ABC11 Eyewitness News - Eyewitness News at 11pm - December 24, 2025

Episode Date: December 25, 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. And right now at 11 eyewitness news has an eye over Raleigh and Durham on this Christmas Eve, folks across the viewing area gathering with loved ones right now on this warm December night. And we're also keeping an eye on Santa's path. What his biggest night of the year. St. Nick is currently moving across the world there. We're going to be tracking Santa's path live throughout this half hour. Well, you're watching Eyewitness News at 11. Merry Christmas Eve to everyone who's celebrating.

I'm Bianca Holman. Stephen Lauren have the night off. So let's begin with the first alert weather. If you were hoping for a white Christmas, better luck next year. This year, we're getting the gift of warm weather. So many folks enjoying it today. Oh, absolutely. Yeah, Bianca, so warm today. Look at all the 70. we had across the board. A couple areas in the 60s. The normal highs, 53. And we had 71 in Raleigh, 73 in the Fayetteville and Southern Pines and Siler City was at 72. Now tomorrow we can be right back up there, get just enough sun in the afternoon. We could get up to around 70 degrees. What a drop

as we get into Friday right back to near 70 on Saturday. Another dip before we go back to the mid-60s again. And then finally a big drop and we'll stay cold for a few days in the 40s, starting on Tuesday, but quite a roller coaster with temperatures over the coming days. Spotty shower tomorrow. Don't worry. It'll be light if you get any at all. It's not going to be a big deal. And another risk at a shower later on Monday before that Arctic front moves on him. Predictor shows the best chance at a shower tomorrow morning is going to be northeast of the triangle. Other high resolution models has this a little bit farther south. So we'll keep that risk in during the morning hours. Then we'll get a little brighter later in the day. And then that front's going to start to push in later in the evening.

There could be a sprinkle or two when that happens, but that front's going to really cool things down as we go into our Friday. Right now, we stand at 56 degrees. That's above our normal high for this time of the year here at the 11 o'clock hour under cloudy skies and a southeast breeze. 52 into Oxford, 46 now into Roanoke Rapids in Favill currently at 53 degrees. The low tonight, about 44 with mostly cloudy skies. And tomorrow's high again, up around 70 degrees. Got a few spotty showers around, but quite a warm Christmas for us. for sure. We've hit 70 before. Did it back in 2021 and in 2015. So a couple of times in the last 10 years, the warmest ever was 75 degrees, not quite getting there. This can't last forever,

of course. Big shot of winter coming back as we headed the next week. More of that in the 70 forecast. Bianca. All right, Steve, thank you. All right now at 11 Christmas celebrations well underway this evening here in the triangle. And Christians headed out to Mass at the Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral earlier this evening. our John Dowding spoke with them about the message they're taking away from Christmas this year. Christmas is only an hour away, but families here in the Triangle are beginning their celebrations tonight, coming together to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. Jesus was born, the commemoration of it. He came to, with good news to the poor.

Millions of Christians around the world celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ during Christmas Eve Masses. including at the Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral in Raleigh. I was usually pray for my family and, you know, for their health and welfare. The cathedral seeing hundreds of parishioners Wednesday evening during masses on Christmas Eve. Some parishioners telling us tonight they're praying for peace in the new year. Just looking for peace and this divisiveness in this country and just have our young people start to realize what's going on. Others say their faith is the great. greatest Christmas gift, a gift that they say should be shared.

When good things happen, thank God. When bad things happen, ask Jesus for help. If you will give God a chance, he'll help you. I think he is when we look to in times of hurt and times of pain. And I think just keeping him in our forefront of our mind is what's going to get us through. I think the tough times in our country right now and we're in a tough spot. So I think we all need to keep our eyes towards him. Also having a midnight mask tonight as well.

In downtown Raleigh, I'm John Dowding. ABC 11, Eyewitness News. Mary. All right, John, thank you. And let's go ahead and check in on the holiday travel. You're looking at live pictures of RDU. According to Flight Aware, there have been more than 20 delays today and two cancellations. TSA projects that 44 million people will travel through January 4th.

Well, if you are traveling this holiday season, here are a few tips to make sure that it's seamless at the airport. Plan your parking before you get there. Don't forget your ID and keep your medication, phones, and valuables in your carry-on bags and just in case that your check bag is lost. Well, we are also keeping an eye on the roads this holiday. This is I-40 at Airport Boulevard in Wake County. You can see it's very, very light out there. We may have some late night folks trying to get in before midnight to wake up to Christmas Day with their family.

About 88% of travelers are expected to drive this year. And if you are driving to your destination, AAA says tomorrow's traffic is expected to be pretty light. Of course, it's Christmas Day. Folks are just trying to get to their destination. But Friday, that's the one you got to be worried about. They say drivers can expect some heavy traffic between 11 a.m. and 8 p.m. on Friday. Well, tonight, two men are facing charges after an altercation inside a Walmart barbershop and Wilson led to gunshots being fired. It happened at the Wilson Super Center Walmart on Forest Hill Road West.

Police say 19-year-old Ashton Pittman and 30-year-old Alexander Jones started fighting and then one of them started firing shots. Moments later, another man who has now been identified as Jordan Battle came out the barbershop before getting into a fight and firing shots of his own at Pittman. Police say bystanders intervened helping to unarm and restrain one of the individuals. And so we spoke with eyewitnesses who were there when they chaotic moments broke out. I heard the gunshots and it was like a slow motion movie. I turned and all I said with a crowd of people and I just instantly went, okay, this is a scary situation. I need to get me and my mother out of here. Pretty scary for so many people.

Both Pittman and Battle are being held at the Wilson County Jail without bond. They're both charged with attempted first degree murder. Police say there were no injuries. Well, that frightening shooting coming as thousands of people were out and about. today racing against the clock to get those last-minute Christmas gifts and check out these crowds at Crabtree Valley Mall in Raleigh, South Point Mall in Durham, at the honey-baked ham store in Wake Forest, folks trying to have that Christmas dinner ready and at Cross Creek Mall in Fayetteville. And eyewitness news was out speaking with shoppers in Fayetteville today

as they made their last-minute purchases. Stores like Target, Marshalls and the dollar tree on Skybow Road all saw large crowds today. Squeezing in those final purchases at Target It was one woman who says that she was able to check every item off of her list. I got a bunch of stocking stuffers. I got the girls some lip gloss. I got dolls, gift cards, candy, all the shebang. Hopefully everybody likes it. So we'll see.

I'm sure they will. According to the National Retail Federation holiday spending is set to surpass $1 trillion as consumers prioritize gift giving and in-store shopping. Well, if you need to run out for a few last-minute items and errands. Here's what's open on Christmas Day. Many CVS locations will have modified hours on Christmas Day. Walgreens stores will also be open on Christmas Day, but pharmacy hours may vary. You can double check the hours online for both chains. Many McDonald's restaurants and locations, they're going to be open for Christmas, but those hours may vary by location.

As far as what's closed, Walmart, Target, Costco, here's Teeter Public's Sam's Club, Trader Joe's and Whole Foods, they're all going to be closed on Christmas Day. Still to come at 11 holiday fire safety. We've got some tips from the Red Cross about how you can keep you and your loved ones safe from any house fires this holiday season. Plus tomorrow could be a very Merry Christmas for someone somewhere could be the nation's next billionaire.

The power of all numbers have officially been released. We're gonna show them to you right after the break. Be sure to stick around. We're tracking Santa. He's delivering presents. He's delivering gifts. Where is he at right now? He is still in Canada.

He's headed his way towards us, hards up. us be sure the kids are nice and tucked in you left out some carrots for the reindeer see absolutely right there bianca uh pretty night out there right now a lot of clouds around temperature's not bad though across the board we're generally in the 50s at this hour so that's not bad tomorrow another warm day potentially maybe up around 70 and then big cool down on friday all the details after the break get you and your crew to the big shows with go transit concert venues like TD Coliseum in Hamilton and Scotia Bank Arena in Toronto, and Go makes it affordable with special e-ticket fairs. A one-day weekend pass offers unlimited travel across the

network on any weekend day or holiday for just $10. And a weekday group pass offers the same weekday travel flexibility from $30 for two people and up to $60 for five by yours at go-transit.com slash tickets. All right, everyone, you got your tickets in hand? Grab your phone. It's time to check the numbers. Someone somewhere may have just won tonight's massive powerball jackpot. So we've got the numbers right now. We're going to have them listed on your screen right now. I'm looking at my tickets as we speak. 4.25, 31, 52, 59, and the power ball is 19. Someone somewhere in their living room is screaming right now at the TV. Hopefully it's in the RDU area. Hopefully it's local. Well, tonight's jackpot is worth in more than a billion dollars.

after 46 drawings without a number. That's the fourth largest prize in game history. For some player, a chance at winning means a chance at generational opportunities. I'm sure my children have and grandchildren have some money in the future, for schools and colleges. So the cash value isn't too shabby either at $781.3 million. Once again, the winning numbers are $4.25. 31, 52, 59. The power ball is 19. Well, meanwhile, Cape Verre Valley Health has some new rules for young visitors. Starting Friday, Cape Verre Valley Health will not allow visitors under 12 years of age.

All minors between the ages of 12 and 17 must be accompanied by an adult. And masks will be required for all patients and visitors in waiting rooms. Visitors who are not feeling well or who have respiratory symptoms will be asked to postpone their visit. And visitors will not be permitted at all in emergency departments, waiting rooms, unless the patient is 65 years old or has special needs. Kate Fier says the steps are being taken to protect patients, visitors, and staff. New tonight, the Red Cross of the Greater Triangle Area Chapter is urging everyone to prioritize safety during this holiday season to prevent a rise in home fires. So the organization says they typically see an increase in home fires during the holiday months, often caused by cooking

accidents, undetended candles or space heaters. The Red Cross says that since November, they've seen about a 26 percent increase in fires compared to this time last year. We are here in the triangle area seeing at least one to two home fires almost each day. And I do think part of that has been that it has been a bit colder quicker this year than last year. And again, whenever it's cold. We tend to see people using those indoor heaters and other mechanisms that have have a way of unfortunately catching fire. So we've got some safety tips for you from the Red Cross. The Red Cross says that how you can keep you and your loved ones safe this holiday is placed Christmas trees, candles and other holiday decorations at least three feet away from

heat sources like fires, places or the heaters. And also unplug your tree and holiday lights before leaving home or going to bed. And make sure all smoke alarms in your home are working. Well, as we continue to count down to Christmas, it's already shaping up to be a busy day between weather, sports, and the first ever American leading the Christmas Eve Mass at the Vatican. Here's Christiane Cadero with what in Washington. Never in the nearly 400-year history of St. Peter's Basilica has an American led Christmas Eve Mass. Until now.

Speaking in Italian, Pope Leo shared the joy of Christmas while pleading for peace around the world. At Mara Lago, President Trump saluted the troops in a phone call. On behalf of the First Lady in our entire country, let me thank each and every one of you for your extraordinary devotion and service to America. The President and First Lady also took phone calls from children telling a child in Oklahoma Norad track Santa to make sure he's good. We found out that Santa is good. Thank you. Santa loves you. Santa loves Oklahoma like I do. You know, Oklahoma is very good to me in the election, so I love Oklahoma.

Some pockets of the country are expecting a white Christmas, while Southern California gets a wet one as rain falls up to an inch an hour. Neighbors tell me it's been a long time since they've seen the L.A. River roaring like this. From coast to coast Christmas colors are team colors, the NFL with three games on deck, the NBA with five. And the box office hopes to draw in audiences with three new releases. Jack Black and Paul Rudd's snake hunting comedy, Anaconda, Neil Diamond cover band duo, Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson star in Song Sung Blue,

and Timothy Shalame's ping pong skills are on full display with Marty Supreme. Kristian Cuadero, ABC News, Washington. All right, well, here goes another look at that map that shows where Santa is as he delivers presence across the globe right now. And right now, he's with our friends up there in Michigan. So let's send things over to Steve, our first alert weather center, to make sure that the skies are going to be clear for dancer, prancer.

They'll be fine. No problem. I mean, we've got clouds out there, but they can handle some clouds. And Rudolph is leading the way. He is, yeah, absolutely. Listen, it was a warm one today. It hits 71 degrees. We could be really close to that number again tomorrow.

Cloudy out there right now, but again, for this time of the year, relatively mild. There's that 71 that we hit. The normal high is that's 53 degrees. And yesterday we hit 65. The records are 77 and six are both safe. And you see that deficit in the rainfall. That continues to grow.

And we don't have a lot of rain coming our way. A warm Christmas though, high will be around 70 degrees. We'll get some sun in the afternoon. There could be a couple of spotty morning showers. Cloudy and cold Friday, but right back to near 70 as we get into Saturday. So it's a roller coaster temperatures. And New Year's Eve, it'll be colder, but it's going to be quiet. should be just fine on if you're bringing in the new year, but you do notice some cold air coming in the coldest stage to north. We get basically a glancing blow of some Arctic air. But tomorrow we'll get those numbers up to the high 60s. We'll see a sun cloud mixture in the course of the afternoon hours. And by 7 o'clock, we'll get down to 62. You see the clouds drifting in from the north right now. That'll continue as we go overnight tonight into tomorrow morning. There's five, six in the morning. There could be a shower and it's mainly north and east of the triangle. That batch is going to

going to move on by quickly. Then we'll get up to near that 70 degree mark with some breaks in the clouds. And eventually we could see a couple more spotty little showers as the front starts to push in from the north. And that means business. We're going to be a lot colder as we get into our Friday. 56 degrees into North Hills right now with cloudy skies and a southeast breeze at 7 mid-40s now in Roxburgh, 55 into Irwin Faville at 53 degrees and Rocky Mount Wilson at 49 degrees. Now tomorrow, again, the clouds could be more stubborn the farther north in the high 60s. We'll get close to 70 in the triangle with sun cloud mix in the afternoon and brighter skies than the sand hills should be the warmest getting to those low 70s. There's that backdoor front

that pushes in much cooler on Friday and then we go right back to near 70 as we get into Saturday and the entire southeast is enjoying these nice warm temperatures. And look at Dallas up to around 83 degrees for a high temperature. Behind that front though, that's when the Temperatures are really going to be going down. Got to wait until Monday night into Tuesday before that cold day it really blasts in. So cloudy skies tonight, we'll call it seasonally mild. We should be in the low 30s. So we're going to be in the low to mid-40s for overnight lows tonight.

Another warm one tomorrow, despite a lot of clouds, especially early in the day, I do anticipate some breaks in the clouds, though, at times. And that'll allow us to see some of these lower 70s in the sandhills and upper 60s up in our northern counties. And again, don't be surprised if you get a shower or two, especially tomorrow morning. First of all, seven they did. So cloudy and much colder on our Friday for Kwanza. And then we go right back to the 70 Saturday. Sunday the clouds come back will dip in the temperatures.

It'll be breezy on Monday with a westerly breeze, but that's going to really boost the temperature back to the mid-60s. Front moves on by. Temperatures are going to go down on Tuesday. And then Wednesday, the last day of the year, only 48 for the high temperature. So a chilly day, it'll be in the upper 30s as you're ringing the new year and get ready for 2020.

26. We'll be back right after this. We are back now with another look at the map that shows where Santa currently is. He's in the Midwest. I think he's in Cleveland. All right. So he's making his way here. Be sure the kids are in bed. They left out the milk and cookies for Santa, some celery and carrots for the reindeer. And they're nice and tucked in. In our entertainment news tonight, actress Amanda Seifred. already has an Emmy and an Oscar nomination. Now the actress is back with a role that could

lend her that Oscar win. George Pinocchio takes a look at her new musical biopic, The Testament of Anne Lee. The Testament of Anne Lee recounts the life of Anne Lee, the founding member of the Shaker movement created in the 18th century. It all came from this need to have to find a greater purpose from grief. And she did it for herself, but she created a space that is of equality between gender and race in the 18th century. And that was completely unheard of. The film is a stylistic musical. She had to sing to survive.

That was her worship. That was the way she connected to her hype, to God, through these songs and through movement and through like static dancing. We worked a lot with Daniel Bloomberg, the brilliant mind behind all the music. He, you know, is very much not interested in the Broadway version of what this was going to sound like. And so that was freeing immediately. Lewis Pullman and Thomas and McKenzie play Anne Lee's most loyal supporters. I've learned that historically women's stories have been kind of like tempered down. And so this is a great opportunity to like bring like to that.

It deals with a lot of hard subjects, but it was like all my memories of it was like so fun and so many good laughs. Amanda just naturally brings that. She is such a, she's hilarious, like she's so funny and she's so much fun, so there was never not going to be liberty. The Testament of Anne Lee is rated R. George Pinocchio for We're going to be. . We're going to be. We're going to be able to be.

We're going to be able to be. Thank you. We're going to be. We're going to be. Sunday's Sunday's game. coming up, a Christmas tradition, beginning right here on ABC 11. Get up early, kids.

You should be in bed right? They should be in bed right now, but they stayed up to watch sports. They did. Get your presents open early. Tune in right here all day for non-stop action. Starting at noon, Cavaliers and Knicks all the way till 10.30 at night, Timberwolves and Nuggets at 10.30. Special, special day from noon to midnight, Bianca, here on a day.

ABC 11, we will have NBA basketball. Cannot wait for it. All right. Wonder who's going to be staying there PJs all day. That's right. That's right. That's right. All right, Trey. Thank you.

Well, that's going to do it for us tonight on eyewitness News at 11. Thanks for watching. Jimmy Kimmel is live is next. Good night. ABC 11 eyewitness News is sponsored by Capital Chevrolet. Together, let's drive. Shop Capitolchevrolet.com.