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.
Ysleta ISD Offers $7,500 to Employees Who Retire, Resign in December
The Ysleta Independent School District is offering employees a $7,500 payout to voluntarily resign at the end of the semester to reduce personnel costs for the remainder of the school year.
In an email sent out to administrators last week, YISD states it is offering to buy out the first 100 teachers or administrators who submit an early notice of their plan to retire or resign in December.
YISD Superintendent Xavier De La Torre previously said this would save the district about $4 million.
In June, the district adopted a $391.4 million budget that will nearly deplete its savings if cost-saving measures aren’t implemented. District officials have said they may need to lay off employees to prevent that from happening.
YISD offered a similar $7,500 separation incentive earlier this year for teachers who planned to resign or retire over the summer. More than 220 teachers left the district at the end of the 2025-26 school year.
Employees have until 4:30 p.m. Oct. 9 to submit the notice and a letter of resignation to the district’s human resources office. The resignation would be effective at the end of the spring semester, and incentive payment would be distributed in January 2027.
Texas Veterans Commission Awards $1.7 Million to Help Ex-Military in West Texas
Military veterans in El Paso and neighboring counties could benefit in several ways from the $1.7 million in grants that state Sen. César Blanco awarded to several agencies and local governments through the Texas Veterans Commission’s Fund for Veterans Assistance.
The awards included $685,000 to El Paso County for financial assistance, $200,000 to the YWCA El Paso del Norte Region for family and child support services, and $140,000 to the city of El Paso to help with transportation services through its General Assistance Program.
A city of El Paso spokeswoman said the funding will support Sun Metro’s Vets Ride Free Program, which provides transportation services for veterans, their dependents and surviving spouses. The award is for fiscal year 2027, which will be the program’s fourth year.
The Texas Veterans Commission also approved an additional $37,000 for the current program year to prevent a gap in funding and allow the service to continue, the spokeswoman said.
A YWCA website showed that commission subsidies are available for veterans, Reserve, active duty and National Guard through Aug. 31, 2027. They can apply for Academies for Early Learning, After School Programs and Intersession Camps. The website states that funding is limited and approval will be based on income eligibility.
Representatives from the county did not respond to a request for comment about their grants.
Blanco’s office also announced additional grants that will support veterans.
Jeff Davis County and the Permian Basin Regional Planning Commission received $200,000 and $275,000, respectively, for housing assistance through the Housing for Texas Heroes program. Project Amistad received $200,000 for clinical counseling through its Veterans Mental Health Program.
Blanco, who served in the Navy, said supporting veterans is a priority for him because he understands how these additional resources benefit them. He said the grants offer support that veterans have earned.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are an estimated 50,000 military veterans living in Texas Senate District 29, which includes Brewster, Culberson, El Paso, Hudspeth, Jeff Davis, Pecos, Presidio and Reeves counties.
Planned Parenthood El Paso Starts Privately-funded Birth Control Program
Planned Parenthood El Paso raised more than $1 million in private donations to fund Toma Control, a program that makes birth control affordable to uninsured and low-income patients. The privately-funded initiative comes after the Trump administration blocked federal funds last year to the El Paso health center.
In 2025, the clinic provided just over 950 patients with birth control, according to data provided by Planned Parenthood.
“This is especially important in a community like El Paso where the teen pregnancy rate is 76% higher than the national average,” said Keya Vijapure, a third-year medical student at Texas Tech Health El Paso, who spoke at a Tuesday event announcing the Planned Parenthood program.
“An unintended pregnancy can profoundly alter the trajectory of a young person’s education, career and family life,” she said. “Access to contraception isn’t about telling someone whether or when they should become parents. It’s about making sure that decision belongs to them.”
Federal funding to the nonprofit has continued and discontinued in recent years depending on the sitting president.
Previously, Planned Parenthood participated in Title X, a federal grant program that funds low-cost or free family planning services to people with low incomes. But the organization withdrew from the program in 2019 under the first Trump administration when it banned clinics that provided abortion services or referrals. Planned Parenthood rejoined Title X in 2021 when the Biden administration reversed the ban, but the second Trump administration withheld those funds in 2025.
The El Paso health center, 1061 Chelsea St., offers a range of hormonal and non-hormonal birth control including the pill, patch, implant, ring and intrauterine device. The clinic also offers other reproductive and sexual health services, such as emergency contraception, STI testing, pregnancy testing and family planning counseling.
Project Jupiter Hired 1,000 New Mexicans Since Data Center Construction Began
Nearly 1,000 New Mexicans have worked at the Project Jupiter data center construction site since the work started late last year, according to figures that developer Oracle presented to the Doña Ana County Board of Commissioners this week.
In all, just under 3,700 people have worked at the site, including more than 1,500 union laborers. Oracle said 466 workers are from Doña Ana County, but it wasn’t clear from the presentation how many of the construction workers at the site live across the state line in El Paso.
In response to a question of how to increase the number of Doña Ana County residents working at the site, Oracle said it’s trying to forecast the kinds of jobs needed at each stage of the project to try to get more locals into roles ahead of time, according to Mahesh Thiagarajan, an executive vice president with Oracle.
“What we hope is that, by forward projecting well-ahead into the project, the local NM unions are able to bid for those jobs, carefully pick those jobs and actually increase this count,” he said of the local hires figure.
Construction on the data center campus is about 26% complete as of this week, Thiagarajan said.
Oracle also announced a partnership with a technology company called Arable, which implements sensors at farms so farmers have data on things like soil moisture and irrigation. Oracle said Arable will install technology to provide irrigation data on area farms that will save 21 million gallons of water annually.
“It’s going to use sensors and real-time data that’ll be used to make intelligent decisions and advanced irrigation practices that we think will save more water,” Thiagarajan told county commissioners.
Meta, which is developing a different $14 billion data center campus in Northeast El Paso, has separately said it will partner with Arable to help farmers save water and offset water consumed at Meta’s facility; Meta has said its partnership with Arable will save 105 million gallons of water annually.
Neither Meta nor Oracle have shared further details on their water-saving projects, though Oracle said it will have a third-party firm verify the results.
Oracle said Wednesday it has paid out $50 million that the company promised to Doña Ana County in exchange for a tax break package county officials approved a year ago. The $50 million is earmarked for water infrastructure improvements in Sunland Park and other communities in the southern portion of the county that for years have struggled with poor infrastructure and water quality. County Commissioner Manny Sanchez said the money will reach the county’s hands in the coming weeks.
Memorial Park Library Temporarily Closed for Repairs
The Central El Paso Memorial Park Branch Library, 3200 Copper Ave., will be closed through mid-October for repairs.
The library will get a new roof and HVAC repairs and will not be accessible until at least Oct. 16. Library staff will be temporarily relocated to other branch libraries during the closure. The Pet Pantry at the library will also be closed during the repairs. The repairs will cost about $205,000 and are being paid with 2012 quality of life bond investment interest.
The city’s other 14 library locations, as well as its Bookmobile, will remain open.
The El Paso Public Libraries is also offering a new limited-edition library card featuring original artwork by El Paso artist and illustrator Zeke Peña throughout September as part of Library Card Sign-Up Month.
Residents can apply for or renew a full-service library card in-person at any library branch or by filling out an online application. The physical, full-service cards are issued at library branches. New online applications take about three days to process before the card can be picked up in person.
General Library Cards are activated for two years and can be renewed. General library cards are free for city residents. Nonresidents can pay a membership fee of $25 for six months or $50 for one year.
For more information on the El Paso Public Libraries, including library branch locations, programs and services, follow the El Paso Public Libraries on social media or visit ElPasoLibrary.org.
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