Traveling shows extend showcase opportunities for tattoo artists

By |

Stephanie “Chilindrina” Simon spends her time expressing herself through tattoos in her Lakewood, Colo., studio and placing her works of art on people’s bodies. She began her art as a hobby, eventually earned an internship and now expresses herself with tattoos. “I saw the opportunity for an apprenticeship and took it,” she said from her home. “Since then it really has become my world completely. The apprenticeship was difficult but once I had established a clientele base things started taking off and it became smoother as a profession to me.”

Simon, who is heavily tattooed, was one of 150 tattoo artists at the recent Star City Tattoo And Arts Expo at the El Paso Convention and Performing Arts Center.

EPFD provides free smoke alarms

By |

One week after a woman lost her life in a house fire on Caballo Lake Drive in East El Paso in March,firefighters were knocking on doors in the neighborhood. A crew of representatives from El Paso Fire Department’s Community Risk Reduction Division dropped off flyers and pamphlets detailing fire safety tips, as well as information regarding the city’s smoke alarm program. “Smoke alarms are a tool and they play a big part in that they are a first-line of defense to alarm residents that something is happening in the home, especially when they’re asleep,” said Lt. James Schaerfl with the Community Risk Reduction section of EPFD. The effort was part of a program called Return to the Scene, where firefighters return to residential areas after a fire to raise awareness on prevention and safety measures. They offer to perform inspections of homes and install smoke alarms.

“The best smoke alarms in the world don’t put out any fires, so we want no fires to take place in the first place, which is why prevention is always first,” Schaerfl said.

Mexican Gray Wolf slowly making its way back to Texas

By |

Four decades ago, Rick LoBello discovered his life’s passion as he watched several wildlife experts capture an endangered Mexican wolf in South Texas for a preservation project. “When I saw one of the last wild Mexican wolves in 1978 I began my quest to help save the species and to help return it to the wilds of Texas,” said LoBello, educational curator at the El Paso Zoo. At the height of its time, the Mexican Gray Wolf could be seen in abundant numbers. According to the Gray Wolf Conservation, between 250,000 and 500,000 wild wolves lived in harmony with Native Americans. “Not many people know this, but the last Mexican wolf in Texas was actually killed near Big Bend National Park which was near where I lived.”

Boxing champion Jennifer Han fights for equality in prize money payouts

By |

El Paso is a boxing mad city. It always has been. The Sun City has hosted great boxers like Erik Morales, Fernando Vargas and Oscar De La Hoya over the years. But, El Paso has only ever had one world champion to call its own. Recently, IBF World Featherweight Champion Jennifer Han (17-3-1, 1 KO) won her seventh fight in a row – her sixth successful title defense.

Disease that is killing bats making its way through Texas, heading west towards Carlsbad Caverns

By |

More than seven million hibernating bats were killed by a disease known as white-nose syndrome in 2006 and the disease shows no sign of abating, threatening Texas bats, officials said. Area bats, which play an important role in our society eating pesky insects and pollinating plants, have not caught the disease. However, bats in Central Texas have shown signs of the disease lately, said Rick LoBello, educational curator at the El Paso Zoo. The disease “travels about 200 miles a year,” said Rod Horrocks, a cave management specialist at Carlsbad Caverns National Park said. It is inevitable area bats will contract the disease in coming years, LoBello said.

El Paso Water works to encourage restaurants to conserve with its seal of approval

By |

El Paso Water has been working on conservation programs for residents for nearly 20 years. Since the start of the initiative in the 1990s, per capita consumption has been reduced by over 20 percent, according to research by the utility. Although EPW said every resident’s conservation effort is important, the companyt is now concentrating conservation efforts on encouraging restaurants and businesses to reduce their water use. “We found that about 15 percent of the water use from the commercial sector comes from hospitality and the food service industry,” Christina Montoya, communications and marketing manager for El Paso Water, said. In May of 2017, Montoya and her team developed the idea to recognize restaurants that have been successful in conservation by deeming them as Certified Water Partners.

TimesUp and MeToo movements encourage dialogue on UTEP campus

By |

In recent months, national news has reported on multiple cases of sexual assault and inappropriate behavior toward women by famous men in a variety of professions, from Hollywood to sports, the political arena, and even the news media. At the same time, little has been published about the #MeToo movement in academia. But campus crime statistics shed light on the existence of sexual assault on students, primarily women.A 2017 survey by the University of Texas System shows that around 20 percent of students have reported sexual assault incidents and 7 percent of those incidents reported by students were rape-related.The UT study, Cultivating Learning and Safe Environments survey, was released as the #MeToo and #Time’sUp movements were gathering steam across the country.The survey also showed results from UT Austin which revealed that in 2016, 28 percent of undergraduate women had been victims of unwanted sexual touching, 12 percent had experienced an attempted rape, and 15 percent had been raped. According to UTEP’s CLERY statistics report released Oct.1, 2017 and included in the UT survey, in 2016 UTEP had the highest number of reported rapes in three years, with three occurring in on-campus property and two in student housing. There was one rape reported on campus in 2015, and none reported for 2014.UTEP has responded in its own way to the national conversation about sexual assault and inappropriate sexual behavior with their own take on the #TimesUp movement by creating a gallery in honor of the movement.Dr. Guillermina Núñez, the director of the Women’s Studies Department at UTEP and a professor of sociology for 13 years, says that she has personally learned of the stories of some students severely affected in their personal and academic lives because of previous experiences of sexual assault.”When people have been sexually assaulted there is usually a lot of shame, fear, and stigma about these interactions,” Núñez said.The Golden Globes ceremony in January in which prominent actresses like Oprah Winfrey, Nicole Kidman, and Reese Witherspoon publicly supported the Time’s Up movement, motivated UTEP’s Coordinator of Campus Engagement Activities Mallory Garcia to increase awareness of the issue through a campus-wide activity, a reception at the Union Gallery in late January that supported the Time’s Up movement.”We wanted to provide a platform and an opportunity for the students here at UTEP to kind of bring Time’s Up to UTEP and figure out what it could look like here on campus, what conversations can we have, what actions can we take, what can we do here to make Time’s Up a local thing and not just something that we see on TV,” Garcia said during the #TimesUP event on campus.The reception showcased a wall that would let visitors write what they thought about the movement and what would be the next step for the university.”I want to show support to all the women who are not afraid to tell men to stop harassing and hurting them,” was one comment printed on the gallery’s wall.More solidarity with #TimesUP is on the drawing board during April Sexual Assault Awareness Month and the Student Engagement and Leadership Center is one of several campus departments in charge of planning events for the last week of this month.A Resource Fair is planned for the students on April 25 as well as the annual Denim Day Fashion Show.

Old fire station converted to welcome center to teach fire safety

By |

The El Paso Fire Department has created an educational and welcoming environment through their Safety and Health Outreach Center, SHOC for short. The SHOC is located in the Central part of town, at 5415 Trowbridge Drive. First established in 1953 as Fire Station No. 13, The building was an active fire station for over 60 years until 2014 when the station ceased operations and merged with the newly built Fire Station No. 5 at 400 Revere St.

Wrestling takes Sin Cara from El Paso’s Segundo Barrio to WWE stardom

By |

 El Pasoan Jorge Arias has been called by many names. The name the masked professional wrestler goes by now is Sin Cara, or without face in English. Before he was able to settle on his current moniker, there was Mistico – his original masked luchador persona that attained a measure of fame across Mexico in the early 2000’s that seemed downright meteoric. Then there was Mistico and Mistico de Juarez following the first of many harsh professional wrestling lessons for then 27-year-old Arias. While working for Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (Consejo) in Mexico City, the company trademarked the name Mistico, meaning that the only name that Arias had ever wrestled under, the name that he created – “Mystic of a religious nature” – was no longer his.

Youth football injuries can stay with children well after wins and losses

By |

As a football player, Ed Stansbury led El Paso’s Irvin High School to four district championships, was named MVP by the El Paso Times and the El Paso Herald-Post, won a bowl game with UCLA and then went on to play three years in the NFL for the Houston Texans and Seattle Seahawks. But he said if he had the choice to do it all over again and relive his glory days on the field, he probably wouldn’t. “I’ve been 10 years away from football, but it’s now that I’m feeling all the effects,” Stansbury said. “I read about the symptoms that I’m suffering from now—loss of memory, short-term memory, things aren’t coming to me as quick anymore and I blank out sometimes.”

Now, Stansbury is the director of operations for the Greater El Paso Football Showcase, where he gives speeches to El Paso football players and helps them along the way in their careers. He also provides expert analysis for high school football on KTSM Channel 9’s Overtime show.

Skipping out on bar, restaurant tabs hurts more than people realize, service workers say

By |

A January episode of Live PD in El Paso captured an issue that bars and restaurants wish people knew more about. “I paid one tab he was supposed to pay the other tab. The guy in the dreads was supposed to pay the other tab.” the man told El Paso Police Officer Melendez in the video. “So you kept drinking, thinking they were going to pay,” Melendez asked, as the man was being arrested. It turns out when you least expect it, someone will walk out on their bill, said Sabrina Medina, a bartender at Beach Bar, 6920 Delta.

Marijuana use, litter problems spike at scenic mountain spots

By |

EL PASO – The Franklin Mountains feature some of the Borderland’s most prominent scenic areas. With great views overlooking El Paso’s valleys, Downtown and Juarez, Mexico, it is a popular destination for El Pasoans and travelers alike. Runners and cyclists share the road with residents and tourists along the Rim Road route to Scenic Drive, where you can stand in one spot and see three states and two nations. Families and friends stroll through Tom Lea Park. There, an obelisk marks the southernmost point of the Rocky Mountains in the U.S.

But not everyone appreciates the view and moves on.

China’s tougher recycling laws put squeeze on Borderland’s blue bins

By |

El Pasoans are mixing too much trash with their curbside recycling, so officers from the city’s Environmental Services Department are checking bins to insure residents are in compliance. The crackdown comes as recycling costs have skyrocketed due to contaminated materials. Last year China, which is considered the world’s largest consumer of recyclables, told the World Trade Organization that it no longer will accept any sub-standard solid waste, including soiled popular recyclable items like plastic and paper. The new policy went into effect on Jan. 1 and is having a big impact on U.S. recyclers.

Love JRZ dando un giro a la otra realidad Juarence

By |

La asociación Love JRZ comenzó hace tres años combatiendo la publicidad que los medios le daban a Ciudad Juárez como “La Ciudad Más Peligrosa Del Mundo”, por medio de eventos y campañas publicitarias para unificar a los Juarences y cambiar la imagen de la ciudad. Entre estos proyectos, trajeron conciertos anuales en el centro, crearon campañas donde involucraban la participación ciudadana entre otros. A pesar de la inseguridad, Luis Fernando Rodríguez, el presidente de Love JRZ y socio fundador de la empresa de publicidad Big Media, creó la asociación civil Love JRZ en el 2015. A si mismo, Big Media fueron los proveedores de recursos económicos para impulsar esta asociación.. “Originalmente la idea era hacer como una bandera algo que fuera bonito, que fuera diferente, no nomas que dijera ¡Arriba Juárez!.

Fire department program delivers free vaccines to keep flu from spreading

By |

The El Paso Fire Department is promoting community wellness through its Vaccinations for Health program to fight the flu. The department sponsored seven events this spring, extending additional dates due to the high demand for vaccinations, officials said. Last month, five events were open to the public at the Safety & Health Outreach Center, in Central El Paso. The Vaccinations for Health program is a collaboration between the El Paso Fire Department and the El Paso Department of Public Health, according to the company’s mission statement. “We started the outreach in actual clinics in October 2014, but three years before that, there was a lot of administrative work, getting the money, outlining how the program was going to be delivered,” said El Paso Fire Department Deputy Chief Robert Arvizu.

Broken records highlight Michael Saruni’s early track career

By |

The 2018 indoor campaign was a breakout season for UTEP distance runner Michael Saruni. As a sophomore, the Kenya native has a national title and has broken several facility, school, and world records. “I prepare well and focus every time out. Nothing to fear just go for it,” Saruni said. “I have nothing to complain about, it’s been great.

El Paso voter turnout small, but strongly behind sending Veronica Escobar to Congress

By |

Former El Paso County Judge Veronica Escobar won a landslide victory in the March 6 Democratic primary for Texas’ 16thCongressional District. Escobar took more than 61 percent of the vote in a six-person race. Second-place finisher Dori Fenenbock, the former El Paso Independent School District board president, had 22 percent of the vote. “Words cannot describe how humbled and grateful I am. I am privileged to be your Democratic nominee, privileged to be your candidate,” Escobar wrote to supporters the day after the election.

Fast and subtle, police using partially marked cars to target aggressive drivers

By |

EL PASO – Roadside signs might declare friendly driving is the Texas way, but not everyone seems to get the message. That’s why the El Paso Police Department has been using partially marked vehicles to track down aggressive drivers, said Robert Gomez, public information officer for EPPD. Aggressive driving includes speeding, changing lanes without signaling and tailgating another vehicle. “The officers who are assigned to these vehicles are required to take training on what to look out for when they’re out there,” Gomez said. EPPD began introducing the cars, then known as “road rage” vehicles, to their fleet of traffic vehicles in 2004 as part of a pilot program.

El Paso basketball brothers scoring a lot of college teams’ interest

By |

Just a few years after turning out two future NFL players who were brothers, an El Paso high school is gaining attention from college basketball scouts looking at another set of standout siblings. Burges High School basketball players Jawaun and Tristen Newton are the talk of the town and also with college coaches as they are hot prospects for Division I teams.

When the Newtons started playing for the Mustangs together, they finished 86-11 in their career – a whopping 90 percent winning percentage – and have won several district titles and have reached back-to-back regional tournaments. Jawaun, who is 6’3″ is a senior and Tristen, who is one year younger, is a 6’4″ junior. The brothers began playing together on the varsity squad in 2015. Burges was known as a football school prior to the Newton brothers’ arrival.

UTEP’s pride, Will Hernandez, readies for NFL Combine

By |

Despite UTEP’s first winless season, there’s been one constant bright spot—former offensive lineman Will Hernandez. After showing what Hernandez can do with the nation’s best seniors at 2018 Reese’s Senior Bowl, the back-to-back All-American received an invite to Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis to compete at the 2018 NFL Scouting Combine. The combine will run from March 2 to March 5. Offensive lineman workouts will be on the first day of the Combine on March 2. All the action can be caught live on the NFL Network.

Harsh El Paso landscape ideal for Middle East deployment training

By |

EL PASO – The Fort Bliss Army Installation in this far west Texas city is considered one of the best possible locations for combat training in the United States because its harsh desert climate and terrain are near perfect simulations of deployment locations in some Middle East countries like Afghanistan and Iraq. Frequent near-blinding dust storms and blazing heat are among the weather conditions prevalent in the area surrounding Fort Bliss as well as in Afghanistan and Iraq where the U.S. currently has 11,000 combat troops. Soldiers of the 2nd Battalion 3rd Brigade Field Artillery (2-3FA) recently participated in air assault training in a desert clearing off Route Grey in Fort Bliss in northeast El Paso. Fort Bliss is the largest installation in the United States Army Forces Command (FORSCOM) with an area of about 1,700 square miles. According to facts from Military Installations, there are 27,132 active duty soldiers at Fort Bliss.

Internships critical for college students to gain edge in job market

By |

The U.S. unemployment rate at 4.4 percent is at its lowest level in 10 years. The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates there are more than 6.2 million job openings. But just because there are jobs doesn’t mean that graduating college students are guaranteed work. One thing that can hurt graduating students’ chances of getting a job is the lack of an internship on their resume. Internships can demonstrate that students gained on-site and hands-on experience in their field of study.

El campo armado no es solo combate y guerra

By |

FORT BLISS, Texas – El campo armado en El Paso ofrece interesantes programas y actividades de ejercicio para quitar el estrés de los soldados después de varias horas de practicar en guerra. “Me encanta que lleguen los sabados o viernes, ya que me gusta tanto bailar y nos dan noches de salsa, me hace sentir en casa”, dijo Sargento Alon Humphrey, un especialista de relaciones publicas. Fort Bliss ofrece el programa “Group Exercise Schedule” todos los dias de la semana, desde 6:30 de la mañana hasta las 8 p.m., las clases que ofrecen son indoor cycling, yoga, body pump, turbo kick, warrior bootcamp, tone & trim, stroller off stress, total gym, water aerobics float & flows, y muchas mas. Fort Bliss tambien cuenta con sus propias canchas deportivas como el basquetbol y soccer. El Sargento Emanuel L. Ortiz hablo un poco mas a fondo sobre estas actividades para los soldados.“El ejercito y la base Fort Bliss ofrece bastantes deportes y actividades sociales para que se puedan hacer los fines de semana viernes, sabado y domingo, las actividades de hacer ejercisio estan abiertas todos los fines de semana, desde las 9 de la noche hasta las 5-7 de la mañana, tambien ofrece varias excursiones como visitas a parques o hasta clases de yoga y de pintar.

UTEP strives to give students an ‘Edge’ before and after graduation

By |

The University of Texas at El Paso offers a vast array of services to students that will not only help them while in school but to prepare them for lifelong success as well. Besides course work, UTEP further prepares students by providing research experiences, creative activities, study abroad, student employment, and student internships, among others. This fall semester, UTEP gathered all of these activities under a new initiative called UTEP Edge, which helps students get involved in school and in their career planning by focusing on research projects and extracurricular activities while they are enrolled. “The Edge is really centered around three core statements which are talented students, enriching experiences, and lifelong success,” Marc Cox, director of the Center for Faculty Leadership and Development, said. According to Cox, the fact that the majority of UTEP students are bilingual is an asset.

Parents of El Paso 14-year-old who died by suicide warn to watch for signs of bullying, other changes

By |

EL PASO, Texas — Maria Bristow sees the school bus coming and leaving hoping to see the face of her “baby boy.” But she knows her 14-year-old son DeAngelo won’t be coming home. Maria called her son Oct. 3 to let him know she would be a few minutes late returning home from a show she was attending with a friend. DeAngelo said there was no problem and hung up the phone.

El Paso news anchor Estela Casas shares her breast cancer battle

By |

Estela Casas announced Sept. 14 she had just joined a group every woman dreads. The local celebrity and KVIA-TV news anchor has breast cancer, and announced it to her viewers to call attention to the disease. Casas has been part of El Paso’s viewership for 35 years and through her long career she has become a respected and admired personality, far more than a news anchor. This is not the first time that Casas has shared news about her medical experiences and procedures with the public.

UTEP professor’s new book recounts adventures in the Congo and work on species extinction

By |

With his shaved head and graying goatee and loads of adventures to relate, UTEP professor and geneticist Eli Greenbaum resembles a modern-day Indiana Jones. He has survived two major expeditions to the Congo, several bouts of malaria and been confronted by machine-gun totting tribal villagers. His work over the last 10 years has been focused on researching how to repopulate the decreasing amphibian and reptilian population of the African nation. “There was this one area (of the Congo) where I went to a really remote place and the local tribe thought I had come to drink their blood,” said the 6-foot-tall professor who is in his late 30’s. His experiences in the field are soon to be public knowledge with an about-to-be released book about his work and experiences in the Congo.

Mental Health awareness efforts on the rise in El Paso

By |

El Paso KVIA-TV weather anchor Iris Lopez, 29, was diagnosed with bipolar disorder two years ago. She was 27 and said she automatically linked “mental health illness” with “crazy.” “I would experience mood swings that were difficult for me to control at times. My moods would quickly change from extreme sadness to extreme happiness,” Lopez said. When it came to seeking help, she found that The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) was the organization that helped her the most.

School children find peace, balance in Kundalini Yoga practice

By |

A yoga practice referred to as “the yoga of awareness” is helping students be more present, confident and peaceful, said the director of an El Paso Montessori school. “Kundalini Yoga for us has been a tremendous opportunity for students to connect even deeper within, to really understand that they are inside and really make a connection with their body and mind,” said Natalia Bennett, director of Mountain West Montessori School. She said some of the benefits students have experienced from Kundalini Yoga practice at Mountain West Montessori include thinking more clearly, being more aware of their surroundings and being at peace within themselves and the people around them. Kundalini Yoga is one of the older yogas and is very comprehensive including meditation, breath work, and mudras with hand positions, mantras, chanting, and singing. “Yoga means to unite, to merge body, mind and spirit, and Kundalini Yoga does that, it connects us to our inner wisdom, our consciousness our inner strength,” said Paramdayal Kaur, a certified Kundalini Yoga and Meditation teacher in El Paso.