Local news for El Paso, delivered as a free five-minute briefing every morning. Drop your email and you’re in — we’ll take care of the rest.
El Paso Fire Department civilian employee Oscar Maldonado, 51, was arrested following a public-corruption investigation involving El Paso County Constable Precinct 4 and the Texas Rangers. Authorities allege he used city fuel-pump access intended for municipal vehicles to obtain gasoline for personal vehicles; the allegation remains part of an active criminal case.
Project Jupiter is a large Oracle-linked data-center campus under construction in Santa Teresa, Doña Ana County, New Mexico, near the El Paso border. Reporting from late August and early September shows site construction continued despite New Mexico Supreme Court action pausing key permitting processes involving air quality and water use. The project has drawn scrutiny over water consumption, permitting and the extent of local hiring, while Oracle has described substantial projected tax, jobs and infrastructure benefits.
Labor Day in 2026 falls on September 7, with El Paso-area listings showing cultural and community events in the days immediately before it. Visit El Paso’s weekend calendar includes two kermesses running September 4-6, alongside concerts, exhibits, tours and other activities. The available evidence supports a busy Labor Day weekend calendar, but not a definitive claim that a single, formally defined fall festival season begins after the holiday weekend.
Republican Greg Abbott, Texas governor for three terms, is seeking a fourth term against Democratic state Rep. Gina Hinojosa in the Nov. 3, 2026 general election. The campaigns face a major financial imbalance: Abbott had about $67 million on hand at the start of July, while Hinojosa had about $3 million, according to state finance records cited by the Houston Chronicle. Advertising has become a central means of reaching voters across Texas’ numerous and costly media markets.
Texas’s voter suspense list is an address-verification status used in routine voter-roll maintenance, not a cancellation of registration. Voters may be placed in suspense after election mail is returned as undeliverable or other information suggests their registered address may no longer be current. The list has existed in Texas since 1995, and state law contains a dedicated suspense-list subchapter.
Food establishments in El Paso County and several nearby municipalities are scored on a 100-point scale by local health inspectors. A score of 70 or higher is passing, while establishments scoring 60 or lower face closure; businesses that fail are given an opportunity to correct violations before reinspection. The reported score reflects conditions on the inspection date and not necessarily the restaurant’s long-term condition.
Monster Jam Road Trip is a promotional tour that brings Monster Jam trucks to Walmart locations for free up-close viewing, photos and toy shopping. In El Paso, the tour is scheduled to feature Grave Digger across four stops from September 3 through September 6, 2026.