WRAL Daily Download

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 survival.

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 pieces of the puzzle together.

*Here's an update from the school board meeting explaining how until some more drivers are officially hired and all the drivers in training are up to speed, some routes will likely be running late:

https://www.wral.com/nowhere-else-to-go-all-wake-school-bus-routes-covered-but-some-students-will-be-late/21000940/

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 shares with us what she saw and experienced.

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 the bottom up.

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 learned.

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.