🌱 Man Arrested In Shooting That Killed 4-Year-Old + Wolfspeed Growing

Hi there, Durham. I'm here in your inbox this morning to get you up to speed on everything you need to know about what's going on around town.

But first, your local weather:

• Thursday: A t-storm around in the p.m.. High: 90 Low: 71.
• Friday: A t-storm around in the p.m.. High: 93 Low: 72.

Here are the top three stories today in and around Durham:

1. A shooting on the afternoon of Wednesday, Jul. 5 that killed a four-year-old has led to the arrest of one man in the 300 block of North Guthrie Avenue. At around 1:45 p.m., authorities responded to an overdose call where they found a 15-year-old girl and a four-year-old girl who had been shot. Both girls were transported to a local hospital with life-threatening injuries, and unfortunately, the four-year-old was pronounced dead. (CBS 17)
2. Durham-based firm Wolfspeed has recently inked a deal with Japanese semiconductor business Renesas to supply Renesas with silicon carbide wafers in the following decade in exchange for a lump sum of $2 billion upfront. Wolfspeed manufactures a semiconducting material called silicon carbide, reportedly more efficient than standard silicon. As of 2023, Wolfspeed makes 60 percent of all the world's silicon carbide wafers, which are used in electric cars, renewable energy storage units, and aerospace equipment, among other purposes. (Subscription: Herald Sun)
3. The News & Observer is keeping us up to date that flat-lying squirrels are likely not dead: they're just splooting. Squirrels sprawled out on the sidewalk, on a tree branch, on deck railings, or elsewhere to escape the sun, that are belly-down and totally flat, are probably splooting, which is a technique used to cool themselves down, as squirrels don't perspire (or sweat) to get rid of excess heat. Quote Michael Cove, mammalogy research curator at Raleigh's North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, splooting is like "when you have a fever and all you want to do is lay against your bathroom floor." (Subscription: News & Observer)

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Today and tomorrow in Durham:

Thursday, July 6

• Fitness Center At The Edison Johnson Recreation Center (9:00 AM)
• Beer Garden Jam Sessions At The Glass Jug Beer Lab (6:00 PM)
• Let's Chill Open Mic At The Slush (7:00 PM)

Friday, July 7

• Hands On History: Miller Fridays At The West Point Mill (2:00 PM)
• Central Kids Families At Durham Bulls Athletic Park (6:30 PM)

From my notebook:

• The Durham Police Department is pleased to report that missing person Douglas James Artis has been found by law enforcement personnel and safely returned to his home. (Durham Police Department via Facebook)
• Discover Durham and North Carolina Central University (NCCU) are celebrating NCCU's 113th birthday! (Discover Durham via Facebook)
• The Durham Co-op Market is offering co-op owners one free LocoPop in July - the Co-op is owned communally and offers organic, locally grown food and produce to residents and locals. (Durham Co-op Market via Facebook)

You're officially in the loop for today! I'll see you around.

— Amy Mayo

About me: Amy Mayo is a writer, visual artist, and political scientist, living in the NC Research Triangle. She graduated from the University of North Carolina Asheville with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and has worked in a variety of fields outside of copywriting including policy advocacy, the healthcare industry and pharmaceuticals, and education. She hopes one day to live up to the stringent expectations of her cat, Morty.