ABC11 Eyewitness News - Eyewitness News at 4pm - July 28, 2026

Episode Date: July 28, 2026

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Right now on Ivy News at four storm chances ramping up this afternoon as the rain starts to move through the area. The ABC 11 storm chaser is keeping an eye on conditions in Wake County. Looks good right now on I-40 and Raleigh, dry for now. The storms, though, are expected to pick up this evening. Breaking new details. As the search continues for a carry woman who went missing while on vacation in the Caribbean, we have new video showing Liz Waddell the day she went missing, and officials in Grenada providing an update on the investigation.

And in the fight against hunger, we're getting a look in. inside the brand new Food Bank Center providing meals for local families. Right now, live coverage from your local news leader, keeping you connected to your community and your first alert forecast. Here's what's happening where you live. This is ABC 11-I Witness News. And we begin with your first alert to severe storms this evening. Parts of the area could see heavy rain and gusty winds. And with recent rain over the past week, lake levels rising after weeks of extreme drought conditions, Falls Lake's water supply is now at 84%. A big jump from 66%. Thanks for joining us here for the news at 4 this Tuesday. I'm Amber Repenta. And I'm Barbara Gibbs. The Triangles under a level two risk for severe storms. It's got a meteorologist Cruz Medina tracking the rain moving in. Hey Cruz.

Hi there. In addition to that level two risk, we now have a severe thunderstorm watching effect until 8 p.m. This includes Mecklenburg County in Virginia, Person County and also Alamance County. So you can see kind of back to the is where the storm prediction center is highlighting the greatest risk of seeing severe weather throughout this evening. But that could be expanded east in time, especially after getting some late day sunshine after this morning's rain that we've dealt with. So there's severe risk generally between 6 and 11 p.m. damaging wind will remain the primary concern, and that's going to be something that we watch going forward into this evening. So where are the storms that we're expecting? They are way to our north. They're barely crossing I-81 in Virginia.

So these are going to take some time to move all the way down here. We'll take several hours. So you still got some dry time. The longer we see the sun throughout the late afternoon and evening hours, the more primed the atmosphere would get to support storm development. So notice as we go forward in time, there will be two separate clusters. The first looks to impact the western portion of the state. So from the triad back toward the mountains.

The additional cluster that we're watching is going to be the one moving out of central Virginia. throughout this evening. This is a snapshot of what the radar could look like at 8 p.m. impacting our northern counties and we could see that spread farther to the south closer to 10 p.m. possibly arriving in the triangle and then pushing off into eastern North Carolina after midnight. So throughout this evening like I said you still have several hours of dry time but that's adding fuel to the fire if you will. Tipters will stay in the 80s. We'll see the storms rolled through tipters will be in the 70s at that time so these storms will be feeding off of all the humidity that we have in the atmosphere today. So if you stepped outside,

You know it hasn't been overly hot. It has definitely been humid. By tomorrow, that all changes. TIPTERS will be in the low 70 starting the day, but we're back to sunshine tomorrow. We'll talk more about your extended forecast coming up in minutes. Back to you. See you soon with more crews.

Thank you with severe storms in the forecast. Now's a great time to download the free ABC 11 eyewitness news app. It has live radar. So you can track the wet weather to get started. Just search for ABC 11 in your phone's app store. And breaking here now at 4. It's been nearly a week since a Wake County woman was reported missing while on vacation in Grenada.

Today we're learning more about the moments leading up to her disappearance. New surveillance video shows the moment Liz Waddell went out for a swim and no one has seen her since. Elena Athens joins us live from Carrie. Elena, you're also learning more about her family. Yeah, we're getting some big developments

this afternoon, Barbara. We did just get in a statement from her husband who says he's heartbroken that his wife is missing and is also thankful for the outpouring of support during this time. He also shared that he swam the same area as his wife did where she was last seen alive, saying that water there is not like it's like a lake.

It's a bit rocky in spots, but not like the ocean water that we experience here in North Carolina. He's also releasing new video of when she was last seen near that jetty. This is new surveillance video released by Liz Weddell's family from the Airbnb she was staying at. They say showing her jumping off a jetty into the water and then swimming out of frame. It is all hope that Elizabeth will be found and found alive and well. The Granada Police Force says it's intensifying its search. Authorities say several things have been done since she vanished this past Wednesday, including underwater searches, canine deployment, and a review of rip currents.

The investigative team is also examining whether any person, vessel or vehicle, move to the relevant locations during this critical period. So, Adele was a physical therapist and also a dance. instructor here in downtown area of Kerry. So what the studio has posted today on social media, we'll have that coming up ahead at 5 o'clock here on eyewitness news. For now we're live in Carrie. Elaine Athens, ABC 11 eyewitnesses. Your heartbreaks for the family. We'll look forward to more on this story. Elena, thank you. Turning now to some other local headlines in your speed feed this Tuesday first. Growing support for military families after four U.S. soldiers were killed in the

Middle East, including two Fort Bragg soldiers. An online fundraiser has now been set up to support with the family of Sergeant Michael Swinton as they prepare for his funeral. More than $1,500 has been raised so far. Swinton was killed in action at an air base in Iraq. He will be awarded the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart, and Combat Action Badge. New at 4. Attorney General Jeff Jackson is leading a bipartisan group of attorneys general calling on the FCC to address illegal robocalls. The group is urging the FCC to strengthen its know-your-custom-customer rules to help prevent scammers from using the U.S. network. The rules would cut off scammers access to legitimate telephone numbers and allow

phone companies to suspend or to terminate callers who use their networks to make unlawful calls. In a statement, Jackson says, quote, if scammers cannot reach our communications network to begin with, they can't make their illegal robocalls. Last year, Americans received more than 29.6 billion scam calls and texts. And now to an update on the growing cyclospora outbreak. Wake County health officials now reporting 435 cases, including 26 new cases in the past 24 hours. At least nine people are in the hospital. And so far, no deaths have been reported from cyclospora infections. The outbreak has spread now across nine states with more than 12,000 cases nationwide. And that is your Tuesday speech feed. All right, Amber Wall, knew it for

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky are both at the White House today. They're meeting. separately with President Trump to discuss the ongoing conflicts with Russia and Iran. Steve Daniels joins us now to share more about today's meeting. Steve. Hi, Barbara and Amber. Yeah, the war with Iran and the war between Russia and Ukraine getting a lot of attention there in the nation's capital today. Foreign affairs really top of mind for the Trump administration there at the White House. Two major meetings happening in the Oval Office. First, President Trump sat down with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky.

And in a post on social media, Zelensky said he had a great meeting at the White House. He says they discussed Trump's pledge to let Ukraine produce American-designed Patriot air defense systems. Zelensky says they also talked about diplomatic efforts to end the war in Ukraine. As you know, that war has been underway for four and a half years since Russia launched an invasion of Ukraine. President Trump also met with the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a closed meeting. This sit-down was the first time since Israel and Trump launched that joint war against Iran five months ago. Trump and Iran are now sending some mixed signals on peace talks. President Trump says his administration is in, quote, very deep talks with Iran and says he'll return to war if the talks fail.

But at the same time, Iran denies any talks are happening right now at all with the Trump administration. Both Zelensky and Netanyahu traveled to Washington to attend today's funeral for the late South Carolina senator, Lindsey Graham. Zelensky called Graham a true friend of Ukraine. And we'll take you to Washington for a full report on Lindsey Graham's funeral here in just a few minutes. Amber and Barbara. All right. Steve, thank you. A new facility has opened in Durham

to help meet the growing need for food assistance across the triangle. The new Food Lion Feeds Hunger Solutions Center held its ribbon cutting this afternoon. Cindy Bayes live for us in Durham with the event. Hey Cindy. Hey guys, well, a busy last half hour. They actually just cut the ribbon just three minutes ago,

but you can see inside here where they cut the ribbon, which is in the tiny corner of this volunteer room. This is where more than 50 people, We're talking city, county, and school leaders across six counties who are here listening to speakers, all working together to reduce hunger in their communities. Now, this is the time where they will be exploring the distribution warehouse of the facility, which is just behind this wall. And this large facility will play a role that leaders call a major step forward as more families turn to food assistance.

As families face higher grocery prices and uncertainty over SNAP benefits, Local leaders hope this new 64,000 square foot facility at Welcome Venture Park on Hamlin Road will help meet the growing need. This facility is going to allow us to get more locally grown, healthy produce into the community as well as that much-needed protein for our neighbors that we were not able to do, did not have the capacity at our previous facility. Food bank leaders say the need continues to grow as many families struggle with rising food costs and changes to snap benefits.

Barrows says the new space will expand the food banks reach and help serve more neighbors. These are the folks next to you in line at the grocery store. These are next to your children in class. It really is so prevalent, even though people are not aware. And why we are here is to really showcase how you can be involved, how you can help. Now, just to give you a quick look at here at this a large facility, now families can come here for food, but this facility is also a district. distribution hub for dozens of community partners who you saw earlier. They will be exploring this and we'll show you more on just how this new space is expanding access here on eyewitness news at 530 in Durham. Cindy Bay, ABC 11 eyewitness news.

Cindy, thank you. Today, lawmakers in our nation's capital honoring South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham. Here's a live look from the Washington National Cathedral. We're going to have more from today's funeral, including remarks from President Trump ahead. Cruise? All right, time for a check of first alert traffic. This is I-440 at US-70. Good to see traffic flowing along smoothly in both directions as we head into the evening commute. But let's check in with some other spots as well. As we head to break, here are your traffic hotspots brought to you by West Shore Hall.

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Call 1-800 West Shore or visit westshorebath.com. Don't miss out. Car shopping this civic holiday weekend, most car dealerships are closed and all you'll find are crickets. Not Performance Auto Group. They're open this Saturday and Holiday Monday for their annual Civic Holiday. sales events. Celebrate this long weekend with rates from zero percent. They might be closed. Performance Auto Group is open to serve you. Join Performance Auto Group this Saturday or Civic Holiday Monday 9 to 5 for the best time to shop this summer. Funeral services for Senator

Lindsey Graham are taking place today in Washington, D.C. Lawmakers and various dignitaries are honoring his life and legacy at a ceremony in the Capitol Rotunda. Graham's Casket was then moved for funeral services at the National Cathedral where President Trump delivered remarks. And that's where ABC's Olivia Rubin joins us live. Olivia, good afternoon. Amber and Barbara, good afternoon. A solemn day here at the National Cathedral as friends, family, and world leaders remember a man who commanded Washington for decades.

An emotional funeral today in the nation's capital for late Senator Lindsey Graham. World leaders gathering to pay respect to one of the most influential forces in Washington. President Trump making these remarks about a man he has said was like family. He was a man who gave America the full measure of his good and mighty heart until that heart itself just gave out. And the late Senator's niece with this emotional tribute. His world revolved around my mother, his family, and those he considered such.

Earlier, a ceremony held on Capitol Hill, where Graham served for more than three decades. His sister, Darlene, who will finish her brother's term as Senator visibly emotional, placing her hand on her brother's flag-draped casket. Vice President Vance saying this. I remember Lindsey Graham as a man who loved people, and because he loved people, he was willing to reason with him. Attending the funeral today, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and his Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, a testament to Graham's fierce support of the two leaders. Both also meeting with President Trump while in town meetings the White House called, quote, positive and productive.

Former Vice President Mike Pence also attending the funeral today, telling me today he is remembering a man he not only worked with, but considered a friend. Lindsey Graham was a statesman. He was an American patriot. What I'll miss the most is my friend. And a White House official also confirming today the U.S. Air Force will rename Joint Base Charleston in South Carolina after Graham. Tomorrow, another memorial will also be held in the senator's home state of South Carolina. Guys. Olivia Rubin live for us in Washington, D.C. Olivia, thank you.

And North Carolina Republican Senator Ted Budd releasing a statement saying, quote, Senator Graham was a true patriot and devoted public servant whose leadership, conviction, and willingness to work across the aisle earned him the respect of both Democrats and Republicans. And we'll have more from today's funeral service and the latest on the life and legacy of Senator Graham coming up on World News tonight with David Muir at 630 following eyewitness news at 6. We're following breaking news now just coming in, a teenage boy who carried out a mass shooting at his Georgia high school, killing two students and two teachers was sentenced to life

without parole. The judge called Colt Gray's actions deliberate handing down that sentence after taking over an hour to deliberate following closing arguments. In addition to the four people killed, nine others were hurt in the 2024 mass shooting. Now to new developments in the Nolan Wells investigation. We're hearing new audio of a frantic call for help by friends of the Mississippi teenager as their boat was taking on water just hours before Wells disappeared. Hey, we're at the west tip of horn and our village stopped working. We're going, we're sinking. want to do? Do you want to be told back? I want to get this boat on sank and towed back, yes.

Documents obtained by ABC News show that boat set off for Horn Island just before 10 a.m. the morning of July 4th, Wells and his friends arrived at 1114. And for the next five hours, the boat was stationary until it left at 4.31 p.m. without Wells. The Mississippi Department of Marine Resources reported his friends saying Wells, quote, was in the company of an unknown female and that he chose to remain at the island, end quote. Meantime, the state's autopsy, including the results of toxicology tests, is pending. Well, now to the search and rescue efforts happening right now in Japan after a 7.1 magnitude earthquake, the major quake rocking southern Japan, forcing hundreds of thousands to evacuate.

Japan's fire services, many people are trapped in a shopping mall after the second floor collapsed. Rescue crews plan to work through the night for those buried in the rubble. All right. It's a busy day around here because it's a first alert day with a chance of that severe weather, but mainly peaking later this evening. That is correct. So we're still going to have several dry hours. And we've been talking about how much sun we're going to see for those hours and how that plays an important role in our forecast. So that is going to charge up the atmosphere as we go into this evening. For now, we're still remaining cautious for those storms that could arrive later today. 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. is the general time frame. I think for the triangle, this is more of an 8 to 10. p.m. event if we see the storms at all. By the time we get into tomorrow, we're back to a typical summertime pattern with sunshine, just a few clouds around. Highs will be near 90 each day. And then

this weekend, we're also watching for rain in a few storms. That'll be Sunday and into early next week. So where are the storms at right now? They're well into the mountains of Virginia and West Virginia. These storms are going to take several more hours to dive to the south. So we could see two separate clusters of storms, one that could impact western portions of North Carolina, so from the triad back toward the mountains, and that is why those areas are under a severe thunderstorm watch until 8 p.m. For us, our chance will come even later. So this is a snapshot of 7 p.m. Notice those storms moving into the triad. We'll be watching storms coming out of central Virginia. So this is kind of two separate clusters of storms. This is a snapshot of what the radar could look

like at nine that rain entering some of our northern counties dropping off to the south 10 p.m. still pushing out of the triangle and then it'll be out of here east of i 95 by the time we get past midnight. So this is a pretty quick hitting storm system here for our area, but we're remaining vigilant and cautious for the damaging wind potential tonight. Obviously there's a lot that could happen between now and about 8 or 9 p.m. when those storms finally start to fire up in our area. The damaging wind potential is what we've been giving you that alert for for days now. Could there be a brief tornado? Yes, but it depends on how strong the storms are when they get here and hail. That would be kind of a secondary concern. That's not going to be a widespread issue.

So let's walk through the timeline of tonight and then what to expect tomorrow as well. It's still dry early evening, mid to late evening. That's when we watch out for the storms. By 2 a.m. completely clear. Tipters will be in the low 70s then and they'll stay in the low 70s by the time you're starting your day tomorrow. So we're back to sunshine tomorrow. Tomorrow will be kind of like what we've had at least for the past two or so hours with the sun shining. Temperatures will be in the low to mid-80s for the first half of the day. Mid-to-Upper 80s are where we expect our highs to end up for the afternoon. High pressure will work in from the north as we go into the back half of the week. So Thursday will be another day with mid-to- upper 80s. Friday, kind of

the same pattern here. So it's quiet, but we'll be watching that front to our south that stalls, and that could bring the weekend rain chances that we're expecting Sunday and into early next week. So a live look into Raleigh that you might have noticed the sky looks a bit hazy today. We actually have some wildfire smoke coming in all the way from the west coast, and that's due to just the overall orientation of the jet stream right now. 86 degrees in Raleigh, we saw the sun come out. That is helping to charge up the atmosphere ahead of tonight's storms. Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, the best days for outdoor plans or to get your grass cut, something like that.

going into the first half of the weekend Saturday, August 1st. It's going to be a great start to the month. Tipper's right around 90. Then we'll watch for storm chances to return Sunday and into early next week. Back to you. Right. Thank you, Cruz. Coming up next on, I wouldn't use it for a warning for parents. We're looking into the findings of a new study on foods for your toddler and the impact of ultra-processed foods. Plus, the FBI out with the scam warning this afternoon after billions of dollars lost in 2025, how experts say you can spot red flags and how the protect your money from scammers. And a reminder, you can find eyewitness news live on ABC 11, Disney Plus, and everywhere you stream. Hey, y'all. It's Kelly Clarkson with Wayfair. Ever order furniture online and wonder what if?

Like, what if doesn't hold up? That sofa was four days old. You should have ordered from Wayfair. With Wayfair, there's no what if. Just style you love and quality you can trust. Visit Wayfair. Wayfair, every style, every home. Time now for some news you can use. More than 12,000 pounds of smoked bacon from Canada. has been recalled due to an import violation. The affected brands are Royal Natural Applewood smoked, all natural uncured bacon, and top value uncured hardwood smoked bacon.

The products included in the recall are 12-ounce packages with various sell-by dates. No illnesses have been reported. If you have any of the recalled bacon, you can return it to where you bought it for a refund. New research shows four out of five food items sold for young children in the U.S. are ultra-processed. It also finds nearly half of those food items

failed to reach any World Health Organization nutritional benchmarks. The WHO has a nutrient and promotion profile model for children between six and 36 months of age. It says foods marketed to that age group should have no added sugar, artificial sweeteners or concentrated fruit juices. It also recommends limited saturated fats and sodium. Apple is launching a new program that would allow customers to lease some of its products without buying them. The new leasing offer applies to the iPhone 17 and Air models. starting at $18 a month as well as the Apple Watch Series 11 and Ultra 3. Customers would be able to lease those products for either 12 or 24 months.

Max and iPads will have a 24 to 36 month lease term. Leasing options are available at retail stores online and in the Apple Store app. And that's news you can use. Amber back to you. All right, Barbara, thanks. Now to a scam alert, the FBI says American 60 and older lost nearly $8 billion to scams last year. Investigators say scammers are targeting the large amounts of money older Americans may have access to through investment accounts and home equity. Since the pandemic, more seniors have turned to social media to stay connected to family and friends, making them, though, more vulnerable to scammers who use personal information shared online to gain their trust.

They can do a thousand per minute. They make things way more credible and convincing because they will call them and say, hey, we're with Wells Fargo. you know, there is some investigation going on or there's some concerns regarding your account. We really need you to take all your money and put it into gold. And they will send couriers to the client's home to pick up the money. Experts say do not trust any unsolicited calls, texts or email messages. And if you receive these communications, go directly to the institution's website to verify information rather than clicking on provided links. We have your first alert to the chance for storms. Here's a live look from RDU Airport.

Our camera there. A little bit shaky with some winds in the area expected to get stronger. Our first alert forecasting tracking the rain headed our way. And as we count down to the 2026 midterm elections, Governor Roy Cooper back on the campaign trail today. We'll have the latest on the high stakes Senate race.

We are local news. ABC 11 eyewitness news continues now. Your top stories we're following this hour, breaking developments in the search for a carry woman who's missing in the Caribbean. This is new surveillance video released by Liz Waddell's family from the Airbnb where she was staying in Grenada. They say it shows her jumping off the jetty into the water.

Waddell has been missing since last Wednesday. The Grenada police force says it is intensifying its search. Cyclospora cases rising in Wake County. 26 new cases reported bringing the total to 435 cases and at least nine people are in the hospital. And here's a live look from the ABC 11 Storm Chaser out on I. 40 in Raleigh and rain later on could impact your evening commute. All right. That leads us to meteorologist Cruz Medina as we are having a first alert day with the severe chance ramping up later this evening especially. Yes, that is correct. So as we go into the late evening hours, we are expecting storms to develop in our region.

But notice most of our counties are not included in that severe thunderstorm watch from Mecklenburg County back to person County, Allamance County. Those areas are under a severe thunderstorm watch until 8 p.m. So that's where the highest confidence is that we will see any severe storms in the state is back to our west. But we'll be watching a separate cluster of storms forming in central Virginia through the next few hours and seeing how it fares as it tracks toward our region. So this is just a general view of what to expect. Again, back to our west, those are the first areas to see the storms. This is the snapshot of 8 p.m. We could have a few storms already diving into our northern counties moving out of Virginia.

These will continue pushing south closer to 10 o'clock could be south of the triangle and continues to clear east of I-95 by midnight. So as we go through the rest of today, obviously be vigilant for the severe weather potential. Obviously not a slam dunk here, but we're watching between 6 and 11 p.m. for mainly damaging winds, a brief tornado or hail cannot be ruled out in the strongest storms. The rest of your evening will likely be in the 80s. We'll drop into the 70s as we get closer to 10 o'clock. and that's where we will start our day tomorrow. So tomorrow you wake up with sunshine. We'll have a clear sky in the morning.

Low 70s. It'll still be muggy, but as we go throughout the day, the humidity should drop, and that trend continues through the end of the week. We'll talk more about that extended forecast coming up in minutes. Back to you. All right, Cruz, thank you. And be sure to download the ABC 11 mobile app

for the latest watches and warnings. You can also check the first alert, Doppler Net, and the 7-day forecast anytime. We'll new this hour, the City of Fayville is investing more than a million dollars in local nonprofits to strengthen the community. Penelope Lopez spoke with a youth mentoring program receiving the funding and she has more on how they plan to use it to make a lasting impact Nearly 40,000 dollars will be earmarked for youth mentoring and development

One youth program I spoke with say this is an investment in the next generation We want to leave this place better than what we're living it at this time and if we invest they'll see that in the future they can invest as well as a father of four Hesus Ramirez believes investing in young people today will shape a stronger tomorrow. He's the assistant executive director of regimen of overriding the statistics, better known as Roots. Try to focus on giving them educational skills, communication skills, mental health skills, things that they'll be able to go ahead and transition into their adulthood or the young adulthood as they navigate life. Roots started a decade ago as a student organization at Fayetteville State University serving at-risk youth and their families. Today,

college students mentor children from kindergarten through 12th grade. I'd say, about four to five hundred students that are attending our events and actually staying in tune with what we've got going on throughout the school year. The city says the investment is focused on strengthening the community and improving stability through general fund dollars the Office of Community Safety secured $36,000 for youth mentoring and development including $16,000 for routes. Well it definitely allows us to go ahead and set up an elaborate event where we could actually get the attention of the community to come and join us and that of course

gives us the venue to provide these young individuals the guidance that they need. And new at 530, my conversation with the Office of Community Safety Director about his vision for these investments moving forward. Reporting in Fayetteville, I'm Penelope Lopez, ABC 11, eyewitness news. Penelope, thank you. And now to some other headlines in your speed feed this Tuesday first, improving traffic safety in Raleigh. City leaders say upgrades are now complete at the intersection of Forestville Road and Lewisburg Road. Drivers on Forestville Road who want to turn left onto Lewisburg Road will now turn right first, and then they will use a mark you turn ahead to area to head in the direction that they want to go. Officials say that this

new design helps to make the intersection safer and it also keeps traffic moving and it comes after several serious and deadly crashes in that area of 401. New of four, if you would like to be a part of the fall 2026 Raleigh Community Police Academy, the deadline is quickly approaching. Applications must be submitted by Friday evening at 5 o'clock. The 9th,000. The program will give you a look at how the department operates and explore several topics, including arrests, youth services, and crisis intervention. The program runs from September 9th through November 4th. The Durham County Health Department offering free mosquito dunks to local households.

It's a safe preventable tool to control mosquito populations around your home. Each dunk contains a naturally occurring bacteria found in soils that kills mosquito larvae. It is harmless to other pets and birds, insects and insects and other wilds. bite the dunks can, though, help control mosquitoes for up to 30 days. You can pick up a pack of six dunks at Durham County Human Services Building, especially after all the rain that we have been receiving. You might have some standing water. That is your speed feed, Barbara. Over to you. All right, Amber, thank you. Well, in your voice, your vote. Roy Cooper hits the campaign trail today in Wilson for his make stuff costs less tour. Look, folks just want government

to work. Most of them don't care that much about the party policy. They just want government to work. And right now, why? Washington is not working. Cooper's Senate campaign team says he'll focus on lowering costs for North Carolina families. Cooper, the Democrat, and our former governor, is running for U.S. Senate against Republican candidate Michael Watley, and a race that's considered to be one of the most consequential battlegrounds showdowns in the entire country. Watley has held similar campaign events across the state in recent weeks. New here at four, the state auditor releasing new details about the cost of elections in North Carolina.

A recently released performance audit shows 2025 odd year municipal elections costs $8.4 million. The audit found that 91 counties conducted municipal elections with approximately 822,000 votes cast. Still ahead on eyewitness who's it for tonight. You have another shot at becoming a millionaire. The lottery jackpot is growing. And pop superstar Ariana Grande is fighting back. We have a look at a newly filed lawsuit against hackers for malicious invasion after unreleased music. was leaked.

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. To Ariana Grande, the pop superstar, suing hacker

for allegedly stealing unreleased songs, photos, and recordings. The pop star is claiming in the lawsuit obtained by ABC News that multiple John Doe's allegedly hacked various personal digital accounts of photographers and producers who have worked closely with her and then profited from selling personal data from those hacked files. According to the complaint in 2023 alone, 45 unreleased songs belonging to Grande were hacked, stolen and leaked by the alleged unidentified hackers. She's sending a very strong message with this lawsuit, saying to hackers, even if I cannot initially identify you by name, I will use the court systems. I'll use the legal process

to seek subpoenas from the court to identify you and then hold you accountable. There's the possibility of criminal charges. It is a crime to hack into someone's account and to steal their intellectual property. According to the allegations from the complaint, stolen material from Grande includes unreleased masters and demos, footage from recording sessions, music videos, as well as behind the scenes, photos and videos. Two lottery jackpots keep growing. No winner again in last night's powerball drawing. And now the Mega Millions jackpot is up for grabs. It's up for grabs tonight with an estimated prize of $800 million. ABC's arena Roy spoke with people about the excitement around these drawings. It's Lotto fever across America. Millions buying tickets as two jackpots continue to climb.

Tonight, the mega-million jackpot is up for grabs. That stands at a staggering $800 million with a cash option of $344 million. This is the 10th highest jackpot in the lottery's history. No one has matched the winning numbers since mid-March. So we asked people what they would do if they won. I would open up my own equine therapy horse porn. Okay, and can you tell me more about why? Because I love helping people and I want to give people more opportunities.

Take care of my family and then I would build a school. Oh, okay. What kind of school? For special needs children. And we can't forget about Powerball. That drawing is on Wednesday night and it's now worth $663 million. Or if you take the cash payout, it's a cool, clean $290 million. Praveen Patel owns a newsstand in Lower Manhattan, which has sold multiple winning tickets over the retailers of winning tickets get a cut of the earnings and Patel says he would share the wealth. Share with family, friends, so and vacation long.

The odds of winning one of the jackpots is about 290 million to one and the odds of winning both is something like 85 quadrillion to one. So best of luck to everyone playing out there. Rina Roy, ABC News, New York. You'd come say goodbye to me, wouldn't you? I might. When you win? Our first alert day coverage continues here next. Meteorologist Cruz Medina is tracking the severe weather threat across Central Carolina on this first alert day.

Right, Cruz? That is correct. All right. It is quiet in our region right now. We're watching several warnings back to our northwest. That's where our storms were originate from through the evening. We'll be tracking them out as we go throughout the evening hours. You're right here on eyewitness news.

ABC 11 First Alert. 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. Johnson and Johnson now says it has agreed to pay an estimated $5.5 billion to settle tens of thousands of lawsuits connected to its talc products. The claims say talc led to cases of ovarian cancer. The company stopped using talc six years ago. The pharmaceutical giant now relies on cornstarch based formulas for its baby powder. Johnson and Johnson says this settlement covers some 76,000 claims.

All right, let's go to meteorologist Cruz Medina on this first alert day. We're expecting the potential for some severe weather later. Yeah, and it's going to be later in the evening. So early evening, you're probably going to see the sunshine, which is charging up the atmosphere. As we go into, I'd say closer to the 8 to 10 o'clock time from, I think that's really when we'll have to be most vigilant with these storms. That chance will come to an end after we go past midnight and into tomorrow. Obviously, we're not expecting any rain of any sort. So where are the storms right now?

They're well up in central Virginia. several warnings back to our northwest. So whether that be severe thunderstorm warnings or tornado warnings, most of that is either in West Virginia or in far east parts of Tennessee. So the western portion of the state has the highest chance of seeing severe storms in the near term. Our chance will come a little later tonight. So the damaging wind potential obviously is going to be the thing that we focus most on. So these storms will have the potential of 60 plus mile per hour winds.

Could be a brief tornado or some pockets of hail embedded, but once again, damaging wind is what we're really concerned about for this evening. Here's tomorrow's forecast. Tiptors will start out in the 70s for the afternoon, mid to upper 80s. We'll see a lot of sunshine tomorrow. So it's going to be a great day for outdoor plans or it's been very wet recently. So if you haven't been able to cut your grass or something like that, tomorrow would be a great day for that. But if you can't get it done tomorrow, you have Thursday and Friday as well. Those are both nice days. Saturday leading into the weekend. That's August 1st. That's going to be a nice first day to start the month.

And then as we go into Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, that's when we start to see unsettled weather returning with rain and storm chances each of those days. Steve Daniels joins us now with what's coming up at 5 o'clock. Hey Steve. Hi, Cruz. Thanks very much. New here at 5, a local firefighter has been fired after being charged with child sex crimes. Investigators say evidence found on his cell phone lined up with claims made by a child victim. New at 5 is shock for dozens of college students who thought they had to be. a spot to attend Howard University in Washington. The school unenrolled them and they've been scrambling now to figure out what went wrong and where they'll be going to school. New FAA scrutiny for an airplane you may travel on often. They are in and out of RDU all the time. We're talking about the Boeing 737 max. Some seats on more than 400 of these planes may have been incorrectly installed and it's now leading to safety concerns.

And new at five, the new Spider-Man movie comes out on Friday and we're talking to the stars who have been playing their characters for a decade now. Amber, don't go far. I'll see you for the news at five here in just a few minutes. All right, I'll be ready. See you then. Thanks, Steve. Now to The View and special guest comedian and game show host, Craig Ferguson. He sat down with a co-host to share more about his Pants on Fire comedy tour. The tour is called Pants on Fires. Is there a lot of material about Trump in it? There's no material at all in it. It's basically being talking. Because what happens this? In my culture, we start telling stories.

You tell a story once, and then the next time he's telling it, maybe you tell you, I had a little more. make it more interesting. It gets better. Yeah. So if you're on a tour, a story that's true, the first part of the tour, the time you get 10 dates in, it's not a word or truth in the story, it's a pack of life. So I figured if I just tell everyone I'm going to tell a pack of lies right away, then up front, everybody knows.

So there's no politics in your show. I don't talk about politics at all. Well, the reason I have it is... Well, there's that. And also, the thing is, when you have a mustache, you have a, you know this. You have a... a responsibility to be charming. And because you know, you gotta be charming if you haven't the stash.

So the reason why I don't talk, I'm sick of people that I agree with, never mind people I don't agree with. I'm just like, let's take an hour and a half, I'll go on stage, I'll tell you a bunch of jokes and do some stuff and tell some stories. And at the end of it, all the stuff that you're angry about is still there. You can have it back. I'm not taking it from you, but my job is just to, you know. And also it was a choice that I made for myself, like a stylistic choice.

Like could I do it? Could I fill a whole show with no politics? And it turns out I can. And you can watch the view weekday mornings at 11 o'clock here, followed by eyewitness news at noon. And don't forget, our stop summer hunger campaign is still open through Friday. So far, we've received donations for 5 million meals on the way to our goal of 7 million meals. Every donation helps families. And you can find more info on ABC11.

The Red Cross allording people to the national blood crisis. Up next, we are hearing from one woman battling sickle cells. She's sharing the importance of blood donations for those in need. Here's tonight's ABC primetime preview. First up at 8 7 Central, R.J. Decker. Is this this aspect? To be determined, yeah, a neighbor reported seeing a suspicious man in the neighborhood. RJ is on the case to help a young woman uncover the truth about her boyfriend's death.

At 9-8 Central, back-to-back episodes of Will Trent. First, Will heads to Puerto Rico to check on his uncle. Antonio's my family. I only have two blood relatives left on the planet, and I need to know he's okay. And at 10-9 Central, Will is sidelined from the investigation into his uncle's abduction. That's followed by your late local news and Jimmy Kim alive, where guest host, Ike Barronholt, will welcome Justin Thoreau, Alan and John Barronholt, Ike's dad and brother, and musical guest, Jeff Tweedy. Thank you.