ABC11 Eyewitness News - Eyewitness News at 11pm - December 21, 2025

Episode Date: December 22, 2025

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Right now, live coverage from your local news leader, preparing you for tomorrow starting tonight and your first alert forecast. Here's what's happening where you live. This is ABC 11 eyewitness news. All right now at 11, we are taking you outside to both Raleigh and Durham on this first official night of winter. Parts of our viewing area already seeing a slight chill tonight. However, there is a warm up in your forecast for later this. week and Christmas week is here. We are keeping our eyes on RDU Airport as the holiday travel rush is heating up. We are also watching the roads for you. This is a live look here at Airport Boulevard on at I-40.

You see easy going, no traffic there on this Sunday night. You are watching Iowness News at 11. I want to say thanks so much for choosing us tonight. I'm Dwan Hogarth. Now winter is officially here. And while you may need a jacket tonight or even tomorrow when you head outside, there is a major warm up and your forecast for the rest of your week. So let's go ahead and not waste any time. Get over to meteorologist Cruz Medina who has a full breakdown on what and when we can expect it. Hey Cruz. Hey there, Dewan. We're actually going to start the week a little bit below average, but that doesn't last long at all. So check out these tipters. This is where we're at compared to our average. So we're going to be nine degrees above average as we go into Tuesday

in Raleigh as we go into Wednesday 15 above average and then it keeps getting warmer toward the end of the week. We could end up with temperatures as much as 20 degrees above of average by this upcoming Friday. So we're not gonna see that in the near term, at least not for tonight or into your Monday, but that warm up is definitely on the way. Now here's a live look at downtown Raleigh from our Pindo SkyCam.

You see the buildings all decorated there for Christmas. It's a great night across the region, a very quiet night. Temperatures are still holding in the 40s right now all the way from Roxborough into the triangle and then slightly cooler in parts of the Sand Hills, Sanford only at 36 right now. But tonight, most areas,

will end up seeing those tipters go down into the 20, so it is going to be a very chilly night. We will definitely be below freezing in most regions, except down in areas like Fayetteville, some spots could be just above freezing. Nonetheless, it's going to be a chilly start to the day tomorrow. So obviously a lot of kids are not going to have school tomorrow. The ones that do, going out to the bus stop, tipters will be on the chili side around 30. And coming home, tipter should be in the 50. So just keep that in mind.

Obviously, tomorrow a bit chilly. It'll warrant at least a light jacket. But as we go into the middle of the week, you might be changing out that jacket for short sleeves and maybe even some shorts. We'll talk a little bit more about your extended forecast, including any rain chances we have coming up in your seven-day forecast in just a few minutes. Duane. All right, Cruz, we'll see you shortly. Meanwhile, it is Christmas week and with just four days to go until Christmas, millions of Americans are already on the move during what's already shaping up to be a record-breaking holiday travel rush. Now, according to AAA, 3.7 million North Carolinians are expected through January the 1st.

That's a 2.9% rise from last year. More than 200,000 of those people are said to be flying. Speaking which, RDU Airport is already seeing some of that busy holiday travel crowd. So far today, there have been more than 80 delays in one cancellation. All of that, according to flight aware. Meanwhile, 89% of travelers are expected to be driving this year. And if you are leaving tomorrow, the worst time to be on the road, is from 1 o'clock to 7 p.m. And the best time to drive is before 10 o'clock in the morning.

Well, it is the final night of Hanukkah and Jewish communities across the triangle are celebrating the holiday with a menorah lighting, including the town of Morrisville. The town holding its public celebration of Hanukah this evening, and tonight's event comes to just one week after an anti-Semitic attack in Australia left 15 people dead. ABC 11's Michael Perchik was there talking with attendees about the meaning of their presence. The heart of Hanukkah is the idea of light over darkness, a message taking on even greater importance just one week after the deadly shooting in Bandai Beach. The music, the munchies, and of course the menorah, staples of Hanukkah celebrations,

even in the backdrop of tragedy. The message of the holiday is to make the world brighter. Rabbi Yistriel Kotler leading tonight's event, one of several he's organized across the triangle. I tell people if you were not otherwise going to be going to a lighting. this is the year to do it. Last Sunday, a father and son, reportedly inspired by the terror group ISIS,

allegedly opened fire to Hanukkah celebration on an Australian beach, killing 15 people, among the victims for the Holocaust survivor and a 10-year-old girl. One of the suspected shooters was killed by police, the other now facing charges, including 15 counts of murder.

It hits home very personally, even though it was on the other side of the world. It was my daughter's best friend's father who was murdered in that attack. another good friend's brother is still critically injured. Tonight, caller urging people to embrace their heritage. It's incumbent upon parents to educate every single child to know that the same way there's horrendous evil out there in the world

that is bold, that is daring, that is horrific. We have to be just as bold and daring and risky for good to do random acts of kindness. That was displayed by June Luke. He's not Jewish, but attended tonight's event to show a support for the community. We should not be afraid of celebrating who we are. I want to show my friends at, I'm not afraid,

and I want to show the Jewish people that, hey, we are all welcome. We're all in this together. Town leaders, including Mayor T.J. Collie, delivering remarks in front of the crowd, several police officers walking the grounds, extending greetings, and making their presence felt. After a long and difficult week, the chance to come together and celebrate, welcomed by all. I want to, in a small way, light up the darkness to show that they are not alone. In Morrisville, I'm Michael Perchick, ABC 11, eyewitness news. Okay, Michael, thank you. Meanwhile, today thousands gathered at Bondi Beach to mourn the victims of the Bondi Beach mass shooting attack.

The town's Jewish community holding a moment of silence at a mass memorial there at the beach. The eighth candle was lit by the father of the youngest victim, 10-year-old Matilda. Well, in Raleigh, dozens of people gathered tonight for the 2025 Homeless Memorial. The National Recognition aligns with the winter solstice, the longest night of the year. Way County officials say 54 people died over this past year who were either homeless or recently experienced homelessness, though they believe the true figure is likely to be higher. Tonight's event included a reading of the names of those who have passed a music offering and prayer. We have a lot of caring people in the community that want to remember those who have lost their lives and not only just remember, but also want to help and prevent this from happening in the future.

I mean, ideally, you know, nobody would be homeless when they died. And we want people to know that these are your neighbors and your friends that have died and their lives were worth something. Preliminary Point in Time County from May found a 27% increase in homelessness from last year. The officials believe that is in part to enhanced efforts in counting in outreach. All right now we are working to learn more about a deadly car crash in Johnston County. It happened around 615 and the town of Princeton there on Highway 70. We're told at least one person died. Investigators have not shared any other details about the crash at this time. Wake Med issuing new restrictions on visitors as we enter the peak of respiratory illness season.

So starting tomorrow, children younger than 12 years old will not be allowed to visit patients in wake med hospital units, patient care areas, and waiting rooms. The restrictions take effect at all wake med facilities. Officials say the move will help reduce the spread of respiratory illnesses like flu and RSV. The Durham Public Schools Board of Education will hold a special virtual board meeting tomorrow. What's happening at 4 p.m. And the purpose of the meeting is to discuss personnel and school security. Members of the public may view the open session portions of the meeting through a live video stream on the district's YouTube page. There will also be no public comment.

Well, still to come, the showdown in the Caribbean Sea, the U.S. Coast Guard is pursuing a third tanker off the Venezuelan coast, while the pursuit is receiving mixed reaction from lawmakers. Plus, the Powerball holiday streak continues. we will tell you just how much that jackpot is up to right now. And meteorologist Cruz Medina back with the check on our tips. Well, tipters across the region are ranging from the 30s to low 40s right now. And that's on brand with the first day of winter, which was today, by the way. We had the winter solstice at 10.03, but it's going to be feeling more like spring.

On the other side of this break, I'm going to show you that seven-day forecast. Stay with us. We are local news. ABC 11 eyewitness news continues now. We're back with the latest on the U.S. seizures of Venezuelan oil tankers. It comes after just last week, President Donald Trump threatened to impose what he called a total and complete blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers traveling to and from Venezuela, a move that could devastate the Venezuelan economy as oil exports of the lifeblood of Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro's regime. Tonight, here's ABC's Alison Kosick. A U.S. official tells ABC News the U.S. Coast Guard is, quote, in active pursuit.

of a sanctioned dark fleet vessel that is part of Venezuela's illegal sanctions evasions. That official adding the ship is flying a false flag and under a judicial seizure order. This comes just one day after the U.S. seized a second oil tanker in international waters off the coast of Venezuela on Saturday. An elite Coast Guard tactical team carrying out the operation seen here in video released by Homeland Security Secretary Christy Noem. Earlier this month, American forces repelled from helicopters onto a sanctioned oil tank. tanker's deck to take control of the ship. But unlike that first vessel, Saturday's tanker is not on any sanctions list maintained by the U.S., the European Union, the U.K., or the U.N., according to Kepler, a data firm that tracks transportation and logistics networks. Republican Senator Rand Paul

says he considers these seizures, a provocation, and prelude to war. At any point in time, there are 20, 30 governments around the world that we don't like that are either socialist or communist or have human rights violations, but it isn't the job of the American soldier to be the policeman of the world. President Trump has threatened to impose what he called a total and complete blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers traveling to and from Venezuela, a move that could devastate the Venezuelan economy. Oil exports are the lifeblood of President Nicholas Maduro's regime. Secretary Nome announcing the United States will continue to pursue the illicit movement of sanctioned oil that is used to fund narco-terrorism in the region. We will find you

and we will stop you. In a statement, Venezuela denounces Saturday's seizure saying the theft and hijacking of a private vessel carrying Venezuelan oil is a serious act of piracy. Selina Wang, ABC News, Palm Beach, Florida. Well, new tonight, we're getting a look

at newly released body camera video, capturing the moments an alleged shoplifter pulled a gun on an officer inside of a Walmart in Canton, Ohio. And we do want to warn you that some viewers may find these images to be disturbing.

Now, I want you to watch closely as this man is being held by security. You see he goes there to his right, grabbed his gun and then points it at the officer. Police say he pulled the trigger, but as you saw there, that gun didn't go off. A Walmart employee you see here in the video then tackle him and trying to grab the gun there. He then brings the firearm back up and attempts to shoot the officer a second time. The gun does not go off again. It's harrowing. It's my my heart dropped into my stomach. You're looking at 21-year-old Shane at Newman. He is now facing several charges in this incident, including attempted murder.

Walmart saying in a statement, the company is proud of the employee who took action and kept everyone in that store safe. Right now, crews are working to restore power to tens of thousands of people in San Francisco after a fire at an electrical substation. It happened Saturday afternoon. Officials say about 130,000 people lost power. So far, a power has been restored to about 100,000. 110,000 customers. The cause of the substation fire is still under investigation. Meanwhile, the Powerball jackpot now up to an estimated $1.6 billion after no one won last night's jackpot. So that means tomorrow night's drawing will be the fifth largest U.S. jackpot ever.

The winner can opt for a lump sum payment estimated at $753.3 million, or an annualized prize, estimated at $1.6 billion. And as the counten down to Christmas continues, the Durham Rescue Mission is preparing for their annual Christmas community dinner and toy giveaway. Every year, the group gives away hundreds of toys to spread holiday joy for families in need. The dinner will be held this Tuesday at 11 o'clock in the morning at the rescue mission on East Main Street. So as we are getting ready to celebrate Christmas in just a couple of days, one of the things on a few wish list that people have is a white Christmas, but sad to say, we won't be getting it instead. We're going to get some warm temperatures. like shorts weather yeah we got coming up I was actually like thinking about that the other day I was like what if I show up their Christmas dinner in shorts like why not why not yeah you got

you got to soak it up because we know that today was the official start of winter and we know that there's also going to be some cold that moves back in even though it's not going to come throughout this week so let's talk about the middle of the week because that's when the warmest weather arrives and we're talking temperatures that are 15 to almost 20 degrees above average as we go into the middle of the week. So Christmas Eve, 67 is what I've forecast for Raleigh, Durham, the triangle region, Thursday, closer to 70 degrees. So once again, just very, very warm as we go through the middle of the week. And so let's compare this to what we've seen the last several years around Central North Carolina. So there have been some years where we've

reached those low 70s like back in 2021 and back in 2015. But even looking back two years ago, it was 66 degrees on Christmas Day in 2020. So we'll see something very similar to that as we go forward in time. Now before we can get to that big warm up, it's actually going to be a pretty chilly night here across the region. Here's downtown Raleigh, all decorated in its Christmas attire. You can see the buildings there lighting up red and green. Tipters and Raleigh are still holding in the low 40s,

but there are some spots like Lewisburg and Sanford that have dropped into the 30s. And those tipters will keep dropping tonight as these clouds continue to depart our region. So by tomorrow morning, you're waking up the tipters in the 20s. It'll definitely be cold enough for that winter jacket in the morning. And then by the afternoon, it's not going to be freezing cold. We will see some clouds move in, though, and that kind of limits how much our tipters can rise. So most of us will be in those upper 40s to lower 50s, and then those clouds will continue streaming in overnight. And that's ahead of a disturbance that could bring an early morning shower on Tuesday.

That's about the only rain chance that we have over the next seven days. So tomorrow, coldest in the morning, the afternoon, not terrible. especially if you're in direct sunshine. Tipters might feel a little bit warmer, but with those clouds moving in, there's not going to be complete sunshine through all parts of the afternoon. So just keep that in mind.

Now, as we go into the middle of the week, there's that disturbance that could bring us a few showers. Once that moves through, temperature's are just going to warm up. So here comes those middle to upper 60s. That's going to stick around. It's going to be feeling more like spring as we go into Christmas Day itself.

So if you have any plans, even to be outside or, you know, your kids are going to be running around outside while you're doing Christmas festivities inside. They're probably not going to need those thick jackets. They could probably even get away with just a long sleeve shirt as we go throughout Christmas day. Your first alert, AccuWeather 7-day forecast. Obviously, it's a warm one. Maybe not for tomorrow, but those low 60s kick in as we go into Tuesday. And from there, temperature just keep rising. So Christmas Day, near 70 degrees. We actually will likely hit the low 70s as we go into Friday. 70s there, staying warm into the start of next weekend, cooling down a little bit by Sunday, but 66 compared to our average high in the low 50s this time of the year. That's still feeling pretty nice. So I don't think there's a day in that seven-day forecast that looks bad. You can't be mad at any of that. Even with tomorrow night's 35 with it being low, I mean, just call it a wash. But then after that it's above freezing. Yeah. We'll take it. It's winter officially today. All right, thanks, Cruz. You got it. All right, coming up, revolutionizing sports medicine. We'll share how three former.

Duke University football players are using 3D printing technology to help athletes recover from injuries and return to the game faster. And ABC11 and the Whitley Law firm are paying tribute to our everyday heroes. Those are service members currently serving or who have previously served in the armed forces. You too can nominate your hero for their chance to be featured right here on IWIS News. You can find a link to share your submission at the bottom of our homepage at ABC11.com. We are back back. Welcome back. Former Duke athletes are making a big impact in sports. The company protected base here in Durham.

They use 3D printers to create braces to help athletes playing the next game after an injury. Bianca Holman introduces us to those Blue Devils and shows us their innovation. Duke graduates are helping professional athletes get back into the game. I have some products sitting here. Protected co-founder Kevin Gessman, a former Duke linebacker, creates custom 3D print braces used across major sports leagues and colleges. The best part about making custom products for people is the tangible impact it has on people from that lower extremity ankle foot orthosis device that helps people walk better than they have

in years. Guestman who studied mechanical engineering and material sciences started using this technology on his former teammate, Daniel Jones, who now plays for the Colts. We've seen our products become standard of care medical solutions in professional sports. As we've scaled the company, we've continued to push the envelope and push the bounds of what's possible with 3D printing technologies and the different types of products we can create. So this is how it all works. Medical staff can take a 3D scan using a smartphone. The Durham team creates a digital design, sends it to print, and pops it in the mail. We can do the whole process in as little as 48 hours nationally.

So the San Francisco 49ers on the other side of the country can scan on a Monday and have a product ready for Wednesday practice. Guestman and fellow founders Dr. Clark Bullitt and Tim Schapec are making a difference, crafting these facial masks to protect from injury or ankle or foot braces to help people walk better. These health solutions are for everyone. It really was a passion project where we saw the impact these products and this technology can have on people. And being at a place like Duke, a lot of opportunities presented themselves. And as former athletes, we saw doors open from us and didn't walk through them, but sprinted through them. Guestman tells eyewitness news they hope to help more people and those in the military community.

In Durham, Bianca, Holman, ABC 11, eyewitness news. Okay, Bianca, thank you. Coming up next in sports, the NC State men's basketball team, celebrating tonight after beating Ole Miss on the road here in Greensboro. After the break, we've got highlights from that game. Plus, the Carolina Panthers with a big win today at the bank down in Charlotte. We'll have more when we come back. We're going to be able to be.

That's POMPEO GINSBERG- WHICH-BOR-GIN-BOR-GY-K-W-GIN-BOR-BOR-BOR-BUR-BOR. We're going to be. We're going to be. We're going to be able to We're going to be able to be. I'm going to be.

I'm going to be. I'm going to be. I'm going to be the one You know, Thank you.

We're going to be able to be. We're going to be able to be able to be. And so much. We're going to be able to be. THEIRMANILEEN SULLILEEN SULLIVAN WHICH THEIRMAN CHOWS WHICH THEIR We're going to be. Thank you. All right, Trey, thanks so much. Still ahead. Plans to rebuild Liggin Middle School and Raleigh,

leading to a potential showdown between the Wake County school system and the alumni of the former Black High School. The three options district leaders are considering for the future of the school. Plus, we will tell you what leaders in Coverland County are doing to improve road safety following several deadly crashes over the past few months.