ABC11 Eyewitness News - Eyewitness News at 11pm - July 27, 2026

Episode Date: July 28, 2026

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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. The threat of severe weather tomorrow evening is the top story here on eyewitness News at 11. I'm glad you're joining us. I'm Steve Daniels. Lauren is off tonight. Right now, it is a quiet summer night as we look live at the Raleigh Skyline. But we have declared tomorrow a first alert day here on eyewitness news because we're under a 11th. level two out of five risk for severe weather. Let's turn to Cruz Medina. He's in for Don tonight. So Cruz, walk us through the timing tomorrow evening. Well, this is going to be during the evening. So most of the day is going to be pretty

quiet, Steve, but we're watching out for those storms to move in from our north. And that's why we have that level two out of five risk for severe storm. So you can see there's a big area under that level two. This is for the Carolinas that extends all the way up into the mid-Atlantic region. And so there is some uncertainty in the mix. And that's something we're going to address here a little later in the show. But here it is. A closer look. Damaging winds would be the primary threat tomorrow. Secondary threats, an isolated tornado possible, maybe some hail out there with the strongest storms. Hale or tornadoes are not going to be a widespread issue for tomorrow. All right, let's talk about the setup here. So tonight, it's pretty quiet. We have a few

clouds moving through right now. Farther to our north, this complex of storms moving out of Michigan. Believe it or not, that's going to make its way all the way down to us in the overnight hours. Now whether it actually leaves us with a lot of cloud cover early tomorrow morning or whether it dies out before it gets here, that's going to determine the severity of our storms during the evening. So that's the latest development. Notice most of the day is looking pretty dry, assuming that complex of storms dies out before it gets to us. Temperatures will be in the low 90s in the afternoon, the evening hours. That's when that rain chance ramps up. We're going to take a look at the latest run of first alert predictor and kind of show you what has changed since earlier

today. That way you could be best prepared for tomorrow. Steve. Okay, we'll see in a few minutes with the predictor model. Cruz, thank you. And take a moment to download the free eyewitness news app. It'll help you track those changing weather conditions when you're on the go. To get started, search for ABC 11 in your app store. Now with 11 community members getting their chance to weigh in on the proposed merger between WakeMed and Atrium Health. A group called the Patients Union held a town hall meeting tonight in Raleigh. And we're also hearing from the WakeMed CEO and a Wake County Commissioner about that potential deal. Tom George joins us live now after attending the town hall.

Tom, there's been a lot of back and forth over this topic over the past few months. Show us what do you learn there tonight. Yeah, well, this all started a couple months ago. Even when that deal was first announced, it understandably got a lot of questions from patients, even the state auditor's office initially weighing in. Because of that, the Wake County Commissioners decided to delay any action on this for at least 90 days. And tonight, community members getting a chance to weigh in with their questions

at an event attended by the WakeMed CEO. For longtime patients at WakeMed questions over the future of the place they've gone to for decades as it's set to merge with Atrium. Our concern really deals with possible loss of local control. WakeMed says the $2 billion investment would bring jobs and expand care as our population continues to grow, but critics worry it would impact the care that they're used to. When you're saying that you're going to bring 3,300 more jobs into the area, who's going to fill them? What's going to happen is quality is going to go down. costs are going to go up. And the only people that have any benefit in this are the CEOs and the board members. One of the biggest concerns whether a loss of local control would impact WakeMed's history of supporting care for people who are indigent.

These people have no choice. They don't have health care because they can't afford it. It's not because they don't want to have health care. It's not they don't want to take care of themselves. They can't. After being grilled by questions, We are still going to be Wake Men. Attempting to calm worries about Atrium. It really is about what we know in our heart is the best thing, not just for today, but for the next 50 years. Many calling for transparency and for the full deal with Atrium to be made public, something we ask the CEO directly. Will you make the full deal public as people have been asking for?

No. It's a private agreement between WakeMed, a separate private entity. It's got competitive information in it. Only now a small group of county commissioners and their lawyers have even been allowed to see the deal. Commissioner Cheryl Stalling says that process is only beginning. I share a lot of the questions that have been raised, absolutely. And one thing I think is important, I would like for a wake-med in atrium to have an opportunity to speak more with the public to address the public's questions because I think they can. So that 90-day clock that was set back in May is set to expire next week.

But again, it is only for at least 90 days. it does not mean that commissioners need to take immediate action. And from speaking with Commissioner Stallings there, it sounds like they are still going through that deal, reading it through with their lawyers. And also they say there still needs to be more community input and more of those questions answered before they finally take a vote on that.

Reporting live. Tom Door, JBC 11, Otis News. Yeah, Wake County Commissioners will make the ultimate decision so people who are concerned can certainly share their views with their county commissioners across Wake County. Tom, thank you. All right, let's turn now to the latest

in the urgent search for Liz Waddell. She is the Carrie woman who's been missing now for nearly a week on an island in the Caribbean. Tomorrow morning, police and Grenada are giving an update on the investigation, and here's what else we know. Liz was on vacation with friends in Grenada. Her family says she vanished on Wednesday after going for a swim at a beach in St. George's. She's a well-known member of the Kerry community. Liz owns a physical therapy business and also works as a dance instructor at a local studio. Her husband who works for the town of Carrie is in Grenada now helping with the search.

A neighbor tells us the entire community is standing behind Liz's husband right now is he's. is working to get answers. Kaelin Waddell spoke to a TV station in Grenada about his wife while he was flying to the island. My wife is a loving, free-spirited person. She could make friends with anyone. She often did. She placed great value, her intuition around people, and was always willing to help someone. Eyewitness news has reached out to him to see how the efforts are going there in the Caribbean, but we have not yet heard back. That news conference tomorrow in Grenada is happening at 10 a.m. New here at 11, it is one of the largest expansions in the history of UNC Chapel Hill. The university is preparing for its long-awaited project called Carolina North.

It's a 230-acre site at the former home of the Horace Williams Airport, and this project has been in the works for nearly two decades now. Tonight, the stakeholder advisory committee made their first location to the visit there to the location. They were actually walking on the old runways. Jemise Price is there live to tell us more about the plans for the new campus and how the plans are being received by the people on that committee. Jemise. Hey, Steve, take a look at this map. We are 1.6 miles north of the main campus and just beyond these gates here.

And that is the future of Carolina North. 230 acres will be developed into a place to live, work and play. And tonight, folks in the community, well, as students and staff, they got the opportunity to walk those grounds to learn more about the possibilities of this future site. On these two buses are the people who will help shape one of the largest projects in UNC's history. From students to faculty and community leaders, everyone has a voice. And tonight they got a look, the first look at the future site of Carolina North. Walking, just open field, anything is possible. Anissa McLendon grew up in Chapel Hill and now lives in Carborough. She was selected to serve on the advisory board for the Carolina North Project.

As to be where everybody is welcome. Her priorities center on the community and kids. She runs a summer camp that supports kids in STEM. She hopes a future engineering building could help bridge the campus with the community. That would be wonderful. Be a safe environment where the kids can come in and be engaged in different activities. From campus to the community is all included in the plans for the future site. from facilities drive to this airport runway.

I think rather than benefiting a few people, here we are with this remarkable opportunity to benefit thousands. The project calls for retail, restaurants, and residential space, new housing to address the university's growth and the housing needs in the community. The reality is a lot of people who live in Chapel Hill work at the university, and many of those people are being priced out of housing affordability close to where they work. So there's no real demarcation in my mind between what the university needs and what the community needs when we talk about housing affordability. Another piece, some hope will be included in the project, the future of the Dean Dome.

The chairs of the committee say their focus is not athletics, but on advice for the property. There are others who are going to spend a lot of time thinking through what makes sense for this university and its basketball team now and in the future. The first phase of the Carolina North project is expected to break ground in 2027. A lot of folks excited to see what this site will hold. We're live in Chapel Hill. Jemis Price, ABC 11, eyewitness. You found a lot of excitement and optimism right there on the runway tonight. Anything is possible.

They say Jemise, we'll look forward to the future there. Thank you. Also on the UNC campus, the football general manager, Mike Lombardi, has been put on paid administrative leave effective immediately. And so far the university has not given a reason, but we are getting some details from our sister network. ESPN. In a statement, UNC said, as is standard with personnel matters, leadership staff and student athletes are prohibited from discussing the situation, and the leave does not reflect the merits

of the case. ESPN is reporting the leave stems from an HR complaint filed by a former UNC front office employee. ESPN citing a source says the matter is under internal investigation. Eye witness news spoke with ESPN's David Hale. It's an internal investigation. According to my colleague Pete Thammel, it revolves around an HR dispute for someone. who was let go by Michael Lombardi, where there's an internal investigation that's ongoing, and that's where the suspension comes from. Lombardi has spent the past year and a half helping build the Carolina roster as one of Bill Belichick's closest advisors. Hale says the leave is not expected to impact the Tar Heel's 2026 roster,

but it could have longer-term implications for the program. UNC has not said how long that leave will last. The Tar Heels opened Belichick's second season against TCU. They'll be playing in Ireland on August 29th in Dublin. We are now just days away from a parking rate increase going into effect in downtown Raleigh on Saturday on street meters will cost a dollar 15 hour but on street parking will remain free on weekends and after 6 p.m. on weekdays rates for non-event parking garages increased by a dollar to $3 an hour. The first two hours on weekdays remain free. Event parking garages which include the convention center will increase to $4 an hour. Still come here on eyewitness news tonight. We have an update on a deadly shooting that happened at a food festival in Seattle

over the weekend. The status of the teenager taken into custody today and why police believe the shooting may have been gang related. Also the I-team troubleshooter getting results for a Sanford woman, how Diane Wilson was able to get a speech therapist money back from an insurance company after a year's long struggle. And Cruz is back checking on the temps outside right now. All right. Tipgers are in the 70s at this hour. Tomorrow we're expecting highs in the low 90s and of course those storms in the evening. Take a look at this. The rainfall. We saw almost 11 inches of rain in the month of July. That's almost as much as we saw in the first six months of the year, and we could add to that tomorrow. The latest coming up in your seven-day forecast. The 2026 Chevrolet Tracks is the stylish SUV for those on the move. And with the standard Chevy safety assist package, you have the backup to handle every turn with confidence. The 2026 tracks. Start your build at Chevrolet.ca. We are back now to take you to Seattle, where the community is in shock after a shootout that killed three people and injured four others at a food festival near the Space Needle.

And now police say it may have been gang-related. Police have a 15-year-old in custody, and they're trying to find another person involved in that shootout. ABC's Alex Stone has the latest now from Seattle. Gunfire at a busy street festival in Seattle Sunday, causing a frightening scene near the iconic Space Needle, killing three people, according to investigators. Police say those who died ranged in age from 19 to 56 years old.

We believe that two people exchanged gunfire outside the Seattle Center Armory. seven victims were caught in the crossfire with a possible eighth. A 15-year-old suspect is in custody. The Seattle Police Department detained a 15-year-old juvenile in connection with the shooting. The team making a first court appearance today. New court documents reveal police now believe there were three shooters and one of them was among the three killed. Another is under arrest and a third is outstanding. We're trying to identify who that person is.

Our officers need your help. if someone saw something or perhaps if someone has some video. Law enforcement sources tell ABC News. Investigators preliminarily believe it was gang-related. First responders rushing into the festival attempted to revive two of the people who were shot that both of those victims ultimately declared dead on scene. Kai Chen, a Marine Corps veteran, was selling goods at the festival when he heard the shots and he used his training to help others to safety.

Heard sounds like fireworks, but it wasn't. So everybody started running. Basically, you know, I was close to the door. So we were just, you know, getting everybody in as much as, you know, as quickly as possible. Investigators say it was not an act of terrorism. This was the crime scene. Police have now opened it up. The vendors have come back.

They are now cleaning up what was left behind when everybody went running out of here. Police and the FBI are looking for cell phone video to help in the investigation. Alex Stone, ABC News. Seattle. Alex, thank you. Back here at home, the I-Team Troubleshooter getting results for a speech therapist in a years-long battle with an insurance company over payment for her work. Janine Morton has spent years helping children with speech delays and special needs at her business

in Sanford called TheraPlay NC. Since 2024, she has been trying to resolve an issue with Humana Military over billing for her services. The insurance company asked her to resubmit for payment claims from 2020 during COVID because the work was done virtually. Janine says she complied but could not get the issue. you resolve. Then Diane Wilson contacted Humana and things turned around. She reached out to me the very next day and acknowledged that we have your claims. Thank you, Diane, for your efforts and

your work. And while Janine says she is relieved, it's finally been resolved. She says the ordeal took a toll on her and her practice and she decided to close the doors of Theraplay and scene. All right, let's talk to Cruz now about the severe weather risk tomorrow and what else we can expect here in the days ahead. Well, the good news about tomorrow, Steve, is you have a lot of dry time. Okay. And then the evening, that's when we'll turn our eyes to the severe potential. But there are some new developments here. We're going to get into the details here in just a moment. Let's take a look at what to expect. So it is a level two risk of storms that's out of a scale of one to five, by the way. And so damaging winds are going to be our main concern there. After we get

through with tomorrow's storms, we're back to a typical summertime pattern. It'll be drier with highs near 90 degrees and then as far as rain chances additional rain chances in the forecast those will come late in the weekend and into early next week so I mentioned this earlier something that I'm going to be watching in the next few hours is how these storms in Michigan evolve do they move south and strengthen and end up at our doorstep in the morning or do they completely weaken and fizzle out before they get here so that's going to play a huge role and how much severe weather we see tomorrow if we see any at all so the severe risk tomorrow again a level two out of five damaging winds that primary threat. Let's go through some possible scenarios here. And so through

tonight, there's nothing to be worried about. That complex of storms will still be to our north regardless throughout the overnight hour. So waking up, expect dry conditions. There could be some cloud cover around. That could also limit severe potential. This is the latest run of predictor here showing that complex of storms all the way up in Michigan that I was just showing you arriving into some of our counties by about the mid afternoon. So 2 p.m. just a few showers there and then redeveloping in the evening. So we'd see a much later development of the storms here, and those would track off to the east and be out of here by midnight.

So there's already some discrepancies in the time frame. If I show you a little earlier run that we had, this brought the storms in closer to 3 or 4 p.m. in our northern counties, and then the main line would arrive in the triangle closer to 7 or 8 p.m. And then clear out by midnight. So we will be done with the severe threat by midnight. It's just a factor of do those storms hold together and, you know,

make it into our region, tomorrow or do they hold off until the evening where we have more fuel to work with? Regardless, we're going to prepare you for the damaging wind potential tomorrow. So that level two out of five risk is there for a reason. Isolated tornado that's on the lower end and the same with large hail. Now I can't roll out either of those happening but it's not going to be the primary threat for tomorrow. As far as rainfall totals go here, wherever the strongest storm setup shop, we have the potential to see over an inch of rain in those spots. Some spots, maybe even two inches of rain given storms have higher rainfall rates, but most areas likely to see anywhere from a quarter of an inch to a half inch as these storms move through.

So recapping what to expect. Tonight is quiet, partly cloudy. It'll be warm and muggy when you wake up tomorrow. And the storm risk is greatest during the evening hours. Your first alert seven day forecast shows that after we get through tomorrow, it's pretty smooth sailing. Wednesday, Thursday, Friday will feature highs within a degree or two of 90 degrees, partly cloudy sky. and then as we go into this weekend, we will see a chance of storms late in the day on Sunday. We'll carry that same chance going into the start of the next work week.

Steve, back to you. Okay, so we'll keep our eyes on Michigan tonight to see what it may mean for us around here tomorrow evening. Cruz, thank you. So we'll head here. We're less than 100 days away from the midterm election, which means campaigns are now in full swing. We're taking a look at what's happening at the top of the ticket where a U.S. Senate seat is in play here in North Carolina. And a reminder, you can find eyewitness news live on ABC11.com. And we're a stream.

My name is Peter Parker, but I'm also... Spider-Man. This Thursday, we're faced with a threat. That can be anyone. The world may have forgotten Peter Parker. I'm just a neighbor, friendly neighbor. But he hasn't forgotten them. Sometimes Spider-Man has to do the hard thing.

That's my responsibility. Talk to Banner? I didn't know you could get that big. Spider-Man, brand-new day in theaters Thursday. I witness news. local news weeknights four to six 30 and 11 we are back now with your voice your vote and new at 11 president Trump wants the Supreme Court to allow his executive order to move forward that could curb mail-in voting the president wants the high court to make a decision months before the midterm election

previously 23 states led by democrats sued to stop that executive order the order directs the creation of a federal list of eligible voters for mail and ballots they argue the constitution leaves it up to states to run their elections not the white house The move by Trump comes after a federal judge blocked the executive order for this year's election in the states that sued. Then a federal appeals court upheld that decision over the weekend. And we are now less than 100 days away from the midterm elections and the race is on by the candidates and the political parties to try to get our votes. They are increasing their campaigning here in our communities. Several key races on the ballot include the U.S. Senate election as well as all U.S. House seats and the seats in the legislature as well.

Advocacy groups like the League of Women voters here in North Carolina are working to make sure voters. are educated. We have several pieces of information that help guide voters in understanding what is your city council decide? What does your county commission decide? What are your mayors decide? What does your senator do? Back in 2022, the midterm turnout in North Carolina dropped slightly from 2018. It was 51% of all registered voters. And here are some important dates to keep in mind for November's midterm elections. October 9th at 5 p.m. is the final day to register to vote in-person early voting begins on October 15th and the final day get an absentee ballot to request one is October the 20th in-person voting wraps up on October 31st and election day is November 3rd absentee ballots need to be returned by 730 p.m. on election day.

There are different deadlines for military and overseas voters. You can find all that information on the state board. We've not received any notice if Bill Belichick or Chancellor Lee Roberts will be made available to speak to the media about Lombard. about these allegations, but who knows what will happen for Carolina football. Yeah, a lot of questions remain there tonight. Kate Rogerson, thank you. That does it for us here tonight for eyewitness News at 11. I'm glad you joined as Jimmy Kimmel is next. And remember, we're always on at ABC11.com.

Disney Plus and everywhere you stream. We'll see you back here tomorrow night at 11. Good night. ABC 11 eyewitness News is sponsored by Capitol Chevrolet. Together, let's drive.