WRAL Newscasts
8AM News on WRAL - Wednesday, July 17, 2024
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Another where a tractor trailer carrying steaks off spilled all over the highway. And new this morning, another heat advisory in effect from 11 a.m. until 8 p.m. I'll show you when we're done with these alerts and when rain returns to the forecast. And today we'll hear from former President Donald Trump's running mate at the RNC. What DJ Vance is expected to focus on as he joins the campaign trail? We have that big story as well as others to get your Wednesday started here on Fox 50. Thanks for joining us, I'm Michelle McConaughey. And I'm Jeff Hogan. Thanks for making us part of your Wednesday hairs. We get rolling. Another hot day, but at least we can see the end is near for where the changes will come. Chris Michaels is in the WRS severe weather center. Right now with these recent heat alerts, they're stacking up but they might be over. Yeah, exactly. And you know that light at the end of the tunnel is getting bigger and bigger means it's getting closer for us. So looking forward to that. But yeah, these heat alerts have really stacked up over the past four weeks or so. We've seen 12 heat alerts in the past four days. We've shown those to you. So just something to keep in mind as you're going out for the dog walking forecast. We start out temperatures in the eighties. They climb well into the nineties here over the course of the afternoon. Notice our storm chances are pretty low up until about three or four p.m. And as we've mentioned over the past few weeks, if you're caught in direct sunlight, that blacktop can get up to about 145, 150 degrees. So you'll want to keep the pets paws off the pavement and maybe try to avoid wearing darker clothing. But again, at least some relief in sight. Comes in the form of some storms late afternoon into the evening, that level one risk for isolated severe weather, mostly near into the north of areas like Wake County. So this is a pattern flip that we're tracking. Not all day rains, mostly afternoon and evening, but we are so loaded with moisture right now that we'll keep tabs on localized flooding later this week. Ken. - Chris, happening now in the WO traffic center, you can see things have really picked up, particularly around the Beltline and the north side of the Beltline as well as the south side of the Beltline. Also, I 540 this morning, some break tapping going on. We've been following some breaking news all morning long. This crash on I 440 eastbound near Wade Avenue. You can see the major delays that's causing on Wade Avenue. I would recommend Hillsborough or Western Boulevard as alternate routes to get onto I 440 eastbound. Double guard's low end of the heat has been on this scene all morning, long tracking, exactly what's going on. Laura said this scene for us and recap for a viewer is what happened. Listen, Ken, more than six hours later and Cruz finally got this tow truck sitting upright. Take a look behind me now. Cruz have it attached to this wrecker and now that we have it upright, mind you, this has been flipped over since earlier this morning, since 2 a.m. We're able to see now some of the significant damage that this tractor trailer has. You can see the glass shattered. We can also see the side of it just ripped open. My photographer, Charles, a Bradley described it almost like a can opener. It's just significant damage that we're looking at. We know that the driver of this tractor trailer is okay, which is good news in this situation. But listen, Cruz got this call just before two o'clock this morning about the accident. When they came and responded, they saw that steak sauce had spilled all over the road. That's what this tractor trailer was carrying. I don't know if we have video up but if we can take our live picture once again, now take a look. You can see that they are getting ready to leave. You can see the wrecker pulling. Oh my goodness, look at the damage here. Pulling the tractor trailer from the scene. This tractor trailer was carrying more than 38,000 pounds of product, including steak sauce, teriyaki sauce. We're hearing now some Cruz past the scene here. Again, the scene is in the clearing stages, which is good news after Cruz have been here again, since two o'clock this morning. Laurel Levine, WRL news, live in Raleigh. And more breaking news in Orange County. I-85 is back open after a crash involving a FedEx truck closed part of it for hours. It happened near the US 70 exit in Hillsboro. Nick Perlin was there on the WRL breaking news tracker as Cruz worked for nearly six hours. This stretch of I-85 northbound was closed for roughly six hours as Cruz worked to remove a tractor trailer that crashed early this morning. Now take a look at this video from the WRL breaking news tracker and you can see this FedEx tractor trailer toppled over into the median and part of it, even extending into the southbound lanes. We're told this happened at around 140 this morning. We know two cars were involved, obviously this tractor trailer and one other car. This crash caused major delays during the early morning commute. That tractor trailer was removed at around seven this morning. And as you can see, traffic is now moving smoothly along the I-85 northbound lanes, but we're still trying to learn from state highway patrol, if anybody was hurt in this crash. In Orange County, Nick Perlin, WRL News. - Some people living near Dixie Trail finally have their power back on after spending the night without air conditioning. That's because of a large tree that fell and knocked out power right there. As you see, four hours happened just before 11 o'clock last night, this is in Raleigh. The tree was blocking the road for a while before Cruz removed it. - School leaders in Wake County picked Shaw University to be the new partner for the school system's leadership academies. The school board still needs state approval to make that official. The Wake Young Men's and Young Women's Leadership Academies don't have a permanent partner right now after a fallout at St. Augustine's University over its accreditation. The board's vote starts the process to fix that starting in the next school year. Students will attend leadership programs at Wake Tech until then. - Former President Donald Trump's pick for vice president will speak tonight at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. JD Vance appeared alongside Trump once again last night at the convention. Tonight Vance is expected to formally accept his nomination. In his speech, we expect him to focus heavily on his personal life story. He is also going to be joining Trump on the campaign trail for the first time at an event Saturday in Michigan. - Two of former President Trump's fiercest competitors during the primary season are showing their support of his nomination. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis quickly came back into Trump's fold after suspending his campaign. Former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley held out until much more recently she accepted a last minute invitation from the RNC to speak at the convention. The party hopes her endorsement of Trump brings in her more moderate supporters. - President Trump asked me to speak to this convention in the name of unity. You don't have to agree with Trump 100% of the time to vote for him. - The second day of the convention focused on rising crime in America. Many of the speakers focused on immigration and border security. Former President Trump will speak tomorrow after he officially accepts the nomination. - We are working to learn the name of a person who died in a motorcycle crash in Raleigh. This happened just before seven last night. Both sides of Wade Avenue and Glenwood Avenue were closed as police investigated. This is video from the WRL breaking news tracker. Police tell us that crash involved two vehicles and a motorcycle and we're making calls to learn more about what happened there. - Covering Wade County students in Wade County schools say they need to have their phones in school as a group is pushing for a ban on them. People who want phones, bands in the classrooms address the Wade County Board of Education last night. They say that phone usage in schools has led to distractions, lower grades and poor mental health among students. A student who spoke with WRL says phones should be considered more of an asset than a distraction. - Taking away students' resources for potential learning is very harmful to students. And while you could argue in some perspectives that it can be a detriment or a distraction to students, I would counter that in a way that the more resources students have to better their education, the more they can grow. - The Board of Education did not comment publicly on the proposal. The parent who is leading the push says that she hopes the board will soon vote on it. - The American League is back on top after the mid-summer classic. This two-run homer here by Jaren Duran of the Boston Red Sox put the AL up for good last night in the majorly baseball all-star game. The American League beat the National League five to three. Duran was named Games MVP. This is the 10th win in the last 11 all-star games for the AL. The NL's lone win in that stretch came in last year's game. - Coming up, we're getting new information about the attempted assassination of former President Trump. How officials say the gunman was able to get past security? - Also, Paris' mayor proved she believes that Riverside is clean enough to swim in by taking a plunge herself. The latest efforts to make sure that river is Olympics ready. - I think a lot of folks wanting to go out to swim today, another day of intense heat, but finally a break on the horizon. It also involves some storms. I'm gonna time those out and show you where they're most likely today. Coming up. - I chose William P.C. University because of the small class sizes. I feel that you get more one-on-one time with teachers. With class sizes like about 16 per teacher, you can really get that one-on-one help a lot of students need. - A 12 to one student of faculty ratio is just one of the many reasons students choose William P.C. University. Extra attention starts day one for career planning with their Career Services Center. Find out all they have to offer at peace.edu. - Breaking news, the Designery can give you the kitchen of your dreams. I'm Dana Merrill, the owner of the Designery in North Raleigh. - I am True Merrill. I am the Project Manager. - The Designery is a lovely kitchen bath and closet remodeling company. We do pretty much any of the utility spaces in your house. If you wanna store things in your cabinets, if you wanna work on things on your countertops, if you want to have a floor that can get wet or muddy, we're the place to help you fix your home up. We are at the Designery North Raleigh, located at 3030 Wake Forest Road in the Holly Park Plaza. We would love to see you or visit our website at thedesignery.com. (upbeat music) - 12 minutes after eight o'clock right now on a Wednesday morning, blue skies over North Hills as you watch WRL News, available on YouTube TV in the WRL app on your TV or streaming device. And yes, already the heat is on the rise. Chris Michaels is the WRL Severe Weather Center right now, but at least we're getting to see an end to this heat wave here. - Exactly, yeah. So we've just got to get through today and part of tomorrow before the heat really starts to temper its expectations a little bit. Right now it's 80 and Jeff just mentioned it's only 812, 813 this morning. Live look over, apex things are starting to get a little busy there in downtown. Temperature is the heat index. Forecast to rise once again. We've got that heat advisory in effect. I'll show you that coming up in just a few seconds. But here's why, you notice heading into the afternoon. It's going to feel like 104 to 108 even heading into the evening because storms take their sweet time developing. It's really going to be after 3 p.m. or so before we see those coming in. Left hand side of your screen, that's the heat advisory for the fourth day in a row. Right hand side is that level one severe risk. That means that the threat for severe weather is more isolated than anything, mostly near into the north of Wake County. But that includes the chance for some local ice, flooding, localized wind damage, the chance for a large hail or a tornado. That looks to be very low over the course of the next two days. And future cast is going to go through the next two days. We'll stop here at about 4 p.m. You see the scattered storms moving from west to east up until about 8 39 o'clock. And at that point, most of those are going to be east of the triangle. We're quiet through the overnight hours, but that front that you see coming in from the north just kind of hangs out with us for tomorrow and really into the weekend. What this does is produces more numerous showers and storms once again tomorrow afternoon and evening. Tomorrow, by the way, we're under another level one threat for some severe thunderstorms, but after midnight or so, that chance will start to go down. Keep in mind with how muggy it is. That's a sign of all the moisture in the atmosphere. So where it rains at pores, especially on a day like tomorrow, where you have a chance for some localized flooding, we'll keep that chance into the weekend as well. And the reason why is that the pattern's just not moving anywhere. You've got high pressure to the west, high pressure to the east, and they're acting like goal tenders. They're just keeping this blocked in. So we see that repetitive pattern of rain chances. It's not going to rain all day, every day, but each afternoon is going to have that chance. But at least there's that light at the end of the tunnel. And you see that here with days of high temperatures in the 80s, we haven't had a stretch like that since late May or early June. Still going to be humid, but at least not 100 degrees. Ken. - Chris, we continue to follow that breaking news here in the capital city right now. This crash shutting down the on-ramp to I 440 eastbound. You can see the delays it's causing in that area right now on just about 8.25, or whatever time it is this morning, just a little after eight o'clock, 8.15. It still causing some delays this morning. I would really recommend using Hillsborough or Western Boulevard as an alternate route. Let me show you that scene exactly what's going on out there right now. This is what it looks like. They just made, put this tractor trailer up right, and they're trying to put it on the tow truck and get it ready to haul it away. Again, the on-ramp to I 440 eastbound is closed this morning as they try to get this out of here. It spilled several gallons and tons of teriyaki and steak sauce in that area. You can see traffic is still moving along on the belt line right now, but just remember that on-ramp on I 440 is closed right now. Also around the triangle and surrounding communities this morning, just a couple of incidents to make you aware of, just to keep you posted, a serious crash on Yonkers road in the southbound lane. This is near Capitol Boulevard. You can see it's causing quite a bit of delay in that area. I would avoid this area at all costs if it's possible. Coming up in 10 minutes, I'll try to find an alternate route for you 'cause we've been monitoring this for the longest while now. This is a minor crash on Globe Road in the westbound lane in Aviation Park. We're not causing any major problems in that area, just look for some police activity. But look at this, the belt line on the south side of the belt line, just causing some major congestion this morning. This is what it looks like on the north side of the belt line, I 440 and Lake Boone Trail. If you're coming in from Johnson County, I would recommend heading in this direction. And the southbound side, here's I 40 and Lake Wheel of Road. This is probably adding about three to five minutes to your morning commute. - We have breaking news from Chapel Hill. Police just let us know that they are investigating a shooting that killed a man. This happened in the 100 block of Ashley Forest Road. That's in the north part of Chapel Hill. And they discovered that a man had been shot in that area around one o'clock this morning. The man was taken to UNC hospitals where he later died. Police tell us they believe this is an isolated incident. They are working to find the shooter and they will release the victim's name once they notify family. We have a crew headed to the scene as soon as we learn any new information on this Chapel Hill shooting, we'll let you know. - We're also learning more about what the gunman did the day he attempted to assassinate former President Donald Trump. Amy Kylie reports newly released details show how he got past security. - How does that happen? - New information shows how a gunman evaded security and shot former President Donald Trump Saturday. Law enforcement officials say he'd asked for the day off work. They say he came to the rally with a range finder. - It's a device that looks like a small pair of binoculars, but it's used by shooters to measure the distance when they're setting up a long distance shot. - It's not a weapon, so security let him through. - But they did flag, what does he have this in his hand for? - Investigators say there would be assassin then exited the secured area. They're not sure where he went, but they think he got a rifle from his car. Climbing out an air conditioning, you did is likely how he got on a roof outside the perimeter. That's according to a senior federal law enforcement official. - He's taking the range finder and he's looking through it at the counter sniper positions. And one of the counter sniper positions is looking at him through the scope. At this point, there's not a gun in the picture as I understand it, but they're saying he's looking at us, looking at him. - Another official says that's about when witnesses saw him and alerted police. A video analysis shows the shooting started about two minutes later. - I went there to have a nice time with my family and then the unthinkable happened due to a complete breach and lapse of security. - I may be kindly reporting. - A Secret Service Director says no agency assets were diverted from the rally that day. Several sources say the service had increased security due to a threat from Iran. The director also says before the shooting, the agents had thought the secured area around the stage was large enough. - The opening of UNC's new surgical hospital is being delayed. The over $420 million hospital in Chapel Hill was supposed to open its doors to patients this month. Hospital officials say a recent burst pipe and significant water leak damaged the part of the building's backup electrical system. The facility is now expected to open in late August. - Thousands of people are still without power into Ronto after torrential rains caused widespread flooding there. Emergency services had to rescue people from stranded vehicles after a series of thunderstorms rolled through Tuesday. Nearly four inches of rain dumped in just a few hours. That is more than Toronto typically gets in an entire month. - It's been nearly a year since a U.S. soldier crossed the border from South into North Korea and now lawyers representing private Travis King say there are in clean negotiations with military prosecutors. King was set to face a preliminary hearing in Texas yesterday, but that hearing was delayed. The 24 year old is facing eight charges, including desertion, possession of child pornography and assault. Before crossing into North Korea last year, King had been released from a South Korean detention center on assault charges. He was held for several weeks and then returned to U.S. custody last September. - It's day two of Amazon's Prime Day and the big sales event is also a major cause of injuries for its workers. This is according to a report from a Senate committee. It found that the rate of injuries that required more than first aid was double the industry average during 2019's Prime Day. Including minor injuries in this report, it said there were nearly 45 injuries per 100 Amazon workers. Nearly half. Amazon says it made substantial improvements to worker safety in recent years. - Today, Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo took her first swim in the Senn River. She was joined by the Olympic president and Parisian city leaders to prove the water is clean enough to swim in. The Olympic triathlon and open water swimming events will be held in the Senn. The government has spent more than $1.5 billion cleaning up the river. It has been illegal to swim in the river for more than a century. - And just nine days until the start of the 2024 Paris Olympics, teams are practicing hard as they prepare to take on the world. And that includes Team USA men's volleyball. Two members are making their fourth Olympic appearances. And there are also a couple of three-time Olympians on this year's squad. Nine total returning Olympians. The men's team won a bronze in Rio, but faltered in Tokyo. Coach John Spiro says he feels like they have an experienced team that's been together for years. And they have a good chance to finish well in the tournament. - We had a great run in Rio where we bronze-metaled. We had high expectations going into Tokyo. Didn't perform to the level that we were hoping. So now we're coming back with what I would consider this era of players. That's been here for the last 12 years with a chance to finish on a much better note. - As for the players, they all believe the chemistry on this team is great. They're excited to represent Team USA. And WRAL is your exclusive Olympics home. You can watch the competitions, metal ceremonies, and live analysis all on WRAL. We'll have live reports from Paris in our 6 a.m., also 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. news. Downtown Raleigh has some new pre-historic art installations. Three topiary dinosaurs can be found around the city. Their names are Trish, the Triceratops, Bex, the T-Rex, and Terry, the pterodactyl. Trish is at the corner of Morgan and Fayetteville Street. Bex is at Moore Square and Terry is at Exchange Plaza. It comes as the city celebrates the latest dueling dinosaurs exhibit that recently opened at the Museum of Natural Science. - Following two breaking news stories involving overturned tractor trailers in our area, we're back with that. - Kerry, get ready for the exciting new Go Carry Downtown Loop. Enjoy easy access to downtown destinations like Downtown Kerry Park, Kerry Regional Library, the Kerry Theater, and more. The loop operates Thursday through Sunday every 25 minutes and it's free to ride. Driving downtown, park at the town hall parking deck, and hop on the downtown loop. With the new Go Carry app, you can effortlessly plan your trip and track your bus in real time. If the app is free to download and use, visit gocarry.org to learn more and start your journey today. - I chose William Peace because of the personalized education it offers, which allows students to truly know their professors. It's really possible to make genuine connections with your professors and learn intentionally here and dive deep into what you're passionate about. - A 12 to one student of faculty ratio is just one of the many reasons students choose William Peace University. Extra attention starts day one for career planning with their Career Services Center. Find out all they have to offer at peace.edu. - As you get into your cartoon to WRAL news plus on your radio in Raleigh on 99.3 FM. Indurum 96.5 FM and everywhere on 101.5 HD 3. - Good morning. Happy Wednesday time now is 826. I'm Michelle McConnicky. Ken Smith, still tracking some big backups on 440 cam. - Very happy morning to be particularly for those people who use weight avenue to get onto the belt line. This is a crash that's shutting down the unwrapped at I 440 Eastbound. You can see the heavy delays it's causing in that area. Let's take you right to that scene and show you exactly what's going on this morning. Right now, they've righted that trail. It's a live look, courtesy of photographer Charles Bradley and reporter Laura Levine had been on that scene all morning long. That track until has now been moved to the shoulder but you can see debris is all over that area. That I 440 ramp is still closed to this hour. I would recommend Hillsborough or even Western Boulevard as another opportunity to get onto those Eastbound lanes of 440. - I can't thank you. Meanwhile, today another heat alert in effect for the areas. We see the heat index peaking between about 102 and 107, very similar feel to what we've had over the past few days. Difference is we do expect more storms today than we saw yesterday, but even still, we're gonna call that chance scattered. Some of those could be on the strong side, especially as you go near and north of Wake County. We're gonna time things out for you coming up on Fox 50 plus show you some more of the relief in sight as we head into the weekend. - Thanks, Chris. Two people were taken to the hospital after a crash involving a FedEx, 18 Wheeler and a car. The tractor trailer in Orange County, creating overnight backups on I-85. This happened between Hillsborough and Durham near US 70, just before two o'clock this morning. Video shows the truck toppled over into the center median. The road reopened just before seven o'clock. Coming up next on Fox 50, another tractor trailer topples over in Raleigh, spilling steak marinade on the highway. And up next on today, Glenn Powell live in Studio 1A. - Kerry, get ready for the exciting new go-carry downtown loop. Enjoy easy access to downtown destinations, like downtown Kerry Park, Kerry Regional Library, the Kerry Theater and more. The loop operates Thursday through Sunday, every 25 minutes, and it's free to ride. Driving downtown, park at the town hall parking deck, and hop on the downtown loop. With the new go-carry app, you can effortlessly plan your trip and track your bus in real time. The app is free to download and use. Visit go-carry.org to learn more and start your journey today. - I chose William Peace University because of the small class sizes. I feel that you get more one-on-one time with teachers. With class sizes like about 16 per teacher, you can really get that one-on-one help. A lot of students need. A 12-to-one student to faculty ratio is just one of the many reasons students choose William Peace University. Extra attention starts day one for career planning with their Career Services Center. Find out all they have to offer at peace.edu. - Shot in 4K ultra high definition. Your number one source for local news. WRAL news. Cover it, you can come on. - Crews are making progress, clearing the scene of what has been a messy situation on the belt line, a tractor trailer flipping over, and steak sauce spilling along the road. - And a FedEx truck flipped onto the median on I-85, creating backups in Orange County earlier this morning. The new information just into our newsroom about the drivers involved in this crash. - And our heat wave seems like Joe DiMaggio's historic hitting streak. It seems like it just will never end, but we do see an end in sight. I'll show you when, coming up. - Plus Republicans are working to unite the party at the RNC, how former Trump competitors are now showing their support of his nomination. Rolls on after day two. Two more days left of that in Milwaukee. Bring inside the WRL studio here on our Wednesday. I'm Jeff Hogan. - And Michelle McConnicky, thanks for joining us. Chris Michaels has our weather forecast. It almost seems unfair to show Carolina Beach, White Lake, Lake Gaston, 'cause we wanna be there. - Exactly, I think we need to sign a petition that we just do the newscast from out there on these hot days, right? Starting out with a live look at White Lake, you see some boats on the dock. I think some folks getting ready to head out and brave the heat out there on the lake. And there's plenty of it. Once again, a heat advisory in effect. This is for the fourth straight day where the heat index gets to about 104 to 108. Once we start to get into that territory, that's when things get potentially dangerous for those of us that are working outside for a long period of time. Even tomorrow quite hot, the heat index getting close to triple digits, but by Friday, that's when we start to snap this streak a little bit. And a lot of that has to do with this front that's coming through tomorrow. And it really sets off a stormy pattern and you notice how it kinda stalls out over North Carolina. So we do see the daily chance for showers and storms. That's gonna be coming through late this week into the weekend. Something to keep in mind, I've got this graphic color coded. The yellow means that you might wanna have a plan B for your outdoor weekend plans, but coming up in just a little bit, I'm gonna show you the plus side to this stormy pattern. Ken? - All right, looking forward to that. Chris, happening now in the W.R.O. traffic city, you can see traffic is building on all sides of the butt line this morning, as well as I-540. A real trouble spot this morning has been a crash we've been following all morning long. And I-440 Eastbound right there at Wade Avenue, you can see the heavy delays it's causing in that area. Of course, I would always recommend you do Hillsborough or even Western Boulevard. There's another alternate route to get on to those I-440 Eastbound lanes. Let's get out to the W.R.O.O. area, the loyal of the, she's been covering this story since we got right on the scene and loyal, you know, right on top of that traffic trailer that was involved in that crash. - Yeah, Ken, within the past 15 minutes, crews have been able to remove this tractor trailer from that crash site and now pull it over to the shoulder. And the reason why they cannot pull it any further is because you can see the damage, but a lot of debris still coming from the truck. We actually saw these bottles and jugs of just the marinade, the steak sauce that's been on the highway, still falling from the truck as they were removing it from the scene. This was carrying more than 38,000 pounds of products we're talking about again, steak sauce, marinade sauce, that just caused such a mess this morning. We know crews arrived on the scene just before two o'clock this morning, that's when they first got the call. They had the call DOT for backup to help them kind of drain those trucks and spray water on the roads to clear some of that mess that we saw earlier. We know the on ramp here on the inbound lanes remain closed at this time, RPD still blocking off that area because look, I wanna pan the camera this way if we can. You can see several trucks still on the scene. We have more records and tow trucks here, but we also have some equipment. They're using some heavy equipment to continue to remove some of the dirt and debris that is still on this in or ramp here. So of course, we're gonna continue to track the progress here, but again, things are looking good so far. The good news in all of this, a lot of people have reached out and said, is the driver okay? Yes, we're told by the Raleigh Watch Commander that there were no injuries to report from this incident. We're still working to learn what may have caused that driver to veer off the road this morning. Laura Levine, WRL news live in Raleigh. - Of course, again, that I 440 on ramp to those Eastbound lanes closed at this hour used Western Boulevard or Hillsborough as an alternate route. We showed you some of the backups that we've been seeing on the north side of the Beltline as well as the south side of the Beltline. This our view from I 440 and Lake Boone trail this morning. Traffic is just really picked up a bit and it's usually part of the morning congestion. Maybe just adding a couple of minutes to your morning commute if you take that north inside of the Beltline. On the south side though, this is I 40 and Lake Wheeler Road traffic in the Westbound lanes coming toward us. That's adding about a three to five minute to your morning commute this morning. So keep that in mind if you're getting ready to head out. - Can we just got an update from highway patrol on this morning's I 85 crash involving a car and a FedEx tractor trailer? Both drivers had to be pulled from those vehicles and they were taken to the hospital with serious injuries. Let's get you to video from the W aerial breaking news tracker this morning. It all started on I 85 near the US 70 exit in Hillsborough around 130 this morning. The crash caused backup for hours. The investigation is ongoing as to what led to this. The crash was cleared by seven a.m. And traffic is moving along on that stretch of I 85 again. - Thanks for that update Renee back here. And Raleigh a dump truck hit right into a Burger King on Avon Ferry Road. And you see from this picture here the WR breaking news tracker building has minor damage right above the drive through window there. No one was hurt the restaurant will be open today. - Some people living near Dixie trail finally have power back after spending a night without air conditioning. That's because a large tree fell and knocked out power for hours. It happened just before 11 o'clock last night. The tree was blocking the road for a while before a crew is finally removed it. - Search for UNC's next chancellor will move forward today. Search committee will meet in Chapel Hill this afternoon as UNC is looking for a permanent replacement for Kevin Gusquitz. He left from Michigan State in January. Lee Roberts is the interim chancellor, the board of governors and system president Peter Hans will make the final call. The committee's goal is to name the new chancellor by the end of the year. - Sources tell our NC Capital team that a Japanese medical device company is moving into North Carolina. State commerce officials will hold a special meeting at 11 o'clock this morning. The NC Capital team has learned that the officials are expected to discuss economic incentives for the company called Nipro. It's expected to announce a $400 million expansion that could bring in about 230 jobs to Pitt County. Governor Roy Cooper is scheduled to make an economic development announcement in Greenville later today. - Covering Wake County, school leaders picked Shaw University to be the new partner for the school system's leadership academies. The school board still needs state approval to make that all official. The Wake Young Men's and Young Women's Leadership Academies don't have a permanent partner right now after all the fallout with St. Augustine's University over its accreditation. The board's vote starts the process to fix that starting in the 2025-26 school year. Students will attend leadership programs at Wake Tech until then. - Today, year-round teachers and Durham Public Schools return to work. They'll gather at Northern High School today for a day-long kickoff to the school year. They'll hear from the new DPS Superintendent Nicholas King and participate in professional development sessions as well. Classes for year-round students start on Monday. - Tonight Vice Presidential nominee J.D. Vance will address the Republican National Convention. Vance will formally accept his nomination as he speaks, night three of the convention in Milwaukee. His speech is expected to focus heavily on his personal life story. It was first made famous in the 2016 memoir, Hillbilly Elegy. Peter Navarro is also expected to speak at the convention this week after he is released from prison today. Navarro is a former aide to Donald Trump. He's been in prison since March for contempt of Congress after defying a subpoena to testify in front of the January 6th committee. It's not clear yet which day he's expected to speak. - Night two of the Republican National Convention saw former rivals of Donald Trump rallying behind him. The most anticipated speech of the night came from former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley. Haley gave the former president her strong endorsement while criticizing President Biden's policies on global affairs. - If we have four more years of Biden or a single day of Harris, our country will be badly worse off. For the sake of our nation, we have to go with Donald Trump. (audience applauding) - Another former rival, Florida governor Ron DeSantis, also spoke as well as one-time presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswami. Yesterday's focus was on crime in America with many of the speakers focusing on immigration and border security. Trump will speak tomorrow after officially accepting his party's nomination. - You can find the full list of remaining events at the Republican National Convention by going to WRAL.com. - And President Joe Biden is back on the campaign trail. Biden spoke to open the NAACP National Convention in Las Vegas yesterday. Biden worked to shore up support among black voters. He also aggressively slammed former President Trump's policies. He promised voters he is, quote, "all in" to continue his campaign for re-election. - Police are working to find the person responsible for a stabbing in downtown Raleigh. This is video of that scene on East Davy Street from the W.R.L. breaking news tracker. Police say this happened around 6.30 last night. One person was stabbed and taken to the hospital. That person is expected to be okay. No arrests have been made as of this morning. - And Governor Roy Cooper will be in Wilmington today for an announcement about new funding for transportation infrastructure. Federal Highway Administrator Shaelyn Bat will join him for that announcement. It's happening at 10.45 this morning. - Coming up, Wake County Schools adopted a new policy that black families and students have been asking for for a while. The change that is designed to stop discrimination against hairstyles. - And the singer behind a widely ridiculed rendition of the national anthem explains her performance. Why Ingrid Andress is apologizing to the MLB and her fans. - And we give you this live looking clinton this morning. Yeah, sun is shining bright. Our weather pattern though pulling a 180 as meteorologist, Chris Michaels tells us how much rain is expected and how much will cool off after it. - Here's Brandon with Parkway Sleep Centers. - Tired of waiting for a sleep treatment? - At other sleep centers, it can take six to eight months just to get an appointment and cost you thousands more. Not Parkway Sleep Health Centers. We schedule you within weeks and we'll save you money too. We have over 20 years of experience serving the triangle. Let our expert team help you sleep better sooner. - And your sleep problems, live your best life. Experience the Parkway Sleep difference. Visit parkwaysleep.com and start your journey to better sleep today. Parkway Sleep Health Centers sound sleep, sound health. - Breaking news, the designer can give you the kitchen of your dreams. I'm Dana Merrill, the owner of the designer in North Raleigh. - And I am true Merrill. I am the project manager. - The designer is a lovely kitchen bath and closet remodeling company. We do pretty much any of the utility spaces in your house. If you want to store things in your cabinets, if you want to work on things on your countertops, if you want to have a floor that can get wet or muddy, we're the place to help you fix your home up. - We are the designer in North Raleigh, located at 3030 Wake Forest Road in the Holly Park Plaza. We would love to see you or visit our website at thedesignery.com. (upbeat music) - Welcome back, 844 as you look live over southern pines, a beautiful sky out there. Sunshine, couple clouds, if you're gonna golf, do it now. And also bring some water with you. It's gonna be really, really warm later today. Really hot, I should say. And some rain could be on the way. Meteorologist Chris Michaels standing by with a gorgeous weather watchers photo. - Yeah, this is really one of the better ones we've gotten recently. Shout out to Tracy out of Princeton. These are called anti-cropuscular racing. You've got the sun tier back and the sun's rays converge on the horizon. Really cool unique shot there from Tracy. Again, if you want to be a weather watcher, easy go to our website and we're happy to share your pictures. Here's the current picture in Durham, in Raleigh, in Fadeville and you see that mix of clouds and sun that you saw in southern pines. It's already 79 to 80 degrees. If you're gonna do some yard work today, get that done early as well. It's already sticky out there. Temperatures this afternoon, they'll be similar to yesterday, mid-topper 90s. Storms today slightly more than yesterday, but they're gonna happen later in the day. Let me show you why. So we've got a front off toward the west. And so it's really not triggering anything quite that widespread. Notice here's 4 p.m. Storm's pretty scattered, especially toward the Piedmont, but starting to move in from west to east. Especially north of Raleigh, you could see a couple stronger ones. Meanwhile, that front gets closer to us heading into Thursday and it's the catalyst for more storms. Not to say that Thursday's gonna be wet at all times, but after 1 p.m. or so, there you start to see a higher coverage, more amount of storms. And again, some of those could be on the strong side with how much moisture that we've really built up in the atmosphere. After 7 or 8 p.m., that chance is gonna start to move farther to the east. This sets off a very wet weather pattern at times heading into the weekend and into early next week. In early indications over the next seven days would be two to four inches of rain. Keep in mind you can have some isolated totals just 'cause some of those summer downpours have a lot of moisture with them. But here's some good news with that is that we're looking at at least four days with highs below 90 degrees. Last time that happened was May 27th to June the 3rd. The past four days we've had excessive heat warnings, heat advisories, everything like that. We're not necessarily looking at that. Those we had late week into the weekend. Even tomorrow we manage to hit 90 degrees. It's prior to some of the more numerous storms that move through. That's gonna be a little earlier in the afternoon tomorrow. And by Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, you're looking at high temperatures 86 to 88. Each afternoon and evening has the chance for scattered to at times numerous showers and thunderstorms. Ken. - All right Chris, we continue to follow the breaking news we've been following all morning long. Let's crash on I 440 East Barnet. Wade Avenue, you can see the heavy delays it's causing in that area. It's been affecting your morning commute all morning long. Have we been recommending using Western Boulevard or even Hillsborough as another opportunity to get on to the East Barnings of I 440 East. We've got a live crew on the scene. We'll have an update for you at the top of the hour over on Fox 50 right here on Fox 50 I should say. Elsewhere around the triangle we've been noticing some congestion building on the Beltline. Here's our live look at the north side of the Beltline. This is I 440 and Lake Boone Trail. Traffic is really just picked up in those westbound lanes that's coming toward us. Over on the south side of the Beltline, things are really moving along nicely even though traffic is picked up. This is typical of this time of the morning. This is I 40 and Lake Wheeler Road. This is probably going to add about maybe a couple of minutes to your morning commute. So as you get ready to head out, let's keep that in mind especially if this is part of your commute. (upbeat music) With the summer heating up, a lot of towns are offering evening outdoor movies to help families beat the heat of the day. WRL lifestyle editor Kathy Hanrahan is here with all of the details. Kathy, let's start with downtown Carrie on Friday night. Hopefully the rain can hold off for this. Fingers crossed, okay. If you love dinosaurs, this is a great pick for the weekend, okay. There is a free screening of the film Jurassic Park Friday night at downtown Carrie Park. This is a 1993 classic film. You remember it, it started off the whole franchise. The fun starts at 6 p.m. with activities and games. Then the movie's going to start around dusk because there's going to be food trucks on site. Admission is free. There are so many Jurassic Park films. The first one is just, it's classic. You can't go wrong. And then on Saturday, there's another free movie. Tell us about Family Movie Night in Wake Forest. Wake Forest always does it right. They've got great family movies. They're going to host a free screening of Kung Fu Panda 4 outside at Joyner Park. The event starts at 7.30 p.m. with a character meet and greet and some crafts for the kids to do. And then the movie's going to start at about 8.30. That mission is free on this one too. Also Saturday, Carolina Theatre are hosting a free movie for families. Tell us about that one. And this is great because it's indoors. You've got air conditioning. Carolina Theatre is going to host a screening of the Disney classic The Princess and the Frog. Of course, this movie's part of the free retro family day. Screening starts at 11.30, now it's free, but you do have to go 30 minutes prior to the screening and get a voucher to get in. But like you said, inside air conditioning, you can't beat it. And family's looking for more and more free or reduced price to movies can get a full list by going to WRAL.com and searching keyword family. Thanks, Kathy. Discriminating against hairstyles will not be allowed in Wake County schools. The school board has changed its dress code policy for students and staff. So this change means students won't be punished for wearing their hair in braids, twists, or other natural or cultural styles. It's something black students and families have been asking for for a while. New title nine regulations have been adopted into Wake County school policies on sex based discrimination. The school board approved several language changes last night. They include clarifying, title nine complaints don't have to be written down. You can read more about the debate over the changing title nine landscape at the education section of WRAL.com. - Knew this morning, Autopsies on six people found dead and in luxury hotel room in Thailand confirm they had traces of cyanide in their blood. Pictures released by the Royal Thai Police that show the food and drink officers found inside that hotel room. Police say they found traces of cyanide and coffee shared by the six people found dead in that room. Authorities say the victims are four Vietnamese nationals and two Vietnamese Americans. They are three men and three women between the ages of 37 and 56. The police chief says their deaths appear to be personal, possibly tied to money and there is no ongoing threat to tourists. - Shocking. President Joe Biden is reportedly considering a push for major reforms to the Supreme Court. These changes would include term limits and an ethics code for the justices. Biden also reportedly considering pushing for a constitutional amendment limiting a president's immunity that would effectively reverse the court's recent ruling on immunity. Passing the amendment would be extremely difficult as it would require congressional approval and ratification by 38 states. - Milwaukee police say they're reviewing their RNC protocols after officers from out of town shot and killed a man near the convention secure zone. Authorities say officers from Columbus, Ohio who were assigned to patrol near the security perimeter saw two men fighting. Police say one man charged at the other with a knife and the officer shot and killed him. No one else was hurt. And right before this, police arrested a man near the RNC security zone who they say was concealing a gun in a tactical backpack. The Milwaukee police department says a 21 year old man did not have a permit to carry a concealed weapon and the man's identity has not been released. And Senator Bob Menendez is facing decades in prison after being found guilty on all counts in his federal corruption trial. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called on his Democratic colleague to resign after the jury handed down the verdict yesterday. The New Jersey Senator was convicted of 16 counts including bribery, extortion and wire fraud. Prosecutors say that he received gold bars, hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, a Mercedes Benz convertible and other bribes in exchange for his influence. His sentencing date is set for October 29th. - Shows you this yesterday and now the singer who performed what some people are calling the worst rendition of the National Anthem ever says she's going to rehab. ♪ Gave proof through the night ♪ ♪ That our flag was still there ♪ - That's country music star Ingrid Andrus performance at Major League Baseball home run derby Monday night was widely ridiculed on social media. In a social media post yesterday, Andrus says she was drunk. She apologized to Major League Baseball and the fans. She ended the post by saying quote, I'll let y'all know how rehab is. Well, Fox's Fall 2024 lineup is out and it includes two new dramas and a new animated comedy. It all starts September 8th with a brand new series Universal Basic Guys that show follows brothers who lost their job to robots and use their free time to find a new purpose. And later on that month, we'll get a premiere of a new lifeguard drama high surf, new mystery drama murder in a small town and the return of 911 Lone Star. All those shows look really great. All right, before we head to break here, are your winning lottery numbers? We'll get another check on weather and traffic next. (upbeat music) - Your heart, it's the only one you have. Fortunately, you also have a choice. Expert cardiologists, talented surgeons, highly skilled specialists, all of whom chose WakeMed. Why? The main reason is the same reason patients choose WakeMed. Everything you need for the best possible care is right here. Learn more at WakeMed.org. WakeMed Heart and Vascular Physicians, your heart, your choice. What's next? At Moss Adams, that question inspires us to help people and their businesses strategically define and claim their future. As one of America's leading accounting, consulting and wealth management firms, our collaborative approach creates solutions for your unique business needs. We leverage industry-focused insights with the collective technical resources of our firm to elevate your performance, uncover opportunity and move upward at MossAtoms.com. - An official message from Medicare. - A new law is helping me save more money on prescription drug costs. You may be able to save too. With Medicare's extra help program, my premium is zero and my out-of-pocket costs are low. Who should apply? Single people making less than $23,000 a year or a married couples who make less than $31,000 a year. Even if you don't think you qualify, it pays to find out. - Go to ssa.gov/extrahelp, paid for by the US Department of Health and Human Services.