WRAL Newscasts
7PM News on WRAL - Tuesday, June 25, 2024
At WakeMed MyCare 365, we deliver convenience others only talk about every day of the year. Primary care and urgent care under one roof. Multiple locations, virtual visits, walk in or schedule an appointment online. From annual physicals and routine care, to sinus infection strep or the flu, we couldn't be more convenient. Learn more about our kind of care at arcanicconvenience@wakemed.org. Miles of backups on I-40 after a crash involving multiple cars, the WRAL breaking news tracker is live monitoring the delays on scene. The worst of the brutal heat is yet to come. I'm tracking heat for your week and the cold front finally bringing us some rain potential. A mother is concerned after she got a call that her daughter escaped from a mental health facility in Raleigh, why she says she doesn't believe her daughter is safe at Holly Hill Children's Hospital and what the facility has to say in response. Then we explain once delaying Apple's progress on their RTP campus and the ripple effect they could have in the triangle. But right now at seven o'clock as we get started, we got to talk about the extreme temperatures outside. We have another round of extreme heat across our area tomorrow. Thank you for joining us. I'm Dan Hagerty. So we're talking about temperatures as high as 100 degrees. It's going to feel even hotter outside that heat end up. Index is up to 105 meteorologist Kat Campbell in the WRAL Severe Weather Center with the hours to avoid being out in that mess. And one rain is finally returning to the forecast, Kat. Well, between noon and seven o'clock tomorrow, those are going to be the most dangerous hours to be outdoors. We're forecasting 100 degrees for the high in the triangle. 100 degrees is actually not super common around here. We only average 1.3 days a year with triple digit highs. 102 and say it feel tomorrow upper 90s for the rest of our viewing area, 100 in southern Pines. The heat index should be between 100 and 105. And because we don't expect that number to be over 105, it looks unlikely for most of us that we would see a heat advisory issued for tomorrow. And that's why we held back on the WRAL weather alert day. 103, though, is still very, very hot out there for the heat index in the triangle. We had a cold front pass through yesterday. That's why it was a little less humid feeling outside today. That feeling, unfortunately, is not going to last for very long, though. Today, we saw our dew point fall to 60, even upper 50s at times. So it felt tolerable. We do have the opportunity for rain returning with another front soon. I'll let you know when that arrives on future cats coming up. I'm Jackie Dan. Thank you, Kat. A awful development to a story we brought you tonight. The two year old child rushed to the hospital after being pulled from a private pool at home this morning. We've learned has died. Wake County Sheriff's Office telling us the two year old boy was rescued from that pool initially. EMS and firefighters did all they could on the scene there before they rushed the boy to the hospital. The Wake County Sheriff's Office said tonight they extend their deepest sympathy to family and friends. Terrible. Crews of the scene of a fire of a waste collection site in Henderson Sky five over the scene here off of Vanko Mill Road at the GFL environmental. A large pile of cardboard apparently caught fire there. Surrounding roads are closed because of this people being asked to stay away from that area. No injuries have been reported, but you can see what a mess out there tonight tonight. Tonight, a man faces charges in the death of a three year old boy and done. Officers responded to a home on ponderosa drive around 10 a.m. yesterday to assist done EMS with an unresponsive child. The child was ultimately taken to the trauma center where he later died. Michael when was taken into custody along with the child's mother for questioning and when is now charged with felony child abuse inflicting serious injury. Police said more charges are pending. Five children five have escaped from Holly Hill Children's Hospital where they were receiving mental health care so far this year. Five now there's another mother with a story to tell. She's speaking only to WRL fearful that her daughter is not safe after she escaped there yesterday as WRL's Heidi Kirk explains the cry for accountability is growing. We've been following this story since March after five teenagers escaped from Holly Hill Children's Hospital. Sarah Jones reached out to us yesterday after seeing our reporting and after her daughter was involuntarily committed here. She said if she would have seen our report first she never would have let her daughter come here. Sarah Jones describes yesterday as one of the worst days of her life. Just hours after her 60 year old daughter was admitted to Holly Hill Children's Hospital. She says she got a call that she escaped. She was allowed to go to the restroom unsupervised in the main lobby and essentially was able to push past several staff members go out the front door through the main front parking lot and into the woods. Jones says she was told her daughter was found within 30 minutes but she wasn't notified until six hours later. I was going on about my day yesterday assuming that my child was safe and sound and that I didn't have anything to worry about and all this was going on behind my back. Since 2021 WRAL has records of seven children escaping from Holly Hill including five teens who left the facility in March and were not found for hours. We asked Holly Hill CEO about Jones's daughter. She gave us this statement saying quote an individual presented for admission left the facility for a short amount of time and returned without incident. Raleigh police say they did get a call from Holly Hill yesterday asking for help tracking down an escapee but the call was canceled before they responded. When we told Jones about Holly Hill's response this is what she said. I'm a little taken back. It's heartbreaking to hear that they're downplaying the situation. Jones has less than 72 hours until she's able to pick up her daughter. Do you believe your child is safe there? I don't feel like my child is safe there. Jones is now another name on the list asking for accountability for what's gone on behind these doors. We reached out to Holly Hill this afternoon with more questions trying to get clarity about what happened here and so far they have not responded to our request for comment. Heidi Kirk WRL news in Raleigh. You may know by now that plans for the billion dollar Apple campus in RTP have been delayed but the company says it is still committed to the triangle. This is you see here is the site that Apple is planning to develop. It's relatively unchanged. We've been showing it to you for some time since the announcement three years ago that RTP would be the location for the tech giants East Coast Hub. The original plan was for Apple to invest more than a billion dollars in the state by 2032 but after a review of its real estate Apple apparently is delaying the project by up to four years. We talked to John Boyd who specializes in business relocation. He said Apple is making moves like this all over the country. Apple recently located a new 45,000 square foot office facility in Coral Gables that represents the largest office deal in greater Miami this year. So it's a company making strategic decisions but you know given a project of this size it really shouldn't become as a shock that is reevaluating you know real-time market changes. Project is tied to an economic development deal worth up to 850 million dollars to be paid out over 39 years. State leaders say taxpayers are protected if Apple doesn't go as planned. Let's stay on this topic for a moment and talk about the ripple effect and bringing WRL state government editor Jack Hegel. Jack thanks for joining us give us some perspective here. What can you explain about this delay? Well the company line is this they want to grow in the triangle. They are growing in the triangle. They've hired 600 people over the past three years and they intend to build this campus out in RTP. Now sources do tell us that they want to delay construction by up to four years though. So we have this delay now. Do we focus purely on Apple and think this is an Apple thing or do we consider the fact we have noticed big companies making changes to big plans over the past couple of years like this? Well every company is different but we have seen a lot of companies try to reevaluate big investments and real estate's up there. You know inflation is increasing the cost of construction, the cost of labor and you know we do have a presidential election coming up and there could be increased regulatory costs depending on who ends up in the White House. So it's giving everybody a little bit of pause. It's a good point and not to mention also just the way companies are run today and how they handle real estate investments given the fact that what is a nine to five employee has kind of changed over the past few years. That's right. Companies have become much more comfortable with a remote workforce. People working from far fun places or even working hybrid working sometimes in the office or away and that's caused them to kind of reevaluate the real estate. One thing we have heard is that Apple was reevaluating its real estate before it decided to sort of pump the brakes here. Now state incentives are tied to the number of jobs that are created right here in North Carolina and so far this year we've seen several companies forego incentives saying look we're not hiring as many people here because we don't have to and therefore we're not going to be able to meet our performance goals as part of these incentives and so they're they're just saying you know we're not going to be growing as quickly here and they're giving those incentives back. This Apple deal was something that so many people were very excited about or even even kind of hedging some bets on right making some investments based on the investment they were predicting from from Apple. At this point though four years of pause could make you a little nervous have you gotten a sense that there's any any panic out there? I'm not hearing panic but you know anytime you hear a big company announce big plans and then start to pull back it's going to raise some eyebrows. One thing that we are hearing though is that North Carolina is probably in a pretty good spot. I talked to one real estate consultant they told me that even if Apple pulls back or even pulls out and we have no indication that that's the case that North Carolina is still sitting in good shape. He he pointed to yesterday's announcement by Novo Nordisk a 4.1 billion dollar announcement a thousand jobs in Johnson County as sort of exhibit A and he says there are a lot of projects like that that are in the pipeline companies want to come to North Carolina. Good big picture stuff good perspective Jack thank you so much you can find our extensive coverage on this project and you can count on us to follow everything as it plays out into the future on our website WREL.com North Carolina students say a shortage of teachers is hurting them dozens of students from across the state spoke Tuesday during every child NC's education advocacy day they said they don't learn as much where they don't have a permanent or a well-trained teacher in the classroom they want lawmakers to do more to make sure that schools are fully staffed including raises for teachers you can learn more about what the students said at the education section of WREL.com stick around still ahead the teenager who was bit by a shark along our coast is talking about that very scary experience plus a marine biology professor weighs in on whether people should be worried about this sort of thing as they go to the beach and we are one step closer to medical marijuana being legal in North Carolina what's next for the legislation coming up 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 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 well it looks like a plan to renovate pohal has stalled in the state senate with no mention of the building in their budget draft this contrast with last week when the house announced it would allocate some big money up to 180 million dollars to renovate the building and see state closed pohal last November after finding cancer causing chemicals PCBs as they call them inside WRAL is the only station tracking the cancer cases since the closure 210 people have been told have told rather that 500 side that they developed cancer after working or studying in the building there many of them criticized the house's proposal calling for more thorough testing of pohal before any renovations would be done it's now up to the state house lawmakers to decide whether to legalize medical marijuana in north carolina the senate gave the bill final approval last night state senators added a new provision in there that says that even if the federal government takes marijuana off the controlled substance list it would still be illegal for recreational use in north carolina some social conservatives in the house opposed it because they think it would lead eventually to full legalization senator ralph heist said that's not what the bill does he said he supports it because he cared for two family members as they died of cancer i have no concern that a terminal cancer patient smokes anything i've seen what high doses of oxycontin will do to them and i don't suspect that marijuana is worse house republicans have still not committed to taking a vote though on the proposal the american cancer society is calling on your help to get paid cancer patients to their appointments the organizations road to recovery program help provide 2,900 rides to patients last year drivers volunteered their own time and money to reduce transportation barriers for patients in need one driver who has survived cancer twice says the rides are a way for him to give back i feel like it's a way for me to um give them hope knowing that uh i survived this and uh they're they're fighting for their lives and this is one less thing that they have to worry about transportation issues are the number one reason the patients miss appointments to apply to become a driver just look for the story on our website a 14 year old boy who is bitten by a shark at north toxel beach is expected to be released from the hospital anytime now wrl's no a client explains how he's doing tonight and spoke with a professor about how common shark bites are off our coast i was like i'm not gonna be okay 14-year-old blaine browns day at north toxel beach ended in the hospital this really traumatized and scary police and first responders were on the scene quickly because they were in the area for an unrelated call people at the beach had already jumped into help blaine wrapping the wound with beach towels i was like i'm not gonna be okay i'm gonna lose my leg one of his close family friends was there for it all i remember like falling down or something and turning back and looking at blaine and that's kind of like when i was like hey you got bit by a shark i seen him i asked a unc Wilmington professor of marine biology how common bites like this one or and if people should be concerned the fact is if you go to the beach there will be 100 or more people in the water for each kilometer of beach and there's probably 10 sharks in the water and they can hear each of us the fact is they don't bother us by and large the north toxel beach police chief says he admires browns bravery look forward to seeing him walk through the doors here one day and speaking to the officers and EMS that were there and going back out to the beach you know don't don't be afraid of it you have a long life ahead of you know a client WRL news browns says he knows he's lucky he's grateful that it wasn't worse you can watch the full interview also with the professor online to find out which types of sharks do sometimes intentionally bite people it's on wrael.com let's take a live look outside right now uh cat Campbell joining us to talk about this heat wave that is rolling through a lot of people probably going to be looking for whether it's the coast or a swimming pool or something you got to find something i mean you got to find a way to beat the heat this week it is brutal heat we're talking 100 tomorrow it is seven it's after seven o'clock and temperatures are still in the mid 90s in the triangle so it's really been a hot day out there the sun sets at 835 today friday will be our latest sunset of the year if you do have a garden you got grass you want to protect this season you got to keep watering folks i wish i could say that we had some decent soaking rain in the forecast but at this point no widespread soaking rain and i specifically want to point this out because we do have chances for rain you are going to see some rain and thunderstorm icons but i wouldn't get your hopes up that this is going to cure your grass or fix that problem there so let's take a look at our rainfall for the month of june we've had four days with measurable rain tuesday the fourth on june of june was kind of an anomaly already you had one point eight five inches of rain it was a summertime storm that set up right over the airport so most areas have not seen that much rain in central north carolina but folks are still keeping their gardens alive can display from durham sent the step we worry i'll weather watch your photo of her pink hydrangeas i know a lot of people have been watering i've been seeing it my neighborhood as i walk outside each morning unfortunately when we look at the long range pattern below normal rainfall will continue next week july first through the fifth and july third through the ninth will go out even farther below normal rainfall is still in the forecast so we just don't have any kind of substantial pattern change right now with that what may end up happening to get us out of a drought would be the need for a tropical system to form hopefully a week one or some remnants of a tropical system to come our way so none of that in the forecast now but that's what we may end up having to hope for to get us out of the drought high pressures moving offshore we have the front from yesterday dropped our humidity a little bit there's another front on the way it's not going to drop our humidity behind it but it does bring a better chance for rain on thursday during the day tomorrow just a 20 percent chance of a shower storm popping up really not much rain out there tomorrow but as we get into thursday this front gets closer to us unfortunately the trend that we've noticed today on all of the high resolution model guidance is for the bulk of the thunderstorm activity to set up in the eastern half of our viewing area on thursday we may see kind of a line congeal as it moves toward the coast thursday evening so it does bring a better chance of rain and storms but it's not a guarantee that you're going to see rain from that system thursday looks like the best chance will be in our eastern counties friday and saturday small storm chances 30 percent chances those days and it's a hot weekend 97 saturday after thursday our next best chance for rain will come sunday and then early next week behind that system we could see a nice little dip in our temperatures 90 on monday but falling into the upper sixties tuesday morning and that's a sign it'll be a little bit less humid too when 90 is your cool down you know you know things are hot outside oh yeah thanks cat so it's official the carolina panthers bank of america stadium getting a major makeover the timeline now for these renovations coming up next we take care of the things in our life knowing proper maintenance and upkeep will extend the life of what we love do you give the same attention and care to your own body staying fit and eating right our key equally important is supporting health and mobility with chiropractic chiropractic keeps your body aligned and running smoothly help extend the life of your engine with chiropractic find yours at ncchiro.org/chiro here's Megan with parkway sleep centers our sleepless nights affecting your life parkway sleep health centers can help we've treated sleep disorders in the triangle and beyond for over 20 years we offer sleep studies office visits CPAP machines supplies and more and our stream life process allows us to see you sooner and usually saves hundreds of dollars and sleep problems live your best life experience the parkway sleep difference visit parkway sleep.com and start your journey to better sleep today parkway sleep health centers sound sleep sound health well this is exciting for the second year in a row the UNC school of arts has been ranked one of the best in the world the hollywood reporter specifically looked at drama programs and they ranked the school of drama at uncsa as the number three program worldwide is the only american program 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 parkway sleep.com and start your journey to better sleep today parkway sleep health centers sound sleep sound health want a website with unmatched power speed and control try Bluehost cloud the new web hosting plan from Bluehost built for WordPress creators by WordPress experts with 100% uptime incredible load times and 24/7 WordPress priority support your sites will be lightning fast with global reach and with Bluehost cloud your sites can handle surges in traffic no 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