Explosion in NYC, Code Red weather alert and tropical activity in the gulf

[00:00:06][music] Hey there, Jen Wardell from Fox 17 News this morning with your midday mashup here on this Monday. Corey's here with me today. We're going to get you through uh a few headlines that are happening right now, including an explosion that just happened within about the last hour in New York City. And we got some tropical developments down in the Gulf.

[00:00:35]But let's start here on this Monday. By the way, happy Monday. I hope it's not been uh too bad to you. It's hot. Going to be another scorcher today. And we are in a code red weather alert. So, let's go ahead and get to that first. So, if you are here with us in middle Tennessee or southern Kentucky, just know that we do have a code red weather alert for the possibility of some intense heat and strong storms as we get into tomorrow.

[00:00:57]So, looking here at our code red um alert for today, high of 95 and a high of 97 tomorrow. So, when you factor in the humidity and the storms with both of those, uh it's just going to be kind of miserable. Hang in there. I I mean it's just we are really in the grips of summer here uh in the Midatlantic and it just this is kind of what it is. If it's new to you, maybe you're uh new to Middle Tennessee or southern Kentucky from another part of the country, this is pretty typical for us. So just be weather aware. Um have a backup plan if a storm rolls in and it gets kind of nasty or dicey and uh a space where you can get inside uh from the storms. Uh, speaking of getting away from the storms, for those of you who were out at the Borchetta Bourbon Music City Grand Prix yesterday, I was there with you and uh, you probably know by now that they've rescheduled the race for today.

[00:01:44]It's at 2:00 this afternoon. So, if you were there and you um, didn't get to see the race like we didn't, you can see it today at 2. Um, they'll honor your your ticket and then they've got extra tickets for sale. I think they're like 10 bucks or something like that if you want to try to go. Unfortunately, we had rain delays, lightning delays. We had a FIFA World Cup delay because that went long. So, just kind of this unfortunate snowball effect uh for the Grand Prix race here in Middle Tennessee, but they're going to go racing today. They did shorten it because of the heat. So, you know, I was talking about the impacts from this code red alert and they have shortened it by like 75 laps.

[00:02:21]I think it was supposed to be 300. I think they're down to 225. uh just because the heat is supposed to be so intense. So, um good luck to all the racers. We've got a local guy, Joseph Newarten, who's going to try to win again. Um but wishing everybody the best of luck out there and and hopefully everybody stays healthy in the heat. All right, let's talk about traffic for those of you who have to get out the door in the next little bit. Maybe you've got a lunch date or some errands to run around town. I just wanted to show you the backup here. This is I65 at Trinity Lane. We had an earlier crash in this area. It has cleared, so that's the good news. But the backups are still there. No other major crashes around the middle Tennessee interstate, so that's good news. But just a few typical slow zones. So wherever you drive around midday and it's kind of tight or congested, it's there today, too. Uh but again, nothing out of the ordinary. So that's good. A couple things happening live. Want to take you down to Longboat Key, Florida. Make sure I got my my monitor here so you can see it good. Uh we're watching the developments down in the Gulf. We've got a tropical storm system down there that's uh trying to kick up some waves. You can see the high winds here in the surf is for sure kicking up in Longboat Key. Um but this storm system is expected to impact the Big Bend of Florida, the panhandle, um into Alabama, uh Louisiana, Texas. Uh so just know that uh the storm system, if you've got plans to go down to the Gulf this week, could impact you, but mainly in the first part of the week. um doesn't look to be anything that's going to get into the weekend, but for the first few days of the week, it does look like uh it could be a little dicey with some showers and storms and whatnot. Um man, I'm surprised. I was trying to see if there's a red flag anywhere here for the red flag warnings, but I don't see any. Um but definitely have some people out there in those high waves crashing there on the shore. So, we're monitoring those developments. I believe uh this would be is it Bertha? I think that's what we Yeah, big Bertha. Yeah. So, this would be tropical storm Bertha. Um for for all of you uh weather nerds out there. But again, so far no major impacts. And we I was talking to Greg this morning. He doesn't think that this is going to impact our weather here at home. It's not going to come north. Um it's just going to kind of skirt those southern Gulf States uh and bring them some potentially heavy rain and maybe some flooding. All right, another story we're following right now. I don't know if you guys have been uh keeping up with the story of Noah Wells, but this is the high school football player who went on vacation with some of his friends to an island and then was found dead. Um this was a Fourth of July party. Um people who he was with detailed events of that day. Well, Noah's uh funeral is happening today. And what you're looking at right here, I think, are some pictures from the funeral service. Now, it's kind of hard to tell in context, but um but I believe what they're doing is playing this video at that teenager's uh funeral service. 18 years old. Um just to give you a little bit more backstory, 18 years old, Noah Wells body was found July 6th off um Horn Island, Mississippi. He had gone there on a boat with some of his buddies to celebrate the 4th of July. Um there's been a lot of national attention because there are some unanswered questions about what happened to him and his cause of death. Now um his family I believe they've hired an attorney um but they also claim that race has influenced how law enforcement is handling this investigation. So, um, we have that going on. But again, the funeral happening today for this, um, 18-year-old Noah Wells from Mississippi who died on that boat trip with some of his friends. So, keeping an eye on that.

[00:06:05]And I mentioned uh at the top of the midday mashup here that we had Corey, if you want to take Apple TV, um, we'll we'll try to see if we can uh, get to this. And I think we can. Um, there was an explosion within about the last 90 minutes or so in New York City. I'm going to play this uh, and give you the details as we know them. So, what you're looking at here is video from Fox News.

[00:06:25]This is on their YouTube channel. This is an aerial shot of the area where they tackled a guy who they say set off an explosive device in the heart of New York City. Now, um it was interesting because I'm not Oh, here we go. Yeah, here's the video of them taking the guy uh into custody and kind of and here's here's the smoke from the explosion itself. They're saying incendiary device, some kind of explosive. And this was right out here. In a minute, we might be able to see the sign, but this is a a a government building. It's a federal building. Two people got hurt, and they did have someone in custody.

[00:07:03]So, um it is the person they believe set off that explosive device outside of that federal building. Uh but as you can see, we've got um this guy, the New York assistant director for the FBI. Um, so he's speaking to the media right now, just letting them know what they know so far. They do believe this to be an anti-government attack. Um but again looked to be one person who they took in custody right outside of the building. Smoke filling the streets, two people with injuries and there was a really large pretty immediate response from both um the FBI, New York police um some of the video I was watching um ICE agents who were there as well. Um, and now, oh, oh, this is a protest from Thursday because I think what they're trying to do is tie in some protests that were happening Thursday to what just happened today. Again, this anti-government um sentiment, if you will, uh, is what police believe to be the reason for that person setting off that explosion outside that federal building. So, uh, very busy, uh, day here on this Monday.

[00:08:12]Um, and of course, you know, there's a lot more happening here at home as well.

[00:08:15]some stories that we're following uh for you throughout the course of the day.

[00:08:19]We've got more debate over data centers here in Middle Tennessee, especially in Nashville. So, we're following that story for you. Uh plus how the weather could be impacting your plans throughout the day. So, we're monitoring that code red weather alert. Oh, I think Oh, yeah.

[00:08:34]I was going to say we don't need that ad. I love how they just throw those in there. Um but yeah, monitoring the code red weather impacts for you here as we get through our Monday. And don't forget our Tuesday. to that code red weather alert. We'll hold for Tuesday for the chance of some uh storms that could fire up and get pretty strong. I'm Jennifer Wadell from Fox 17 News along with Corey here and we're going to wrap it up for this midday mashup. Hope you have a blessed Monday and we will see you tomorrow bright and early on Fox 17 News this morning and then uh throughout the rest of the day. We've got you covered on Fox 17 News at 5:30 p.m. and then again tonight at 9. We'll see y'all later. Have a good one.