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.
UTEP Rubin Center Receives $100K Warhol Foundation Grant
The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts has awarded a two-year, $100,000 grant to the University of Texas at El Paso’s Rubin Center for the Visual Arts to support upcoming exhibitions.
This is the fifth grant that the foundation has awarded the center, giving almost $600,000 in grants and art to the center, which opened in 2005. The foundation is known for its support of innovative and experimental artistic endeavors to push the boundaries of contemporary art practices.
Center director Kerry Doyle said that this grant recognizes a “new era” at the Rubin under the vision of Laura Augusta, its first full-time curator. The center hired her in 2022.
According to the foundation, the grant will support a series of exhibitions that focus on the historical interdependence between the United States and Central America in such areas as agriculture and armed conflict, as well as the impact of climate, geography and economic uncertainty on the visual arts along the U.S.-Mexico border.
“Artists are at the center of all of our grantmaking efforts,” Joel Wachs, president of the Andy Warhol Foundation, said in a statement. “We seek to uplift organizations and institutions that consistently amplify artists’ voices and facilitate artists’ visions.”
Incoming El Paso Health Director’s Previous Grant Management Scrutinized
An internal audit has found “significant issues” with the public health department previously led by Dr. Veerinder “Vinny” Taneja, who was recently appointed as El Paso public health director, the Fort Worth Report reports.
Taneja is set to step into his El Paso job in August after the department went more than two years without a permanent hire. He was previously the director of Tarrant County Public Health, which has been under recent scrutiny for workplace environment and grant management during his tenure.
Read More: El Paso appoints health director who had controversial exit from previous job
The audit report filed Tuesday in Tarrant County states the public health department has not submitted quarterly performance reports related to COVID-19 and syphilis grant contracts with the Texas Department of State Health Services on time or, in some cases at all, since 2020, according to the Fort Worth Report.
Prior to Taneja’s resignation in February, the newly appointed county administrator accused Taneja of mishandling invoices and contracts for a COVID-19 program. The audit does not mention this incident nor Taneja by name.
El Paso Deputy City Manager Mario D’Agostino previously told El Paso Matters that city leaders were aware of the allegations levied against Taneja in a separate, 2022 human resources report, but that the “accusations were not substantiated.” El Paso spokesperson Laura Cruz-Acosta has said Taneja would not be available for comment until after he begins employment.
Contracts for Fire, Police Bond Projects Awarded
The City Council on Tuesday approved three contracts for projects under the 2019 public safety bond. A $5.5 million construction contract for Fire Station 38 was awarded to Dantex General Contractors Inc.; a professional services agreement of about $845,000 for the public safety and fire department headquarters and vehicle maintenance and logistics center was awarded to Professional Service Industries Inc.; and a $4 million architect and engineering contract was awarded to Dekker LLC for the new police headquarters to be built in Northeast.
See also: El Paso police, fire bond projects advance as cost concerns loom
Voters in 2019 approved a $413 million public safety bond for multiple projects for the police and fire departments.
El Paso Electric’s newest power plant, the $211 million natural gas-fired Newman 6 turbine. Credit: Diego Mendoza-Moyers / El Paso Matters
El Paso Electric Reports Air Pollution Increase in 2023
The amount of pollution released from El Paso Electric’s power plants increased by more than 360,000 metric tons last year compared with 2022, according to EPE’s annual sustainability report, even after the utility began receiving electricity from its biggest solar farm last year.
EPE’s four local natural gas-fired power plants and other sources of electricity last year emitted 2.87 million tons of carbon dioxide – the most CO2 pollution the utility has reported in any year of publicly available data, which go back to 2015. CO2 is one of the key greenhouse gases that gets emitted into the air, where it traps heat in the atmosphere. It is driving the higher average temperatures that El Paso and much of the rest of the world have experienced in recent years.
El Paso Electric also said it emitted 2,576 metric tons of nitrogen oxides last year, an increase of 424 metric tons compared with 2022. NOx emissions react with other pollutants in the air to form ozone, which causes smog and respiratory problems in humans.
And EPE consumed 5.5 billion gallons of freshwater to generate power last year, an increase of more than 500 million gallons from 2022.
EPE in 2023 also generated far more power from solar panels than in previous years after the Buena Vista Solar farm near Chaparral started producing electricity in spring 2023. Still, solar energy accounted for 4% of the total power that EPE generated last year, while gas power plants by comparison contributed 41% of the utility’s total generation.
EPE plans to add four new solar farms in 2025 and 2026 that should allow the utility to close its aging 50- and 60-year-old power plant units in Sunland Park and in far Northeast El Paso. The utility unveiled the new $211 million Newman 6 gas-fired power plant earlier this year, so EPE will likely continue relying on natural gas turbines to generate electricity for many more years, especially when solar production falls off in the evening hours.
The UTEP Centennial Plaza (Cindy Ramirez / El Paso Matters)
Google’s $1M Grant to Launch UTEP Cybersecurity Clinic
Google’s Cybersecurity Clinics Fund recently announced that it awarded the University of Texas at El Paso a $1 million grant to establish and support the UTEP Miners Cybersecurity Clinic, which should launch this year.
The clinic will provide UTEP students with advanced training and hands-on experience with cybersecurity and artificial intelligence that they can use to deal with real-world cybersecurity challenges. Additionally, the clinic will offer free digital security services to under-resourced organizations similar to how law, business or medical schools offer free community clinics.
For example, student participants will learn how to conduct risk reviews, vulnerability assessments and penetration testing for critical infrastructure for schools, health centers and small businesses. Their community outreach efforts will raise awareness about cybersecurity threats and suggest strategic responses.
From the El Paso Matters Archive: 6 things to help you understand UTEP’s NSF grant suspension
Monika Akbar, associate professor of computer science at UTEP, said the clinic is an important step in UTEP’s development of the next generation of cybersecurity professionals who will be able to detect, evaluate and respond to emerging cybersecurity threats.
The World Economic Forum’s 2024 Global Risks Report projects that cyber insecurity will remain one of the top 10 global risks for the next decade. Currently, there are nearly 450,000 open cybersecurity jobs available in the U.S, including nearly 37,000 in Texas, and demand for cyber professionals is projected to grow 32% by 2033.
In addition to $1 million in Google.org funding, the tech company will offer UTEP volunteer mentorship from Google employees, and scholarships for the Google Career Certificate in Cybersecurity.
The post Warhol Foundation awards Rubin Center grant; audit finds issues in new health director’s previous job, other El Paso news appeared first on El Paso Matters.
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