Water Damage Restoration in Raleigh, NC

Raleigh, NC (December 12, 2024) – A motor vehicle collision resulting in injuries occurred this morning at the intersection of Lake Wheeler Rd and Tryon Rd at approximately 9:37 a.m. Emergency responders from the Raleigh Fire Department were quickly on the scene, working to provide care to those injured in the crash.

First responders, including paramedics, assessed and treated individuals hurt in the collision, with some victims being transported to local hospitals for further treatment. While the exact number of vehicles involved and the severity of injuries are still under investigation, it has been confirmed that a variety of injuries were reported. Authorities have closed off the area to facilitate the investigation and clear the scene.

The cause of the crash is currently under investigation, and no further updates have been provided at this time. Our thoughts are with those affected by the incident, and we wish them a swift recovery.

Car Accidents in North Carolina

Accidents like the one at Lake Wheeler Rd and Tryon Rd are all too common on North Carolina’s busy roadways. According to recent state statistics, collisions involving cars, trucks, and motorcycles continue to rise due to factors like speeding, distracted driving, and adverse weather conditions. In many cases, drivers may be unaware of the dangers posed by driving too quickly or without full attention, especially at intersections where accidents are more likely to occur.

Injuries resulting from motor vehicle collisions can vary in severity, from minor bruises to more serious conditions such as broken bones, internal injuries, and concussions. It is important for anyone involved in a car accident to seek immediate medical care, even if injuries are not immediately noticeable. Internal injuries, whiplash, and soft tissue damage may not present symptoms until later, making prompt medical evaluation essential.

After an accident, understanding your legal rights is crucial. North Carolina law allows victims of car accidents to seek compensation for medical expenses, lost wages, pain, and suffering. It’s important to gather information from all parties involved, including witness statements and photos of the scene, and to notify your insurance company as soon as possible. Consulting with a legal professional can help you navigate the claims process and ensure that you receive fair compensation for your injuries.

To help prevent accidents, it’s vital for drivers to stay alert, avoid distractions, and adhere to posted speed limits. Whether driving in urban or rural areas, taking these precautions can help reduce the risk of collisions and improve safety for all road users.

For more information or to receive help after an accident, contact Local Accident Reports.

More than a dozen N.C. State football players have pledged to return to the sidelines at Carter-Finley Stadium next fall after signing with an NIL collective affiliated with the program.

One Pack NIL announced CJ Bailey’s return last week, and is up to 14 other returners, as of Thursday morning.

The collective has been actively securing agreements with key players on both sides of the ball.

“Keeping our core group of impactful players together was a priority for the collective and I’m proud to see the results,” One Pack NIL executive director Chris Vurnakes said. “Having key performers like CJ Bailey, Hollywood Smothers, Brandon Cleveland and others return will help set up our Football program for success in 2025.”

Wide receivers Noah Rogers, Wesley Grimes, Jonathan Paylor, Keenan Jackson, Dacari Collins and Terrell Anderson announced their returns to the offense. Smothers, a running back, will also return for the Wolfpack.

Smothers, a Charlotte-area native, was one of the Pack’s go-to offensive players in 2024. The transfer from Oklahoma recorded 432 yards on 74 carries and scored six touchdowns. He scored twice against Stanford and North Carolina. Smothers also added 221 receiving yards and a touchdown for the Pack.

Rogers, Collins and Grimes combined for 995 yards and three touchdowns. Rogers led the way with 419 yards, including a 44-yard reception through double coverage to set up N.C. State’s game-winning touchdown against UNC.

Anderson and Jackson finished with more than 100 receiving yards in the regular season, while Jackson ranked third on the team with two receiving TDs. Paylor appeared in two contests and redshirted.

On the defensive side, linebackers Caden Fordham and Sean Brown; defensive backs Brandon Cisse, Tamarcus Cooley and Devon Marshall; defensive tackle Brandon Cleveland; and safety Devan Boykin have all pledged to return.

Brown was an All-ACC Third Team selection in 2024 after recording 87 tackles and three fumble recoveries. He contributed two forced fumbles and finished with 10 or more tackles in four games.

Marshall tied with Bishop Fitzgerald with a team-leading seven pass breakups. He was second on the team with two interceptions. Cooley and Cisse combined for 11 breakups. The defensive trio combined for 90 tackles in the regular season.

Fordham missed the back half of the season after sustaining a season-ending injury. In six games, he contributed 48 tackles and a pair of pass breakups. Boykin did not play this season after injuring his ACL in bowl preparation a year ago. He was cleared for practice in November.

The collective is still pursuing agreements with other players, whih they said will be announced as they are completed.

N.C. State is coming off a 6-6 regular season. It heads to Annapolis, Maryland, where it will play East Carolina on Dec. 28 in the Military Bowl.

A Triangle town is getting a little bit sweeter this week with the opening of a new doughnut shop.

Dunkin’, a national coffee and doughnuts brand, will open its fifth store in Cary on Thursday, Dec. 12.

The 1,400-square-foot store at 510 Optical Lane will be the 50th Raleigh-area location for franchising brand Coastal Franchising, according to a press release. Coastal Franchising owns and operates 132 Dunkin’ locations across the Carolinas and Virginia.

The new Cary shop, complete with a drive-thru and complimentary Wi-Fi, will seat 18 people and employ 35. Store hours will be 5 a.m.-8 p.m. daily.

Dunkin’ calls its new locations — including the Optical Lane store — “Next Generation” restaurants. They emphasize energy efficiency and feature a modern design, a tap system for dispensing cold coffees and teas, and a dedicated mobile pickup area.

Formerly known as Dunkin’ Donuts, the Massachusetts-based company announced a rebrand in 2018.

To celebrate the grand opening, Dunkin’ is offering a select number of customers a special deal.

The first 100 customers who visit the store starting at 5 a.m. on opening day, Dec. 12, will be rewarded with free coffee for a year.

Specifically, they’ll be given a coupon book with four medium hot or iced coffee coupons per month for 14 months. The coupons are valid only at the Optical Lane location.

Here are some other Cary openings and closings The News & Observer has recently reported:

▪ Lloyd’s Full Service will open next year at 107 E. Chatham St., on a string of blocks that’s become one of Cary’s culinary hot spots. Built in a former 1950s garage and gas station, Lloyd’s will be operated by Early Bird Night Owl hospitality group, which manages the dining programs at boutique hotels The Durham and Cary’s Mayton Inn.

▪ After nearly six years of waiting, acclaimed Raleigh chef Scott Crawford is set to unveil Crawford Brothers Steakhouse the week of Dec. 16. As exquisite as it is sprawling, the new steakhouse joins Cary’s Fenton development as the upscale shopping center’s restaurant anchor.

▪ The Office Depot location at 2011 Walnut St. in Cary will soon close.

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A popular big-box retailer has plans to transform an empty anchor space at a popular Durham shopping center into an experiential store.

Dick’s Sporting Goods is expected to bring its House of Sport brand to The Streets at Southpoint, moving into the former Sears space at 6930 Fayetteville Road. Sears announced it would close its two Durham locations — at Southpoint and Northgate Mall — in 2018, The News & Observer previously reported.

The Durham House of Sport is expected to be North Carolina’s second, joining the location at Freedom Town Center in Fayetteville, which opened in 2023.

House of Sport, which launched in 2021, features a retail component with an assortment of sporting goods products along with “in-store experiences including a climbing wall, multiple golf bays with TrackMan simulators, and multi-sport cages” for baseball, softball, lacrosse and soccer.

The Streets at Southpoint location is also expected to have a fenced, outdoor turf multi-use field built on the existing parking lot, construction documents submitted to the City of Durham and acquired by The N&O show. The dimensions of the field are about 85 feet by 124 feet, according to the documents.

While not all House of Sport stores have fields, they may be used for open play, clinics, league space or as an ice rink in the winter, according to a Dick’s press release from May 2023.

Transformco Properties, which owns the old Sears property, has leased the 106,619-square-foot building to Dick’s Sporting Goods, its website shows.

Dick’s Sporting Goods did not immediately respond to The N&O’s request on Tuesday, Dec. 10 for more information about the store, including a projected opening date.

Triangle Business Journal was first to report on the new Streets at Southpoint store.

There are House of Sport stores in 14 states, the company’s website indicates. In a March 2023 earnings call, Dick’s Sporting Goods President and CEO Lauren Hobart said the company could have as many as 75-100 House of Sport locations across the United States over the next five years.

The renovation of the anchor space is just one recent change at the Durham mall.

Over the summer, Southpoint launched an alcohol-friendly social district, The N&O previously reported. The program allows visitors to take beer, wine and cocktails from California Pizza Kitchen, Firebirds, CO and Uncle Julio’s to go, and drink them in designated areas outside and inside the mall.

Two new clothing stores — Garage and Abercrombie & Fitch — opened earlier this year at the mall. Children’s apparel retailer Janie and Jack has not yet opened there.

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OPINION AND COMMENTARY

Editorials and other Opinion content offer perspectives on issues important to our community and are independent from the work of our newsroom reporters.

Opinion

No species exists in a vacuum. It is part of a community, dependent on its neighbors for survival. That’s why recent news that the red-cockaded woodpecker has been moved from endangered to threatened is a reason to celebrate. It also comes with a note of caution and concern for its future.

The little bird, whose red is confined to a mere dot on the male’s head, was the first bird placed on the Endangered Species List. More than 50 years later, its numbers have swelled from just 1,470 breeding groups to 7,800 breeding groups. One of the healthiest populations is in the North Carolina Sandhills.

Although these numbers do not fully meet the milestones set forth decades ago, the population is most certainly on its way to recovery — as long as we remain committed to managing its home.

This current success has been the result of a effort between many partners, both public and private, and aided significantly by the resources and protections afforded by the Endangered Species Act. This is a great example of the positive impact of the act, providing an emergency room to heal the wounds to our natural world.

The red-cockaded woodpecker’s existence is closely tied to longleaf pine and controlled burning because the birds make their homes almost exclusively in mature longleaf pine trees that are kept open by regular fire. Restoring longleaf forests, which once covered 90 million acres across the Southeast but shrunk to a low of 3.2 million acres, was key to bringing back the red-cockaded woodpecker. The Nature Conservancy (TNC) is one of a host of organizations working to restore longleaf pine. We have added 2 million acres of longleaf forest since that low point. As longleaf came back, so did the red-cockaded woodpecker.

Most of that longleaf recovery has been driven by funding aimed at red-cockaded woodpeckers, and that funding has largely been a result of the Endangered Species Act. Here in North Carolina, those dollars came from the Department of Defense (DOD), which was ordered to restore the population of red-cockaded woodpeckers at Fort Liberty. TNC, DOD, and other conservation partners took an innovative approach to restoration with the DOD paying for conservation on adjoining land for woodpeckers.

It worked. These fascinating birds, with their intriguing family structure where offspring help raise future generations, are thriving today. This DOD model was replicated at other military bases, including Camp LeJeune, Fort Moore in Georgia, and Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. Without the order to restore a federally endangered species, it is doubtful the military would have been motivated to fund this conservation.

It isn’t just red-cockaded woodpeckers and longleaf pine trees that have benefited from this conservation. A host of other species, including the iconic Venus flytrap, have seen their numbers soar in these restored longleaf forests. That’s because longleaf forests are some of the most biodiverse in the world.

Longleaf forests need management to thrive, which involves controlled burning every two-to-three years. That is costly. The military has also paid for stewardship, and groups like TNC raise money to cover the cost of burning.

I am thrilled to see red-cockaded woodpeckers back from the brink, but I know that the downgrading isn’t all good if it shifts focus, resources, and commitment away from longleaf habitats.

We can celebrate in the moment. This month it was announced that a red-cockaded woodpecker was building a nest at South Carolina’s Peach Tree Rock Preserve — the first time one has been seen there since the early 1970s.

But, these woodpeckers are still on a precipice. Earlier this fall, Hurricane Helene wiped out many old longleaf pine trees with nests in Georgia’s Moody Forest.

If we are to keep the comeback celebration going, then we must continue to protect, restore and manage longleaf pine. If we shift too heavily away from investments in longleaf restoration, the red-cockaded woodpeckers may well be back in peril, along with many other species that depend on healthy longleaf forests.

Jeff Marcus is TNC’s Longleaf Applied Scientist in North Carolina

This story was originally published December 11, 2024, 8:00 AM.