News to Know for May 6: Deadly hotel shooting; Debate over George Wythe construction; Parents on vaccinating kids; Best weather of week

RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT) - Here’s a quick look at the news you need to know before starting your day.

Expect sunny skies and low humidity with highs in the upper 60′s today.

Andrew says it’s the best weather day of the week before more rain and thunderstorms chances Friday.

Get a preview of this weekend’s weather here.

A death investigation is underway in Petersburg where a woman was shot and killed at OYO Hotel just before 2 a.m.

Police do not yet have a suspect description, but we’ll be sure to update you as soon as we learn more.

The search continues for a fifth suspect in the deadly shooting at the Belt Atlantic Apartments that left a mother and her infant dead and three others hurt.

Richmond Police arrested the fourth suspect in last week’s shooting, but now they are looking for that man’s twin brother.

Kavon Bynum, 18, is in custody - his twin, Kevon, is still at large. If you can help the police find Kevon Bynum, give them a call.

State police are searching for people responsible for what turned into yet another I-95 gun battle. It happened yesterday afternoon in Southern Chesterfield.

Police say a Jeep was shot at by someone in a gray Toyota SUV. They say the driver of the Jeep shot back and pulled over while the Toyota took off.

A woman in the Jeep was hit by broken glass but wasn’t seriously injured.

Police are still investigating and say this is the 6th shooting on I-95 in the Richmond District so far this year.

A massive fire that burned down a Richmond recycling plant in February of last year has been ruled arson.

Flames and heavy black smoke could be seen for miles from the fire at Material Management and Recycling Plant.

Officials have not yet said who is responsible for starting the fire.

That’s what Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney says about a delay in the construction of a new George Wythe High School.

The big issue: who’s actually responsible for the construction. For years, the answer was the city. But recently that shifted to the Richmond School Board.

Superintendent Jason Kamras says the new high school may not be possible until 2026 or even 2027 because the board needs to hire several positions, at least 10 to 15 – three right away – to start the process.

Stoney says the school needs to be ready by 2024 and the board needs to advertise for someone to have a design by June 1. Whether or not the city will hand over its resources to the school board to help speed up the process remains to be seen.

The Virginia Employment Commission is asking a judge for three extra weeks to respond to a class-action lawsuit over months-long delays processing jobless claims.

The request drew a mocking response from the plaintiffs’ lawyers.

“In defense of a lawsuit premised on the allegation that the VEC cannot timely respond to Virginians seeking federal insured unemployment, the VEC suggests that it also cannot timely respond to them here,” they wrote in a motion opposing the delay.

“If this defendant, with all its resources and what should be both a legal and political motivation to avoid delay, cannot answer a fairly simple complaint 30 days after first receiving a copy, the VEC has bigger problems still.”

Virginia has struggled to keep with a surge of unemployment insurance claims since the pandemic began, continuing to rank last in the country in key federal performance benchmarks. Read more from Virginia Mercury.

Today, we are expecting to get an update from Governor Ralph Northam on the state’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the vaccine rollout.

That press briefing is set to start at 11 a.m. - you can watch it live right here on NBC12, as well as on all of our digital platforms.

It’s a question parents across the country are debating with Pfizer’s shot on track for approval for kids as young as 12 years old as soon as next week.

Virginia’s vaccine coordinator Dr. Danny Avula says he knows there’s hesitancy for some parents and he understands the health department faces a potentially uphill battle in some ways when it comes to getting children this vaccine.

But overall, Dr. Avula believes many families will choose to get their kids vaccinated.

Pfizer is targeting September for approval for 2 to 11 year-olds. Trials for babies as young as 6 months are also underway with Moderna as well.

Dunkin’ is giving away free coffee to our healthcare heroes!

It’s in honor of National Nurses Day. Dunkin’ says they want to show their appreciation to healthcare workers by offering a free medium hot or iced coffee.

There’s no purchase necessary -all you need to do is show your healthcare ID.

“The individual who is mistake-free is also probably sitting around doing nothing. And that’s a very big mistake.” - John Wooden

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