Twin brothers arrested for alleged DWIs after fight at party

KVIA on August 13, 2026

Gabrielle Lopez

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) — A Horizon City party led to the arrest of twin brothers for allegedly driving while intoxicated, the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office said Thursday.

Deputies received reports of a fight and possible assault at the house party Aug. 8, which took place on Laguna Azul Avenue in the Agua Dulce area, EPCSO said. There, a deputy conducted a traffic stop because someone allegedly involved in the fight left in a truck.

A deputy reportedly saw 22-year-old Orlando Del Valle arguing with his girlfriend, documents said.

In the affidavit, investigators said Del Valle and his girlfriend went to a gender reveal party and Del Valle reportedly became upset at others “due to them speaking about who made more money.” Del Valle allegedly started fighting with the others along with his twin brother, Jose Del Valle.

Orlando’s girlfriend allegedly said she walked away, and Orlando followed her before deputies arrived.

Orlando then walked toward the deputy and allegedly said he didn’t commit a crime.

According to documents, Orlando allegedly said he had three guns in his truck.

Orlando allegedly refused to tell the deputy his name, but showed the deputy his identification, documents said. The deputy said he felt the need to handcuff Orlando for their safety.

While trying to handcuff Orlando, the deputy smelled an alcoholic beverage coming from his breath, documents said. The deputy also noted Orlando’s eyes to be “red and glassy” and had slurred speech.

The deputy also saw a 24-ounce Sol Chelada beer in the front of the truck, which was nearly empty, documents said. The deputy also saw two of the guns in the front.

According to Jose’s arrest affidavit, another deputy noticed the twin brother had a strong alcohol smell and blood shot eyes. He allegedly asked “what was the reason for the stop,” referring to his brother’s traffic stop, documents said.

When a deputy accused Jose of being intoxicated and told him to step away from the investigation, Jose allegedly said, “How do you know that? What’s the proof?”

Deputies then placed Jose in handcuffs and told him he was under arrest for public intoxication, documents said.

The affidavit noted that a witness reportedly told Jose to not approach deputies during the investigation. Jose allegedly said he didn’t care because it involved his brother, documents said.

According to documents, a witness saw Jose drive before exiting the vehicle and walk toward the scene where deputies arrested him.

A deputy told Orlando he was under arrest and transported him to a patrol station for testing. At the patrol station, Orlando allegedly said he wished to provide a breath sample then refused, documents said.

At the same patrol station, Jose also allegedly refused to provide a breath sample, documents said. The affidavit said a search warrant will be issued to get a blood sample instead.

Deputies charged Orlando with DWI and unlawful carrying of a weapon. His bonds totaled $5,000.

Deputies charged Jose with DWI and a $3,000 bond.

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Sunset Heights residents report abandoned vehicles, no action taken

KVIA on August 13, 2026

Mia Tricarico

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) — Sunset Heights residents have grown accustom to an everyday eye store of abandoned vehicles sitting alongside homes. Some have called 311 to complain several times, but the City of El Paso hasn’t taken action.

Leaving a vehicle abandoned is illegal under Texas State law and El Paso municipal codes as a Class C Misdemeanor. The Texas Transportation code said abandoning a vehicle on public or private property has a consequential fine of up to $500.

The transportation code defines an abandoned vehicle as one if:

It’s inoperable, more than five years old and has been left unattended for more than 48 hours.

It stayed illegally on public property for more than 48 hours.

It stayed on private property without the owner’s consent for more than 48 hours.

It stayed on the right-of-way of a designated county, state or federal highway for more than 48 hours.

It stayed on the right-of-way of a turnpike project maintained by the Texas Department of Transportation or a controlled access highway for more than 24 hours.

As a result, law enforcement agencies can take abandoned vehicles into custody, the code said. They have to send a notice of abandonment to the last known registered owner. They also have to let the owner know they have the right to claim the vehicle within a certain time frame at the expense of towing or storage charges.

“I think the neighborhood is cognizant of the broken window theory and how run-down vehicles and dilapidated houses have a negative impact on a community,” said Matthew Guzman, who leads the Friends of Sunset Heights Neighborhood Association. Guzman is also running for City Council this election term.

“We we want to make sure that we’re not putting ourselves out as a place that you can come and dump your cars” Said Guzman

Guzman also explained why he thinks residents are seeing the same car for months, even though the city gives people a five day maximum to move their car.

“There’s some people who know how to game the system where when they get their vehicle tagged, they’ll have 1 or 2 weeks to to move the vehicle. So they’ll back it up 6 to 8in, move it forward 6 to 8in. And we’re still stuck with a dilapidated broken down car on the side of the road. That’s all so frustrating.”

ABC-7 reached out to the City of El Paso for comment.

” There are quite a bit of vehicles throughout the city. So when we do get called, we do go out there to get it removed. It all depends. How many of the tow trucks are available? When can they pick up? How big the vehicle is? Is it big? Is it small? So all that comes into play. But it’s not that we’re not.” Said Danny Soto El Paso, code enforcement supervisor.

When ABC-7 asked Soto why residents are seeing a delay he responded,” It’s not that we’re ignoring complaints. We do know they’re out there. So we’re trying to speed up the process. But again, there’s other things. And also things like the rain, right. It might cause other accidents somewhere else. Well then our resources get diverted to that.”

Soto followed up with “We try to go out there quickly as possible. Right. If they do call it in, we go out there within three days, 3 to 4 days, and we go out there and we five day tag it.”

ABC-7 asked Soto if nuisances like abandoned cars can negatively affect a neighborhood.

“It does look bad and it’s not okay. You’re messing around with your neighbors, and family member’s health and safety.”

El Paso Code of Enforcement reminds residents to:

“Take care of the issues as much as you can. Take care of vehicles that you own, you know, make sure it’s running. then if its not, then call and find out if somebody could pick it up for you or fix it for you, or sell it or something like that.”

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Expert Arborists Volunteer To Attempt Salvaging SLO Repertory Theatre’s Old Oak Tree

KEYT on August 13, 2026

Jarrod Zinn

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. (KEYT) – A major collaboration is underway to salvage an historic oak tree in San Luis Obispo.

This effort started quickly after a city council decision last month.

The city council voted in July to allow SLO Repertory Theatre to remove a native oak tree and build a new theater.

In the wake of that decision, Matt Ritter — professor and director of Cal Poly’s Plant Conservatory — gathered a team of expert volunteers to begin work on transplanting the tree.

“Lots of community interest, absolutely,” says Bob Hill, City of SLO’s Sustainability And Natural Resources Official. “We’re excited today that we may have an opportunity to achieve a lot of different city goals, to have a thriving downtown cultural arts district.”

Ritter says other trees of comparable size and age have been successfully transplanted before.

“I wanted to try it because I think that we had the possibility of doing it,” says Ritter. “And the other option is the tree just is guaranteed to be cut down and killed and die. So we might as well make an attempt.”

The team began work this week, giving the tree thousands of gallons of water to help fortify it.

“It was so dry when we initially got to it,” Ritter says. “We had to—we put 2000 gallons of water on it. And then we set up an irrigation system, a drip thing, and let that go overnight, put a lot of water on it.”

Thursday morning, the group began digging a trench and pruning the tree’s root system.

“What we don’t want to see is just severing massive roots,” says Ritter. “And we didn’t see that today. So I’m encouraged by what we saw.”

While there’s no full guarantee the tree will survive the transplant, the expert arborists volunteering their time here say there are several favorable signs and conditions at this early stage of the effort.

“What we didn’t know til today is, is how big are the roots outside of there,” says Ritter. “And it has been a totally successful event because we severed maybe 5 or 6 roots that were this big, and everything else was smaller than that.”

If the tree survives, the team will be transplanting it to a spot just a few blocks away at mission plaza.

“We’re hopeful and we’re optimistic,” says Hill. “And folks that know a lot more about trees than I do are telling me that this can be possible and it can work.”

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Border Patrol El Paso Sector demonstrates border security efforts alongside other agencies

KVIA on August 13, 2026

Heriberto Perez Lara

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) — U.S. Border Patrol El Paso Sector hosted a joint border security operation today in South-Central El Paso along the U.S.-Mexico border; the exercise involved federal agencies, state military forces and Mexican military partners.

The exercise shown was aimed at showcasing rapid response capabilities following the U.S. Department of State’s designation of the Juarez Cartel as a foreign terrorist organization last month.

Participating agencies conducted coordinated actions to test joint response capabilities along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Operational plans for the exercise involved U.S. Border Patrol Special Operations detachment agents inserting into the area via Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine Operations helicopters.

The following state and federal agencies were present as well:

U.S. Department of War (DoW)

U.S. Attorney’s Office Western District of Texas (USATXW)

U.S. Attorney’s Office District of New Mexico (USANM)

Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF)

Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)

Homeland Security Investigations (HSI)

Customs and Border Protection (CBP)

Texas Military Department (TMD)

Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS)

Mexican Army (SEDENA)

Mexico National Guard (Guardia Nacional)

On the south side of the border, Mexican army soldiers also conducted a mirror patrol in coordination with the U.S. exercise.

Federal authorities say any community members can report suspicious activity anonymously to the U.S. Border Patrol by calling 1-800-635-2509.

ABC-7 was at today’s demonstration and will have a full story tonight on ABC-7 at 4 and 5.

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Santa Maria Joint Union High Schools start new cell phone ban

KEYT on August 13, 2026

Dave Alley

SANTA MARIA, Calif. (KEYT) – The first day of class began in the Santa Maria Joint Union High School District (SMJUHSD) Thursday morning with a brand new personal device policy in effect.

Known as “”Off and Away All Day Except at Lunch,” the new rule will require students at Santa Maria, Righetti, Pioneer Valley and Delta high schools to power down and store away all electronic devices for most of the school day.

Once on campus, students will no longer be allowed to use cell phones, smartwatches, and other personal electronic devices, including AI-enabled personal devices.

The revised policy restricts any usage of devices during class time and passing periods.

“Our ‘Off and Away’ policy is that students will have their devices off and away for the entire day, with the exception of lunchtime,” said Ted Lyon, SMJUHSD Teaching and Learning Director. “This is a way for us to really provide an opportunity for students to engage more in classroom instruction, and also to support their mental health and well-being in regards to what we’ve seen with excessive cell phone use.”

Jeff Carroll, who replaced Lyon as Righetti principal starting this school year is hopeful the new policy will make a positive impact with the quality of the entire school experience.

“The goal is to make sure that our kids are more engaged,” said Carroll. “We want them engaged in not only the learning process, but also just being engaged with the the students around them. We create an environment where kids are are part of our campus. What all the data shows is that the more students spend time spending on their cell phones, the less engaged than they are in life, and we want to give them the opportunity to be engaged.”

In addition to both school and district administration, some students are also supportive of the new restrictions.

“I think that it’s definitely challenging for some students, but I think it’s also a good thing to put in place because it helps us come together and be more in real life than not in our phones,” said Righetti senior Cami Latham. “Walking down the halls you see a lot of people just stuck in their phone not really socializing, and now, you’re going to need to make time for social interactions with people and not having your phone on you all the time.”

While students adjust to the new rules, Thursday and Friday will essentially be a learning period and students will only be warned if they use devices during restricted times.

However, Carroll indicated the rules will begin to be enforced starting on Monday and those who are in violations will face punishment.

“Starting on Monday, unfortunately there’s going to be some consequences if they have their personal devices out,” said Carroll. “Hopefully, we don’t have to enforce it very often, but we know that it’s going to be something that comes up, and it’s going to be tough on kids, but we know that it’s going to be what’s best for kids, and that’s what’s most important.”

The “Off and Away All Day Except at Lunch” is now in effect at all SMJUHSD campuses, including Santa Maria High School, Righetti High School, Pioneer Valley High School, Delta High School and the Mark Richardson Career Technical (CTE) and Agriculture Farm.

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Santa Maria-Bonita School District Prioritizing Safety On First Day Of School

KEYT on August 13, 2026

Jarrod Zinn

SANTA MARIA, Calif. (KEYT) – Schools in Santa Maria welcomed students to campus for the first day back from summer break today.

The crossing guards are out, school buses are running, and early-morning pedestrian traffic will once gain be part of daily life.

School officials join the California Highway Patrol in reminding drivers that now is the time to take those extra steps to enhance safety.

Streets surrounding campuses tend to clog between 7:30 and 8:30 in the morning and from 2:30 to 3:30 in the afternoon, as many Santa Maria families walk their kids to and from school.

There are a number of families who do walk to school,” says Samantha Scroggon, public information officer for Santa Maria-Bonita School District. “There are a number of students who walk to school by themselves. And so we hope that the whole community will kind of come together and keep an eye out on our kids. Let’s just all be parents and grandparents and really look out for the for the kids in our community and make sure that they get there to school safely.”

Officials remind drivers to leave the house a little earlier, take it slow, and keep your peripheral awareness engaged.

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Heise Road closed for mudslides as heavy rain hits Big Rock Fire burn scar

KIFI on August 13, 2026

Seth Ratliff

HEISE, Idaho (KIFI) — Rain and thunderstorms are creating dangerous conditions in southeastern Idaho, prompting the National Weather Service to issue an updated flash flood warning for Southeastern Jefferson County and South Central Madison County.

Jefferson and Madison County have closed roads around the Heise area due to heavy rain that fell over scar area of the recent Big Rock Fire that could result in mudslides.

“As typically happens after a fire, this area has become very susceptible to flash flooding,” said Jefferson County Emergency Manager Rebecca Squires.

The road is closed at the Heise bridge. South Snake River Road is also closed before Cress Creek heading into the Heise area.

“What we have going on is a very unstable and dangerous situation with debris flow crossing the road,” Squires said. “We’ve met the three conditions for having debris flow – that is heavy rain, a burn scar and steep slopes.”

With an inch of rain that came down in an hour at noon Thursday, it carried multiple flows of mud and debris across the road.

“The soil has become very hydrophobic, meaning that it sheds the water rather than absorbing it,” Squires explained. “The second thing that’s happening is the vegetation has been burned, and so there’s nothing holding the soil back. Therefore, when we have heavy rain, this area is very susceptible to mudslides. … We have rocks, mud, water, tree branches, and it’s just a very hazardous situation for motorists.”

The road to Heise Hot Springs and Kelly Canyon area will reopen soon once conditions stabilize.

“Once the rain subsides in the next couple days, then we’ll be able to get in,” Squires assured. “Our crews will get in, assess what’s wrong, fix the damage, remove the debris, and then we’ll open right back up.”

It could take 3 to 5 years before the island reestablishes itself enough to prevent mudslides in the future, she said.

Emergency crews closed the Heise Bridge, east of Ririe, on Thursday, August 13, 2026, for possible flash flooding.

The NWS urged residents and visitors to move immediately to higher ground and away from the burned scar area.

Officials ask residents and visitors to monitor weather alerts via NOAA weather radio or the FEMA app, and to get out of the danger area before it begins. “There is no time to protect life and property once debris flow has started,” states the post.

A US Forest Service fire truck waits at the Heise Bridge on August 13, 2026.

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Yuma man who pleaded guilty to sexual assault sentenced

KYMA on August 13, 2026

Skylar Heisey

YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA) – A Yuma man who pleaded guilty to sexual assault appeared in court Thursday to be sentenced.

39-year-old Ricardo Meza will spend more than five years behind bars after accepting a plea agreement last week.

The case involved a woman over the age of 60.

He was arrested in February of this year, and was originally facing sexual assault and burglary charges.

As part of the plea agreement, Meza will also be required to register as a sex offender for life.

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California Pizza Kitchen to Support Santa Barbara Homelessness Prevention Program

KEYT on August 13, 2026

Patricia Martellotti

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) — A fundraiser happening Thursday at California Pizza Kitchen in downtown Santa Barbara will help support local homelessness prevention efforts.

The California Pizza Kitchen at Paseo Nuevo will donate 20 percent of participating sales to Everything Under the Sun Son, a Santa Barbara program focused on helping people remain safely housed.

The fundraiser runs from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. and applies to participating purchases made during the event.

Money raised will support Everything Under the Sun Son’s homelessness prevention work, which helps people facing housing instability before they lose their homes.

The program works to address immediate needs that can put someone’s housing at risk and connect people to resources designed to keep them safely housed.

The fundraiser gives people another way to support those efforts while dining at the downtown restaurant.

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Trial dates set for former Yuma doctor accused of sexually abusing his patients

KYMA on August 13, 2026

Skylar Heisey

YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA) – After years of delays, the trial of a former Yuma doctor accused of sexually abusing several of his patients is now officially set.

39-year-old Edsel Sandoval‘s trial will begin April 6, 2027, and will go until May 7, 2027.

Sandoval pleaded not guilty to seven counts of sexual abuse and sexual assault.

The Yuma Police Department arrested Sandoval back in February of 2024 after an almost year-long investigation into allegations that he sexually abused several of his patients.

Eight women have since come forward with allegations against Sandoval, with the alleged abuse dating back to April of 2022.

Sandoval previously worked as a family medicine physician at Yuma Regional Medical Center. He left the hospital in July of 2023.

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