Name: Ex-Easley aide accused of extortion, fraud
Uploaded: 2010-01-21T16:25:00-0500
Duration: 133483
Description: A federal grand jury indicted Ruffin Poole, a former aide to Gov. Mike Easley, on 51 counts of public corruption.

The "Dueling Dinosaurs" exhibit opening this weekend at Raleigh's North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences will feature what's believed to be the most complete T. rex skeleton ever discovered.

'Dueling Dinosaurs:' One-of-a-kind dig, laboratory access at Raleigh science museum

DinoLab at North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences

Homeowners insurance doesn't cover floods, so purchasing separate flood insurance is crucial in North Carolina, especially in high-risk areas.

Homeowners insurance doesn't cover floods: How to protect your home in North Carolina

Princeville residents weigh options after Hurricane Matthew

A federal grand jury indicted Ruffin Poole, a former aide to Gov. Mike Easley, on 51 counts of public corruption.

Bruce Mildwurf

Adam Owens

Mark Simpson

Ex-Easley aide accused of extortion, fraud

Mike Easley Investigation graphic

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I'm meteorologist, Amy Wilmeth in the WRL severe weather center, quiet weather in the forecast for a while. We did have the cold front move through yesterday. A northerly flow behind that will cool temperatures tonight into tomorrow today. Though beautiful weather with near normal temperatures will get up to 73 in Durham, 74 in Raleigh and 78 for the high temperature in Fayetteville. If you're headed to the Bulls game this evening, what treat? This is great baseball weather. The game gets started at 635 will be at 68 at 6 p.m. down to 65 by seven o'clock and 63 by eight o'clock and it stays nice and dry for that. It does turn kind of chilly tonight. Many of us down into the forties, 48 in Durham, 46 in Rocky Mountain, 49 in Goldsboro, 49 in Southern Pines. So it is going to be a chilly start to our Friday and it stays fairly cool Friday afternoon. We'll have partly to mostly cloudy skies. 67 for the high in Durham, 69 in Raleigh, 72 for the high temperature in Fayetteville. So many outdoor events this weekend and the weather cooperating very nicely. Brugal oo gets started Friday evening and then it happens again on Saturday for Friday evening. If you're headed, there, temperatures will be nice and mild in the sixties and it stays dry and then spring days in Cary, that's on Saturday, that's out at Bon Park looks like great weather for, that will be in the mid f in the morning. But then upper sixties by one pm, low to mid seventies during the afternoon and early evening hours. And maybe after that, you want to go some soccer, the courage taking on the rain. It's a home game and beautiful weather for soccer. Low seventies at 7 p.m. 69 by nine o'clock and 64 at 11 o'clock, that's for Saturday evening. So a lot of things happening this weekend and the weather really looking good. 74 today, a little cooler Friday and then back up to 74 Saturday, even warmer Sunday, 81 for the high 86 on Monday and then upper eighties in the forecast for Tuesday and Wednesday of next week.

WRAL WeatherCenter Forecast

Nightly N.C. Education Lottery drawings during the 11 p.m. News.

Good evening. I'm Gail. Hi, welcome to tonight's drawings for Thursday, April 25th, 2024. Well, let's get started tonight with our Carolina pick three. Our first winning number is a one. Our second number is eight and our third number tonight is a nine and our pick three fireball number is eight. Again, join me for tonight's joining us on Auditor from mcconnell and Jones L LP. Now let's move to the Carolina pick four. Good luck. Everyone who's their first winning pick four number. It's a six. Our second number is eight. Third number tonight is eight again and our fourth number is a three in our pick four fireball number. There it comes. It is a one. Well, turning now to the Carolina cash five and no one wins our prize tonight. Tomorrow's, our prize is estimated at $721,000. Good luck. Everyone here's our first winning cash five number. It's the number eight. Our second number is five third number. Tonight is seven. Our fourth number here it comes. It's a 41 in the final number, NRC five. This evening is 27. The North Carolina Education Lottery has contributed over $10 billion to education. Get your winning numbers right here every night in your exclusive station for the North Carolina Education lottery. Thanks for playing. Have a great night.

Evening Pick 3 Pick 4 and Cash 5

Daytime Pick 3 and Pick 4 drawings are held at 3 p.m. daily. They can be seen as live or on-demand video.

Good afternoon. I'm Grace Holland. Welcome to this afternoon's drawings for Thursday, April 25th, 2024. Let's get started with the Carolina pick three. Your first pick three number is five followed by seven then seven and your fireball is eight. Joining me for this afternoon's drawing is our auditor from A L LP. Now let's move on to the Carolina pick four. The first pick four number is seven followed by one 60 and your fireball is five. The North Carolina Education lottery has contributed over $10 billion to education. Thank you for your support. You can get your winning numbers each day at 3 p.m. and again at 1122.

Daytime Pick 3 and Pick 4 Drawing

Gov. Roy Cooper, museum leaders and museum paleontologist Dr. Lindsay Zanno on Thursday preview Dueling Dinosaurs, a brand new exhibit at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. The exhibit opens to the public Saturday.

In that institution's history. But all of you can and I have seen that enthusiasm and that understanding that you are part of something special over the past few years as you have prepared for this day. So to the staff of the museum, thank you. And it's not just staff, a project like this wouldn't have been possible without a lot of important partners on behalf of everyone involved in this immensely successful public private partnership. And in addition to the General Assembly's extraordinary investment, I would like to take a moment to thank some of the very generous supporters of the Dueling Dinosaurs capital campaign, the SECU Foundation, the Bank of America Duke Energy, the North Carolina Glaxo Smith Kline Foundation, Wake County, friends of the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences who really not only helped us in, in raising the funds but also in making this day happen and this opportunity happen. And so many others who are recognized on the campaign do donor wall just to the right of the exhibit entrance. So I encourage you as you go through there today to make sure you take a look at that wall. Now, along with the state's investment. This village of support has enabled the museum to open this new globally unique visitor experience. And on that note, I would like to invite Secu Foundation board chair, Chris Ayers to speak to the foundation's leadership gift, Chris. Thank you. Well, good morning fellow paleontologists. Um I'm excited to be here today representing the SECU Foundation and the over 2.7 million members of state employees credit union who fund that foundation. So this is a great day of celebration for the State of North Carolina, the Department of Cultural and Natural Resources and the many museum supporters and friends who have joined together to make this day a reality. I can tell you the foundation, the State Employees Credit Union has been looking forward to this day for a long time, going all the way back to when we got a sneak peek when they first rolled these fossils into the museum uh a number of years ago. So today's ribbon cutting ceremony shines a brilliant light on the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences as a research institution and the largest museum in the southeast of its kind. The work of the museum professionals and the world class facility benefits more than 1 million visitors each year. And we're delighted to help fund the Secu Dino Lab, which will be enjoyed by students, teachers and families from across the state and beyond. In addition to the SECU Diner lab, the foundation support of the museum also includes the large icon globe that we're in right now that you see outside the building, uh The SECU Daily Planet. As longtime supporters of the museum SECU is pleased that our collaborative efforts help bring the museum and our state to the forefront of natural sciences, education and research, innovative initiatives like this can only be achieved through incredible teamwork and support from the community if it isn't obvious. Let me say that we are so happy to be part of this team and we feel really lucky to have our SECU headquarters and our Sal Salisbury Street branch right next door where we get to see the daily droves of visitors year round. SECU is built on the principle of people helping people and our members live that philosophy through our support of nonprofits that uplift people and communities throughout our great state. For those of you who may not know the SECU foundation is funded through a unique concept known as the power of a dollar where SECU members contribute through the reallocation of their $1 monthly checking account fee. Collectively a dollar truly can make a profound difference. As you see here today, this summer marks the foundation's 20th anniversary. And over the past 20 years, our foundation's commitment to North Carolina nonprofits has surpassed a quarter of a billion dollars for scholarships, grants, financing for education, housing, health care, human services, all benefits to our great state. And we're going to celebrate that 20th anniversary. This fall dueling Dinosaurs is history in the making right here in downtown Raleigh. And we're so lucky to have a front row seat to marvel at the Scientific Discovery and the World of Paleontology. We at the SECU Foundation are honored to be part of this and I want to thank everyone for the great work and contributions that so many of you have made to make this day in this exhibit a reality. Thank you, Chris. Now I mentioned earlier about our staff and they really are all superstars, but there is one particular staff member who has as this project has developed over the recent years, kind of reached celebrity status. If you read Walter magazine, you probably read a profile of her and her work and how that has contributed to uh this particular exhibit. I'm pleased to introduce that person to you this morning. None other than uh the individual who had the vision to make this happen. Doctor Lindsay Zano, head of Paleontology here at the museum, Doctor Doctor Zano. Good morning. It's wonderful to be hosting you all this morning. You know, every week I get an email from a parent who wants their child to meet and talk to a scientist every single week. They want to fuel that child's love for science, encourage them to pursue their dreams. But more than anything they want that science to be real, they want it to be accessible, meeting those Children is wonderful. It's also not enough because not every parent has the resources of the opportunities to reach out to a scientist and arrange a one on one meeting for their child. Most of the Children who are interested in science will fall through the cracks and every public event I attend, I have a conversation with someone in our community who doesn't see the relevance of science to their daily lives who's never been invited to peek behind the proverbial curtain to see who scientists are and what we do and how we go about solving problems that are relevant to our communities. Today, we mark the next step in the evolution of the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. We celebrate the opening of the dueling dinosaurs experience. This is one of the most daring public science projects ever imagined at its heart is a world class specimen and the barrier breaking sccu Dino lab that houses it. The specimen represents a single moment in time 67 million years ago when behemoths like tyrannosaurs and triceratops battled for life. The lab is a place where there are no walls between the scientists and the communities that we serve. One where the term behind the scenes loses all of its meaning. A place where every kid regardless of their socioeconomical status can talk to a scientist every day, any day, a place where they can look in the face of a scientist and see themselves staring back at them a place where science is done for the public with the public and transparently in front of the public and for those that cannot make it to us on site, we're broadcasting this project all over the world. Now, the dueling dinosaurs experience is fueled by an amazing team of scientists who I'm so proud of. And in the past two years, we've grown from 6 to 14,000. And that's because a year and a half ago, we launched our public science project Cretaceous Creatures. And already over 14,000 middle school students from around the state have made once in a lifetime scientific discoveries as real members of our scientific team. And we are just getting started. I want to close this morning by thanking the state all of our incredible donors, my amazing museum colleagues, and especially my team for believing in this project, for believing in my vision. I want to thank them for tirelessly working for eight years to bring this project to the people of North Carolina and beyond. You are all dreamers and I could not be more honored to be on this journey with you. One thing we can all agree on is the world loves dinosaurs. So today we're going to bring the next generation of leaders in science and technology and engineering and innovation and have them born right here in North Carolina. Let's show the world how it's done. Thank you. Make sure I didn't mess up the screen and dropping that. Um Thank you, Doctor Zano and I don't know what the acoustics are back there. But standing up here as you were talking about Children in that next generation from up here, you could hear all the Children up there in nature Research Center visiting the labs and it just kind of brought to life. What you're talking about this experience will mean it's now my pleasure to introduce to you, my boss, uh Secretary Reed Wilson. Now I can tell you, Secretary Wilson, this is a special project. He does a lot of openings, ribbon cuttings for our sites all across the state, state parks aquariums and not to play favorites. But I know this one ha holds a special place in his heart. He was telling someone this morning that he's been working on this project for seven years and so Secretary Wilson, I'm pleased to introduce you and we finally got here. Thank you, Jeff. Good morning, everybody. Uh Thank you all for being here this morning and to all involved. Uh Congratulations. This is an amazing huge day for North Carolina and for this museum, you know, making doing dinosaurs a reality has been a collective effort. And I want to thank some people that have already been thanked, but you can never thank these people enough. First, our sponsors, we would not be here today without your generous support. No doubt about that. I also want to thank the board and the staff of the friends of the Museum of Natural Sciences and three of the four board presidents who have been presidents during this period are here with us today. Um, but the whole board has been invested in this and not only did you all raise significant sums of money, but you tiptoed way out on that branch of risk. I remember the conversations. Well, we really sure we wanna do this. Uh But you were, you made the decision to, to just dive in um because you kept your eyes on the prize and, and understood what the risk was, but all that risk went away. Uh I wanna thank the museum staff. Um Thank you so much. I know that every section of this museum has been involved with this. And I, I dare say that there isn't anyone on the staff of this museum who wasn't involved in this project at some point. Um And obviously to Doctor Zano and your paleontology team. Um Y'all are just amazing. You're brilliant. All of you. Um Javin Sutton and your ex exhibition team, Christy Flint and your education team. I mean, I could mention everybody in this museum, everyone's been involved. It's been a long process and you've done a phenomenal job because here we are today and of course, we wouldn't be here without substantial public support. Thank you to members of the General Assembly um who prioritized the investment in this state of the art lab in particular. I do want to thank the leadership of the legislature speaker Moore, Senator Pro TEM Berger, minority leader, blue and minority leader Reeves. Uh, they're unable to join us today, but I think we should give a round of applause to the entire general assembly who supported this project. So it's taken us a while for us to get here today. And as Jeff mentioned, I've been involved with this one probably since the first week I was in this department in early February 2017. Um So it's not been quite 67 million years, but sometimes it felt like it. Um Is that my wife laughing? I remember, I do remember vividly the early Sunday morning in April 2017, almost exactly seven years ago to this day when these specimens arrived. I watched as the movers painstakingly removed them from the tractor trailer truck and carefully moved them into their hidden storage places. It was definitely a goose bumps moment for hours and then we had the groundbreaking in the midst of COVID, uh which complicated everything. And as I said, then at the groundbreaking, when this lab opens, our state will become a must see destination for dinosaur lovers everywhere, from young kids to academics to anybody. Um And so here we are and it's even better than I think any of us dreamed it could be. You will see when you go in there. What a special exhibit this is. We have the best dinosaur specimens in the world and the best setting for people to see them and learn from them. Hundreds of moments and of awe and wonder will unfold in there every single day. And I can't wait to just wander over here sometimes to watch the kids' eyes pop open. Now, at the heart of this project is the science. Our paleontologists will make discoveries as they carefully uncover these and analyze them. Science will be happening in front of the public's eyes. Um And so do doing dinosaurs is an excellent way for the state to engage students in scientist scientific discovery and to develop greater science literacy. So why is that important? Um It's important because the only way we're going to solve our big problems is to rely on the science and the experts who know what they're talking about. And the key to getting to that point is to expand science education to make sure that every child understands the value of science and how scientific discovery works. The Dueling Dinosaurs exhibit is going to pull people into this amazing world of science that's so important to our future. So I am now pleased to introduce a leader who uses science and facts and data to make his decisions as governor of the state of North Carolina and he has supported this project throughout its duration. Everyone please give a warm welcome to our Governor Roy Cooper. Thank you, Secretary Wilson. I'll tell you when we have cabinet meetings every Monday. His is always the coolest report, particularly when we get the updates on the dueling dinosaurs. Uh I am so grateful to everyone who helped to make this happen. The partners. Thank you so much for the work you've done all of the contributors. Uh My family, Chris is proud that our state employees credit union accounts that $1 a month is going to things like this. That is so exciting. And when I think about this week, I spent Monday Earth Day on the Blue Ridge Parkway looking at our amazing vistas uh in Western North Carolina on Tuesday and Wednesday, I got to spend time with North Carolina's own astronaut Christina Cook who set records for time that a woman astronaut spent in space and space walking. And she actually presented us with a lob Lily pine that had been germinated on the moon. Native plant, Karen, first lady made sure it was a native plant, uh excited about planting that in our pine forest at the executive mansion. And she presented us with the North Carolina flag that flew with her on her mission in the International Space Station for 11 months, presenting it to the people of North Carolina. Then I got to come over here with Doctor Zano, doctor Doctor Young and to go through this exhibit and to talk to these scientists and see see these dinosaurs and think about how amazing it was that this was happening right here in North Carolina. You know, North Carolina is the first and best in so many things. Now, we're the best in dinosaurs. I love it. You know, it is amazing and extraordinary that we have the best preserved and most complete tyrannosaur and triceratops in the world. Right here at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Scientists. This exhibit will add to an already excellent rep reputation that North Carolina has as a world class research university community College state. And I'm excited about that. I have been through this exhibit and, and to see the faces of the paleontologist, how excited energetic that they are. And they're also excited and maybe even a little bit nervous about sharing their work as they do it with the world, with the cameras on top of them, with their brushes and their equipment as they make discovery after discovery. And I said, you know, you're gonna get comments and praise and maybe some criticism from science, all scientists all over the world. They said, we know we know and we're ready for that and that's what makes this so special. Uh Doctor Young Doctor Zano, thank you for leading me through. Thank, thank you for the work. I asked Doctor Zano what she was gonna do this summer? She said, Utah, Montana and Mongolia. Wow, that's cool. Bring some stuff back with us uh to, to us but to compete, compete in today's world stem and steam classes. Are more important than ever. And our next generation of leaders will be walking through this museum every day that it's open and this exhibit will stimulate interest in a lot of them. I have declared 2024 as the year of public schools in North Carolina. And I am deeply grateful that the legislature stepped up and invested in this exhibit. Uh It, it took a lot of work to pull everything together and their work was instrumental and I am encouraging them now also to invest more in our public schools in our early childhood education. Our state has a history of investing in public education in order to fuel our innovation and our discovery. And when these young students learn in their school classes and they get to come here and meet face to face with these sci scientists. It's going to develop interest and it's going to create our scientists of the future this state of the art secu diner lab and the dueling dinosaurs belong to the people of North Carolina. It's open to everyone free of charge. That is amazing. Thanks to everybody who made this happen. This is a proud day for the state of North Carolina. Thank you so much. Thank you, Governor Cooper. Uh It truly is an exciting day for all of us and thank you for being here. Now, at this time, I would like to invite everyone to join us just outside the auditorium here. A little bit to the right at the at the entrance for doing dinosaurs for the official ribbon cutting. And I want to invite all of you up there on the 2nd, 3rd floor. Presents. Come on down and join us. So let's go celebrate. Thank you. Yeah, we're at the back line up a little bit. It's gonna be quite a few people here. They are going to be coupled. OK? Don't cut it. Yeah, check, check, get out. OK. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. Right. The the face. Thanks this chair, right. You all right. So fantastic. Hey guys for media. We questions afterwards over step on. This is the best to the future. This very good virtually. Yes. Is young. Was it? How about that? This is Yeah, you and then I now make the tea for. Can you be away if you're gonna be here? J JJ? Yeah, I was gonna have how many we have to get here in the morning right here. I didn't see anyone. All right, I need to tell everyone you should never put your hands inside the mouth of a tyrannosaurus. It's very sharp, well done on the end. Just a little bit here. Thank you. All right, just in the position. All right forward. Creep forward. Look for the fray. There we go. 321. Hold on. Is there we go. No cool, cool. The skin is tough. It's a meat eater. Not a ribbon eater. So OK. Sorry. OK. Barry can we do one more second? Let me fill in real quickly with one more. Yeah, they have thank you. Who gets to keep this to bring here? Let's get next to a do what you want us here. That be perfect. And can I get you on? So right here, you know what the secret with you and, but yeah, one photo, 12 and three. All right, thanks everybody. Right. If we have five, hello, if you guys want to come over here, I'll stand where the governor is gonna be. I.

Preview of Dueling Dinos, opening Saturday in Raleigh

Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday Powerball drawings, as shown live on WRAL.

Ball. Good evening, Ruan, I Randy trainer. Tonight. We have another life changing jackpot. It's worth an estimated $130.2 million. So, get your tickets ready here. Come, tonight's winning numbers. Let's start things off this evening with the number 26. Right after that America. We have the number two and congratulations to Gina Magnum from North Carolina. She won $50,000 playing powerball. All right, the rest of your winning numbers tonight 20 47. And let's round it out tonight with the number 22 and tonight 20 powerball number, that's gonna be 21 and your power play multiplayer is four. Let's take another look at tonight's winning numbers. We'll see you back here on Saturday night. It's time to play America's favorite.

Powerball Drawing

Brian Shrader flies over the site of a plane crash at Raleigh-Durham International Airport approximately three hours after the accident.

Seen some activity just in the past 10 minutes or so. I want to take you outside Sky five right now for a live look at the scene. We saw a van being escorted to the runway there and someone got out and now there appears to be a really careful inspection of the debris going on. So we're working to confirm if that may be the NTSB investigation team arriving at the scene. Let's zoom out and give you some about where this is. There are two main runways at RDU International and this is in the grassy field next to the runway that mostly serves terminal one on the east side of the airport, that runway remains closed while this investigation continues at the top of your screen. That is the other main runway that serves terminal two, mostly that runway is open. So we have two things going on here that could affect your flights for the rest of the day and maybe even into tomorrow, the airport takeoff and landing capacity is roughly reduced by half because they are only working with one runway. And if you have a flight coming out of terminal one, maybe Southwest, you're going to have to take that crossover all the way out to that other runway. It's going to add a lot of extra time.

Sky 5 flies over RDU plane crash 3 hours later 

A UNC Health physician and pilot were taken to the hospital Wednesday after a small plane crashed at Raleigh-Durham International Airport (RDU).
