Jefferson Lab data center, search ends for missing sailor, Trump NATO summit: Sunrise Brief

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Top stories: Jefferson Lab data center, search ends for missing sailor, Trump NATO summit

1. Community members in Newport News have questions about a new building under construction at Jefferson Lab — and a town hall meeting is planned to address them.

   Jefferson Lab Data Center groundbreaking sparks community questions

   Last month, city, state, and federal leaders broke ground on the project. The building will house the lab's High Performance Data Facility, but on social media, people have been posting concerns that a large data center is now being built. Local Congressman Rob Wittman was asked about the concerns at the ceremony last month.

   "The description of this as a data center is somewhat, I wouldn't say misleading, but it's somewhat inaccurate. It's more about a data research center and what we do to make sure we can use data in a high performance and very fast method," Wittman said. In a statement to News 3, a spokesperson for Jefferson Lab further clarified it is not a traditional commercial data center.

   Resident Amanda Doughty still has questions of her own, but has met with people involved in the project. "There's still some things that I have questions about that I'm hoping will be addressed at the town hall meeting ... so I have some more questions, but I do feel a bit better," Doughty said. The town hall will be held July 28 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Denbigh Community Center.
   

2. The U.S. Navy has suspended its active search for a sailor who went missing after a helicopter went down in the Arabian Sea last week.

   According to U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, the search officially ended at 3 p.m. Atlantic Standard Time on Sunday, July 5. The sailor, assigned to Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 5 and embarked aboard the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77), was reported missing on July 1 after an MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopter made what the Navy previously described as an emergency water landing in the Arabian Sea. Three of the helicopter's four crew members were rescued, while one sailor remained missing.

   The Navy said the search ended following an extensive effort involving both the U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force across the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility. Military crews searched for more than 102 hours, covering more than 14,000 square miles of the Arabian Sea. The Navy said the missing sailor's name is being withheld until at least 24 hours after next-of-kin notification has been completed, in accordance with Navy policy. Officials have also said there is no indication the helicopter was brought down by hostile action.
   

3. President Trump is set to depart for a NATO summit on Monday evening, looking to enforce the alliance’s pledge to step up their defense spending, CBS reports.

   The upcoming NATO summit, which will bring together 32 member states, will be held in the Turkish capital Tuesday and Wednesday. Under pressure from Trump, NATO leaders agreed at a gathering last year to boost defense-related spending to five percent of GDP by 2035.

   Trump insists he wants Europe to take the lead role for its own defense, and Washington has already moved to scale back commitments. His post on Thursday included a chart displaying NATO spending amounts, with the United States investing vastly more than the other member states depicted. Trump said late Thursday it's "ridiculous" for the United States to continue its "one sided" relationship with NATO, posting on social media that Washington’s relationship with NATO “is not reciprocal”.
   

This morning's weather: Several storm chances to start the work week

Meteorologist Myles Henderson says still hot and humid, but not as bad as the weekend. Highs will reach the low to mid 90s today with an afternoon heat index near 105. Expect partly cloudy skies with scattered showers/storms developing this afternoon to evening. Some storms could be strong to severe with gusty winds and localized flooding.

Expect partly to mostly cloudy skies tomorrow with another chance for showers and storms. Some storms could be strong to severe with gusty winds and localized flooding. Highs will top out near 90 tomorrow with an afternoon heat index near 100.

For the latest weather updates, watch Myles live on News 3 This Morning here.

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