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7PM News on WRAL - Monday, July 1, 2024
It is Ryan Seacrest here. Everybody needs some variety in life. That's what I love about Chumba Casino. They know how to keep things fresh and exciting. All their games are free to play. Like spin slots, bingo and solitaire. You can claim free daily login bonuses too. And they release new games every week. So spice things up with Chumba Casino dot com now for your chance to redeem some serious prizes sponsor by Chumba Casino. No purchase necessary. VGW Group. Void we're prohibited by law. 18 plus terms and conditions apply. Five new arrests announced today in a kidnapping and robbery case in Raleigh. What dozens of documents detail about their charges and connection to the dangerous shoot to kill gang. Starting today, if you come to the DMV, you'll see signs like this coming up. How much more money you'll have to pay and what customers have to say about it. Enjoy this break from the big heat. All time out, when temperature sky rocket backup and who could see storms. Plus a new look into the eye of Hurricane barrel as a category four storm. Right now at seven new details about a kidnapping investigation connected to the shoot to kill gang that led to federal charges. Thanks for joining us tonight. I'm Ashley Rowe and I'm Dan Hagerty. Court documents say the suspects used a GPS tracker to orchestrate a kidnapping in Wake County. WRL investigates broke this story about a week ago. And now WRL's Aaron Thomas is live with the details of this elaborate scheme of six people who are indicted in this case, Aaron. Yeah, Dan and tonight their accused gang leader remains here at the Wake County Detention Center on a federal hold. Get this he along with those five other men. If they're convicted of these serious federal crimes, they could be facing up to 10 years minimum sentence in prison. More than 50 pages of the indictment obtained by WRL show the so called shoot to kill gang is accused of robberies and assaults. Today us attorney Michael Easley announced the charges against six men ranging in ages from 21 to 29 years old. Raleigh police and the FBI have been investigating the gang since 2020 in a statement. Raleigh police chief Estella Patterson praised the partnership in this case, saying in part violence that wreaks havoc on our community will not be tolerated. I think us attorney Michael Easley, the Department of Justice and our multi agency partners for their continued support and combating violent crime in Raleigh. This case reinforces our unwavering commitment to the safety of our residents and the relentless pursuit of justice for crime victims. Tonight, I spoke with former Wake County Sheriff Donnie Harrison about his experience of partnering with federal agencies to tackle crime because we had a lot of problems and we knew it coming in here. We worked with everybody. We worked the FBI, the FBI, all the locals that we could and just because the more you have, the more you can pick up. Yeah, and he's definitely seen a lot of considering he has more than 50 years of working in law enforcement. Stay with us on our late news at 10 on Fox 50. We're going to be speaking with the federal attorney Michael Easley who's behind this case. He talks with us about the impact of violence crime action plan plays and making these arrests. Aaron Thomas WRL news live in Raleigh. I'm Lena to lend the WRL Live Center following breaking news coming out of the White House tonight announcing that President Biden plans to deliver remarks to the American people at 745 about the Supreme Court's immunity decision. Today, as we look live at the White House, President Biden is actually not yet at the White House actually looks like right as we speak that his motorcade is pulling up in front of the White House. That doesn't happen often. So the president is going to be speaking about this Supreme Court decision today that grants former President Trump broad immunity from prosecution. He'll be speaking at 745 tonight. The president had been at Camp David after a weekend of campaigning, after a very difficult and what a lot of Democrats thought was a shaky debate performance. But again, the president will be speaking at 745. We will carry some of those remarks. You can also find those remarks on WRL.com. Back to you. All right, Lena, the man charged with killing a family of three in a Memorial Day crash in Garner did not appear in court today. Jordan Porter was expected to make his first appearance after being released from the hospital last week. However, his attorney said his client could not be physically present due to his medical condition. He's in jail under a three million dollar bond already indicted on three counts of second degree murder, among other charges. Police say he was speeding and had been drinking when he ran a red light hitting and killing Tyler and Susan Campbell and their eight year old son, Miles, some new video showing hurricane hunters flying into the eye of a hurricane into a barrel. I can't believe people do this sort of thing, but it does help us to learn a lot. This is the earliest that we have ever seen a category for hurricane in the Atlantic, this powerful storm making landfall today and causing some catastrophic devastation. Meteorologist Kat Campbell in the WRL Severe Weather Center with a closer look at what's happening now and the track, of course. And this storm is powerful. Still a category for hurricane wins 150 miles per hour. A category five hurricane is winds of 157 miles per hour. So this is a strong cap for a hurricane moving quickly to the West Northwest at 21 miles per hour. Impacts to Jamaica are expected during the day on Wednesday and eventually toward Cozumel, Mexico, Cancun, Mexico. Very popular vacation areas during the summer months. That's going to happen around Friday and it should be a weaker hurricane by that point. But let's go past Friday and Saturday because we are seeing some differences in the model plots. While most models take this path straight into Mexico, we have seen a trend on the new European model ensembles, hearing the storm a little bit farther to the north. So that's a trend we'll continue to monitor. Meteorologist Mike Mays will have new model plots tonight at 10 and 11. He'll let you know if that trend holds. But the thinking right now is that high pressure to the north would be strong enough to keep it away from the US. All the closer look at how long our nice weather here locally will last coming up. All right. While the race is on to higher school resource officers and crossing guards in Cumberland County, Sheriff Ennis Wright says Spring Lake, Hope Mills and Fayetteville will have to provide those services during the start of the new school year. Those cities are working with their law enforcement agencies to get that done. School leaders say the issue isn't about bucks. It's about bodies. It's not a money thing. This is not a financial thing. This is a staffing issue. And so finding enough staff to cover the schools along with covering the streets and all of the other things that they need to cover. Hope Mills thinks they'll have enough officers in place before school starts next month. Fayetteville police have 50 schools to cover during public schools. New superintendent will start his job next month. Anthony Lewis comes to the district from a superintendent role in Kansas. WRL's Monica Casey spoke with him about how he'll tackle some upcoming budget issues and rebuild trust with employees after a rocky few months. Anthony Lewis inherits a school district coming out of tense budget discussions with the county. A tax increase will fund most of DPS's ask, including raises for employees. Lewis tells me he's used to these kinds of decisions. Unfortunately, that's been the story of my life of the past at least five past four years dealing with a very tight budget dealing with state funding that has not been keeping up with inflation. The district saw days of protests, some shutting down schools after an incorrect implementation of the salary study. What are your plans on building trust with DPS staff? The first thing is for me to have some face time with as many individuals in the community as possible. Lewis tells me he wants to bring employees into the conversation about the district's priorities and make sure they're aware of the challenges the school system faces. That's investing in our staff. That's making sure that we are taking into account rising costs, operational costs, but also making sure that we're looking at our facilities as well. Those facilities and operational costs were part of recent budget talks. Interim DPS Superintendent Connie Moore said operational needs, including HVAC, fire safety and equipment run between 25 to 30 million dollars. Tackling those issues will now be on Lewis's plate. There's been some deferred maintenance that we will have to address as well in all of our buildings in Durham, Monica Casey, WRL news. We also spoke with Lewis about school safety and he says as a father himself, it will be a top priority. As of today, go triangle buses are once again collecting fares. Bus service has been free since March 2020, the height of the pandemic. Kids under 12 and adults 65 and older are still free and don't forget teenagers can ride for free with a youth pass. The regular fare is 250. You must pay exact change upon boarding. Go triangle is offering an additional month of free rides for those who download and use the UMO app. Starting today, you'll be paying more money to renew your license and registration at the DMV. WRLs tested any Patterson breaks down how much more you'll have to cough up and what customers are saying about it. I'm standing outside the DMV and here you can see signs notifying customers that now there will be a fee for credit and debit card transactions, but there will also be a higher fee for things like licenses and learners permits. A visit to the DMV is often a waiting game. There's a line, long waiting period. For Charles Reynolds, the weight is an expectation, so he's sure to make sure he's comfortable. I bought my cheer, but there is something he wasn't quite expecting. So did you know that they were going to have these fee changes today? No, I did not. Once you make it through the door, it'll cost you more. Starting today, you'll pay about 19% more for certain fees. A learner's permit goes up by $4. A five year license goes up by $5. Vehicle registration goes up 750. These new prices are mandated by state law. The DMV is required to adjust rates every four years based on the consumer price index. If it's $5 every four years, you know, I can see that being reasonable. You got to do it if you need a license, but I mean for people that, you know, don't have the funds. It's not a great thing. Pulling out the debit or credit card will also add to your bill 1.22% in person 1.85% online and 2% at a kiosk. I guess, you know, whatever they charge, I don't really mind as long as it's not like over a hundred bucks and I'm fine with it. Jason Drallet was the first in line this morning. He says he's okay with spending a few extra dollars if it means better service. It's so difficult to try to schedule something and, you know, it's almost impossible these days to do anything without a driver's license. So, you know, to make things easier to speed up the process, that would be all for it. For now, that's another thing. This group will have to wait for. There are about 90 services that have adjusted prices now. You can find the full list on our website at www.WRL.com. Destiny Patterson, WRL News, Raleigh. Still ahead, in less than 30 minutes, President Biden will speak about today's Supreme Court immunity ruling. Coming up next, in a live interview, we'll sit down with a local political science professor to take a closer look at this case, the implications and what's next. Plus, where a purple flag warning is in effect at our coast after several manawars were spotted along the beach. Hey, it is Ryan Seacrest. There's something so thrilling about playing Chumba Casino. 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Joining us now to talk more about this case and the implications of this ruling, Meredith College Political Analyst and Professor David McClellan, thank you so much for being with us. So give us an idea. Is this as monumental as people are making it seem and why? Well, this is an extraordinary case because for the first time the Supreme Court has shielded the president and this basically takes Article II of the Constitution and turns it on its head. I mean, it says the president is more powerful today than yesterday. They kept using the term official acts. So this is when he's doing an official act, but they didn't really give a description as to what that is or where the line is between his personal life and his job as president. Well, they have three buckets. The one is they said official job duties and those are the powers listed in the Constitution. So commander in chief, that's an official duty. Personal, we can kind of understand what that is. It's that gray area in the middle where that's where they're going to send the case back down to the lower court to determine in Jack Smith's indictments which indictments are official in which or not. You know, what's interesting here is though that the ruling also said in dividing official from unofficial conduct courts may not inquire into the president's motives. Basically going as far as to say that prosecutors, they can't even collect testimony or records when proving what is an official act and what is not. So seems like that part of it's going to be pretty difficult to do if you can't talk to anybody or collect evidence. Yeah, most of these cases, President Trump's cases, built really around motive. Look at what January 6th did he intend to bring people to the Capitol to cause an insurrection. You can't talk to Vice President Pence about his interaction with Donald Trump. You can't talk to the AG. That's the crux of the case. Another thing that stood out to me is interesting is it says that the president has exclusive authority an absolute discretion to decide which crimes to investigate and which crimes to prosecute. So what does that mean? Because I remember when former President Trump was running against Hillary Clinton, came out and said that the Obama administration had tapped his phones, were listening in on him. It was a big part of the momentum of him running against Clinton at the time. But if I'm reading this correctly, it sounds as though the president can wiretap pretty much anybody they want for any reason they want. Well, it does raise that possibility of using the IRS, using the Justice Department, using the FBI against political opponents, against anybody the president wants. So this is the scariest part about this ruling is it basically says everything is up for grabs. You know, we spoke about the issues before coming on. Presidents in the past some have broken the law. Others have their administration has broken the law, things of that nature. We don't see presidents going to trial or being put in jail. So is this something that was kind of stating the obvious on what already existed and making bringing it further into the public flight or is this really as big of a game changer as people are saying it is? Well, when the Supreme Court spells it out in a decision like they did today, it is a game changer. And so we may have seen presidents commit illegal acts in the past, Richard Nixon, Bill Clinton, that sort of thing. But you know, there were deals cut to keep them from going to court. Now it's just explicit immunity and saying to president, if you're officially doing your job, you cannot be prosecuted. Professor McLennan, always giving us good insight and helping us to understand these better. We appreciate you being with us tonight. Thanks, Dan. Well, the Secretary of Transportation came to Raleigh today to break ground on a billion dollar project connecting our area to the Northeast. The S line will introduce a passenger rail route between Raleigh and Richmond, Virginia. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Governor Roy Cooper were at the event on Durant Road. The Secretary says the project will create a lot of good even before it's complete. It's creating good paying jobs. It's helping businesses grow. It means presence under the tree. It means homeownership. It means a new car trucking the driveway for so many families in and around Raleigh who are involved in the project. But then when it's complete, then you have a whole new chapter of economic benefits having that high quality passenger service on the S line is expected to start in 2029 or 2030. And the first nonstop flight from RDU to Mexico City took off this afternoon. Today's ribbon cutting was complete with a mariachi band. The aero Mexico service will operate daily out of Terminal 2. The route is operated under it. How to have fun anytime, anywhere. Step 1. Go to ChumbaCasino.com. ChumbaCasino.com. Got it. Step 2. Collect your welcome bonus. Come to Papa welcome bonus. Step 3. Play hundreds of casino style games for free. That's a lot of games all for free. Step 4. Unleash your excitement. ChumbaCasino has been delivering thrills for over a decade. So claim your free welcome bonus now and live the Chumba Life. Visit ChumbaCasino.com. Heads up if you're going to be heading to the coast this week. Yeah, purple flag warning is in effect along Oak Island after several reports of Portuguese manawars washing up on the beach. The town posted this picture to Facebook issuing the warning until further notice. The Portuguese manawar is similar to a jellyfish but it's really got extremely painful stings. Oak Island recently added several new beach warning lights displaying flag warnings and other helpful information. It's all to keep beachgoers safe. And hey check this out. The National Park Service on Cape Hatteras came upon not one but two leatherback sea turtle nests. Wow, so this is the first time since record keeping started. 20 years ago the seashore has two nests in one season. The nests were found exactly one week apart. The first is in Avon. The the second on ochre coke island leatherback sea turtle eggs are roughly the size you can see there of a billiard ball. Leatherbacks are classified as endangered on both federal and state levels. So that's really cool. Yeah. Any job free agency started today at noon. Things are going to look a little different with the Carolina hurricanes. A few well-known players like Brady Shea, Brett Pesci. They signed with new teams. Jacob Slavin, however, signed an eight year extension might be a cane for life. Slavin says that the city and organization has always been a good fit. Just having having really good leadership here is one reason for it. But then you just look at the community and and how this organization is a part of it. I think that's what makes it really easy to make that decision to stay here forever and to be a good fit here is just as being with the really good people. I love I love listening to him talk today and said such great things to say about the city and raising his family here and I think a you know stuff a lot of people can relate to. For a full list of the players, the hurricane signed, we have that on WRAL.com. Thanks for making WRAL your choice for local news. See you back here 10 and 11. Have a good night. Keep watching WRAL news over the air channel 34 and spectrum channel 1257. Looking for excitement? Chumba Casino is here. Play anytime. Play anywhere. Play on the train. Play at the store. Play at home. Play when you're bored. 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