WRAL Newscasts
4:30AM News on WRAL - Thursday, June 27, 2024
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. End 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. Shot in 4K ultra high definition. Your number one source for local news. WRAL news. Cover it. You can come on. We have a heat advisory. Again, this morning, for parts of the viewing area, it could feel as hot as 108. But we also have a severe threat, which we'll talk about coming up. Also, new developments. In a case, WRAL has been following for months now. The new charges and adoptive mother faces connected to the death of her kids, as she is expected in court today. Also today, we'll be the first time a current and former president takes the debate stage. How former President Donald Trump and President Biden are preparing and Biden's plans to visit the triangle directly after. Thank you so much for joining us here on your Thursday morning. I'm Michelle McConnicky, and for an HU. And I'm Jeff Hogan. Glad to have you along. We got a lot going on this Thursday morning. We'll get you all prepared for what's ahead for your Friday eve here. It was Ms. Gardner and the WRO, the Severe Weather Center. Well, we need the rinse and repeat on-- but we need the cold rinse. Well, we do. We need to change this pattern up. That's for sure. Heat advisory. Again for today, fewer counties, but still from the triangle area for Raleigh, Southward, and Eastward. We hit 103 yesterday. We ended up with a record, the previous record of 102. And we're looking at feels like temperature, 102 to 108 for this afternoon across much of the viewing area. And the triangle area, likely to feel like 103 to 104 this afternoon. But we may have some storms to help tamp down that heat a little bit later on. It's all quite in the gardens, but I'll tell you what, you walk out the door, and it hits you like a wall. Our 2.73, very high, very sticky. And it's 81 degrees, so very, very warm. Our chances for rain today are mostly going to be afternoon and evening, about a 50% chance. That's going to be the coverage that we'll end up seeing. And we do have a level one risk in our South and Eastern counties. We're going to walk you through future cast in just a few minutes. Police in Raleigh are trying to find the person who shot a man last night. Investigators were at the scene on Morgan's Mill Court for more than three hours until after one this morning. It's right near Rush Street and Hammond Road. Video from the WRL breaking news tracker shows evidence markers in the street as officers investigated. The man who was shot was taken to the hospital and is expected to live. And we're working to learn more about a house fire in Wake County. The WRL breaking news tracker was on Dolphin Turn Street in Willow Spring, just after 11 PM. You can see several firefighters there working and EMS worker as smoke could be seen coming from the home. We are working to find out the cause. And if anyone was hurt. Today, the woman accused in the murder of her two adopted children is due in court. And it's a story we have been following for months. Blake and London Devon were missing for years, but their disappearances were only reported recently. Now police say they were abused and starved to death. Yvonne Devon is facing charges of first degree murder, concealment of death and felony child abuse. Police say she kept Blake, London, and her other adopted kids in small rooms, sometimes in complete darkness with little or no food. WRL spoke with Brianna Morrow, once known as Cherish Devon, who lived with them as a child. - There was a closet underneath the steps. We all crammed in there, the Blake Eye in London. And we stayed there. And the only time we took a bath or a shower was when we went out in public to go to grocery shop. - The police say the starvation and torture led to Blake and London's deaths. London's remains were found in a burn bin at Devon's current home. A second set of human remains were also found there. All authorities are testing to see if those are Blake's. - President Joe Biden will be in Raleigh in less than 24 hours. He and First Lady Joe Biden plan to fly to RDU immediately after tonight's debate in Atlanta. The president's itinerary shows that he's expected to arrive at RDU just before two tomorrow morning. This will put the Bidens in place for a campaign event midday tomorrow in Raleigh. Former President Donald Trump will also be on the campaign trail tomorrow. He'll appear at a rally near Norfolk, Virginia. - Tonight's debate, Michelle. We'll be the first time a current president and former president will debate each other. It's a key moment for both campaigns as they try to set expectations ahead of November's election. President Biden has been huddled at Camp David with his advisors and holding mock debates. Former President Trump has been at Mar-a-Lago doing more informal prep. He's expected to focus on the economy and the border during the 90 minute debate. Biden will likely zero in on abortion rights and threats to democracy. CNN is hosting the debate. It's happening at their studios in Atlanta. You can watch it live right here on WRAL, starting at nine. - And Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and other presidential candidates will have to wait longer to find out if they'll be on the ballot in North Carolina. The state elections board voted last night to deny initial bids from the parties that are sponsoring Kennedy, Cornell West, and Randall Terry. The parties collected more than 13,000 signatures apiece from North Carolina voters. But officials say they've gotten allegations of flaws in each petition. The board says it'll make a final decision at a later date, read what board members had to say at the NC Capital section of WRAL.com. Well, today will be a big day for the future of the PNC arena and the Carolina Hurricane's, the Centennial Authority, the group that owns the arena is expected to give final approval today to a 20 year lease extension with the Keynes. That deal also includes an agreement to develop up to 80 acres of land around the arena. This is a huge deal. This will secure the hurricanes in Raleigh at PNC arena for the next 20 years, as well as create one of these entertainment districts that the hurricanes have wanted for so long. The development could include apartments, a hotel, restaurants, retail and office space, a sports book and a music venue. The hurricanes and the authority announced non-binding agreements on the lease extension and development plan last August. They were tied to another deal announced around the same time, $300 million in funding from the Raleigh and Way County for a renovation of PNC arena. The board's special meeting is set for 10 o'clock this morning. State lawmakers are expected to vote today on several constitutional amendments to put on the ballot this fall. One would change the wording of the state constitution to specify non-citizens are not allowed to vote. Another would add to the constitution the photo ID requirement for mail-in voting. Two others would cap the state income tax at 5% and limit the governor's power to replace members of the council of state. Constitutional amendments require 72 votes in the House and 30 in the Senate, the same number of votes controlled by majority and Republicans. If they pass, voters will be asked to approve them in the November election. - The toddler who drowned in a backyard pool was the son of a Way County sheriff's deputy. This is a picture of the family. Deputy Jose Perez, Apadaca and his wife Clarissa are seen here with two-year-old Jose. The North Carolina police been violent association is asking for contributions to help the family. The Way County sheriff's office continues to offer their prayers and support to the family as well. - Readness, swelling and bruising. It's the aftermath of a snake bite. New numbers from North Carolina Poison Control show. More people are being bitten by snakes across the state than ever before. 257 venomous snake bites have been reported so far this year and that surpasses the previous record, which was set in 2020. The Copperhead is the most abundant of the six venomous species found in North Carolina. This month, 15 people received treatment for snake bites at Duke Hospital. Nine were treated at Wake Med. Six of them needed anti-venom. Experts say there is no need to be afraid, just be cautious. - Today, city leaders in Fayetteville will talk about how to address school resource officers in public schools. Last month, the Cumberland County Sheriff's Office announced it would no longer provide SROs to several schools in the district. Tonight, Fayetteville City Council will talk about the next steps that it needs to take to make sure that schools have SROs. Their meeting will get started at two o'clock this afternoon. - NC State football players are joining the fight against Alzheimer's disease. Today, players are launching a fundraiser for the Walk to End Alzheimer's in October. - The kickoff event is happening at 1030 this morning at Carter Finley Stadium. - The U.S. Olympic gymnastics trials will get started tonight in Minneapolis. The men's trials begin tonight. The women's trials will start tomorrow. Our coverage begins tonight at eight on WRAO. - New developments in the case of the mass shooting at the 2022 Fourth of July parade in Illinois. The suspected shooter surprised lawyers by denying a plea deal. What's next to come in this trial? - And rip currents off Florida's coast are turning deadly. The alarming number of deaths caused by the rough water so far this year. - Let's give you this live look. We chapel hill this morning. It's shaping up to be another hot day out there. Meteorologist, Elizabeth Gardner, joins us after the break with the chance for some weekend rain. - 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. - From the WRAL Severe Weather Center, North Carolina's most experienced team of meteorologists. - 442, busy day in the Weather Center. We do have a few isolated showers that popped up overnight last night. You can see that about to roll into Durham, just south of Creedmoor and north of Wake Forest up toward Lewisburg. I know lightning with that right now, but there could be. I'm not expecting anything severe this morning, but we do have a level one risk for severe storms in our southern counties for this afternoon. That's gonna be really a long and east of I-95, and the biggest threat there would be damaging winds. We may see some heavy rain and possibly some hail as well. So a few scattered showers this morning and then better chance for thunderstorms cropping up right after lunchtime into the evening. We also have a heat advisory in effect again today. It could feel like 102 to 108 this afternoon. Our high temperatures will be in the mid 90s. - Stunning development in an Illinois courtroom, the man accused in a mass shooting at a Fourth of July parade has rejected a plea deal. Police say Robert Cremel confessed to opening fire at the parade in the Chicago suburb of Highland Park in 2022. Seven people died, dozens were hurt. Yesterday, lawyers expected him to change his not guilty plea to guilty. The deal would have dismissed dozens of charges while Cremel would still face life in prison, but Cremel told the judge he would not accept the deal. Now the trial will push forward to February. - We'll check out this new video showing the flooding in a Minnesota theme park. Some rides at the Valley Fair amusement park south of Minneapolis had to close. The whole park did not close though, just rides in the flood zone. And the St. Paul area is experiencing flooding as well as the level of the Mississippi River continues to rise. - Eight people have died in four days due to rip currents off Florida's coast. Authorities say the most recent death was reported Sunday. That's when a 60 year old Missouri woman got entangled in a rip current near Panama City beach. A 19 year old and a couple from Pennsylvania also died. The National Weather Service says there've been 19 rip current related deaths so far this year. Eight in Florida, eight in Puerto Rico. Two happened in Texas and there was one incident in Ohio at Lake Erie. - Migrant detentions have dropped over 40% since President Biden's executive order restricting asylum went into effect three weeks ago. That's according to the Department of Homeland Security. The order sends migrants who've crossed the border illegally back to Mexico or their country of origin. If they don't meet certain exceptions. DHS says the seven day average number of migrant detentions dropped to under 2,400 a day. - Bill Cobb's was a Hollywood veteran known for roles in Demolition Man and Air Bud. Cobb's has died. The actor's brother says he passed away Tuesday peacefully at his home in California. He recently celebrated his 90th birthday. Cobb's career spent five decades with nearly 200 film and TV credits including the bodyguard and sopranos. - Volkswagen is recalling more than a quarter of a million SUVs. The problem is with the wiring that can cause passenger side airbags not to deploy. That's because the seat heaters can fault the weight sensors and when that happens the vehicle switches off the airbag even though someone may be in the seat. 271,000 atlas SUVs are included in that recall. Owners will be notified by mid-August and dealers will replace the parts for free. - We have a warning about a scam from the Cumberland County Sheriff's Office. It starts with a text about concealed carry permits. The text asks the recipient to click on a link and once the person does they're told to make a payment or their permit will expire in 15 minutes. Deputies are asking people not to click on any links from unknown numbers. - A conservation debate along the Cape Fear River has area leaders wondering what to do next. New Hanover County is looking to change guidelines for possible development on the Western Bank of the River. County staff recommend a special type of land use but activists say the land should be protected. - We do believe that those undeveloped parcels of land are best used to educate our public about our historic resources, our environmental resources and everything that makes the West Bank of the Cape Fear so special and unique. - And one idea is to give the side of the river a downtown riverfront designation. No decisions have been made. The county is asking residents in that area to offer their thoughts. - Dealing with one hot day, that's pretty doable but a string of them can have a negative effect on your health and doctors say there are some things you can do to make sure an extended heat wave doesn't take its toll. Doctors say rising temperatures mean your body needs even more water. They say that is especially true for the elderly, children and people with compromised immune systems, especially those taking any sort of diuretics or kidney medication. Even people who are otherwise healthy though need to take the hydration part seriously. - Plain water is fine. It doesn't have to be anything special but you need to continue to drink water throughout the day even when you don't feel like you're thirsty. - And doctors also say you should limit your intake of caffeine and alcohol and spend as much time indoors as possible. - Yeah, definitely have to hydrate if you're gonna be outside. Today's not gonna be as hot as yesterday but it's still gonna be pretty hot out there. Meteorologist Elizabeth Gardner with a look at the big picture, we need the rain Elizabeth. - We definitely need some rain. A little bit of that coming. As a matter of fact, we're gonna change up our pattern. We're not going to get rid of the heat but we're gonna add that chance for some scattered storms and hopefully no severe weather but boy we need that rain. Here's a look at where it is right now. Getting ready to move right across Durham. Just some tiny little showers but they are producing some brief heavy rain right here around Falls Lake over toward Youngsville and Lewisburg. And then we head up to the north and a little bit of lightning up into Virginia. We have some showers over Roanoke Rapids and parts of Northampton County. That's starting to lift away. Probably won't be with you for too much longer. A much better chance for rain later on today. A cold front comes through right around lunchtime or late morning. We may see some scattered rain and then some thunderstorms developing right after lunchtime. You can see some of these cells and some of those south and east of Raleigh could end up producing some severe storms in terms of wind damage. We take it on out through 10 o'clock. The front slips down to the south but does still leave us with the potential for some scattered showers or thunderstorms tomorrow. There's three o'clock tomorrow afternoon. You can see the coverage doesn't look as intense or as widespread but hey, every little bit of rain can help. For today we do have a level one risk for severe storms mainly along and east of I-95. Damaging winds would be our biggest threat. Some heavy rain possible. So that's gonna be Rayford, Fayetteville, Goldsboro, Wilson, parts of Edgecombe County and Eastward. Heat advisory again today as well. From 11 to five for Wake County Southward and Eastward, it could feel like 103 to 108. So another very hot day in our forecast. Right around the triangle, it's likely to feel like 100 by around noon, very similar to yesterday and the heat index 103 to 104 and maybe a bit higher south and east. Take a live look at Chapel Hill. It's quiet morning but boy, it is sticky. It's just heavy out there. 81 degrees right now are two points in the 70s. We have a West wind and we'll just pretty much hold it here in the 80s. We do have cloudy skies right now so we have the top of the tower lit in purple but it may be a pretty sunrise in some places. Test Moreau from EasterUms and it's that beautiful sunrise shot yesterday. So go to WRL.com search weather watchers and send us your photos. Our high temperatures today, not as hot as yesterday, low 90s in the north, mid to upper 90s from the triangle area southward. We broke the daily record yesterday, which was 102. We ended up with 103. Our all time hottest at RDU was 105. So we were very close to that. It feels tropical out there right now, 2.73 and that is going to skyrocket all the way through the weekend. It's gonna be feeling very hot. Saturday, 106, potentially 113 on Sunday. So be on the lookout for more heat advisories from the weather service for those days. Coming up, we'll also talk a little bit more about our chance for storms through the weekend and the tropics, which is starting to heat up too. - All right, thanks, Elizabeth. People who use wheelchairs have a new way to reach new places in Tennessee state parks. We'll have a look at the new all-terrain wheelchairs. Our neighbors to the west are using at their parks. - Also, Marilyn Monroe's home is being turned into a historic landmark. The efforts to save the iconic actresses home from demolition. Is your vehicle stopping like it should? Does it squeal or grind when you break? Don't miss out on summer break deals at O'Reilly Auto Parts. ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Alrighty ♪ ♪ Auto Parts ♪ (upbeat music) - Welcome back on your Thursday morning as we look live over the Bull City. This is a live look at Durham. It is muggy out there this morning. Elizabeth says it hits you in the face as soon as you walk out the door that heat is gonna continue throughout today. Well, Wake County's cooling stations will be open until at least Sunday as our area continues to deal with that extreme heat. Each of the county's public libraries will be open today as cooling stations and the county's health and human service centers in Raleigh will be available. The regional centers and Carrie, Fuqua, Verina, Wake Forest and Zebulin will all be open as well. Wake County's free summer meal program is off to a strong start. All summer long, the county is offering free lunches for Wake students under 18 years of age. Yesterday's kickoff was a Lunch with Poe event at Playwell Park at the Poe Center. The event featured not just a fresh meal, but also special activities including exploring the Poe Center grow well garden. - This is one way that we can utilize some federal dollars that are being allocated for this so that we can provide this for our children and families during the summer. - Poe Center will continue to offer free meals all summer each Wednesday from 11.30 in the morning until 1 p.m. Other locations are open in the county, including in Carrie and Wendell. - The home where Marilyn Monroe spent the final months of her life will be preserved as a historic and cultural monument. The LA City Council voted yesterday to give the home and the Brentwood neighborhood the distinction it had been set for demolition. The house was built in 1929 and is now valued at about eight million dollars. - People with accessibility issues are getting a chance to see more of Tennessee's state parks. Parks now have 22 all-terrain wheelchairs people can use. They're designed to give people the chance to get to places they would not have been able to reach before. Visitors say they are excited for this opportunity. - I thought that with the spinal cord injury, I would never be able to enjoy a nature trail again. And these chairs have just opened up that world again for me. - The chairs are free to use for children and adults. - Okay, get ready to smile. The 2024 Gerber baby has been chosen. Look at that smile. Meet Akil McCloud, who is also known as Sunny. He is one years old, he's from Arizona. His parents say he loves reading his squishy ABC book and watching football with his family. Gerber said Sunny's smile captured their hearts. Akil's family wins a $25,000 prize and free products from Gerber and other companies. Oh my goodness. - Well deserved the cuteness there, Sunny. Today we're gonna find out more about the future of PNC arena and the Carolina hurricanes. What a 20 year extension for the canes could mean for that area and the development expected around the arena. - And an update to a story we've been following for months now. The woman accused in the murder of her two adopted children is due in court today. The new developments in the death of Blake and London Devon. - Well, the president and former president will take the debate stage this evening. How Biden and Trump are preparing for this much anticipated matchup. (upbeat music) - 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.