ABC11 Eyewitness News - Eyewitness News at 11pm - March 30, 2026

Episode Date: March 31, 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. Right now at 11, a family is in morning after a man was shot dead on his front porch. Another person who was standing right there with him is also dead. Tonight what police are saying about that shooter who's on the run. And major developments at airports nationwide and on the road tonight, TSA workers are fighting. getting a paycheck after weeks of not getting paid. It comes as the national average for regular gas has officially hit $4,

what travelers are now seen as they hit the road. But first, we begin with another potential blow to your wallet. Your energy bill could soon be going up. Tonight, the community is speaking out after Duke Energy released a plan to raise the rates of their customers statewide. Hi, everyone. Thanks for joining us here for the News at 11. I'm Steve Daniels. Lauren Johnson is off tonight. Duke Energy wants an 18% rate increase over two years, and that is significant, if it's approved, it would mean energy bills would increase by a whopping 40% since the year 2020.

For many households, it would increase their monthly payment by about $28. The utility company says the increase is needed to pay for major power grid, modernization, and infrastructure upgrades to meet growing electricity demand across North Carolina. James Price joins us live from Raleigh now, and Jimmy's customers lined up there tonight to share their concerns with the North Carolina Utilities Commission. Steve, I heard from a lot of folks tonight. It was a packed house. I heard from single moms, I heard from seniors, and their message was strong and clear. They cannot take another rate hike increase from Duke Energy.

They told me that they're facing a number of costs from gas prices going up to grocery costs, and no matter how much they save is simply not enough. We don't want seniors to be without their health and well-being because of Duke Energy wanting an 18% interest rate. Linda Chavez is on a fixed income. Anything extra would bust her budget. Some people think when you are senior retired, you have that extra money. There's no such thing as extra money. Linda took those concerns to the Utilities Commission tonight.

She's speaking on behalf of seniors with AARP. Electricity is not a luxury bus. It's a necessity. The room was packed, standing room only for a public hearing before the state's utilities commission to address what could be a rise in their energy bill. The talk choices will need to be made in their spending. They're not going to get an 18% pay raise. My bills have consistently been over $200 for just a two-bedroom apartment.

Imagine my shock when I learned that number would increase by 18%. That 18% will be spread across two years. Duke Energy proposing a 14% rate hike in 2027 and another 4% in 2028 to help strengthen the grid to address infrastructure upgrades and to handle the population growth in North Carolina. We are seeing a lot of new people moving into the area. About 150,000 new customers have been added in the last two years alone. And that's required, for example, 50,000 new poles and 4,000 miles of wire, all of that to meet those needs reliably. Jeff Brooks, a spokesperson for Duke Energy, says the company is trying to balance the energy needs while keeping costs down.

It's always a tough equation. And for some people, any increase is going to be a challenge. And we understand that and appreciate that. And tonight we heard from groups in the economic development sector who stand in support of Duke Energy, including the Zebulin Chamber of Commerce. We've seen historic growth. From what we're seeing locally, Duke Energy is taking that growth seriously and planning to meet those needs. But for people like Linda and the 20,000 signatures she showed me, they can't financially handle another rate increase. It will highly impact the way we live. All right, so those public comments that we heard tonight, that will be used to help determine if this rate hike increase is approved.

There are more public hearings across the triangle. There's a virtual hearing that is scheduled for Wednesday, so there is an opportunity to speak out as well. And Steve, this is far from a done deal. There's a lot of steps to go, and of course we will continue to follow each step throughout this process. For now, we're live in Raleigh. Jimmy Price, ABC 11, eyewitness. It is in the hands of the Utilities Commission, and we'll be watching their actions very closely

in the weeks and months ahead, James. Thank you. All right, let's talk to the man in charge of the weather around here, your first alert weather report. Right now, crews are battling a massive wildfire in western North Carolina. Take a look at these images on your screen. It's happening in the northern part of Wilkes County. Last check, that fire has grown to about 600 acres.

No structures have been damaged. But Don is with us right now to talk about this burn ban that's in effect statewide right now. We've got really hot conditions, dry conditions, and in some cases, breezy conditions, which is really fueling the concern. Absolutely. And this is until further notice, the entire state and also, to our viewers up in Mecklenburg County, you are under that burn ban as well.

And that is because the drought has lots of fuel on the ground. But look at the humidity as we head through the day tomorrow. So we always start high, 94% humidity. It's nice and green. It'll be due on the grass as you head out the door in the morning. But by the afternoon, we see that dropping into the 40s and 30s. And as that air dries out and the wind picks up, the National Weather Service has now issued an increased fire danger for tomorrow. So not only is the burn ban going on, but any fire that does start could get rolling with low humidity in those wind gusts around 30 miles an hour.

Definitely a day to pay attention to any outdoor flame sources. Tonight we're not seeing any rainfall out there. It is a dry overnight and we stay dry for a while. We need the rain and we just don't have a lot of it. But we do have it showing up a couple times in the seven-day forecast. We'll cover that in your first alert forecast coming up in just a bit. Steve. We'll see you soon.

In Samson County, at least three people were shot in broad daylight at an apartment complex this afternoon. And tonight that shooter is still on the run. Police say the shooting happened just after 1245 this afternoon at the Eastover terrorist community in Clinton. Three people were shot and taken to the hospital. They're at WakeMed tonight, but their condition has not been released. The motive is under investigation too. So far, no one has been arrested. And in Moore County, two people are dead after getting shot on the front porch.

This happened in the 100 block of Gaines Street in the Jackson-Hamlet area. Family members say 34-year-old Antonio Brown was killed. Investigators say Brown and the other person who was shot knew each other. A person of interest has been identified, but that shooter is still on the run. Now to a major update unfolding at the RDU Airport and airports across the country. Today, TSA workers finally received a paycheck for the first time in a month and a half. It comes as long security lines at airports are finally easing up a little bit. At the wait times at major hubs like Houston were as long as four hours last week, but today that dropped to less than 10 minutes. Atlanta and Baltimore are also dealing with shorter lines. Tom George, live now at the RDU airport. And Tom, despite the promise of pay, a lot of TSA agents are still reporting a number of problems with their paychecks tonight.

Yeah, that's right. Throughout this whole deal, the lines have been pretty smooth here at R2U. The same, as you said, cannot be said for other hubs around the country as people are flying in here to RDU from other places. But this has really been tough, though, for those TSA agents that had to work without pay. Now, some are getting some of their paycheck, but it is still not everything that has been since that shutdown and is still not a permanent solution until Congress can fix the problem. Across the country, some places still seem to be. long lines, Andres Wassen says he was lucky, everything smooth coming for Miami for a work conference in Raleigh. He says he didn't even know about the ongoing situation.

I actually was not aware. I didn't know. Now that I know, why do they still keep showing up? That's been the question on everyone's minds and also the reason many have been sympathizing with TSA agents going weeks without pay. There's a lot of pressure. The economy is not at its best. and I'm sure that, you know, people depend on this job, and there's nothing else out there, and they have to continue to show up. Hopefully this gets solved. It's no fun for people to work and have, you know,

a family to feed at home with no money and no food. Lisa Thomas from Sanford said, after getting back to RDU from vacation, she's glad to see TSA workers getting some of their paychecks. Those workers should have been paid all along. They never should have, they never should have worked without any pay. And I'm glad they're getting paid now.

But until Congress ends the shutdown, it's only a temporary fix. Democratic Congresswoman Deborah Ross wants the House to take up a Senate plan to fund agencies like TSA while separating out ICE for another debate. Both of our Republican senators voted for that. And then the Speaker of the House would not let that bill come to the floor. It's shameful. I am 100% for that Senate bill. I've signed a petition in Congress to do essentially the same thing on the House side. And this is all on Speaker Johnson and in his lap.

I'm thrilled that the TSA is going to get paid in the short term. But we need a permanent solution to this problem. And that is something that lawmakers will have to hash out. But in the meantime, we are hearing from the TSA union. They are calling on Congress to come back to Washington to try and get this fixed once and for all. But Congress, we know, is on recess until the middle of April in Raleigh. Tom, George, ABC 11, I Witness News. Yeah, the haggling continues in Congress, but it is a presidential executive order that made those paychecks come to fruition today.

And we hope those TSA workers will continue getting paid under that executive order. Tom, thank you. The news at the airport comes as gas prices hit a major milestone averaging $4 a gallon nationwide for the first time in more than three years. It's the largest monthly increase on record. And here in North Carolina, the average price of gas is $3.75 a gallon. and that is three cents more than what we were paying this time last week. The town of Apex is alerting thousands of residents that they were impacted by a cyber attack. Town leaders say Apex is in the process of notified about 22,000 residents.

That's roughly a quarter of the town. Officials say the notifications come as Apex sorts through a large amount of data recovered after a dispute with a technology company. The cyber attack also triggered an accelerated replacement of water meters, which led to higher bills for a lot of residents last fall. Town leaders say the incident is nearly resolved, adding there's no evidence data was posted on the dark web for hackers to get and new financial systems enhanced cybersecurity tools and a dedicated cyber team are now in place to try to prevent

this kind of thing from happening in the future. Still to come here at 11 more American troops arrive in the Middle East. It comes as the war with Iran continues escalating next. The new attacks and the new warning from President Trump. And a giant leap toward the moon when NASA's Artemis 2 crew is scheduled to take off for what's expected to be a historic mission. That's coming up next. and Don's with us. Checking on the temps outside, they're getting warmer tomorrow. Yeah, it's warm tonight, too, with the numbers in the 60s across the region. We'll talk more about the showers that work in next week. This week, awfully dry and warm. That's in your first alert, seven-day forecast coming up.

We are local news. ABC 11 eyewitness news continues now. Tonight, more American troops are arriving in the Middle East as the war with Iran continues. About 1,000 Fort Bragg soldiers here in North Carolina have been told they'll be deploying President Trump is threatening to expand strikes on Iran's infrastructure if they don't agree to a new peace deal. Here's ABC's Melissa Adon with the latest. Tonight, more attacks across the Middle East. In Saudi Arabia, new photos circulating on social media show a heavily damaged U.S. Air Force jet hit during an Iranian attack at the Prince Sultan air base.

And in Israel, an oil refinery catching fire. Israel says it was caused by debris from an intercepted missile barrage. This, as President Trump says great progress is being made on peace talks while also signaling he wants to take Iran's oil. You never know with Iran because we negotiate with them and then we always have to blow them up. The president says the talks are with the quote new and more reasonable regime, but Iran denies any negotiations are taking place. I think the American people are smart enough not to take the word of a terrorist regime that has chanted death to America for 47 years at their word. The attacks coming as thousands more American troops are arriving in the Middle East. 3,500 sailors and Marines from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit are now in the region.

Melissa Adon, ABC News, Los Angeles. Melissa, thanks. New here at 11, some social media video showing military helicopters appearing to fly over musician Kid Rock's home in Tennessee has now sparked a government investigation. These two different videos were posted by Kid Rock on X on Saturday. And what video appears to show an A-H-64 Apache helicopter. hovering by a swimming pool at the musician's home in Nashville. In the other video, the musician pumps his fist to two choppers that fly by him.

The Army is conducting a review now trying to assess that mission. NC State, as an agreement with the man they have picked to become the new men's basketball coach. He's former Wolfpack player Justin Ganey, according to the Associated Press. Ganey is an assistant coach at Tennessee, and he played for the Wolfpack from 1996 to 2000. He was a key part of Tennessee's run to the elite aid for the past three seasons. The NC State Board of Trustees is holding an emergency meeting at 3 p.m. tomorrow to discuss a personnel matter. And the university says it will introduce the new basketball coach coming up on Wednesday at 2 p.m. Meanwhile, NC State is canceling the upcoming Will Wade basketball camp scheduled for this summer.

Instead, the school will pass all registrations to the new head coach to see if they want to run their own summer camp. Refunds are available if parents want their money back after Will Wade left the university to go coach at LSU. A happy ending tonight for one of North Carolina's most iconic birds. A bald eagle had to be rescued after getting tangled up in some fishing line. It happened just downstream from Jordan Dam. Officers with the NC Wildlife Resources Commission traveled more than seven miles by boat to free the bird. The eagle was then taken to the American Wildlife Refuge for Care, where they say she's recovering

well and expected to be released back into the wild next week. NASA is counting down to an historic return to the moon. The Artemis 2 mission, NASA's first crude lunar flight in more than 50 years is scheduled to launch on Wednesday at 6.24 p.m. from Cape Canaveral in Florida. The four-member crew is now in isolation at the Kennedy Space Center, preparing for a 10-day-long mission, sending them around the moon and back. NASA says the flight is about 685,000 miles, slingshoting around the far side of the moon, and they say it's a really critical step toward future moon-based operations and eventual missions to Mars.

We are going for all and by-all. This is what NASA embodies. NASA astronaut Christina Cook, who's an NC State grad, is among that four-person cruise. We'll be watching that Wednesday, 624 p.m., 685,000 miles. You think they get frequent flyer miles for that? Man, you get a lot of free flights out of that. How about that, huh? And the good news is right now, weather doesn't look to be a factor. It's a go from NASA for the most part.

Only thing they're watching are some high clouds that the rocket would have to go through as it climbs through the atmosphere, and at this point it looks good. You think we'll see it here in North Carolina, as we often do off the coast? Hard to say. That time of day, we may see something. If it was a little later closer to sunset, we'd have a much better chance of it. So we'll have to wait and see. All right, around here tonight, we do see warm temperatures moving in. 81 tomorrow, 85 for the first day of April.

Thursday, 84, good Friday, 82. We stay in the 80s all the way through Easter. Just a reminder, we talked about it earlier. We do have an increased fire danger for tomorrow. Low humidity, 30 to 40 percent range, wind gusts 30 miles an hour. Any fire that does get going could turn wild. And there is a burn ban going on right now, so I would just recommend not doing anything.

All right, as far as first alert, Doppler Network dry tonight, no rain to show you out there. We'll head live out to RDU, 64 degrees right now, clear skies, the winds have died down. We saw Gus in the 20-mile-an-hour range today. Those have backed off. Manny Otta Murphy tonight's 60s, pretty much across the state.

63 down at ECU. Chase City's at 60. The only 50 showing up in our state is Boone. 56 at this hour. 63 though down the mountains in Asheville 66 down in Columbia, South Carolina. Overnight we'll see our temperatures going into the 50s for lows. Normal is 44, so we're going to be well above average for this time of year at least 10 degrees above average as we go through the overnight hours. Satellite radar composite. Looks like I forgot to turn it on, but there are a couple of clouds off the coast. That is it. As we lost the heating of the day, all the clouds went away.

Big mass of thunderstorms in Texas tonight. That's died down. Some severe weather firing out towards central Iowa. They've got a severe thunderstorm morning out there, but around here we are dry. We stay that way. Your first alert predictor forecast model as we go through tomorrow morning, 7 o'clock. You'll start today in the upper 50s, lots of sunshine. The sun's going to heat the atmosphere, though. That will give us a few clouds toward the afternoon, but we're not seeing anything that rains. Forecast looks like this. We'll start sunny. We'll end the day, partly sunny. 82, Durham, 81 and Raleigh and 82 in Fayetteville. Your first alert, seven-day forecast shows those temperatures in the 80s all week long.

85 degrees on Wednesday, Thursday, 84. Good Friday, 82. A spotty storm chance. Just like Wednesday, there's a 30% chance of something south and east of I-95, but most of us just not seeing rain. The best chance for rain, not until Sunday night. So all your Easter weekend plans, I know we've got an egg hunt in our neighborhood on Saturday.

It looks drive for that. Sunday morning looks great for all the services. Sunday afternoon. That's when you could see a shower or two. And at this point, it's not a big chance. Very warm though through the rest of the week, Steve. Yeah, 80s through the week, 67 to start next week. And you say the sum of next week may be down in the 60s a little.

Yeah, we could stay in the 60s Monday, Tuesday, and at least Wednesday. So we get a taste of spring and then back into late winter as we head into April. Cool down for people who want that. That's right. About a week from now. All right. Thanks. So to come here on eyewitness news, the performance that has all the scouts calling right now, what a local basketball player accomplished that has never been done before coming up next.

And before we go to break, a local nonprofit is having a pop-up concert to support local food pantries. Open Arms Community Fellowship is inviting the public to Barbers Grove Park and Four Oaks on Saturday. They'll have live music and free food admission is two cans of food, and all donations go to local food pantries. That event runs from 3.30 to 7 p.m. there in Johnston County. When WestJet first took flight in 1996, the vibes were a bit different. People thought denim on denim was peak fashion, inline skates were everywhere, and two out of three women rocked, the Rachel.

While those things stayed in the 90s, one thing that hasn't is that fuzzy feeling you get when WestJet welcomes you on board. Here's to WestJetting since 96. Travel back in time with us and actually travel with us at westjet.com slash 30 years. All right, now to a night that is straight out of a highlight reel for a local basketball player. Nykel Rogers is now a national record holder after a performance that put him in the history books. Rogers graduated from East Wake High School and he's currently a sophomore at Guilford Technical Community College. And in a dominant win over Pitt Community College, Rogers was unstoppable.

He knocked down 17 three-pointers the most ever at a national junior college game. It's a performance, he says, doesn't seem real. I felt a little bit off coming into the game. I didn't think my performance was going to be all that great. And then it turned out to be one of my best performances. And now the phone is ringing with interest from four-year programs across the country, including a few dream schools at the top of his list. Nikell, we'll be keeping an eye on you.

See where you go. Where are my gloves? Come on, heat. Winter is hard, but your groceries don't have to be. This winter, stay warm. Tap the banner to order your groceries online at voila.ca. Enjoy in-store prices without leaving your home. You'll find the same regular prices online as in-store.

Many promotions are available both in-store. store and online, though some may vary. ABC 11, Steve Laster, Yukon won at all. Their favorite to repeat, but in March, anything can happen, except that will be April, so we'll see. All right, April, anything can happen too. We know that.