Episodes

During the pandemic, school districts across North Carolina received tens of millions of dollars as part of special COVID funding to pay for things like cleaning schools, PPE, teacher retention bonuses, and technology needed for remote learning. That funding has now ended, and while some school districts still have part of the money left over, they are trying to figure out how to plug some of their budget holes going forward. WRAL Investigates senior producer Randall Kerr shares what his team le...

A company in North Carolina dumped massive amounts of toxic chemicals into the Cape Fear River for decades, the drinking water supply for hundreds of thousands of people. These "forever chemicals" also contaminated the air and groundwater surrounding the plant. The contamination was first revealed five years ago, but still thousands of people are being forced to use contaminated water today. It's one of the one of the most pivotal contamination stories in the United States and the subject of our...

When we send our children to school, there are so many things we worry about. But when was the last time you thought about fire safety in the building where your kids attend class? Our WRAL Investigates team poured over thousands of pages of fire inspection reports in Wake County schools from January to July to get a fuller picture. They found 2700 violations during this time period. In this episode, WRAL Investigates reporter Sarah Kreuger explains what her team learned and what it all means.

It’s one thing to say you want to be a musician when you grow up; it’s another thing altogether to chase your dreams and make them happen. In today’s episode, we are talking to two young women from the Triangle, Abby Schiller and Brooke Hatala, who are giving it a go in Nashville. They’ve both been playing, singing, and writing music since they were adolescents, and they’ve both recently graduated from college and permanently relocated to Nashville to launch their careers as professional musicia...

We all feel the pressure when someone is checking us out at a business turns the iPad around and it prompts us to tip. It started during the pandemic as a way to reward front-line workers, but the practice seems to be hanging on long after the crisis has ended. It seems like every transaction we make now comes with a request to tip at a higher rate than ever before even when the person serving us is doing little more than ringing up our purchase. According to a recent survey, 66% of Americans ha...

Usually, when we hear stories about people getting lost at sea, they don’t always have a happy ending. This is especially true for people who are doing anything slightly risky, like scuba diving. When 4 divers disappeared off the coast of the Carolinas on Sunday, the U.S. Coast Guard from multiple stations aggressively began to search for them. Early Monday morning they were spotted and rescued. WRAL’s Chelsea Donovan spoke with one of the divers and joins us with their unbelievable story of sur...

It’s a struggle every single year for school districts across North Carolina to get enough drivers to man their buses and their routes. It’s especially tough for the state’s largest school district, Wake County, to manage its 560 routes. It takes aggressive recruitment, training, and retention efforts to make it all come together. In this episode, WRAL reporter Kelsey Coffey puts the spotlight on Wake County’s status as it pertains to bus drivers and shares how the school system plans to put the...

Blasting at a construction site in North Raleigh is sending thick dust clouds onto people’s properties. Think dust so thick that you wouldn’t be able to see a foot in front of you. One North Raleigh homeowner caught the blasting on their home security camera and asked our 5 On Your Side team to investigate. In this episode, WRAL producer Pritchard Strong explains what in the world is going on.

In recent months, a behind-the-scenes battle over legalized commercial casinos has emerged in North Carolina. Gaming companies have stocked up on lobbyists and they’ve donated to lawmakers. Meanwhile, dark-money groups have sprung up in opposition. Cities, counties and casino developers have tied up land. But lawmakers haven’t publicly proposed anything. WRAL Sports Investigative Reporter Brian Murphy explains North Carolina’s gambling future.

4000 people are dying in North Carolina every year as the result of drug overdoses. A whopping 77 percent of those deaths are related to the powerful drug fentanyl according to authorities. The scary thing is that even in the most minute dose—think something as small as a grain of salt or sand-this drug can kill you. WRAL reporter Chelsea Donovan spent several days with undercover agents and informants in Nash County watching how they are battling this war on deadly drugs. In this episode, she s...

Greg Taylor splits his time between North Carolina and Maui. The wildfires that have devastated the island killing dozens of people and destroying everything in their wake have Taylor grieving for his adopted home. In this special edition of the WRAL Daily Download, Taylor shares his emotional firsthand account of the destruction with us and the loss that he is witnessing.

After attracting hundreds of visitors over the summer, the century plant in the WRAL gardens is finishing its reign. It bloomed and grew to more than twenty feet in the past few months. It is scheduled to be cut down, but don’t worry, a new one will be planted in its place. In this episode, WRAL’s Hidden History reporter Heather Leah tells us what the plant has meant to its visitors and how you can still see it.

Connie has had a hard life. Her family was plagued with addiction and poverty, and without good role models it looked like her future might not be bright. But, she built a home and a happy, fulfilling life for herself, her partner, and her daughter. They had a roof over their heads, cars to drive, and good jobs. They even traveled outside the country on a regular basis. Then one day, everything came crashing down. In this powerful interview, Connie shares what it means to rebuild your world from...

Everywhere you look there are high-rise office buildings that seem to be empty, or at least partially empty, in our area. Currently, 18.1% of the office space in the Triangle is vacant. At the same time a new study reveals that the Raleigh area needs 17,000 housing units. We wanted to know if that empty office space could be reconfigured into residential space as this is being done in other cities. WRAL reporter Matt Talhelm investigated this idea and joins us in this episode to share what he le...

If Republican front-runners win key primaries next year, the top GOP general election ticket in North Carolina could be more socially conservative than any in recent memory. WRAL State Government Reporter Paul Specht explains how that could energize the Republican base - but turn off voters in the middle. He also explains how the candidates represent a shift in the state Republican party, and why one Democratic strategist call it the "angriest" ticket in years.

In July, Carl Michaud, a quadriplegic, fell out of bed at the Raleigh Rehabilitation Center and died. His father wants to know how this could have happened. So far, he’s gotten no clear answers. He turned to the WRAL Investigates team. They investigated the tragedy. In this episode, reporter Sarah Krueger shares what they learned about Carl’s death.

Allisha Watts has been officially missing since July 16 and her community is desperately seeking answers about where she might be. WRAL reporter Chelsea Donovan has uncovered new information about the person of interest in this case, Watt's boyfriend, James Dunmore. In the meantime, the community has started a grassroots effort to find her. They’ve been holding candlelight vigils to bring attention to the case with hundreds of people in attendance. In this episode, WRAL reporter Julian Grace sha...

It’s one of the hottest movies in the country right now, Oppenheimer, which documents the true story of the scientist who created the atomic bomb. One of the scientists who worked on the team in Los Alamos, New Mexico, Dr. Lewis Seagondollar, was a physicist from North Carolina State University. He was there in the desert in July 1945 when the first bomb was detonated as a test on U.S. soil. In today’s episode, Seagondollar’s son, Mark, shares his father’s incredible story with us. LINKS: http...

Scientists tell WRAL that climate change is creating more extreme and more frequent heat waves in our state and across the country. The Raleigh-Durham area has on average forty more high temperature days per year that pose risk to people than we did in 1970. By 2050, heat waves in our state are expected to quadruple. The risk is even higher for urban areas where dense development and pavement absorb the heat. In this episode, WRAL’s climate change reporter Liz McLaughlin explains just how hot it...

Across the state, county school leaders say they need more money for facilities, staffing and safety measures. But state spending isn't rising fast enough for counties to keep up with their needs. And local leaders aren't finding the help they need in bills that are moving in the legislature. WRAL Education Insider Emily Walkenhorst breaks down the disconnect.

Scientists have tracked a steady climb in ocean temperatures since April. This is causing unprecedented heat stress conditions in the waters surrounding Florida and in the Gulf. More isolated marine heat wave conditions have been detected off the East coast, along the path of the Gulf Stream, which directly impacts North Carolina’s coastal waters. WRAL’s climate change reporter Liz McLaughlin joins us in this episode to explain why this is happening and how it could take a toll on our ecosystem.

These days camera technology is so advanced that one can be disguised as something as small as a run-of-the-mill USB device. With so many potential hidden cameras on the market, it can be a scary prospect to stay in a vacation rental for example and not know if you are being watched. WRAL’s 5 On Your Side Team learned that while there are many small cameras on the market, there is now also easy-to-use technology to spot hidden cameras. The team put this technology to the test. In this episode, 5...

An EF-3 tornado touched down in parts of Edgecombe and Nash Counties on July 19 leaving major damage in its path, including to the Pfizer pharmaceutical plant in Rocky Mount where part of the roof was ripped off. The company lost 50,000 pallets of medicine, one hundred vehicles and its temporary closure has put hundreds of people out of work. Homes and local businesses were also damaged or destroyed. Our Keenan Willard was the first reporter on the ground for WRAL. In this powerful interview, Ke...

Two children involving separate cases in Nash County died after recommendations that they be removed from their homes following investigations of mistreatment were ignored. WRAL has learned that administrators with the Nash County Department of Social Services did not agree with the recommendations to remove the children and allowed them to stay. The WRAL Investigates team spoke with DSS workers who shared a harrowing behind the scenes look into these deaths which they believe could have been pr...