Category: kvia-local-news

Gabrielle Lopez

(KVIA) — U.S. Representative Gabe Vasquez said he met with National Transportation Safety Board officials Tuesday to find answers for the deadly medical plane crash that happened near Ruidoso in May. Rep. Vasquez said the discussion came after reports said military testing may have played a role in the crash.

The NTSB conducts investigations into transportation safety incidents, including plane crashes.

On May 14, a medical transport plane crashed in the Capitan Mountains area, killing all four passengers on board. The crash also sparked the Seven Cabins wildfire that has since burned more than 31,000 acres, Rep. Vasquez said.

The passengers — two Generation Jets pilots and two Trans Aero MedEvac flight nurses — planned to pick up a patient in Ruidoso. An NTSB report said the flight took off at 11:52 p.m. and crashed at 12:15 a.m.

(Courtesy: NTSB)

In June, the NTSB released a preliminary report that said the aircraft’s pilot had navigational issues while jamming technology testing was underway by the Department of War.

“No pilot or their passengers should fly in uncertain conditions with multiple challenging circumstances that are preventable, but outside of their control. My prayers are with the families of those who passed and I promise them to get answers and prevent future tragedies,” Rep. Vasquez said in a statement.

On May 18, Trans Aero MedEvac identified the four victims of the crash:

Keelan Clark, Generation Jets Pilot

Ali Kawsara, Generation Jets Pilot

Sarah Clark, Trans Aero MedEvac Flight Nurse

Jamie Novick, Trans Aero MedEvac Flight Nurse

Rep. Vasquez will run against the Republican nominee for U.S. House District 2, Greg Cunningham, in November.

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Gabrielle Lopez

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) — Thursday, U.S. Representative Veronica Escobar said the U.S. General Services Administration will host an “Industry Day” for the Bridge of the Americas Land Port of Entry Modernization Project. GSA will name finalists competing for the primary project’s contract, according to a news release.

In August 2022, Rep. Escobar hosted a meeting with GSA to kick off stakeholder engagement for the $500 million BOTA modernization. This June, she joined GSA in announcing the BOTA Project moved to a design-build phase.

According to a news release from June 29, Escobar said the build-design phase narrowed down the possible contractors for the project to three.

Rep. Escobar said GSA will announce the three finalists on Industry Day, which is set for July 27 at the El Paso Community College Administrative Services Opportunity Center from 1-4 p.m.

The congresswoman said small businesses, subcontractors, suppliers and construction professionals can meet the three shortlisted teams competing for the primary project contract.

GSA said the BOTA project’s construction is set to begin in early 2028 and will be completed by the summer in 2031, according to the U.S. General Services Administration.

Rep. Escobar will face Adam Bauman in the November election to keep her seat for Congressional District 16, which covers most of El Paso County.

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Gabrielle Lopez

LAS CRUCES, N.M. (KVIA) — Las Cruces police apprehended and charged two teenage boys suspected in an overnight crime spree that resulted in three stolen vehicles and a burglary of a cannabis shop Thursday.

The Las Cruces Police Department said it was dispatched to an attempted burglary at Pecos Valley Production, a cannabis shop, on north Roadrunner Parkway at about 2 a.m.

The teenagers allegedly successfully burglarized another cannabis shop, Top Crop, on east Lohman Avenue, police said. They allegedly tried to burglarize another Pecos Valley Production location on south Locust Street.

Police said security bars stopped the teens from being able to enter the Pecos Valley Production stores.

Investigators believe the teens stole at least three Hyundai vehicles during the night and tried to access a fourth, police said. One vehicle, a Hyundai Santa Fe, was found abandoned near Pecos Street and Foster.

Officers established a perimeter and detained the two teens with the use of a K-9 unit, police said.

Police said merchandise from Top Crop was inside the vehicle and two backpacks near where the teens were apprehended.

The teens face two counts of attempted commercial burglary, one count of non-residential burglary, three counts of criminal damage to property, one count of larceny, one count of possession of a stolen vehicle and seven counts of conspiracy, police said.

Police are still investigating and said additional charges are possible.

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Gabrielle Lopez

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) — Several El Paso County law enforcement agencies worked together to apprehend an 18-year-old and 16-year-old after a pursuit Tuesday, the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office said.

According to the sheriff’s office, at 4:25 p.m., a deputy tried to conduct a traffic stop on a Cadillac after noticing the license plate was registered to a different vehicle. Joaquin Velarde, 18, allegedly drove the Cadillac.

Velarde reportedly failed to yield and kept driving. EPCSO said he reached a dead end on Narciso Drive. Velarde and a passenger — a 16-year-old — got out of the Cadillac and allegedly left and went into the desert.

The Texas Department of Public Safety, Clint Police, Socorro Police and Horizon City Police Departments helped the sheriff’s office establish a perimeter and apprehended both people after a brief chase, EPCSO said.

Investigators learned the suspect Cadillac hit another vehicle before leaving the scene. No injuries were reported.

EPCSO said the 16-year-old passenger was referred to juvenile authorities on an evading arrest or detention charge.

Velarde was booked into the El Paso County Detention Facility on a $46,000 bond.

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Lauren Bly

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA)– District 8 City Representative Lily Limón put an item on next week’s city council agenda to vote on prohibiting the use of city and personal cell phones during work sessions and council meetings.

The proposal comes after multiple residents criticized council members during public comment for appearing distracted by their phones while constituents were speaking.

“As you look around, you do see many instances that we may just look down at our cell phone,” Limon said. “But prolonged times is a little bit different. The public is demanding, ‘Listen to me.'”

Limon said the issue is about courtesy, professionalism and public trust.

“When we’re having a conversation with someone, we look at them, we listen to them, we respond to them,” she said. “It’s just courtesy, manners, respect, professionalism. That’s what it is all about.”

Limon also cited the Texas Open Meetings Act, saying council members should avoid conducting business on personal devices because communications related to public business could be subject to open records requests.

“Why put ourselves out there? Let’s just focus on the business of the day,” she said.

The city’s Rules of Order already state that during City Council meetings and work sessions, members “shall not use any electronic devices other than the desktop computers provided by the City of El Paso located at their seats.”

Mayor Renard Johnson said in a statement that the emphasis should be on following the rules already in place rather than creating new ones.

“The focus should be on ensuring Council remains engaged, professional, and focused on conducting the public’s business, not on creating rules that already exist,” Johnson said.

Limon, however, said the existing rules are not consistently followed.

Under her proposal, council members would leave their personal phones with staff during meetings. If an emergency arises, staff would notify them.

The City Council is scheduled to consider the proposal at Tuesday’s meeting. Limon said she hopes the measure passes unanimously but is uncertain it will receive unanimous support.

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Gabrielle Lopez

LAS CRUCES, N.M. (KVIA) — Four people convicted in the deadly Young Park mass shooting are one step closer to sentencing. Thursday, a judge set key dates.

Thomas Rivas’s sentencing is scheduled for July 31 at 9 a.m. He was found guilty under the theory of depraved mind murder Feb. 16.

His younger brother, Nathan Rivas, will be sentenced Oct. 9. His guilty verdict was announced Feb. 25.

Josiah Ontiveros’ sentencing is set for Sept. 30. The jury found him guilty of depraved mind murder April 8. He’s the youngest to be convicted in the shooting.

Gustavo Dominguez filed a motion requesting a new trial, which is scheduled for Sept. 2. If the motion is denied, his sentencing will take place Sept. 11. He was found guilty July 1.

All four were convicted of three counts of first-degree murder for the March 2025 shooting. It happened during an unsanctioned car show. They each face three life sentences.

Three teenagers — 16-year-old Andrew Madrid, 17-year-old Jason Gomez and 18-year-old Dominick Estrada — died. More than a dozen other people were injured.

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Mia Tricarico

LAS CRUCES, N.M. (KVIA) — House hunting has evolved with tech-savvy tools like Zillow and Apartments.com, but for one Las Cruces family, this type of website cost them more than $1,000.

At the beginning of the family’s search for a new home, they wanted an apartment in a safe neighborhood quickly. The thought of predatory scammers didn’t cross their minds.

The family found a listing that appeared legitimate led to a costly, dangerous trap.

ABC-7 spoke with the family about how they were scammed while apartment hunting.

Marie Ontiveros, the main victim of the scam, said, “Usually when you’re renting an apartment, they’re not going to yell at you.”

These behaviors and some key red flags were what made the Ontiveros start raising eyebrows.

They told ABC-7 that the ‘landlord’ asked for a $300 “key fee” and another $100 “administrative fee” Ontiveros and her mother have both never heard of a “key fee.”

She also said that the scammers were calling from a New Jersey area code and when you search up the phone number it says potential scam.

Dan Trujillo from the Las Cruces Police Department said, “If anyone wants to do anything only online or if a landlord says they are out of town, that’s a red flag right away. If they never want to meet in person with you, that’s a huge red flag.”

It’s important to always check out properties and landlords in person.

Luckily for Ontiveros, she was able to find accommodations for the next few weeks until she moves into her legitimate apartment.

Watch the full report on Ontiveros’ experience, “Ghost Listing,” Thursday on ABC-7 at 6.

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Max Zepeda

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) — For nearly a month, much of the Borderland and the country has had growing concerns over an outbreak of cyclosporiasis, an intestinal illness caused by a microscopic parasite.

It is caused by consuming food or water that contains the parasite and is characterized by symptoms that can include watery or “explosive” diarrhea. Officials said high-risk food items include certain fruits and vegetables.

According to Angela Walla, a professor in the Department of Animal & Food Sciences at Texas Tech University, who is a microbiologist and food scientist, high-risk produce items include lettuce and salad greens.

Examples of these high-risk items include:

Bagged, re-washed, organic salads

Pre-packaged vegetable trays

Raspberries and blackberries

Basil and cilantro

Green onions

Watercress

The public is encouraged to take appropriate steps to avoid cyclospora by washing all produce thoroughly under running water before eating, cutting or cooking — regardless of whether it is pre-washed.

You should also wash your hands with soap and water before and after handling or preparing raw fruits and vegetables.

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Lauren Bly

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) — A dog named Buddy has an important job at the El Paso District Attorney’s Office.

The small therapy dog works as a victim assistance companion alongside his handler, Lorena Garcia, helping crime victims through some of the hardest moments of their lives.

“A lot of times victims come for trials here in our office with the attorneys,” Garcia said. “And I take Buddy in the room, and immediately you can see a smile.”

Garcia said Buddy’s presence helps ease tension for victims meeting with prosecutors.

“Even though they’re going through such a hard time coming here and talking to the prosecutors, as soon as they see Buddy walking in, you can see a smile,” she said. “They start playing with him and interacting with him.”

Buddy has his own work station at the office and regularly visits attorneys, paralegals and staff throughout the building.

“He’s so loved,” Garcia said. “We tour the whole second floor. I think Buddy’s providing more emotional support to all of you.”

Buddy also served during emotional victim impact statements connected to the Aug. 3 mass shooting in El Paso.

“That was hard,” Garcia said. “He was in that courtroom many, many hours. By himself, he was getting close to the people that he felt needed him.”

Garcia said Buddy is uniquely suited for the role because he was once the victim of abuse himself.

“Him being a victim of abuse and then becoming a comfort dog, a therapy dog for victims of crime — I think that’s really awesome,” she said.

Garcia first saw Buddy on television in 2020.

“We saw a picture of him hanging from an iron with a very short leash on top of a box,” she said.

El Paso Animal Services rescued Buddy and partnered with local nonprofit Laws N Paws to help rehabilitate him.

“When Buddy was taken in, he was hospitalized for an extensive amount of time,” Laws N Paws volunteer Jasmine Gallardo said. “He was able to receive procedures and any type of treatment needed for him to heal.”

Gallardo said Buddy’s case began as neglect and escalated into abuse.

“At some point he was out there for such an extensive amount of time that the owner should have realized what was happening,” she said. “The owner was choosing to ignore it, which is where they were charged with animal abuse.”

Court records show Buddy’s former owner, Lupe Amalia Rodriguez, was charged with cruelty to non-livestock animals. She was ordered to pay fines and served several days in jail.

Garcia later delivered Buddy’s victim impact statement in court.

“I stood and I spoke on his behalf,” she said. “From being abused by her at her house, now Buddy is a therapy dog at the district attorney’s office.”

After completing rehabilitation through Laws N Paws, Buddy was recommended for therapy dog training after the DA’s office reached out looking for a therapy animal.

“It was because of his demeanor and also his size,” Gallardo said. “He is a smaller guy.”

Buddy passed his therapy dog exams and was officially sworn in at the DA’s office, with Garcia volunteering to become his handler.

“I feel very honored and very happy to be here,” Garcia said. “I guess it was meant to be.”

Garcia said Buddy still struggles with some trauma.

“He hears loud noises, he gets scared, and I just calm him down,” she said.

But despite that, Buddy has become a success story.

“He’s totally a success story,” Garcia said.

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Heriberto Perez Lara

SANTA TERESA, N.M. (KVIA) — Agriculture officials, international trade representatives and other leaders from Chihuahua, Mexico, Texas and New Mexico met in Santa Teresa Thursday to discuss challenges the cross-border cattle trade is facing with New World screwworm in the region.

It’s been nearly two years since the U.S.-Mexico border has been closed to live cattle and livestock imports into the U.S. due to the spread of the New World Screwworm and this has halted and crippled all cattle business in the area.

Experts say this has also disrupted the supply chain, as local businesses have been facing inventory shortages while Mexico also works to stop the spread of the parasite.

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins made the order and she has also announced a phased, risk-based reopening of ports for cattle, bison and horses to resume trade soon.

The New Mexico Border Authority (NMBA) hosted the NW Screwworm summit in Santa Teresa today, where local leadership from El Paso, Juárez, New Mexico and even from the cattle and livestock business from both sides of the border agreed to take further steps and find solutions for this problem in the region.

“There are two issues, one is the reopening of the border that obviously has to be dealt with between both federal governments, but also dealing with the flies at the local level and that’s the other part,” said Gerardo Fierro, Executive Director of the New Mexico Department of Agriculture. “For the reopening of the border, it has to be between USDA and Senasica (Servicio Nacional de Sanidad, Inocuidad y Calidad Agroalimentaria) and then how the states, the livestock ports can also help meet those requirements, those protocols, so that cattle from Mexico crosses into the U.S. again.”

Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller said they want to use the Screwworm Adult Suppression System (SWASS), a USDA-developed toxic bait designed to reduce wild New World screwworm populations quickly. It works by using a synthetic attractant (Swormlure) to draw in adult flies, combined with a feeding bait and insecticide to kill them before they can lay eggs in any animal wounds.

According to the Texas Agriculture Commission, this is how SWASS could fight the outbreak:

Integrated strategy: Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller and livestock advocates are urgently lobbying the USDA to pair SWASS with the existing Sterile Insect Technique (SIT).

Immediate Knockdown: SWASS can eliminate up to 85% to 95% of adult wild flies in targeted areas within weeks.

There’s also a problem with SIT Alone: while the USDA is dropping millions of sterile flies to stop the parasite from breeding, scaling up production can take months to years. Commissioner Miller argues SWASS is needed to immediately knock down the population while sterile flies complete the eradication process.

“We should be deploying the SWASS system, the fly bait first and then following up with the sterile flies,” said Commissioner Miller. “I think everyone here today learned something. I know I did and about the fly bait, we did discuss it is very cheap compared to producing 500 million flies a week, that takes a billion dollar facility.”

“We are in an education listening mode today, especially the City of El Paso, where we have to make sure that we are in communication with our partners in Juárez and as well as the County of El Paso, to make sure that we are prepared, as County Judge Samaniego said, to have a strategy in place to handle this situation if it does continue to move our direction; hopefully doesn’t conitnue to do that,” said El Paso Mayor Renard Johnson. “The New World Screwworm situation has crippled our cattle industry here in the border region.”

“For us, this relationship is so important that we are the ones convening this meeting, precisely to take proactive measures. In our municipal government activities, we have sought to focus on prevention before any situation arises that might cause alarm,” said Juárez Mayor Héctor Ortíz Orpinel. “The communication we maintain, the ability to create the necessary conditions to have the right tools in the event of a contingency, and the ongoing dialogue among various parties on both sides of the border, I believe, all of this will greatly help us prepare.”

“Naturally, we are also in communication with the Mexican federal government, whose support we always deeply appreciate, seeking not merely a standard Mexican government-to- US government interaction, but rather ensuring they understand the situation as we are experiencing it here in Juárez and, of course, in the other cities,” Mayor Ortíz Orpinel added.

All government and nongovernment participants signed a memorandum of understanding saying they will:

Protect animal health and strengthen agricultural economies.

Improve surveillance, early detection, and rapid information sharing.

Coordinate prevention, containment, and eradication efforts.

Support science-based innovation and proven technologies.

Promote secure and resilient cross-border agricultural commerce.

Encourage continued partnership among governments, producers, veterinarians, researchers and industry.

They also committed to:

Establish ongoing technical cooperation.

Maintain regular communication and coordination.

Convene future binational meetings to review progress and emerging risks.

Develop recommendations that strengthen regional preparedness and response.

Work together to protect agriculture, animal health and the future of the U.S.-Mexico border region.

More meetings are set to be held soon.

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