communication with vendors and expects equipment to ship on time.

They know that these purchase orders are coming very soon and they know that we’re hoping to get those to them by the end of this month,” Davis said.

Davis adds that she expects the transition into the new system to begin in October, with plans to have various agencies practice using the system during Mizzou football games at Memorial Stadium following building renovations.

“We will probably start with some of the smaller agencies just to see how the system is working and making sure that we have a burn-in period to make sure we are covered as is expected,” Davis said.

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Mescalero Apache Tribe Council removes councilwoman amid investigation involving child

KVIA on June 16, 2026

Gabrielle Lopez

MESCALERO, N.M. (KVIA) — The Mescalero Apache Tribe removed a councilmember due to an ongoing investigation involving a child, the tribe announced Tuesday.

Secretary Robert Rice sent a letter to tribal members announcing the council removed Krystal Enjady June 12.

Leaders learned about a shooting at a graduation party that happened May 30, the letter said. Enjady was at the party, prompting the council to meet June 1 to discuss what happened. The council later scheduled a hearing to consider her removal June 6, according to the letter.

Enjady learned about her pending removal June 1 and appeared at removal hearings June 6 and 12, the letter said.

The council decided Enjady was “guilty of acts of moral turpitude, malfeasance in office and conduct reflecting on the dignity and integrity of the Tribal government,” according to the letter.

Rice said the tribal council can’t share more details about Enjady’s removal because of the ongoing investigation and because it involves a child.

You can read the full letter tribal members received below.

Courtesy: Mescalero Apache Tribe

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Mecca man killed in two-vehicle collision in Thermal

KESQ on June 16, 2026

City News Service

THERMAL, Calif. (KESQ) – A 26-year-old Mecca man was killed in a two-vehicle collision in the community of Thermal, authorities said today.

Pablo Garcia Lopez was fatally injured at about 5 a.m. Saturday at Avenue 58 and Buchanan Street, according to the California Highway Patrol.

A 2017 Acura RDX was traveling at an unspecified rate of speed eastbound on Avenue 58 when the vehicle failed to stop at a stop sign for reasons unknown and crashed into a 2009 Toyota Camry, which was traveling northbound on Buchanan.

The impact caused both vehicles to overturn, the CHP said.

Lopez, the Toyota driver, was pronounced dead at the scene. The Acura driver, whose identity was not revealed, sustained major injuries and was taken to Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs.

No further details were immediately available.

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Abbott names El Paso nonprofit as grant winner for helping Texans in educational, career success

KVIA on June 16, 2026

Gabrielle Lopez

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) — An El Paso nonprofit is one of 27 programs from Texas to earn competitive grants, Texas Governor Greg Abbott said Tuesday. The Texas Workforce Investment Council administered more than $7 million for programs helping Texans find jobs, he said.

Project ARRIBA (Advanced Retraining & Redevelopment Initiative in Border Areas aims to help people find education, training and living wages in El Paso, according to its website.

The nonprofit earned $200,000 in grants for its Educare: Elevating Nursing and Education in El Paso project, according to Gov. Abbott. According to the grant website, that’s the maximum amount of money Project ARRIBA could have gotten as a third year applicant.

Educare helps participants by training them to succeed in school for nursing, education and healthcare, he said.

The nonprofit’s website said it focuses on training for in-demand career paths like nursing, therapy, computer science, welding, medical technology and education majors in STEM.

The Texas Talent Connection grant awards totaled $7,002,965, Gov. Abbott said.

“The Texas economy soars to new heights because of the hard work and dedication of our young and skilled workforce,” said Governor Abbott in a statement. “These grants will allow more Texans to acquire the skills they need to succeed in high-demand careers. As we train our future workforce, Texas will remain the economic engine of the country.”

Additionally, the governor said the grant money came from federal funds allocated to his office by the U.S. Department of Labor to “encourage innovation in workforce training and job placement services.”

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