WRAL Newscasts
8AM News on WRAL - Thursday, July 11, 2024
live from WRAL News headquarters in Raleigh your number one source for local news. WRAL News coverage you can cut off. We're following some breaking news in the double yard traffic city can see right here this northern side of the but line around 440 Capitol Boulevard. A huge backup this morning will tell you what happened and how to get around this mess. And two people were seriously injured in a crash in Raleigh. What we are learning about the rescue from a crushed car. And our dew point is a little lower than it was yesterday. That means our heat index won't be as high this afternoon. I'll show you what it will feel like. And today Vice President Kamala Harris is making a visit to North Carolina coming up where she'll be headed in a few hours. Thank you so much for joining here us here on your Thursday morning. I'm Michelle McConaughey and I'm Chris loving good. We are following obviously some breaking news that's happening this morning here and we'll get to that in just a bit but first we want to check in with Elizabeth Gardner on what's happening with your weather forecast. We're taking a live look right now at our tower that is in Eastern Wake County. We're looking westward at some sunshine and a little bit of cloud cover. We take a look at these numbers and yes it is a warm start out there. Temperatures are in the mid to upper 70s already. But you might notice that it feels just a little less heavy when you step outside. The dew point dropped to 65 which puts us in the nice category. Yesterday it was about 10 degrees higher than that. And it was a very oppressive feel to the air. Still going to be hot hour by hour. Heat index is going to take us anywhere from the mid to upper 90s but it won't push us to 105 to 110 which is where we were yesterday. It just felt like you were swimming through the air yesterday. It was really miserable. Mostly we'll be dry today but once we get past this evening we get into a better chance for some scattered thunderstorms. Those will start east and begin to move westward overnight. We'll likely wake up to some scattered storms tomorrow and they'll be with us for much of the day. Our high this afternoon will be in the mid 90s so again it is going to be a fairly hot day for us but tomorrow will be noticeably cooler with the rain. I'll show you how much we can see coming up. Well this is the top of the hour here in Fox 50. We continue to follow this breaking news right now on the these westbound lanes of the Beltline. We're talking 440 net capital Boulevard. There's a crash up ahead near the Wake Forest Road exit. You can't see the crash on this camera but you can see the huge backup it's causing this morning. Take a look at what it looks like on our sensors this morning. It's just incredible. It stretches all the way back to the U.S. I-87 I-40 the Beltline split right there. You can see that huge backup even over on capital Boulevard. You can see that back of where it's stretching to. I would recommend staying local this morning. Maybe staying on six folks road staying on capital Boulevard. Even Wake Forest Road if you're trying to get to all points west. I was recommending I-540 but you can see the morning congestion that's building there as well. We are seeing another trouble spot this time though in Durham. It's a crash that just cleared there on the I-885 but you can see from this traffic camera that it's beginning to clear up quite a bit this morning right there near Alexander Drive in the Bullsey. Alright thank you Ken. Breaking news this morning at least two people are badly heard after a crash on New Hope Church Road. This happened just after 2.30 this morning. Video from the WREL breaking news tracker shows two cars involved. Raleigh police say a person had to be extricated from one of the cars. The road reopened about 4.30 this morning. We are working to find out if any charges will be filed. Firefighters had to put a house fire out in Raleigh's historic Oakwood neighborhood. The emergency call came in around midnight. Now in this video you can see the teams at the home and at this point there didn't appear to be any flames. We are working to learn the extent of the damage and whether anyone was in the house during the fire. Today Vice President Kamala Harris will be in North Carolina once again. She's visiting Greensboro as President Biden is facing a crucial point in his reelection bid. WREL's Kelsey coffee is live at the legislative building in Raleigh and Kelsey the Biden campaign is turning up the pressure in North Carolina as it tries to rebuild momentum. Michelle exactly in the Vice President should be in Greensboro in just a few hours and the American flag here flying beside the state flag outside of the legislative building this morning is quite symbolic as North Carolina voters will play a key role and who's elected to lead our nation in November. Harris made a stop in Charlotte last month. Now today's visit to Greensboro marks her sixth visit to our state this year. This comes as President Biden faces pressure to abandon his reelection bid. Biden trails behind President Trump by several points and recent polls. The Biden campaign is focusing on narrowing that gap here in North Carolina. Trump won the state by fewer than 75,000 votes back in 2020. Laura Leslie from our WREL NC capital team weighs in. For the Biden campaign to hold three separate campaign events in North Carolina in the last week and a half is a pretty clear sign that they are counting on North Carolina as part of their path to the White House. And we'll have a crew in Greensboro this morning to keep you updated on Harris's visit. Kelsey coffee WREL news live in Raleigh and security perhaps are underway ahead of next week's Republican National Convention as Donald Trump prepares to announce a running mate. Officials are putting up fencing and downtown Milwaukee where about 50,000 people are expected to attend during the convention. Former President Trump will be formally selected as the Republican nominee and new polling shows how close the race is between former President Donald Trump and President Biden here in North Carolina. A Bloomberg poll conducted last weekend shows in a two-way race. Biden is three points behind Trump. Today a new effort to protect children from online sexual exploitation kicks off in North Carolina. It's called a no-to-protect Homeland Security is partnering with Governor Roy Cooper and Attorney General Josh Stein on the campaign. They'll speak more about it during an event in Raleigh. That's this afternoon at one o'clock. WREL will be there and we will have a report in our later newscasts. OSHA is investigating the possible heat-related death of a postal worker. Wendy Johnson worked as a postal supervisor in Fayetteville. Family members tell WREL she died on June 6th after working out of the back of a postal truck without air conditioning for hours. One postal worker who did not want to be on camera told us they call these postal trucks Easy Bake Ovens. Johnson's son says his mother would text family members about the heat inside those trucks. She takes my aunt and she said yeah I'm in the back of this truck and I'm hot. Being in her situation I don't think she should have been in the truck on 95 degree weather then in the back of that truck if like a hundred and two. And we've reached out to the Postmaster and Charlotte to get information about the circumstances surrounding Johnson's death. We have not heard back. A lighting strike is being blamed for a house fire in Kerry. Fire fighters arrived at the three-story home on Carpenter Upchurch Road. That's around 9.15 last night. They say the fire started in the chimney before spreading to an upper story room in the home. The fire was out within about 20 minutes time of firefighters arriving. At last check no injuries were reported. We're hearing for the first time from a man who survived the Francis Scott Key Bridge Collapse in Baltimore earlier this year. Julio Cervantes Suarez sat down with NBC's Tom Yamas in an exclusive interview. Cervantes Suarez was one of the construction workers working on that bridge when the Dolly cargo ship lost power and crashed into a pillar. Six workers died including his brother-in-law and nephew. Cervantes Suarez also fell into the water and he described his thoughts in that moment. And Suarez also shared that he cannot swim. He says his helmet had a flashlight attached at the top. That's how the search boats managed to find him and help him get out of the water. A dog owner accused of leaving a dog in a hot car in Wake County stood before a judge yesterday. Paul Fisher is accused of leaving a dog in the car in the parking lot of a motel in Kerry. First responders say the temperature inside the vehicle was well over 100 degrees. The assistant DA said in court Fisher gave this explanation. He said he knew the dog was going to put the dog in there and he played the dog in the parking lot. Fisher asked for a public defender and he is barred from having any animals and is due back in court July 31st. Another dog owner was recently accused of a similar crime here in in our county involving six French bulldog puppies. The Biden administration is now allowing 500 pound bombs to be sent to Israel. A shipment of 502,000 pound bombs were paused months ago. A US officials were concerned that Israel might use the larger bombs to attack Rafa, which is densely populated with civilians. The 2,000 pound bombs remain on hold. More plane issues this time with an American Airlines flight. See the move moment right here as a tire issue prevented liftoff. And team USA swimmers are now in Croatia coming up after the break. How fans wish them farewell from the Triangle Aquatic Center. And it's not quite as sticky today as it was yesterday, but it's still going to feel pretty hot for us this afternoon. Tomorrow is a different story. We'll see highs in the low 80s because of brain that will be with us for much of the day. I'll show you how much we'll see. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Welcome back on your Thursday morning. You are taking a look live look over North Hills. You're watching WREL news available on spectrum and the WREL app on your TV or streaming device. Much of us, a lot of us waking up to those steamy temperatures again today, Elizabeth. We could see some relief tomorrow with that rain coming. Yeah, we need the rain desperately and it's going to drop our temperature. So looking forward to that for sure. We have a good bit of cloud cover in Goldsboro right now and some in Apex Chapel Hills, almost completely clear courtesy of Top of the Hill restaurant. Definitely some sunshine there in Fayetteville at our newsroom on Hay Street. Last night, we had a cold front slide across the triangle and produced some scattered storms. On the other side of this cold front, we have a high pressure system rotating clockwise and that dragged in some slightly drier, not necessarily cooler, but drier air. So it hasn't been quite as sticky this morning. Now, in the vicinity of this front, we're seeing some thunderstorms developing in Eastern North Carolina. We're not seeing any of that in our area currently, but we did have that rain overnight last night. Most of that rain today stays to our east. But look at this. From Wake Forest to just West of Roanoke Rapids, we had a strip of purple and red where we ended up with an inch and a half to two inches of rain. We head to the south and you can see Western Wake County saw an inch to an inch and a half and then a pocket down here in Western Harnett County of over three inches of rain. Now plenty of us didn't see much at all that line of storms popped up and fizzled out pretty quickly, but we'll see much more widespread rain when this cold front slides back to the West late this evening and overnight tonight. For the most part, the rain is going to be in our Eastern counties for today, but along in east of I-95, we can see some isolated showers and thunderstorms and as our front starts to back up, we'll likely see some rain overnight and we'll wake up to it tomorrow morning. There'll be some scattered storms in the morning, could continue. Low pressure rides up that front during the day and continues to bring the rain all the way up until around, say, nine o'clock at night. There's a very small chance that we could see some development of a tropical system with that low, some tropical characteristics, but it's a very small chance. No matter what, it is going to drag in a lot of tropical moisture off of the Atlantic. This is how much rain that we could see in the next five days. Much of this would be on Friday. Anywhere from an inch in our Western counties to two and a half inches in our Eastern counties and around the triangle, it should be an inch and a half to maybe two inches. So it should be a good soaker for us, but with those amounts of rainfall, we could have some flooding, some places that tend to flood pretty easily. We could see that tomorrow. Now, later on today, we have the drought monitor come out, hasn't come out yet, usually closer to nine o'clock, but we had a big patch of severe drought in eastern North Carolina, and this rain should help, at least to keep that from getting any worse. Over the weekend, highs are back into the 90s with a chance of storms and it looks really hot next week. We'll talk a little bit more about some of those rainfall totals for tomorrow. Coming up, Ken. There's within the W.R. Traffic Center. We continue to follow this breaking news here on the Beltline 440 in Capitol Boulevard. You can see that huge backup. You can't see the crash near Wake Forest Road from this vantage point, but let's give you a live look now courtesy of Sky Fon. That tractor trailer you see right there, that was one of two vehicles involved in that crash that happened a couple of hours ago. It's not only clearing phase, you can see a Raleigh police officer right there, at least one lane of the Beltline right there, a long Capitol Boulevard between Capitol and Wake Forest Road, it's closed. That's the lingering delay that you're seeing right now there on courtesy of Sky Fon. We do appreciate these live pictures coming into us this morning. I would absolutely try to avoid this area if we come back here to the W.R. Traffic Center because take a look at what it looks like on our sensors this morning. You can see that back of search all the way back to the I-87 split with the Beltline this morning. Like we said, that crashes in the clearing phase. I would also recommend just staying local, maybe staying on Capitol Boulevard, staying on maybe six-fourth road if you're trying to get to all points west. Another trouble spot this morning, that's outside of the Beltline around Lake Victoria Road. Take a look at what we're talking about this morning. The westbound lanes are coming this way, moving towards us. It's moving but at a very slow pace of this hour. Alright, thank you Ken. A funeral is happening today in Milwaukee for a man who died after being pinned down by security guards outside a hotel. Devontay Mitchell died last month. His family says body cam and security footage shows guards attacked and beat him before pinning him down. That video has not been made public. Protesters gathered in Milwaukee yesterday to show their support for Mitchell and his family. They then marched to the hotel where he died. Prosecutors say Mitchell's death is being investigated as a homicide. The family has hired civil rights attorney Ben Crump to represent them. An American Airlines flight in Tampa canceled its take off because of a tire that eventually caught fire. See for yourself, the plane was taking off yesterday morning when this happened. The video shows one of the back tires appearing to break apart and then you can see smoke as the plane accelerates. See that right there? Turns out the tire even caught fire. The plane eventually slows down and then stops. This is an aircraft Boeing manufactured. 182 people were on the plane but no one was injured. Wow, that's that's lucky nobody was hurt. The US military peer off the coast of Gaza will soon be permanently removed. At least four US officials confirmed that the peer will be taken down as early as next week. It was built to deliver aid to people suffering as the Israel Hamas war continues. The 230 million dollar temporary operation has been plagued with problems. The peer is expected to be used at least one more time this week to deliver any remaining humanitarian aid to Gaza. Health leaders in Colorado say a person there was diagnosed with bubonic plague. That's an infectious disease that fleas can spread. The source of this in Colorado, well, it's being investigated. The CDC says the plague can be treated successfully using antibiotics. You may want to stock up on stamps. Prices are going up again this Sunday. The cost of a first class forever stamp will increase five cents from 68 cents to 73 cents. The US Postal Service says price hikes are needed to achieve financial stability. It's part of a 10 year plan announced in 2021. This will be the second stamp prices have gone up this year. Greg Berhalter is out as head coach of the US men's national soccer team. The US Soccer Federation fired him yesterday and this happened after a disappointing outing in the COPA America tournament. The US team was eliminated in the opening round. And a semi-final match in the COPA America tournament descended into chaos after the final whistle. This happened after the match between Colombia and Uruguay at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte. A fight that started on the pitch spilled into the crowd. Players from Uruguay's team went after fans. One of them said the fans were attacking their family members in that crowd. Colombia did win that game. They'll play Argentina in the final on Sunday in Miami. The Summer Olympics kicks off in just 15 days in Paris. And while anticipation is growing the pressure is especially on for athletes from Ukraine. Here's Krista Mayo. With the Paris Summer Olympics just weeks away, athletes from around the world are continuing to train hard. But while going for gold is a goal, many Ukrainian athletes feel this Olympics is about more than gaining person of glory, citing how it's critical they raise awareness for their country as a Russian invasion intensifies. We compete to draw attention to Ukraine, to attract more media coverage, to keep raising the issue of the war. Preparing your body and mind for the Olympics is a challenge of its own, but with more than 500 Ukrainian sports facilities having been destroyed since the war began in 2022, athletes are facing extra hardships. You sit in the bomb shelter for an hour, then come out for 15 minutes, start warming up, moving, and then the siren goes off again, and you go back to the shelter. It's impossible to establish a normal training return. Many male athletes are also torn by their decision to compete instead of fight. At first, you might wonder why many people, especially men, are defending the country while you're simply training. But then you realize that when you go out there, you're raising the Ukrainian flag. The war, meanwhile, is also impacting younger Ukrainian striving to take part in future Olympics. I want to become an Olympic champion. Oleksandra Pascale has been training in gymnastics since she was four years old. Now eight, she's pushing past an injury that resulted in her losing a leg after a Russian missile slammed into her home. Her coach says everyone is mustering the courage to press on. My primary task today is not to achieve high results in sports, but to preserve the mental and physical health of our children. That was Kristin Mayo reporting there. And new this morning, team USA Swimmers have landed in Croatia to continue their training ahead of the Paris Summer Olympics. They're in Europe early to acclimate to the time change there. Yesterday, fans held a send-off for the team at the Triangle Aquatic Center. Some fans wore Wolfpack gear to show support for NC State alum, Katherine Birkoff. It's so sweet. I love it so much. It means so much. The triangular has a great swimming community, so it's especially a part of it. And the first time Olympian will compete in the 100-meter backstroke event in Paris, many people were also at a public practice on Saturday where stars, including Caleb Dressel, made a splash in the pool. The opening ceremony is 15 days away. And WRL is your home for the Summer Olympics. Liz McLaughlin will be in Paris, bringing you live reports. We'll also have live coverage all day from July 26 to August 11 on WRL. So all this a little while ago, she is excited to be there. Rocky Mountain leaders were approved for more than $11 million in loan money to build a new fire station. The new two-story building is the replacement for this 46-year-old station on Grace Street. The city's mayor and other leaders met recently to answer community questions, and concerns were raised because the city already has a $15.5 million line of credit to buy land for a separate project. An intersection in Fayetteville is the location of another crash after a person was killed in a hit and run there earlier this week will show you where the multiple vehicle crash happened. Your cartoon to WRL news plus on your radio in Raleigh on 99.3 FM in Durham, 96.5 FM and everywhere on 101.5 HD 3. Good morning. Happy Thursday. Time now is 826. I'm Michelle McConnicky. We're still following that breaking news on the Beltline. Ken Smith has more on this backup. Yeah, this is a huge backup for the last couple of hours this morning. There's a crash that happened near Wake Forest Road. You don't see it on this camera, but you can see the huge backup it's causing. It involved a track of trailer this morning. It's right now courtesy of Sky 5. You see these live pictures. That's a track of trailer that was involved with another vehicle there this morning around just before seven o'clock this morning. You can see one lane is closed because Raleigh police are still investigating this crash, but the other three lanes are moving this morning. But take a look at what we're seeing in the sensors. You can see the huge backup. It's caused it all the way back to the I-87 split with the Beltline. Coming up at the bottom of the aisle, we'll tell you how to get around this mess on the Beltline. And there's a nearly stationary band of thunderstorms. It's just to our east. That is likely this evening and overnight to pick up and move west. We may end up with some flooding there in Eastern North Carolina because that band is just not moving anywhere. We take a look at Clinton. You know, maybe some of the first to see some of that rain shifting westward, but that's not going to happen until much later today. We do upper 70s right now, walking the dog this afternoon. It's going to be hot with mid-90s. We'll see a heated next around 99. Thanks, Elizabeth. Crews respond to a house fire in Raleigh's historic Oakwood neighborhood about midnight. This is video from the WRL breaking news tracker on Elm Street. We are working to learn the extent of the damage and whether anyone was in the house at the time. Coming up next on Fox 50, what we can expect as the vice president visits North Carolina today. ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ We continue to follow this break and use here in the boat line. Look at the back of its causing right there on 440 in Capitol Boulevard. We'll tell you how to get around this mess coming up. ♪♪ A house caught fire in Raleigh's historic Oakwood neighborhood overnight. But we're asking about this emergency response this morning. ♪♪ And I'm following a line of thunderstorms. It's two-hour east. We'll talk about when this boundary will pick up and move in our direction. ♪♪ Today, vice president Kamala Harris will be in North Carolina. Coming up, where she'll be headed in a few hours. A lot of stuff going on this morning. So, come on in. Join us here in WRA News and Fox 50. I'm Chris Lovengit. And I'm Michelle McConaughey. Starting off your Thursday morning. Not too bad. It's warm out there. But no rain. We did have some overnight at Elizabeth. I was going to tell you before. I fell asleep to some thunder last night. It was wonderful. It was wonderful. See you here. And that very front that brought us to thunderstorms in the triangle has parked itself here in eastern North Carolina. And these thunderstorms aren't moving like they were last night. So, a lot of folks in eastern North Carolina may end up with some flooding because this is stationary. And you can see it's just affecting the very, very southern tip of Sampson County. But no other part of our viewing area. We do have the potential late this afternoon and into the evening to see some of that beginning to back into our area in our eastern counties. This is a look at future cast. You can see those showers and thunderstorms to our east. They do begin to fizzle out later today. And then redevelop overnight tonight as this whole thing shifts eastward. So we're likely to wake up with some showers and storms tomorrow morning. In the meantime, we're seeing partly cloudy skies across most of the region. Our dew point has dropped significantly from yesterday. We're down at 65 right now. But it is still going to be warm. 76 as you're heading out the door in the triangle and the heated decks will be in the mid to upper 90s for this afternoon. So it will just feel a little bit more comfortable. We're not looking at 105 to 110, but still a hot afternoon with a high of 94. Ken. Let's continue to follow this breaking news. In the WO traffic center, huge backup in these westbound lanes there. This is a camera from I 440 in Capitol Boulevard. That's the entrance coming off the six works road. Going over to Wake Forest Road right there. That's where the crash really happened. Let's take a look. This live look at Sky 5 this morning of the scene that you're looking at. This crash happened a couple of hours ago and involved a tractor trailer. One of two vehicles that was involved with that crash. They've been spending the last couple of hours trying to get it cleared. It's right now you can see that tractor trailer that was involved in the crash on the side of the road. One lane is still blocked because Raleigh police are still trying to clear that scene. But the other three lanes are moving this morning. But back here in the WO traffic center, that backup stretched all the way back at one point to the I 87 belt line split. You can see it's clearing up just a little bit this morning. If you're trying to get to all points west, I'll recommend Highway 70. And maybe just staying local for a time. Six works road, Capitol Boulevard, and that'll get you back around. Another trouble spot this morning, the south side of the belt line. We're seeing that congestion building. And this is what it looks like. This is I 40 in Lake Wheeler Road. The westbound lanes are coming toward us. So if you need to give yourself some extra time, please do so at this hour. Breaking news. Crews responded to a house fire in Raleigh's historic Oakwood neighborhood. The emergency call came in around midnight. This is video from the WRL breaking news tracker on West on Elm Street. We're working to learn the extent of the damage and whether anyone was in the house at the time. And WRL is looking into this. Three vehicles involved in a crash in Fayetteville. You can see in this video, the aftermath of the crash on Ferguson Road at Pomely Drive. This crash happened at around 11 15 last night. And we're trying to find out whether anyone was injured during this. The crash location is the same intersection where a fatal hit and run crash happened Tuesday. Vice President Kamala Harris will be in Greensboro today. It's the latest in a series of stops from members of the Biden administration as they tried to gain support in the state. WRL's Kelsey Coffey shares why this visit is so important as President Biden's re-election campaign is facing a critical point. Vice President Kamala Harris will be in Greensboro in just a few hours. The American flag flying beside the state flag this morning outside of the legislative building is quite symbolic as North Carolina voters will play a key role in who's elected to lead our nation in November. Harris made a stop in Charlotte last month. Today's visit to Greensboro marks her sixth visit to our state this year. This comes as President Biden faces pressure to abandon his re-election bid. Biden trails behind President Trump by several points in recent polls. The Biden campaign is focusing on narrowing that gap here in North Carolina. Trump won the state by fewer than 75,000 votes back in 2020, or Leslie from our WRL NC Capital team weighs in. For the Biden campaign, to hold three separate campaign events in North Carolina in the last week and a half is a pretty clear sign that they are counting on North Carolina as part of their path to the White House. We'll have a crew in Greensboro this morning to keep you updated on Harris's visit. Kelsey Coffey, WRL news in Raleigh. Security preparations are underway ahead of next week's Republican National Convention. It's happening as Donald Trump prepares to announce a running mate. Security fences have been placed in downtown Milwaukee. That's where about 50,000 people are expected to attend the convention. During that convention, former President Donald Trump is expected to be formally selected as the Republican nominee. And new polling shows how close the race is between President Donald Trump and President Biden here in North Carolina. A Bloomberg poll conducted last week shows that in a two-way race, Biden is three points behind Trump. Take a good look at this video. It shows the moment that car slammed through a wall of a Selma business on July 4th. That driver in that car was being chased by Selma police. The owners of Surfin Terp on Anderson Street are now working to reopen. The lawnmower store was closed for the holiday when the crash happened, so thankfully there was nobody inside. Since that crash, the community of Selma has rallied around the business owners. "Great sport in the community. We've got a lot of phone calls, a lot of big reaching out, trying to help us out, give us stuff. You know, it didn't really get to us. There's a tight next community." And the driver of the car was 37-year-old Tyrone Jones. The store owner, say police, found him hiding in a back room. Behind a pile of tires, he was taken into custody. And it's no one was inside. For the first time, a Democratic senator is publicly calling for President Biden to end his re-election campaign. Senator Pat Welch of Vermont makes the call and an opinion piece for the Washington Post. In it, he says he respects Biden, but says Biden should withdraw a quote "for the good of the country." Welch joins nine Democrats in the House of Representatives who have publicly urged Biden to leave the race. And tonight, Biden will hold a solo news conference. He's scheduled to take questions from the White House press corps at 5.30 tonight. Now, he won't be speaking at the White House. Instead, he'll be at a nearby convention center where the NATO summit is happening. "Dangerously, high temperatures can be deadly for infants and small children. And pediatric doctors say it is extremely important to know the signs of heat exhaustion in babies. Doctors at Duke and UNC tell W.R.E.L. Heat is especially dangerous for infants because they have no way to communicate. Because they can't tell you what they're feeling you need to be aware." "Any time that your baby is not responding to you as well as it usually does, so if your baby usually is smiling at you, laughing at you, and suddenly stops doing that, it's important to check the baby carefully to make sure that the baby is feeling okay." And some of the signs of heat exhaustion include pale, clammy skin, lichenate, nausea, and a fast-week pulse as well. Covering Wake County. Today, Raleigh and Wake County leaders will highlight the region's triumphs, challenges, and priorities for the future. They'll be speaking at the annual State of the City, Council, and Schools event. The Raleigh Chamber is hosting the sold-out luncheon, and guests will hear from Raleigh's mayor, the chair of Wake County Commissioners, the Wake School Superintendent, and other leaders too. That runs from 11.30 to 1.30 at the Raleigh Convention Center, and W.R.E.L. is the media sponsor for that event. You can watch it live on WREO.com, and we'll also have coverage in our later newscasts. State education leaders want to make a change that could help more people become teachers. College students who want to become teachers have to take what's called the Praxics exam. Basically, it measures certain academic skills. Non-traditional teachers don't have to take it, but the State Department of Public Instruction says that teachers who pass this test in college don't perform better as teachers compared to the ones who never took it. Later this morning, the State Board of Education will consider asking state lawmakers to no longer require this. The change could allow hundreds more people to become teachers through a traditional college program. Coming up, nicotine pouches are growing in popularity. The health risks of products like zins. And a scandal at the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest. The cheating allegations from this year's competition, just ahead. And we'll take you out live to Fayetteville beautiful blue skies out there. After the break, meteorologist Elizabeth Gardner will tell us when the humidity will shoot back up. Save big this summer with great deals. All in the King Supers app. Get juicy Washington red cherries for $2.99 a pound. Then get 10 for 10 on items like Lays Stacks, Rice Oroni, and Sparkling Ice Sparkling Water for $1 each, all with your card. Shop these deals at your local Kroger today, or tap the screen now to download the King Supers app to save big today. King Supers. Fresh for everyone, prices and product availability subject to change, restrictions apply. See site for details. Personally, I don't think it's fair. We show this Carolina beach cam. Looks beautiful outside. I got to be here just looking at it. It's beautiful though, still outside. We've got Elizabeth Gardner. She's got pine hearse behind you. It's not the beach, but it's sunny. Hey, a lot of people would love to be here too. And a lot of people are. There's several folks out there enjoying the morning temperatures. It's definitely going to be a hot day today, but our humidity has dropped off. And look at those beautiful blue skies and pine hearse this morning. Our temperature currently is 76 in the triangle, but are 2.65. And this time yesterday, our due point was 75. That's a significant drop. It's not going to be a cooler day, but it just won't be quite as muggy. We had a line of thunderstorms pop up yesterday evening. And just as those were starting to form, the sun was setting here in Moore County and Heidi Rabstinik shot that beautiful photo there. And so we'd love to see your photos too. Go to WRL.com search weather watchers and post some photos for us. 92 today in Raleigh Durham and Fayetteville. We have only a small chance of showers and thunderstorms during the day, but that chance goes up tonight and tomorrow. We'll talk more about that in just a few minutes. Our muggy meter sitting at Steamy. Yesterday, it was 77 at lunchtime. So steamy to almost tolerable. It feels more comfortable than it did yesterday, but it is still steamy, right? Just a little subtle difference. It's likely to stay tropical from tomorrow all the way into next week. And so we'll have an issue with the heat index, most likely again, starting on Sunday. This afternoon, mid to upper 90s is what it will feel like. But the heat with the heat index, our high will be in the mid 90s. That doesn't put us in the danger zone for today. And certainly not tomorrow. Tomorrow we'll wake up to some showers and storms. Some of those may develop overnight and Saturday is high just 90, but we'll see more humidity working in so it's going to feel more like 100 on Saturday. And we may end up with heat advisory on Sunday. It could feel like 105 or hotter. Here's our front that rolled through and brought us some storms overnight. It's parked itself near the coast and it's not moving right now. It's formed a line of thunderstorms. Behind that line of thunderstorms, most of us are seeing a little slightly drier air mess. That's bringing us a little bit of relief, not much. But this line here is concerning, not because there's any severe weather here, but because that front is parked there. And we'll likely have this line of thunderstorms just continuing to redevelop here for the next few hours. So there could be folks east of us that end up with some flooding. We're not likely to see any of that here. It is likely later on this evening to pick up and start to move westward. And that's when we'd have a chance of seeing some scattered showers and thunderstorms. That may not be until say 9, 10 o'clock and overnight. And we may wake up tomorrow morning to some of these heavy rain showers as that low moves on up and continues to bring us some rain through the afternoon. So it looks like a wet and cooler day tomorrow at 82. And then the temperatures begin to ramp up 90 Saturday and 96 on Sunday. Again, once we get to Sunday and early next week, the heat index will climb again into the triple digits, Ken. Alright, Elizabeth. We've got about 15 minutes before 9 this morning. We continue to follow this break and use on the boat line. This is our camera at I 440 and Capitol Boulevard. You can't see the crash. That's really just in the clearing phase right now. They just hauled away the tractor trailer that was involved. This is courtesy of Sky 5. The tractor trailer was just right there on the side. They pulled it away a short time ago. And all lanes of I 440 westbound now are open. As you can see, courtesy of Sky 5 this morning. But this was a real mess this morning. Back here in the W.O. traffic center. Take a look at what the sensors are still looking like. This is a lingering delay. You can see it all stretched all the way back to I 87 split this morning. But as you can just saw right now, it's completely clear. And those lanes should be clearing up very shortly. Another trouble spot this morning, the south side of the boat line. Wrong lake. Let's take you outside and show exactly what we're talking about. This is the westbound lanes moving toward us this morning. It's moving, but very slowly at this hour this morning. Thank you, Ken. This morning, the involuntary manslaughter trial of actor Al Baldwin will continue in New Mexico. Opening statements started yesterday. It's been nearly three years since cinematographer Helena Hutchins was fatally shot on the set of the movie Rust. Prosecutors accused the actor of playing make-believe with a real gun while the defense team is saying the gun had been checked and it was safe. Three officers and a crime-seam technician testified yesterday. Baldwin has pleaded not guilty and says he did not pull the trigger. But if he's found guilty, he faces up to 18 months in prison. The trial will resume this morning. There's growing health concerns over at nicotine pouches, and their growing popularity among teens and young adults. The most popular brand is Zinn. The company sold over 130 million cans in the U.S. within the first three months of this year. 32-year-old Will Yamis says that he quickly became addicted to Zinn. Soon, he was using up to 20 pouches a day. After a year, he started having severe stomach pains, but doctors didn't know why. I got an ultrasound. I got a colonoscopy. And all they found was that my stomach was inflamed. Doctors say nicotine can have side effects, including gastrointestinal issues, mouth ulcers, and elevated heart rate. And while the FDA is still reviewing the safety of Zinn and similar products, multiple medical organizations have asked the agency to stop sales. In a statement, Zinn maker Philip Morris says that it is committed to developing products that are scientifically substantiated as a better alternative to continued smoking. The two astronauts who were aboard the Boeing Starliner Spacecraft insist they are confident in the vessel. They are on day 35 of what was supposed to be a 10-day mission. I have a real good feeling in my heart that the spacecraft will bring us home. The team has been on the space station for longer than anyone expected after having a problem with the ship's thrusters. Engineers on the ground are working to replicate the problem here on Earth, so the astronauts can be instructed on how to fix it. NASA wants to ensure the thrusters don't fail again when the astronauts return to Earth. Williams and Wilmore's homecoming is now planned for some time later this month. A legendary track and field coach now has an interchange on the belt line named in his honor. The state DOT announced yesterday that the interchange of I440 and New Bern Avenue is now the coach George Williams' interchange. Williams coached both men's and women's track and field at St. Augustine's University for 44 years. In that time, the team's brought home 39 national titles. Williams was also the head coach of the 2004 U.S. Olympic track and field team. The DOT says the signs in his honor will go up at a later date. Jeff Hogan of the WR Live Center wanted to take you to France where this morning a famous gothic cathedral caught on fire. I have some video that I wanted to show you here because you see the very top of this cathedral, the spire there, caught on fire. This is about 500 feet high here. That happened in the city of Rowan, which is 70 miles northwest of Paris. There was a tarp covering some construction work being done up there. It caught on fire, about 70 firefighters, about 40 fire engines were taken to try to put this fire out here. The origin is unknown at this point. The amount of damage is unknown as well. They do know that there were no injuries. Construction on that started in the 12th century. Goodness. Thank you, Jeff. Wrapper Flav of Flav is getting in the water with the U.S. water polo teams as their official hype man. Flav recently played a game with the women's Olympic team and he signed a five-year sponsorship deal with both the men's and women's teams. Now, as part of the deal, he's making a financial contribution to the women's team. And he says he wants to give the team confidence to achieve its goals of winning gold in Paris. That's what I'm trying to do with these girls to give them a more powerful feeling, a more competent feeling to go out and get that fourth gold medal. It's great to be able to have someone like that around that just immediately brings that enthusiasm that's infectious. And yes, Flav or Flav will be in Paris with the team. We're told that he'll be linking up with NBC's special guest commentator and fellow rapper Snoop Dogg. That is going to be fun. Alright, happening today, Clayton's downtown social district goes into effect. The new ordinance is similar to several others in downtown areas allowing people to carry those alcoholic beverages outdoors while inside the district zone. All drinks must be purchased at local businesses and personal containers are still not permitted. Today in entertainment news, inside looks at documentaries on household names and a major movie is yanked from the release schedule. Here's David Daniel with the Hollywood Minute. There's no army of this earth. It's going to stop those wagons coming. The rulers there want. Those wagons are on hold. Warner Brothers has postponed the second film in Kevin Costner's "Horizon and American Saga" series. Chapter One is now in theaters and Chapter Two was due out August 16th. But a studio spokesperson says it's been pulled from the schedule, quote, "to give audiences a greater opportunity to discover the first installment." Costner reportedly has sunk $38 million of his own money into the western epic more than Chapter One has grossed worldwide so far. This was baseball's Watergate. One of the game's greatest players has stained the game. The cirrhosis accepted baseball's ultimate sanction. Lifetime in eligibility. Charlie Hussle and the matter of Pete Rose spans more than 60 years, looking at one of baseball's most fascinating figures, from his iconic play on the field becoming baseball's all-time hitsleader to his banishment for gambling and imprisonment for tax evasion and his bid for reinstatement and an unblemished place in baseball history. The documentary series debuts July 24th on HBO and Max. For a moment I thought, maybe this is DM. With the global pandemic, Cirque de Soleil is filing for bankruptcy and laying off more than 3,400 workers. Cirque de Soleil's flagship production, O, closed for more than a year due to the pandemic. A new documentary looks at the effect of the layoff on its performers and crew members and what it took to return to their world-class standards when the curtain reopened in Las Vegas. Cirque de Soleil, without a net, premieres July 25th on prime video. In Hollywood, I'm David Danning. A cheating scandal is rocking the Nathan's hot dog eating contest. Nick Wary finished fourth in the July fourth contest with 51 3/4 hot dogs. Judges make up the count by telling the empty plates each contestant left behind and Wary is accused of stealing an empty plate from another eater boosting his score by five hot dogs. He denies that he stole that plate. Event organizers have adjusted his score to 46 3/4. We'll be right back. (upbeat music) (upbeat music)