This is KGW news at noon. I mea,
they've probably lost houses, furniture.
I know somewhere around town they actually
had it closed down because theyd
water in their business.
Now at noon, unrelenting
conditions from coast to coast,
severe storms hammering the
southeast while temperatures
continue to blister the West.
Thanks for joining us. Hello, everyone.
I'm Brenda Braxton.
NBC's Maggie Vespa takes us to Mayfield,
KY, which has been inundated with rain
and flooding and more is on the.
We'll begin here in Mayfield, K,
with something of a hopeful sig,
the water definitely receding overnight.
But make no mistake,
this break is not expected to last very long.
As we speak, scientists say another round of
severe showers and storms is headed this way,
potentially producing more floo.
Also possible severe winds.
Even potentially tornadoes,
and knowing that there could be
around 2 Kentucky's governor yesterday
declaring a state of emergency,
helping people get the funds thy
need to clean up and then brace for a
potential repeat system again t.
It's also worth noting yesterdas
system is the same one that also
pummeled parts of North Carolin.
An EF3 tornado confirmed about an hour east
of Raleigh yesterday with wind speeds.
Topping 150 mph,
4 people there sent to the hospl
and a massive manufacturing plant from
the drug maker or owned by the g
maker Pfizer sustained severe de
and then kind of also in the ary
of severe weather we're trackin.
That brutal extreme heat wave continues
to tighten its grip on millionsf
Americans from California to Florida.
In fact,
Phoenix is set to hit three strt
weeks of temperatures above 110
degrees and counting.
Maggie Vaspa, NBC News, Mayfield, Kentucky.
Well, Rod is also tracking the m
system that dropped all that ran
in Kentucky. Rod, where is it n?
So let's start there talking abt
the storms that Maggie mentione.
Right now, the neighboring state of Tennessee
is getting the heart of the big storms,
but there are some thunderstorms across
the southern portion of Kentucky as well.
There have been warnings on and.
In the last couple of hours for these storms,
mainly for the possibility of 60 mile
per hour winds and quarter size hail,
there's certainly a tornadic th.
But so far the eyes have been mainly on
severe thunderstorms and notice real quick
my double high pressure systems here,
one over the Texas Panhandle,
one sitting over the Gulf.
These storms going back to Colo,
Nebraska and Kansas rotating
over the top of this high.
Now real quick, what's interestg
in terms of meteorology is.
We're in mid-july, right.
Typically if you're going
to see a strong Ridge,
you would see it anchored up here more
like Missouri and Iowa and you d
see this type of a severe storm threat.
This time the year start to move
more across the Dakotas, Minnes,
Great Lakes and and the Canadian border.
So this is setting up on usually
to the South.
I think in part that's what's mg
some of these temperatures so extreme.
Here are the current numbers
Maggie Vespa mentioned in Phoen.
Already 111 at noon.
That means today has become a rd
21st consecutive day of temperas
in Phoenix reaching at least 110
degrees and hotter here at home.
Real quick.
We have hazy sunshine most most
of the coast has cleared out 75.
In Portland,
we could get as warm as 90.
We have your complete local
forecast coming up.
All right. Thank you, Rod.
Other headlines we're
tracking for you this noon.
Fire crews are still in Longview putting
out hotspots at this industrial fire.
It began Tuesday at the Nippon Dyna Wave lot.
Crews have the flames contained
to a wood chip pile.
We still don't know, though,
how the fire started.
City commissioners are backing f
a plan to tweak the new city chr
and send those changes to voter.
In November,
Portland residents approved sweg
changes to the way city government operates.
But two commissioners had some misgivings.
So this week,
Renee Gonzalez and Dan Ryan got together
to talk about what they wanted to change,
including reducing the size of the council
and simplifying rankedchoice vo.
This morning we heard from Commissioner Ryan,
who told us he's going to
table the idea for now,
although he still believes
changes are necessary.
And Woodburn police are looking for two
men who attacked a person with a knife.
This happened back in April at a
Chevron station on Lawson Ave.
and they still can't find the g.
Police say both men are Hispanic
and in their 20s.
Officers believe they could be a
Gray or silver Audi hatchback style car.
Well,
we are getting our first look ae
arrest of a man believed to be a
person of interest in the deathf
four women in and around the Portland area.
Well Lamb Week identified
him as Jesse Calhoun.
A woman claiming to be his girlfriend
was interviewed on YouTube.
She said he knew two of the vic.
She says he and Ashley Real datd
off and on for about a year and
claims Calhoun would give Bridgt
Webster drugs in exchange for s.
However,
the woman said she doesn't know
how he was connected to Charity
Perry or Kristen Smith.
Deputies took Calhoun
into custody last month.
KGW just obtained video of that arrest.
It shows deputies moving in
on Calhoun at a gas station on
Southeast McLaughlin in Milwauk.
We spoke to the man who shot that video.
He didn't want to be on camera,
but says Calhoun did not give up easily.
I don't know how he made it
through the ten officers,
but made it through cross traffic all
the way down the river, hopped .
Yeah, Calhoun eventually got
tired and swam back to shore
where he was taken into custody.
It is important to note,
as of this afternoon,
Calhoun has not been charged in
connection with the four women's deaths,
but he is being held in the
Snake River Correctional
Institution in Eastern Oregon.
You can find all of our coverage
on these homicides if you go
to our website thatskgw.com or
on the KGW YouTube channel.
Turning now to the homeless cri,
we do have a progress report on
Portland's 90 day reset plan.
Its goal is to clean up the
city's central east side after
businesses said drugs and crimee
putting their workers in danger.
Here's Blair Best with the upda.
Merlin McConnell has the dirt
on the central east side.
Literally. Human feces, glass,
anything that you can imagine.
At its worst, that's what's the.
He's a janitor for Central City Concern,
a group helping Portland's home.
I clean the streets.
He's assigned to the central East side,
where the city recently wrapped
up a 90 day reset plan.
It was in response to business owners
pushing for change after an ince
in crime and homelessness there.
One of our employees on his way into our
central kitchen was held up at gunpoint.
After the city focused on
the area for three months,
they removed 321 camps,
nearly £4000 of trash and more n
73,000 square feet of graffiti,
though on Wednesday camps
still dotted many sidewalks.
Portland police also played a r.
They arrested 89 people,
recovered 23 stolen vehicles and
took 19 guns off the streets.
It's really nice to see because
the East side is a important
creative place for a lot of peo,
especially for fine artists.
Julian Gaines.
As critical as a number of us
are with how things are out her,
it's cool to see the city trying
to be constructive and changing.
But some things will never chan.
Trash is just not going to go a.
It's just not going to go.
The Central East Side Industrial Council,
that's a group that represents
businesses in that area,
see the reset plan as a work in
progress and the results are a
step in the right direction.
But they argue much more needs to be done.
Blair Best KGW News.