News

Lisette McGuire, formerly of Marathon was found guilty of the murder of local Alpine resident Aquiles Gonzales in June of 2023 in the 394th District Court and received an initial sentence of 39 years. In an article published in the Avalanche back in February of this year, a new punishment trial was set to begin on May 6.

Museum of the Big Bend named Best Small-Town Museum USA Today hosts an annual 10Best Awards and thanks to many voters, the Museum of the Big Bend secured the top spot in the Best Small-Town Museum category. The 10 Best Awards are highly coveted and recognize excellence in their many categories across the United States.

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At the recent May 23 Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission meeting, commissioners unanimously voted to ban the canned hunting of mountain lions and to require that live mountain lions not be held in traps for longer than 36 hours.

The Big Bend Regional Hospital District held its regularly scheduled meeting on Thursday, May 30. The meeting was held at the Alpine Public Library due to debris and the smell of smoke still in their office due to the structure fire earlier in the week. Secretary Angela Juett was the only board member absent.

West Texas Water Research Center coming to Sul Ross Thanks to funding from the Horizon Foundation, a West Texas Water Research Center will soon be established at Sul Ross State University (SRSU) in Alpine. The Horizon Foundation has committed a $125,000 per year challenge grant over the next three years to help launch the new center, which will be incubated at the university’s Borderlands Research Institute (BRI).

A Marfa substitute teacher was sentenced in federal court in Alpine to 360 months or 30 years in prison for the production of child pornography. Information received from the United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas stated that according to court documents, investigators found that Sonia Conchita Murillo, 33, a former substitute teacher for the Marfa Independent School District was in possession of child sexual abuse materials, including videos depicting Murillo sexually abusing a prepubescent child.

In the heart of Marathon where the desert landscape meets the horizon in a breathtaking panorama, Cody Roberts is bringing a new spirit to life. Desert Ghost Distilling Company seeks to capture the essence of the region while infusing the town with a fresh, vibrant energy.

Vehicle inspections no longer required Drivers will no longer be required to get annual safety inspections beginning Jan. 1, the Texas Standard reported. However, drivers in the state’s 17 most populous counties will still be required to get an emissions test in order to register their vehicles.

Oh, the weather outside was frightful… if you’ve lived in Texas in the last five years, you’re probably familiar with the great Texas freeze that swept across the entire state in February 2021, decimating farmlands, homes, and roads and impacting the lives of millions. Humans have since recovered, but what about wildlife? After the freeze, many types of birds were found deceased as the ice melted away.