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.
KTEP Fundraiser Friday, Saturday Seeks to Offset Federal Funding Loss
El Paso’s public radio station, KTEP-FM, is having a fundraising drive Friday and Saturday to help replace some of the money it lost in the recent elimination of federal funding for the country’s public media.
“For 75 years, KTEP 88.5 FM has been a trusted voice for arts, culture, news and storytelling in the Borderland,” KTEP General Manager John Carrillo said in a statement. “KTEP is facing an unprecedented loss of funding, and we’re looking to our community to support us during this time of need. We’re taking a fresh approach to fundraising in hopes of connecting with our current and new audience through music.”
In 2024, KTEP received $178,000 in federal grants, about a quarter of its total budget. The money was used primarily to pay for programming.
The station has a $50,000 goal for its upcoming fundraising campaign, which will run from 6 p.m. to midnight Friday, and 11 a.m. to midnight Saturday. Donations can be made through KTEP’s online donation platform.
El Paso County Adopts Strategic Plan for 2026-2031
The El Paso County Commissioners Court adopted its strategic plan for the next several years – a document that aims to guide the future of how the county approaches justice reform, tourism initiatives, economic development and financial health.
The strategic plan for 2026-2031 has several goals such as increasing sports tourism by investing in sports venues and activities, continuing to develop Ascarate Park and making improvements to the El Paso County Coliseum.
Voters in November rejected a ballot measure that would have allowed the county to issue about $105 million in general obligation bonds for improvements to the coliseum. The strategic plan lists improvements as a goal, but does not identify funding for improvements. Voters did approve $155 million for various infrastructure projects including a new medical examiner’s office and animal shelter.
The county has issued about $12 million of the voter-approved bonds since the election.
Other goals for the strategic plan include finding partnerships to fund other park improvements at Milagro Park in the Horizon View Estates, Veterans Park upgrades and for all-abilities playgrounds, as well as researching and developing a green infrastructure and climate action plan.
The strategic plan also aims to review how to strengthen its financial position. Among the goals are to identify alternate revenue sources. The county’s main source of revenue for its general fund is property taxes.
The county will have a public hearing Monday, Aug. 18, to adopt the tax rate to fund the next fiscal year.
El Paso’s Climate Action Plan Advances
City officials this week unveiled the first draft of El Paso’s climate action plan – a set of 53 various actions and policies the city wants to implement to address climate change and environmental problems here. Some of the plan’s overarching goals include improving air quality, mitigating the record-setting heat El Paso has been experiencing and ensuring the city’s water supply.
The city began crafting a climate action plan after El Paso voters in November 2022 approved a ballot measure allocating $5 million to the city to counter climate change and improve environmental conditions. The effort began in earnest in early 2024 after the city hired a technical consultant to begin shaping the plan.
El Paso’s Office of Climate and Sustainability – led by staffer Fernando Berjano – will gather feedback on the draft plan it rolled out this week, and then present the plan to the Environmental Protection Agency later this year. After that, the plan will go to the City Council for a vote. But the expectation for now is that the city will begin enacting some of the climate-related actions early next year.
The big question is how to pay for the four dozen-plus actions, which include ideas such as building out electric vehicle charging stations citywide, making buildings more energy efficient and heat-resistant, expanding air-quality monitoring and installing more solar panel arrays and battery energy storage systems. Other goals involve reducing food waste and increasing recycling, promoting walking and biking rather than vehicle transportation, and reducing flood risks, among others.
For now, the city is still likely to receive a multi-million-dollar federal grant to build out 74 electric vehicle charging stations. The city was expecting to receive another $6 million federal grant to pay for rooftop solar panel systems for some low-income households, but President Donald Trump’s administration is in the process of rescinding the funding for the so-called Solar for All program that was supposed to disburse billions of dollars throughout the country to help pay for residential rooftop solar panel systems.
Where additional funding to pay for environmental policies will come from is unclear for now, but the city could begin seeking answers to that question after City Council representatives approve the final plan.
Texas Tech Regents Release More Funds for El Paso’s Planned CSB, Cancer Center
The Texas Tech University System Board of Regents unanimously approved two items that will release $48.4 million for construction of the planned Texas Tech Health El Paso Clinical Sciences Building and the Comprehensive Cancer Center during the board’s quarterly meeting Thursday in Lubbock.
The board agreed to spend an additional $30.2 million for the CSB and $18.2 million for the cancer center, which will be named after El Paso philanthropists Steve and Nancy Fox. The multi-story building will be located on the north end of the campus near Interstate 10.
The scope of the work of the 356,000-square-foot building includes the structural foundation and framing plans, the below slab foundation electrical, plumbing and mechanical, and eight elevators.
The CSB and cancer center will be 225,000 gross square feet and 131,000 gross square feet, respectively. The cancer center will include an imaging center of about 49,000 gross square feet, and an oncology center of approximately 49,000 gross square feet.
During his presentation to the board, Billy Breedlove, vice chancellor for Facilities Planning and Construction, said the structure would use 27,000 cubic yards of concrete, which equates to 2,700 trucks of concrete, and about 8,750 linear feet of underground plumbing, which is 1.7 miles.
Officials have stressed in the past that the two projects, while symbiotic, are tracked as two separate ventures with two separate funding streams.
Both projects will be funded through the Revenue Finance System. The budget for both projects together is almost $342 million.
Texas Tech Health El Paso has scheduled a groundbreaking for 10:15 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 17, at 300 Rick Francis St. Organizers stated that closed-toe shoes will be required at the event.
The post KTEP hosts fundraiser, Texas Tech adds funds for El Paso cancer center appeared first on El Paso Matters.
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