This is your weekly news roundup, which takes a quick look at some developments in government, politics, education, environment and other topics across El Paso. 

Four Canutillo ISD Trustee Seats on Nov. 3 Election Ballot

Four at-large seats on the Canutillo Independent School District Board of Trustees will be on the Nov. 3 ballot – including three full terms and one unexpired term.

Board members are unpaid and serve staggered four-year terms. At-large means they’re elected by voters from throughout the district to represent the entire school district.

Candidates for the three full terms include incumbents Cindy Andrade and Breanne Barnes, former Canutillo ISD Superintendent Pedro Galaviz, former Trustee Blanca Trout, technical analyst Ryan Escamilla and former Principal Guadalupe Montañez. 

Board President Sergio Martinez, who was appointed to the board in 2024 to fill an unexpired term left by Trout, filed for a four-year term rather than completing the remaining years on his current seat.

Trout was elected in 2024 despite withdrawing from the race. She filed her withdrawal after the deadline to remove her name from the ballot. Trout resigned from the seat and the board appointed Martinez, who was the runner-up in the election.

READ MORE: Trout resigns after being reelected despite dropping out of Canutillo ISD board race

Patsy Mendoza filed for the unexpired term left by Trout. Write-in candidate Brandi Stevenson, whose name will not appear on the ballot, is also running for the unexpired term.

Trustee Lucy Borrego did not file to run for reelection. The other three seats are up for election in 2028.

SEE ALSO: Canutillo ISD Superintendent Pedro Galaviz to retire with $100,000 payout

Galaviz served as Canutillo ISD’s superintendent for 13 years until retiring in 2025; while Trout served as a trustee from 2016 to 2024. Montañez was terminated as principal of Deanna Davenport Elementary School in May after three special education employees were arrested and criminally charged with abuse.

Voters in the district can cast ballots for up to three of the candidates for the full-term seats, and one vote for the unexpired term.

Early voting will be Oct. 19-30. The last day to register to vote is Oct. 5. 

Salmonella outbreak causes massive recall of jalapeños, eggs

Grocers are pulling foods linked to salmonella bacteria from their shelves. More than 430 people across the United States have gotten sick from eating jalapeños, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

More than 50 of the infected people were hospitalized. The CDC has traced the outbreak to jalapeño peppers from Sinaloa, Mexico, and distributed by Coast Citrus Distributors, which may be contaminated with salmonella.

Chains including Chipotle have pulled impacted supplies. Target, Walmart and Whole Foods have also pulled Taylor Fresh Foods and other ready-made products containing the recalled jalapenos. The products have a “best if used by” date through Aug. 16.

The jalapeño recall comes after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recalled eggs distributed by Midwest Poultry Services because of a different strain of salmonella contamination. The products have a best-by or sell-by date of Aug. 17.

For the full list of recalled products, visit the FDA website.

UTEP’s Wilson Suggests Research Foundation to State’s Higher Ed Committee

UTEP President Heather Wilson proposed Tuesday that the Texas Legislature may want to establish a state agency to fund research projects in the wake of the federal government’s move away from funding basic and applied science research.

The leader of the University of Texas at El Paso made her suggestion during a panel discussion before the state’s House of Representatives Committee on Higher Education in Austin.

“Maybe it’s time to establish the Texas Science Foundation to step in, step up and lead,” she said as part of her presentation that included other ideas that involved collaboration among small and up-and-coming higher education research institutions.

Wilson said the idea could work with the support of the state’s elected leaders and a collection of universities. The proposals would involve grants for basic, user-inspired and curiosity-driven research, and be peer-reviewed.

She told the legislators that Texas already was among the top funders of cancer and dementia research spending billions of dollars. In fiscal year 2025, the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation awarded research grants of $35.3 billion and $8.3 billion, respectively.

State Rep. Vince Perez, a member of the House Higher Education Committee, said Wilson’s suggestion would be significantly impactful because it would allow competitive, peer-reviewed science and engineering proposals to be judged on merit. 

“Fund science on merit and El Paso wins, because merit is what we have,” he said in an email response to El Paso Matters.

Perez said 45% of UTEP’s graduating seniors work on research projects before they graduate and often go to work for defense, aerospace and medical employers in the region.

“Research dollars are workforce dollars, and in El Paso they are the shortest path we have to better jobs,” he said.

Wilson also suggested that the state’s higher education institutions and their systems should eliminate the “I win, you lose” mentality and instead should collaborate more when it comes to fighting for federal resources.

A tour of the El Paso County Coliseum grounds, June 2, 2026. (Elida S. Perez / El Paso Matters)El Paso County Coliseum Operation Bids Temporarily Scrapped

The El Paso County Commissioners Court on Monday voted unanimously – as part of its consent agenda – to close solicitations for management and operation of the coliseum and the sports tourism promotion program services bid without awarding a new contract.

The county will revise the solicitations for the El Paso County Coliseum and issue new bids at a later date, though no timeline was provided.

County officials said the bids were closed, in part, because responders submitted more than 200 questions the county needs to provide to ensure it receives proper bids. The questions related to the facility, operations, financials, maintenance and transition details.

The 84-year-old, county-owned facility has been operated by the El Paso Sports Commission, which also runs the sports tourism program, since 2003. Both contracts were renewed in June 2024 and expire September 2027.

The county issued the bids for a new contractor in May. A walk-through of the property and facility was held in June for interested bidders. Among those who attended were officials from the University of Texas at El Paso, WestStar Sports, International Management Consultants and former city Rep. Brian Kennedy, the former president and CEO of the Sports Commission who now serves as an officer of the organization, according to 2025 nonprofit tax filings.

The county is not required to submit a request for proposals to enter into a contract with another government entity to operate the facility or sports tourism program, according to the county legal department. A request for proposals is required to contract with private companies.

The coliseum is funded, in part, through hotel occupancy taxes paid by El Paso hotel patrons. The sports commission annually receives about $3.2 million of the $5 million the county collects in hotel taxes to operate the coliseum. The county receives about $1 million a year in revenue from the coliseum. 

City of El Paso Considers Ending Contract with WestStar, Subsidiaries

The El Paso City Council on Tuesday postponed an item on its consent agenda that sought to cancel a contract with WestStar Bank Holding Company, Inc. and its subsidiaries doing business as WestStar Title LLC.

The item was postponed for two weeks at the request of the city’s Purchasing and Strategic Sourcing Department. The termination would be for “default,” according to the city’s agenda documents.

“The item was postponed to give WestStar additional time to address the City’s concerns. Staff identified instances in which WestStar acted on the City’s behalf in matters it was not authorized to handle under its contract,” city spokesperson Laura Cruz-Acosta said in an emailed response to El Paso Matters.

She said WestStar is working with the city to resolve the issues and will submit a corrective action plan for review.

“The city is hopeful the matter can be resolved positively and will determine the appropriate next steps after reviewing the plan,” Cruz-Acosta said.

 WestStar did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The city’s Real Estate Department identified multiple instances where the contractor acted on behalf of the city beyond the scope of services under the contract which exceeded its authority leading to a failure to comply with the terms and conditions, according to the documents.

The contract was awarded in October 2024 for an initial term of three years with one, two-year option to extend, for a total contract of about $300,000.

As part of the termination, WestStar Bank Holding Company Inc. and its subsidiaries doing business as WestStar Title LLC would also be disqualified from entering any new contracts with the city for three years for unsatisfactory performance.

Details of the incidents were not provided in the city documents. WestStar did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

El Paso County Sues DHS Over FEMA Grant Rules Tied to Election SecurityA stained glass window of the El Paso County seal at the El Paso County Courthouse. (Danielle Prokop/El Paso Matters)

El Paso County this week sued the Department of Homeland Security over new requirements for federal grants, arguing that they undermine election security and public safety.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency in June announced it would withhold 20% of DHS’ Homeland Security Grant Program funds unless grantees complied with five requirements that would shift how local officials conduct their elections.

The new requirements include a mandatory transition from voting machines that accept QR and bar codes to ones that take paper ballots, conducting manual ballot audits and running voter registration through DHS’ Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements system.

El Paso County, alongside Harris County and communities in Tennessee and Ohio, argued in their petition that implementing the requirements would cost millions and make their elections less secure, while placing roughly $200 million in grant funds at stake nationally.

The DHS grant, which cities and counties for decades have used to fund preparation and response materials for terrorist attacks and other security threats, is administered through FEMA. The counties also argued that withholding funds could jeopardize the safety of cities that rely on specialized training and supplies paid for by the grant.

El Paso County has received about $11.3 million under Operation Stonegarden, one component of the grant program, since fiscal year 2017 for border security and public safety operations and equipment, including overtime pay, radios, protective gear, generators and defibrillators, night-vision equipment, ATVs and more.

The suit also argues that DHS lacks the authority to condition grant funds on changes to local election procedure without congressional approval. 

El Paso County in the lawsuit states that moving exclusively to hand-marked paper ballots would cost about $3 million just for the necessary printers. The county also states that could potentially require additional workers and equipment to prevent long waits – or reduce the number of voting locations.