WFAA Top Headlines: July 22, 2026

[00:00:01]Well, good evening everyone. I'm WFA chief meteorologist Pete Delulkas. I I mentioned this last night that I rarely show you these 10 p.m. temperatures because I know you're home in your jammies and you're not heading outside.

[00:00:12]But look at this. You talk about a great illustration of the heat island effect.

[00:00:17]It's 97 degrees right now in Dallas.

[00:00:20]It's 88 up in McKenna. Certainly concrete in McKenna, but certainly not the level of concrete in the expansive area of concrete that we have right here in Dallas County. And also the same thing in Fort Worth where it's 96 degrees. It's 90 in Denton. So what a contrast there at 10:00 at night. A big big impact on our weather is the the heat island impact. 102. This is the heat index right now in Dallas and in Fort Worth. 102 feels like 100 in Denton. It is absolutely still on the very very warm side out there. We had an excessive heat warning in effect the last two days. That's no longer in effect now through 8:00 p.m. tomorrow.

[00:00:56]The Metroplex is under a heat advisory.

[00:00:58]Heat index values today 115 to 120.

[00:01:02]Tomorrow lower, but still dangerously high at 109. That does not include our Red River County. So, as we head through tomorrow, we start tomorrow. We started today at 85 degrees. That was the morning low. Tomorrow, 82, 91 by 9 in the morning, 98 by noon, 101. That's my forecast high tomorrow. We hit 106 today. We hit 106 yesterday. A little cooler tomorrow. 101 97 uh by 7:00 p.m.

[00:01:26]tomorrow night. I do have a string of tripledigit days in my forecast. And I also did some research. What does permanent daylight saving time mean for us here in North Texas and across the rest of the country? If you're swayed toward permanent daylight saving time, or maybe you just want standard time or keep it the way it is, wait until you see this research. It's interesting.

[00:01:46]Those details coming up. Thanks, Pete.

[00:01:49]And when it's sweltering outside, just about everyone's cranking up the AC.

[00:01:53]>> And that draw on the grid just set another unofficial record for power usage. Fortunately, the grid has more than enough supply to meet the demand.

[00:02:01]The official record was set in August of 2023 with 85,58 megawws. Yesterday, we hit an unofficial new high of 87,43.

[00:02:13]Now, today's website shows demand topped out at 91,300 megawws around 5:00.

[00:02:21]Urkott says the values will be verified by more accurate meters in the days ahead.

[00:02:26]>> And tonight, we're working to find out if heat contributed to a postal worker dying on the job. He was working his route in Little Monday when authorities issued an extreme heat warning.

[00:02:36]Paramedics treated Umesh Kumar Theakar, but couldn't revive him. US Postal Service officials say they're deeply saddened by this loss and post office in in Little Elm is looking into his death now. They're also providing counseling service for his co-workers.

[00:02:51]>> For the first time tonight, we're hearing from the leader of the largest mental health provider in Dallas only days after a multi-million dollar bailout. Metro Care was millions of dollars in the hole before a loan from Parkland Hospital earlier this month.

[00:03:07]Cole Sullivan shows us what went wrong and what comes next.

[00:03:12]>> Let's start with the problem at Metro Care. Money, not enough of it. Dallas County's so-called survival plan for its largest mental health provider estimated it needed millions of dollars and quick.

[00:03:25]>> This is for services that keep people out of the hospital, keep people out of the jails, um ensure that they have um don't have emergencies. Tate Ringer is interim CEO of the organization which just got an $18 million loan from Parkland Hospital to keep it going.

[00:03:43]>> Many of these things were preventable.

[00:03:44]We could have responded sooner and not responding as quickly as we should have meant the problems were bigger.

[00:03:51]>> To fix it, the county says Metroare needs to freeze spending, renegotiate contracts, stop programs it doesn't get reimbursed for, and cut about 10% of administrative employees. that plan's now on steroids.

[00:04:05]>> What happens if this doesn't work?

[00:04:07]>> That's not a an possibility that I'm willing to entertain. I don't think many people are because we are the safety net for people who have some of the deepest and um hardest challenges in life.

[00:04:22]>> She says Metro is still open for the 50,000 people it helps every year, but there will be more sacrifices ahead.

[00:04:30]We've got to do what it takes and we have the right people on board to handle things differently and we will get there. It's just going to not be without challenges. It's a hard road.

[00:04:40]>> But because the money problems were preventable, she says they're also fixable in Dallas. I'm Cole Sullivan.

[00:04:48]>> Tropical storm birthday [music] is moving west right now on a path towards Texas. Here's a live look at the New Orleans skyline where it's dry right now. The storm made landfall in southeastern Louisiana around 2 p.m.

[00:04:59]Bertha came ashore with 45 mph winds, which is really nothing coastal residents haven't seen before. The storm is expected to produce bouts of heavy rain and gusty winds, and there's an elevated risk of rip currents tomorrow.

[00:05:13]>> The US has launched a 12th straight night of strikes on Iran. The Pentagon says the strikes come at President Trump's direction. Lawmakers in Washington approved a $95 billion budget proposal to fund the war and other White House priorities. Republicans in the House approved the bill with the vote of 216 to 212. Democrats argued the money should be spent at home, particularly on efforts to lower costs for Americans.

[00:05:40]Now, the measure goes to the Senate where it's uncertain how it will play out. Private Isabella Gonzalez body is back on US soil tonight and there are plans to have her buried back home in North Texas. President Trump joined the Carolton natives family in Delaware for the dignified transfer and Kevin Ree has new details on plans to honor her service.

[00:06:04]The Carolton City Council meeting ended Tuesday night with taps played for Isabella Gonzalez with her picture and a bouquet of flowers on stage. Wednesday morning, she was on her way home. One of four soldiers returned to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, the fourth to be removed from a military transport plane.

[00:06:24]The Defense Department says she died in a drone strike on an air base in Jordan last Friday, along with First Lieutenant Tyler James Fihin of Hawaii and Sergeant Angel S. Rampered of New York. Staff Sergeant Michael Emanuel Swinton of North Carolina was killed in Iraq that same day while attempting to disarm a downed Iranian drone. Isabella's family and President Trump were in Delaware for the dignified transfer. He said this would be his conversation with each of them.

[00:06:54]>> We love you. We love your child and that's what they are to them. They're their children. Uh there's no games, no nothing. That's their child. and uh all you can do is throw out your hearts.

[00:07:07]>> I'm never going to forget her and I miss her so much.

[00:07:10]>> Isabelle's friends have told us this week that the 2025 Hebrin High School graduate they called Issa was one of the happiest, funniest people they knew. Now they brace for her return and an expected burial with full military honors at DFW National Cemetery. that date and also a community vigil planned in her hometown of Carolton have not yet been announced in Dallas. I'm Kevin Ree.

[00:07:40]Tonight, we are learning more about how Arlington police cracked a 14-year-old cold case. 32year-old Sema Chavez was found stabbed more than a hundred times in her apartment in January of 2012.

[00:07:53]Surveillance video shows the alleged attacker climbing the stairs to the apartment that night. Police recently submitted an unidentified drop of blood left behind by the killer to the FBI to run against a family tree database.

[00:08:08]Court documents say that led them to this person, 42-year-old Myra Velasquez.

[00:08:14]Undercover officers followed Velasquez to a lunch with her friends where they retrieved a plastic fork from the trash they say she used. Police say DNA from her fork matches the blood from the crime scene. An Arlington detective became emotional, sharing the moment she was able to tell the victim's family they made an arrest in the case.

[00:08:36]>> Being able to share that with the [clears throat] family is why we do this work.

[00:08:44]>> Velasquez faces a charge of capital murder. Detectives say a motive for the stabbing is still not clear. Residents are back in their homes tonight after a gas leak forced them to evacuate an apartment complex in Uptown. Atmas and Dallas Fire Rescue say a construction crew hit a 6-in natural gas line this afternoon and authorities evacuated nearly 200 units at the MAA Meridian Apartments as a precaution. A hazmat team worked with Atmas Energy crews to contain the leak and repair that damaged line. A cardiac arrest can happen anywhere and every second can mean the difference between life and death. The city of McKini and Baylor Heart Hospital are launching an ambitious effort to make sure lifesaving help is never more than four minutes away. Job Pineer shows us how >> we're in Grace to change.

[00:09:36]>> Shannon White knows a thing or two about second chances. Grace to change is an outpatient substance abuse treatment program based in McKenna.

[00:09:44]>> Just celebrated 15 years in the same location with the same staff.

[00:09:47]>> And sitting in their office is another fight at a second chance.

[00:09:51]>> We're working with community leaders with HOAs and we're going to go target those neighborhoods.

[00:09:56]>> The city of McKenna and Baylor Hart Hospital have partnered to put AEDs throughout the city.

[00:10:01]>> Too often AED is not anywhere nearby. We wanted to address that. The goal is to create a 4-minute city, meaning a smart GPS tracked defibrillator like this one.

[00:10:11]Within 4 minutes of every McKini resident, for every minute without compressions, a person suffering a cardiac arrest loses 10% of survivability. This machine essentially jumpst starts the heart.

[00:10:23]>> Powered on. Make sure 911 has been contacted.

[00:10:27]>> The main uh object is detection, and what it's trying to do is look at the the rhythm of the patient. What is the cardiac rhythm?

[00:10:34]>> To create this 4-minute city, McKini needs donations to buy the AED, but also needs residents trained up and willing to carry one in their homes or even their offices. These neighborhood heroes, they're called, are the first to get them.

[00:10:47]>> We have a very uh agent population over there.

[00:10:49]>> I felt the magnitude of the responsibility we all have. There's just an opportunity to help people.

[00:10:55]>> Soon, these will all be deployed around the city.

[00:10:59]50 AEDs for this phase, including the one currently sitting at Grace to Change.

[00:11:04]>> I'm not aware of a city that's our size that's doing it.

[00:11:08]>> By the end, there will be 400 fully deployed, and the city and hospitals hopes are many lives saved. in McKenna.

[00:11:15]I'm Joan Funner.