In local news, a celebration for what would have been Robert Dotson’s 100th birthday will take place on May 13. According to the Watauga Democrat, the event will gather to celebrate the flatfoot dance legend at the Historic Apple Barn in Valle Crucis. The event will feature workshops, a documentary film showing, a potluck dinner, a square dance and performances by the Green Grass Cloggers.

In state news, the NC State police chief announced Thursday that a student’s body was found in the woods near Lake Raleigh Wednesday night. According to WRAL, the death of Ben Salas is being investigated as an apparent suicide. This is the eleventh student death at NC State this school year and if the cause of death is determined to be a suicide, it will be NC State’s sixth student death by suicide this school year.

In national news, Jerry Springer died at age 79 on Thursday. According to AP News, the one-time mayor and weekday afternoon television show host died peacefully in his Chicago home after a brief illness. Springer’s show was seen as a phenomenon, at times surpassing Oprah Winfrey’s show in ratings. After more than 4,000 episodes over a 27-year span the show ended in 2018. Throughout his life, Springer flirted with politics becoming the mayor of Chicago before resigning after a year. Now to sports.

The NBA playoffs provided an exciting night of basketball action last night, as two first-round teams won their respective series. The New York Knicks put away the Cleveland Cavaliers winning game five by a score 106-95 and finished the series with four wins and one loss. Jalen Brunson led the scoring for the Knicks in the final game of the series, finishing with 23 points and four rebounds. The other series that concluded last night was the 8th-seed Miami Heat finishing off the first place Milwaukee Bucks. The Heat beat the Bucks by the final score of 128-126 and won the series overall with four wins and one loss. Miami was aided by another big performance from Jimmy Butler, who finished with 42 points last night. The lone game on the schedule tonight is Game 6 of the series between the Boston Celtics and Atlanta Hawks. The Celtics currently lead the series 3-2 and can finish the series tonight with a win in Atlanta.

The moment that NFL fans have been waiting for is here. The first-round of the 2023 NFL Draft takes place tonight in Kansas City, Missouri. This is a particularly exciting night for the hometown Carolina Panthers, as they hold the first overall pick in the draft. The Houston Texans, Arizona Cardinals, Indianapolis Colts and Seattle Seahawks round out the top-five of thirty-two selections that will be announced tonight. If you want to tune in to the draft, coverage will begin at 8 PM Eastern Time on ESPN.

That is all for sports. Now, here’s your weather forecast.

And now for a special weather report powered by Booneweather.com. Today will be mostly cloudy with rain developing throughout the afternoon. The high is 54 with a low of 51.