Category: kvia-local-news

Heriberto Perez Lara

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) — El Paso County Commissioners received an update today from the County’s Human Resources Department, stating they made 17 recommendations to the Tax Collector’s Office to reduce the backlog of vehicle registration transactions.

Officials from the HR department explained that the recommendations addressed areas such as vacancies, retention, training, morale, and process improvement.

“We suggested some of the actions they should take, we’re permitting overtime, and we’re allowing certain positions to be certified,” said County Judge Ricardo Samaniego. “I believe as a county, we’ve done everything possible; training is very important to me, and we are looking for opportunities.”

County Judge Samaniego also noted that one current issue is that residents might hesitate to buy cars soon, because they don’t want to go through this process.

“Those are the collateral problems you’ll see—people losing trust and credibility in the system and not wanting to engage,” County Judge Samaniego added.

According to County Commissioner for Precinct 4 Sergio Coronado, the Tax Collector’s Office has had 8 vacant positions since 2023.

“I expect increased cooperation because this is a real problem,” said Commissioner Coronado. “People are hurting out there; some dealers are being significantly affected — some to the point of going out of business.”

“I hope everyone works together to ensure they are properly trained, that they comply, and that our tax assessor’s office makes sure this training occurs and resources are allocated to reduce the backlog, because it’s really critical we do that now,” he added.

The County’s HR Department also mentioned that trainings will be held for local auto dealers to better understand the webDEALER system. These sessions will take place on October 10 at EPCC, in both English and Spanish; both Samaniego and Coronado agree that these trainings are crucial for reducing the backlog and helping more people receive their registration stickers.

Click here to follow the original article.

Nichole Gomez

El Paso, TX (KVIA-TV)-The El Paso Museum of History invites the community to experience a new exhibition, Mountain of Gold: A History of East and Southeast Asian Cultures in El Paso del Norte, 1880s–1980s, which explores the region’s rich and diverse histories. www.EPMuseumofHistory.org.

Click here to follow the original article.

Olivia Vara

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) –Monday afternoon brings thunderstorms to the Borderland’s higher terrain. Drier conditions can be expected going into Tuesday.

By Thursday we can expect temperatures to rise 5 to 8 degrees above seasonal average temperatures as a drier air mass moves in.

Storm chances for Monday are expected to increase. An upper low will lift out tonight into tomorrow but will leave enough moisture for some continued storm chances.

Localized flooding remains a concern with precipitable water values near 0.9–1.0 inches, above average for this time of year. After Monday, our weather current conditions will become quieter.

Click here to follow the original article.

Heriberto Perez Lara

CIUDAD JUÁREZ, Chihuahua (KVIA) — The President of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, visited Juárez this afternoon after touring all 32 states across the country.

She was accompanied by Chihuahua Governor Maru Campos, Juárez Mayor Cruz Pérez Cuéllar, other local and state officials, and members of her cabinet.

Thousands of residents gathered at ‘Estadio Juárez Vive,’ where the Indios de Ciudad Juárez baseball team plays.

President Sheinbaum announced several projects, investments, and plans for Juárez and the border.

These include new childcare funding, pensions, federal highway repairs, and infrastructure developments.

“Every town, every place, every entity in the Republic, and every state deserves to be informed about what we have done in each state of the Republic,” President Sheinbaum said.

She also addressed immigration, stating that they will provide more resources for Mexicans living in the U.S. through consulates.

“We are with them, we are taking care of them, and we are urging them to go to the consulates,” President Sheinbaum added. “We are allocating resources to the consulates so that our fellow citizens always have the support of their government.”

Click here to follow the original article.

Nichole Gomez

El Paso, TX– CREEED will host the 2nd annual Education Matters Summit on Thursday, October 2nd at the Starlight Event Center.

When: Thursday, October 2nd 

Timeline: 8:30 am, registration and continental breakfast begins; 

9 am, summit begins 

Where: Starlight Event Center 

Click here to follow the original article.

Nichole Gomez

 El Paso, TX (KVIA-TV)-El Paso Bicycle Club will host the Chile Pepper Challenge – Charity Ride on Sunday, September 28 at Grace Gardens (start 7:00 AM), benefitting UMC’s Cardiac Care Fund (early screenings, awareness, and life-saving treatment for adults in our region).

Click here to follow the original article.

Heriberto Perez Lara

Editors note: We originally reported on air that the statement provided was from Chief Administrator Betsy C. Keller. However, the El Paso County has issued a correction, the statement was from El Paso County Commissioners Court, not Chief Administrator Keller.

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) — The County’s Tax Collector’s Office has been experiencing a significant backlog of vehicle registration transactions since Texas House Bill 718 went into effect on July 1.

According to the County’s Tax Office, they currently have a backlog of approximately 5,400 vehicle registration transactions since the implementation of HB 718.

According to the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles, this bill was enacted to address concerns related to the fraudulent use of paper license tags.

ABC-7 reported this week that local auto dealers are struggling to get vehicle registration stickers for their customers due to the webDEALER backlog the County’s Tax Office is experiencing.

ABC-7 spoke with the Tax Collector’s Office; more updates in later newscasts.

Read the full news release corrected by the County of El Paso below:

NEWS RELEASE – EL PASO COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT STATEMENTDownload

Click here to follow the original article.

Nicole Ardila

The Southern New Mexico State Fair and Rodeo returns to Las Cruces this year with plenty of exciting events and activities.

On Wednesday, the fair kicks off and there will be an exceptional rodeo.

On Thursday, there will be a traditional ranch rodeo where the contestants compete as teams from ranches, instead of as individuals as in a “regular” rodeo. 

From Friday through Sunday, enjoy a glass of wine from Lescombes Family Vineyards in the special events building while shopping with local vendors. 

On Saturday, they will have the Borderland A’s Model A Ford Club with a variety of beautiful, historic vehicles manufactured from 1928 through 1931.

They’ll also have a stick horse race at the Pete Domenici Rodeo Arena. 

There will also be two concert performances this weekend, Rick Trevino will be performing on Friday, Sept. 26 and Randall King will be there on Saturday, Sept. 27.

Tickets are available online and at the gate.

Click here to follow the original article.

Heriberto Perez Lara

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) — The Texas Legislature passed House Bill 718 back in 2023 to address concerns related to the “fraudulent use of paper license tags.” Now, however, auto dealers in El Paso County say that since the new rule took effect on July 1, 2025, it has created a backlog and an increase in permit transaction times.

“We’re expecting the state of Texas to realize the problem that we’ve encountered already,” said Luis Fierro, owner of LGF Motors in El Paso’s Lower Valley.

According to Fierro, once a customer buys a vehicle, they submit everything to webDEALER, but they are taking between 24 to 48 days to complete the transaction and that’s what’s causing the delay and not the auto dealerships.

The County’s Tax Assessor-Collector’s Office is the one in charge of fulfilling these permits once a purchase is made.

County Assessor Gonzalez says his office needs personnel to fill out a 6,000-application backlog.

Gonzalez also mentioned that in one day, they had 18 trained clerks work on a Saturday, a queue of 5,800 transactions; they worked over 1,700 of them.

“For that one day of collections, I collected $2.2 million for those 1700 transactions; the majority of that money, sales tax money, goes to the state, but it also is money that eventually comes back to us immediately, or a year later,” Assessor Gonzalez said.

The County’s Tax Collector’s Office also conducts inspections where they have found stolen vehicles, recovered stolen vehicles and the commission fee they get during property tax season.

“This is going to be continuous; we not only have the work that we have to do for the dealer community, but we also have a lot of mailing work, you wouldn’t believe the drop-off work that we get,” said County Assessor Gonzalez. “We also have work that cannot be done in webDEALER that the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles is telling the dealers to walk it in.”

ABC-7 reached out to the office of County Chief Administrator Betsy C. Keller for comment; we are still waiting for a response.

Click here to follow the original article.

Nichole Gomez

El Paso, TX (KVIA-TV) — The 5th Annual Mija Market is a free, family-friendly event featuring live entertainment, raffles, and activities for all ages:

Event details:

Where: Cowtown Event CenterWhen: Saturday, September 27, from 10:00 AM to 3:30 PMFREE Admission | Family-Friendly

https://mijayesyoucan.org/about-us/5th-annual-mija-market/

Click here to follow the original article.