Category: kvia-local-news

Gabrielle Lopez

LAS CRUCES, N.M. (KVIA) — A 17-year-old pleaded guilty to second-degree murder on Monday for the shooting death of a 21-year-old during a house party in Las Cruces, the Third Judicial District Attorney’s Office announced.

Kenneth Perez also pleaded guilty to three counts of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon for shooting three other teens during the party in November 2025.

The shooting happened after a fight broke out during the party on the 2400 block of Bugatti Drive. During the fight, Perez fired several rounds and hit four people, including Lance Chavez.

Perez, who was 16 at the time, shot Chavez eight times, the district attorney’s office said. First responders did CPR at the scene, but Chavez died.

The three other victims went to the hospital for treatment, the district attorney’s office said. Authorities identified them as a 19-year-old man, an 18-year-old woman and a 17-year-old girl.

Before sentencing, the court will conduct a hearing to determine whether Perez will be sentenced as an adult or is amenable to the juvenile justice system, officials said.

The district attorney’s office said it’s seeking a 27-year adult sentence for Perez.

If he isn’t sentenced as an adult, Perez may be amenable to treatment or rehabilitation in the juvenile justice system.

His plea on Monday was part of a change-of-plea hearing.

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Gabrielle Lopez

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) — Artificial intelligence is changing how people work and learn. The University of Texas at El Paso College of Education gathered more than 100 leaders on Tuesday to shape A.I.’s future in El Paso’s education.

“Conversations about AI focus so much on the technology and platforms being utilized, but we know that at the end of the day it is our people we need to focus on,” said Clifton Tanabe, the College of Education’s dean.

Through the Built Here Summit, leaders discussed how the El Paso region can make an A.I. framework to prepare students and workers for the future economy, UTEP said.

“There’s something unique about the way in which we do work,” Tanabe said. “I think that’s something we can lean into. We’re certainly doing it right now, and we’ve done it in other areas. In education, for example, we’ve created the leading pipeline in teacher preparation right here in El Paso.”

Workforce leaders from Microsoft and Workforce Solutions Borderplex spoke at the summit about practices and policies businesses use to protect workers from being displaced by A.I.

“AI is a tool for educators and students to use; it cannot teach,” said Catherine Tabor, president of the Computer Science Teachers Association. “Educators are still needed in the classroom to introduce students to the pursuit of knowledge and a love of learning.”

Tanabe said it’s important to make sure humans are in the center of work.

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Gabrielle Lopez

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) — Circle K is bringing back a fuel discount to its pumps Thursday. Inner Circle Members can get up to 40 cents off each gallon of gas at some El Paso locations, a spokesperson said.

From 12:01 a.m. to 11:59 p.m., members can redeem the discount at the pump or inside a Circle K store checkout.

Circle K said customers must be a registered member. Once they’re a member, they can enter their associated phone number at checkout to apply the discount.

If you’re not an Inner Circle member, the company said customers can sign up for free by downloading the Circle K app. You can also text JOIN to 25050.

You can find the closest participating location using this website.

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Mia Tricarico

LAS CRUCES, N.M. (KVIA) — New Mexico Senators are hosting a legislative listening session to address Project Jupiter in Doña Ana County on Tuesday. Residents can listen and ask questions about air permits, water usage, job opportunities and economic development related to the planned data center.

County residents can attend the hearing at the New Mexico State University Corbett Center Student Union in the third floor ballroom from 6-8 p.m. Doors open at 5:30 p.m.

State Senators Carries Hamblen, Joseph Cervantes, Bill Soules and Jeff Steinborn will attend and hear public feedback.

Residents have previously expressed their opposition against the data center planned for Santa Teresa, New Mexico. Oracle, one of the data center’s leaders, said it will bring $4.7 billion in economic benefits and thousands of jobs during and after construction.

Also on Tuesday, Oracle announced a new water-saving initiative to make up for Project Jupiter’s water use.

Tuesday’s listening session gives residents a direct platform to present their concerns and ask lawmakers how state oversight might factor into the project moving forward.

“It was the most concerning for me when there was a requirement to sign an NDA by the county.”

That was the exact moment when District 38 Senator Carrie Hamblen was confident that Project Jupiter was a bad idea.

” I can see why the county looked at this project is like something that would fix a lot of things that they are struggling to try and repair. But when the NDA came into play is when I started having red flags, because it was just when you are signing an NDA, it’s because you don’t want information out there.”

The Senators fielded questions for over two hours from concerned residents who voiced anxieties over the burdens future generations might face, including soaring utility bills, limited local job opportunities, environmental degradation, and a persistent lack of transparency surrounding the project.

Responding with empathy and shared concern, the Senators shifted focus toward the scale of the developer’s outreach. They asked the audience how many had seen social media sponsorships or advertisements for Project Jupiter.

Hands shot up across the room.

When they followed up by asking how many had encountered campaign workers stationed outside local grocery stores, virtually every hand in the room rose once again.

The Senators warned that Project Jupiter is deploying a highly coordinated, “strategic campaign,” adding a stark caution: representatives from Oracle were likely monitoring the event and sitting among the crowd in the conference room.

“Honestly I want to put the most faith in the Senators, I know i just have to put all my faith and hope in them, that they do something, and they at least listen to our voice, because obviously the County didn’t.” Said Iliana Perez Doña Ana County Resident.

Senator Carrie Hamblen pointed out a broader pattern in technology developments, arguing that companies specifically target vulnerable areas.

“What we see with data centers is that they go into communities that they feel have very few resources, so that they can exploit them.” Said Hamblen.

When asked by ABC-7 how she felt about standing up to tech giants like Oracle, Hamblen remained steadfast.

“I don’t care what they think. No, this is this is the community that I’ve lived in for over 30 years. There are people who are genuinely good people, who have had families there for generations who care about that and want to stay there. And when they have the threat of a data center coming in and destroying their environment, they have every right to make sure that their voice is heard and that we act on it as state legislators.”

Due to time constraints, some attendees were unable to address the panel directly. The Senators encouraged anyone with remaining questions to scan the QR code on the event cards to submit their name, email, and comments for official review.

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Max Zepeda

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) — The El Paso Independent School District Board of Trustees voted unanimously Tuesday to postpone voting on $480 million of bond propositions for infrastructure improvements to its campuses, to the May 2027 special election.

According to the EPISD’s Citizens’ Bond Steering Committee, who is overseeing the bonds, they argued Tuesday that the public has simply “lost trust” in EPISD, noting the district’s financial exigency in June as a primary reason for doubt.

However, there is still great faith among the committee, that trust will be regained from the public and the much needed funding will be provided to schools district-wide.

“We cannot honestly go to a November election knowing that it would cost $200 to $300,000 of our taxpayer dollars to put that on the bond, knowing that the data shows that the voter sentiment isn’t there,” said Georgina Williams, the committe’s chair following Tuesday’s meeting.

According to EPISD, these propositions would be focused on bringing updated cooling systems and other improvements.

The district said officials plan to present three bond options to the board. They range from about $208 million to around $481 million. Documents show that each presentation has four propositions.

According to an EPISD presentation, the first option totals $208,937,257. This option is the cheapest, with the money going toward transportation, safety, replacing cooling and others.

Option two totals $445,804,136. The majority of this option would go to deferred maintenance and replacing cooling, documents said.

The third option totals $480,804,136. This is the only option with a tax rate increase, which is 0.01, documents said. It includes money for cooling, portable classrooms, transportation, playground and other amenities.

If approved, the proposals could start the process for the district to further address its needs and improvements.

Tuesday’s meeting comes less than a week after the board appointed two temporary trustees for Districts 6 and 7: Matthew Reza and Brian Kelly. The two districts represent much of Northwest El Paso and the Upper Valley.

The special election is scheduled for May 1, 2027.

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Gabrielle Lopez

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) — Soldiers and local law enforcement will compete in a military competition in Fort Bliss Aug. 22-24. The Pershing Best Observer Coach Trainer Competition brings observer controller trainers from the entire U.S. Army to show off their skills in military trainings.

Command Sergeant Major Deondre Long said this is the first time the Pershing Cup will take place on Fort Bliss.

He said participants can expect physical and mental challenges testing them in different areas of military trainings. Some include tasks with drones and navigation, Long said.

“At the end of this competition, I hope they’ll be better soldiers returning back to their formations,” Long said. “They build morale, they build a comradery.”

Command Sergeant Major Christopher Abrahamson said 46 soldiers and two participants from local SWAT teams will compete.

Long said the goal is to bring the Pershing Cup back to Fort Bliss. This will be the third annual competition.

While soldiers and law enforcement compete, visitors can cheer them on, buy from food trucks and enjoy a DJ performance.

Visit El Paso said the event will start Aug. 22 from 8:30-10:30 a.m. at 11685 Sergeant Major Blvd. with free admission.

Fort Bliss officials said competitors will earn their scores Aug. 22, which will contribute to their final rankings in the overall competition. The competition will continue for two more days and end with a mystery-length ruck march.

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Heriberto Perez Lara

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) — Tuesday, U.S. Congresswoman Veronica Escobar announced some Socorro, Texas, warehouses bought by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will instead go to the U.S. General Services Administration.

“I’m pleased to announce that the Department of Homeland Security has transferred the Socorro warehouses to the General Services Administration (GSA). This means the warehouses will be put up for sale and they will no longer be used by the federal government for detention purposes,” Rep. Escobar said in a press release.

In March, an ICE spokesperson told ABC-7 the agency bought property in Socorro to build “well-structured detention facilities” to hold up to 8,500 detainees.

By June, the Department of Homeland Security changed its plans to use the property as an ICE campus with offices, conference rooms and a privately-owned detention facility, Rep. Escobar said.

A DHS spokesperson sent ABC-7 the following statement on the warehouse announcement:

“From day one, DHS has remained singularly focused on removing the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens from the United States and is always evaluating the best methods to do so. These heinous criminals, once arrested, should be removed at lightning speed, not housed on American soil at the taxpayer’s expense. DHS is moving swiftly to utilize EXISTING detention space with our state and county partners.”

ABC-7 also reached out to the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) for comment; an agency spokesperson said that they are working to provide us with a response.

The Mayor of Socorro, Rudy Cruz Jr., also issued the following statement:

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Carpio Griego

LAS CRUCES, N.M. (KVIA) — New Mexico State University Associate Professor Stephanie Walker earned a $759,000 grant for research to develop a new strain of green chile that’s resistant to a damaging disease.

The goal of the project is to create a strain of green chile that is resistant to Phytophthora capsici, a disease Walker says can lead to root rot.

One of Walker’s collaborators at NMSU, Denise Coon, told ABC-7 the disease is soil born and moves with water to any part of the chile. It can kill the entire crop, which has been an issue in the Southwest for more than a century.

Walker and her team at NMSU found what issues to focus on by directly to industry growers and the team knows what traits they want in this new green chile.

Specifically maintaining the shape and heat level after crossing with the bell peppers but also not sacrificing the flavor for innovation either.

“New Mexico green chile is renowned for its amazing unique flavor, so we don’t want to lose that during this process,” Walker said.

Mechanization deals with labor issues, Walker said that aspect is to address labor issues like getting enough people to pick enough of the crop before the window for peak ripeness closes which Walker says is something that has been an issue since the 90’s.

“Many years ago when the chili taskforce was first formed in 1998 labor issues became a key concern of the industry in New Mexico when they saw the writing on the wall,” Walker said. “It was harder to get people out of the field to pick what needs to be picked in a relatively short window to get that green chili before it starts turning red.”

The team is partnering with Cornell University vegetable breeder Michael Mazourek. His team has done similar work with a strain of bell peppers which presented the idea to Walker to cross breed the two plants.

Even though as Walker said, the tighter linkage of genes in chili peppers can make developing that same resistance harder.

“So we thought, hey, why don’t we combine forces,” Walker said. “Let’s get your protocol for developing Phytophthora resistant chilies with our mechanical harvest breeding and come up with something that we have both that we cannot provide to the industry.”

The project plan involves cross-breeding the bell peppers with the green chiles. The Cornell team will handle most of the lab testing while the NMSU team handles most of the field testing.

Walker told ABC-7 the first cross breeding will not lead to much diversity, which is something she says doesn’t start showing up until the second or third generation of cross breeding before moving onto the field testing where all the samples will be protected from outside pollinators like bees where the team will pick the plants that have what they’re looking for.

Mechanization is something Walker believes is something the world of agriculture in first world countries like the U.S. will have to embrace due to the changing world.

“I absolutely think here in the United States and other developed nations we have to mechanize,” Walker said. “There’s absolutely no way that we’re going to be able to continue to get the labor force that we need to harvest delicate fruits and vegetables in this country going forward.”

This aspect will also be subject to field testing, the NMSU team looking to use their equipment to simulate the mechanical harvest looking to be able to do two harvests without dropping, damaging, or running over any of the product with Walker saying it is not one size fits all when it comes to machines in the field.

“I know many people think that if you get the right machine you can pick anything, it absolutely isn’t so,” Walker said. “You really need to match the picking mechanism with the plant architecture. So we specifically worked on green chili varieties that have the architecture that feeds into the machine very efficiently.”

Walker’s grant came from the national Institute of Food and Agriculture, with the partnership between the schools also meaning graduate students will cross train at the two universities.

Those at NMSU will go to Cornell to study the lab progress and those at Cornell will come to NMSU to study the progress being made in the field trials.

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Gabrielle Lopez

SANTA TERESA, N.M. (KVIA) — Tuesday, Oracle announced a new partnership to conserve more water than what the Project Jupiter data center uses in New Mexico. The new initiative is expected to save 21 million gallons of water a year, Oracle said.

With the company Arable, Oracle said it expects to save more than 20 times the amount of water needed to run cooling and power systems at Project Jupiter near Santa Teresa. The work will take place in the Rio Grande-Bravo watershed, which is the same watershed that serves the data center.

Arable, an agricultural technology company that aims to help farmers use water more efficiently, Oracle said.

“Our approach to water in New Mexico is simple: use water as efficiently as possible in our operations, then invest in practical, local projects that improve local water infrastructure, conservation, and availability for the community,” said Scott Twaddle, senior vice president, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.

The program will use sensors in the field to track data specific to growers’ irrigation systems and crops, Oracle said. Sensors track crop water needs and weather conditions.

Oracle said the sensors help farmers calculate water use based on current conditions instead of fixed schedules.

Arable will train growers use the new data tracking, Oracle said.

“This program will help growers reduce unnecessary irrigation, maintain productive farms, and preserve more water for New Mexico’s communities and the environment,” said Jim Ethington, Arable’s CEO.

Arable’s new partnership with Oracle is the latest investment in connection to Project Jupiter water use. There has also been a $50 million commitment to improve local water and wastewater systems in Doña Ana County, Oracle said.

In June, Oracle announced an update to the data center’s energy plan with fuel cell technology. The data center originally had plans to sue gas turbines and diesel generators. Oracle said fuel cells make electricity without combustion, which lowers emissions and water use.

Oracle said Project Jupiter is expected to bring $4.7 billion in economic benefits, create 7,000 construction jobs and 1,500 ongoing jobs.

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Olivia Vara

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) — El Paso Electric crews reported damage to transmission structures and fiber optic communications lines, according to EPE Communication Technician Eddie Trevizo.

Trevizo described the incidents as vandalism of infrastructure the community relies on daily.

Pictures of damaged El Paso Electric equipment.

He said the targeted systems are essential public safety systems that keep power flowing to homes, hospitals and businesses.

Trevizo also said the men and women who build, maintain and repair the equipment respond at all hours and in all conditions. Some even worked overnight to repair the damage.

“Whatever our views on energy policy or local projects, violence and destruction are never acceptable responses,” he wrote.

He called on the community to condemn vandalism of critical infrastructure and keep the public conversation focused on facts, safety and respect.

El Paso Electric said, “While this event did not affect electric service to customers, damage to utility infrastructure can create significant safety risks and has the potential to impact the reliability of essential services.”

Courtesy: Eddie Trevizo

Courtesy: Eddie Trevizo

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