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4:30AM News on WRAL - Wednesday, July 10, 2024
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I'll show you what it will feel like hour by hour. Concerns are growing among Democratic lawmakers over President Biden's re-election campaign. The possible vote happening today that could reveal more about Biden's cognitive health. It is 4 30 on your Wednesday as we welcome you to the morning. Thanks for joining us. I'm Renee Chiu. And I'm Jeff Hogan. Yeah, and some of the conditions outside can be dangerous to our health. We've noticed that over the last several days, even a couple of weeks. Elizabeth Gardner in the WRO Severe Weather Center. It is another heat advisory day. Another one. Here we go. Feeling like as much as 107 this afternoon. It was very hot afternoon yesterday. We had a heat advisory then as well. So second one in a row. We may not have to deal with this again for the rest of the week. It looks like our temperatures may drop just slightly as we have a better chance for rain. Take a look at this. It's hot out there already 80 degrees in Durham and Raleigh. And it already feels like 84. Of course, those numbers are going to really climb as we get through the afternoon. This is our hour by hour heat index. By lunchtime, it feels like 97. We're feeling like 100 at one o'clock and 105 around four to five o'clock. It's not until eight o'clock before we get out of the triple digit heat index. We also have that chance of some isolated showers and thunderstorms. These look like they're going to be a fairly long time coming. Mainly around seven to eight o'clock and into the evening. So they're not going to pop up in time to really cool us down. And we're only looking at a 20 to 30 percent chance. But that chance definitely goes up as we get through the next several days, especially on Friday. We'll see you high this afternoon of 96 and coming up. We'll talk more about how much rain we can see at the end of the week. Elizabeth, thanks. Breaking news. A person is dead after being hit by car in Fayetteville. This happened just after 10 last night. The Cumberland County Sheriff's Office says a car sped past a deputy who was on patrol. Authorities say that speeding car then hit a person at Merckison Road and Family Drive. The deputy stopped there to help the person who was hit. That person later died. Another deputy tracked down the car and initiated a chase. The speeding driver hit another car at Langdon and Ramsey Street before stopping. That's when deputies arrested the driver. We're working to learn more about the charges that person may face and the identity of the person who died. WRS Kelsey Coffee is on her way to the scene and will have a live report from her at five. Also breaking news out of Raleigh this morning, a woman has serious injuries after an early morning shooting. This happened on Blue Ribbon Lane near Wood Meadow Parkway. It's a neighborhood not far from the Coastal Credit Union Music Park. Nick Purlant joins us from that scene in the WRL breaking news tracker and Nick investigators have been there about four hours now. And Jeff, you can see Raleigh police right here behind me in the crime scene tape here on Wood Meadow Park as they continue to investigate that shooting. I do want to get just this video from the WRL breaking news tracker and you can see this is as far as we could go. But you can see that shooting happened a little bit further down the road there. We do know one woman was shot with very serious injuries. We do expect her to make a recovery, but at this point we're still trying to learn from Raleigh police. If they know who fired those shots early this morning and what exactly led to this shooting, we're going to stay on top of this one and keep asking more questions. Reporting live in Raleigh, Nick Purlant, WRL News. Duke Energy will test its sirens today as planned at the Harris nuclear plant. A false alarm went off Monday morning, leading to this alert that was sent to cell phones. WRL's Laura Levine joins us live near the nuclear plant. And Laura Duke Energy says all issues with the siren system have been fixed. Yes, Renee, good morning. It was that alert that came to many phones that let's a fear and panic for a lot of people here on Monday as we're in this nearby neighborhood near the plant. We have a siren right here. So when the siren goes off today, they want people to be aware that this is going to be regular scheduled testing. Duke Energy and Wake County officials want to remind the community that they will test these sirens as typical on Wednesday today. Officials say on Monday, while Duke Energy was conducting the routine silent testing of sirens around the Harris nuclear plant to ensure their proper functioning. A small number of sirens in that 10 mile emergency planning zone inadvertently went off. Today's testing will be a 5 to 30 second testing between 10 and 11 this morning. Some sirens may get tested more than once. But with Adam Sullivan, he lives near this plant. He says there should be a more efficient way to communicate to the public. In our neighborhood, you know, we've got a lot of congestion around us with all the construction around. And I think a lot of people are just like, we don't have the information. We don't know what to do. We didn't see any evacuations. People didn't actually take it seriously. So it is very concerning that it doesn't really feel like this is well put together. Many questions this morning on what exactly caused those sirens to go off on Monday. Duke Energy says they are still investigating. Laura Levine, WRL news live in Wake County. This morning, nearly 2 million homes and businesses in Texas remain without power after Hurricane barrel made landfall 48 hours ago. The power outage comes as the region is facing sweltering heat there. Utility Company Centerpoint says it hopes to have power restored to more than a million customers later today. The death toll in Texas and Louisiana from that storm is now eight people. President Biden has issued an emergency disaster declaration for Texas to help people facing a massive cleanup effort. Officials say restoring power to the hardest hit communities will be a multi-day effort. In Galveston, city leaders are warning people it could be as long as two weeks before the power is back on there. Covering Wake County, some people living in North Raleigh say they are becoming increasingly concerned about safety, especially at night. They are sharing those concerns with Raleigh police and trying to find solutions. Police hosted a community meeting last night at Millbrook Community Center. Officers noted that road rage incidents and car thefts are up in North Raleigh. We do focus on a lot of strategic areas. So if we see an uptake in crime, we're going to address it with the officers. Whether it's the Bead officers, whether it's a specific unit, they're going to get out in the area and address those issues based on the intelligence led information that we get. Officers also shared an update about the Connect Raleigh program. This allows police to tap into video from private security cameras if people allow them. So far, police have access to about 900 cameras. Today, the House could vote on a measure to find Attorney General Merrick Garland $10,000 a day. A Republican from Florida is pushing the vote to punish Garland for not giving up audio tapes of the special counsel interview with President Biden. Some Republicans believe the tapes could reveal the president's possible cognitive issues. Democratic lawmakers met behind closed doors yesterday to talk about their concerns with Biden's re-election campaign. Nine have already gone public with their opinion that Biden should withdraw from the race. Even many more Democrats who are staying behind him are making it more about being against Donald Trump rather than being for President Biden. President Biden is the nominee and we support the Democratic nominee that will be Donald Trump. Biden does not plan to meet with congressional Democrats this week. This morning, Team USA Swimmers will be starting their Olympic journeys. Today, they're leaving the triangle and heading to Paris. Over the last two weeks, the swimmers have been training at the Triangle Aquatic Center in Kerry. WRL will be there for the team to send off this morning at 10. WRL's Laura Levine recently talked with some of the coaches and the athletes. I was wondering if there is a different headspace or a different experience going into the Olympics each and every year. And what is your headspace right now as we're just three weeks away? In 2016, I was just totally wide-eyed at the whole experience. I made the team and I feel like I could kind of road an emotional high all the way through the games. Where now, like, I don't think I can do that. Like, I came off of trials and my goal was to try to bring myself down, relax as quickly as possible, get back into a training routine. WRL is your home of the Summer Olympics. Liz McLaughlin will be in Paris, bringing you live reports. We'll also have live coverage all day from July 26th to August 11th, right here on WRL. Just about 20 minutes before 5 on our Wednesday, an investigation is underway after U.S. Marshall shot a suspected carjacker right near the home of Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. What the marshals say happened right before those shots were fired. More than 6,000 cases in North Carolina are considered cold. It's part of a national crisis. We'll tell you about the case of a Wake County woman who law enforcement is still looking for 40 years after her disappearance. And we'll give you this live look straight down Salem Street in Apex. We have another heat advisory today. Some relief could be on the way. Meteorologist Liz Lizz with Gardner will tell us when a cold front is expected to move through our area. [Music] 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. Shuff 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. [Music] From the WRAL Severe Weather Center, North Carolina's most experienced team of meteorologists. It's 443 and we have another heat advisory in effect for today. It'll feel like up to 107 this afternoon. We do get into a little bit of a break by Friday. We're going to have a better chance to rain and it's going to bring our temperatures down. So just one more day of really taking it easy out there as we'll hit 105 potentially this afternoon with the heat index. So again, just, you know, here we go. It's the middle of July. Don't get easy out there. In Chapel Hill this morning, we have some cloud cover. We're looking at a very warm start. Temperatures are in the mid to upper 70s, heading out the door, 77 in Fayetteville, 77 South Hill, 76 degrees in Erwin right now. You're going to feel it when you step outside to walk the dog this morning. And of course, even if you're walking the dog after work, it's going to feel very hot. Talking more about our rain chances coming up. Elizabeth, thanks. The six French bulldog puppies that police say were left in a hot car and are now recovering cannot be adopted until the legal case plays out. You know, a lot of you are concerned about the pups. Staff at the Wake County Animal Center say the puppies are doing better after showing signs of heat exhaustion. Apex Police say a woman left them in a hot car over the weekend as she went inside a restaurant. Police charged the dog's owner with animal cruelty. She disputes the charges, saying the car had a fan on and the windows were down. We're learning more about a shooting involving the security detail of Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. This was during what police say was an attempted carjacking and Metropolitan Police say it happened early Friday morning in Washington, D.C. near Sotomayor's home. Two U.S. marshals charged with protecting Supreme Court justices were parked outside when the suspect identified as 18-year-old Ken Trel Flowers, allegedly armed with a firearm, approached one of the marshals and pointed the gun at him in an apparent attempt to carjack him. One of the marshals shot flowers. He was treated at the hospital and then arrested. Donald Trump is back on the campaign trail less than a week before the start of the Republican National Convention. Trump greeted thousands of supporters at his golf course outside Miami last night. He took the opportunity to revel in the calls from Democrats for President Biden to drop out of the race. Despite all the Democrat panic this week, the truth is it doesn't matter who they nominate because we are going to beat any one of them in thundering landslides. This November is going to be amazing. Trump also challenged Biden to another debate, this time without moderators, and to an 18-hole golf match. He did not address any rumors about who he will pick as his running mate. The Ukrainian community in the Triangle came together to protest the recent attacks by Russia. The group sang traditional Ukrainian songs outside the state Capitol building hoping to raise awareness about the worsening situation in Eastern Europe. The reporters also asked people here in Raleigh to continue their support of Ukrainian war efforts. Just to make sure that people are aware that the war is still there, that people are still suffering, that Ukrainian society is being resilient and resistant. But we do need some help because we are fighting a country that is like four times larger than Ukraine is. And she also added, "It's important the conflict not be forgotten about just because it's happening thousands of miles away." Opening statements in Alec Baldwin's involuntary manslaughter trial will begin today. A jury for the trial was seated yesterday. Baldwin is charged in the death of a cinematographer on the set of the movie Rust. A gun he was holding went off, killing Helena Hutchins. Baldwin has pleaded not guilty. He says he did not know that there was a live round in the gun and that it discharged accidentally. Baldwin could face up to 18 months in prison if the jury finds him guilty. The search continues for a Chicago woman who disappeared in the Bahamas nearly three weeks ago. 41-year-old Taylor Casey was last seen June 19th around Paradise Island. She was visiting the area for a yoga retreat. In a news conference yesterday, the Royal Bahamas Police Force says it's conducting ground searches on land, sea and from the air. They've come across a few clues so far but have not said what those clues are. Casey's phone was found two days after she disappeared and authorities are still working to unlock it. Firefighters in California are battling a raging fire that has now swallowed up more than 20,000 acres. The lake fire started last Friday and the Los Padres National Forest. Officials are asking people who live near that fire to evacuate and that's affected about 100 people so far. Wildfire is 15% contained. An investigation into how the fire started is still continuing. State investigators say there is a growing cold case crisis nationwide and those cases are piling up in North Carolina as well. The State Bureau of Investigation says more than 6,000 cases in the state are considered cold, unsolved. That includes the 1984 disappearance of a Wake County woman. Sandra Ross was last seen at what was then called Carrie Village Ball. She went to the drug store to pick up baby supplies and never came home. Her car and purse were found a day later but Ross has not been seen since. This is not a case that is easy to give up on. To be able to bring some answers to the family means everything to the Sheriff's Office. Ross's body has never been found. It still remains a mystery four decades later and it's one of Wake County's oldest active cold cases. If you have any information on Sandra's case please call the Wake County Sheriff's Office. For 48th of the time right now on a Wednesday morning. Let's stop over to Elizabeth Gardner and the W.R. and Severe Weather Center. Another morning where we wake up and it feels like midday summer heat. It really does. To me it feels even worse than it did yesterday. However, the conditions are pretty much exactly the same. This is a live look at Fittin' and Carrie. Some cloud cover out there for us this morning but it is 80 degrees. I guess that is a little hotter than it was this time yesterday. Southeast went at 5 miles per hour and it will be a fast warm-up. We'll climb to 90 degrees by the time we get to lunchtime. Take a look outside. This is our tower. It is lit in purple this morning because we have cloud cover across the region. That may help to keep our temperatures a little bit cooler a little longer but it's still going to be a hot one. No escaping it today. 96 in Durham and Raleigh and 98 in Fayetteville with a chance of some late-day storms. Of course we do have a heat advisory again for today. It starts at 11 a.m. last until 8 p.m. It'll feel like up to 106-107 across the area. This is a look at the heat index for Raleigh. We're going to hit 104 by 3 o'clock and 105 into the afternoon. We don't get out of the triple digits with the heat index until around 8 o'clock. Do take it easy out there. We talk about this a lot. If you're an outdoor exerciser for the next couple of days, obviously the morning is going to be your best shot at it. But it's already 80 degrees and very, very muggy out there. Midday into the evening is still going to be awfully hot. We're talking about temperatures in the 90s even by midday and through the evening. And of course the middle of the afternoon is going to be off limits because we do have that heat advisory that's in effect. We're looking at issues with heat today. It's still going to be hot and sticky Thursday, but we're less likely to have a heat advisory. We're going to bring it down just a little bit. And then Friday we have rain in our forecast. And that's going to bring our temperatures way down. This is a look at where we can see a heat index of 100 or higher. It's the entire viewing area in much of the state today. And tomorrow it's really just along the coast. So we start to get a little bit of a break. It's not going to be a huge one, but a little bit of a break starting tomorrow. 74 is our due point right now. So that is high. It does stay high all the way through Sunday. So that makes it feel especially hot. Heat risk going to be moderate for Thursday, minor Friday because of the rain. But then by Sunday it really heats up again. So keep that in mind as you're planning your weekend. This looks like a lovely place to be over the weekend. Holt Lake there. Hester sent us that photo. Isn't that gorgeous? If you have a photo you'd like to share with us, go to www.WRL.com. Search Weather Watchers and you can load those up. It's quiet this morning, but we do have the potential for some isolated showers and thunderstorms later on this afternoon. It may be a little later in the day than at what we typically see. We'll roll through the day today, past lunchtime and all the way into the evening commute. And that's when we begin to see a few isolated showers and thunderstorms popping up. Of course, we're looking at a much better chance for Friday. And temperatures will respond back down into the mid-80s. We'll go over the timeline for Friday's rain and show you how much we'll see coming up. Elizabeth, thanks. A local professor is working overseas uncovering pieces of history. What she found on an archaeological dig in Israel. And a look at the first giant pandas to arrive in the U.S. in more than 20 years. Hello. So cute. 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. Shuff 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. This is the story of the one. As a maintenance engineer, he hears things differently. To the untrained ear, everything on his shop floor might sound fine. But he can hear gears grinding. Or a belt slipping. So he steps in to fix the problem at hand before it gets out of hand. And he knows Granger's got the right product he needs to get the job done. Which is music to his ears. Call clickgranger.com or just stop by. Granger. For the ones who get it done. An ancient village is in Israel and it is now receiving quite a lot of attention after an 11 year archaeological dig was just completed. It involves UNC students and a husband and wife team who dedicated several summers to this project. The images they found will soon become a gift to the world. Jody Magnus' home library in Chapel Hill is dominated by her life's work as an archaeologist. So this is the Athenian Agora. Magnus, along with her husband photographer, Jim Haberman, spent 11 summers with UNC students in northern Israel digging into ancient history. It is an ancient village about 3 miles inland, meaning northwest of the shore of the Sea of Galilee. Excavations in that region revealed colorful mosaics near the ruins of a synagogue. The team gingerly scraped down through soil, exposing beautiful images. Digging deeper, they saw familiar tales from the Old Testament. And the fact that our synagogue is paved with a much larger array of biblical stories and other scenes than in any other synagogue building. Magnus says it's not unlikely that Jesus walked right where she and her students worked. I think it's not unlikely that Jesus would have known of our village because it's in the area he was wandering around. A fish swallowing one of Pharaoh's soldiers and perhaps the story of Jonah and the whale. Haberman's photographs are now the only way the images will live on. The entire site now is deeply backfilled. The site is now in the hands of the Jewish authorities. Magnus says excavating the site was not the main goal. The goal is to publish because if we don't publish what we've excavated, we as archaeologists, we have effectively destroyed the past in the name of science. Jody Magnus says her work now is to publish those images with about four or five large volumes for bookshelves. The San Diego Zoo is giving us a look at its new pair of giant pandas. Can not get over this cuteness. Yoon Chuan and Shink Bao arrive safely from China on June 27. They're in the first giant pandas to arrive in the U.S. in more than 20 years. They're getting used to their new surroundings and then the public will get to see them later this summer. More pandas will arrive in the U.S. later this year, including at the Smithsonian Zoo in Washington. There's something fishy taking place in Louisiana this election season. It's a new I voted sticker that people will get after they leave the ballot box this November. The sticker has a smiling tuxedo wearing crawfish. Jokingly named Mark de Ballot. Academy award winning animator William Joyce designed the sticker. Okay. Sense of humor. We are following several breaking news stories here this morning. First police are busy and Raleigh investigating a shooting that injured a woman this morning. Also a hit and run in Cumberland County. What deputies tell us about a person who died and the chase that led to the driver's arrest. It's a large tornado that hit a city in Indiana and the damage it left behind. Let's take a look at this story. Get ready for the exciting new go-carry downtown loop. Enjoy easy access to downtown destinations like downtown Cary Park, Cary Regional Library, the Cary 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. And start your journey today. 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. Shuff 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. (upbeat music)