ABC11 Eyewitness News - Eyewitness News at 5am - February 10, 2026

Episode Date: February 10, 2026

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Right now, live coverage from your local newsleader, breaking stories from overnight and this morning, and your first alert forecast. Here's what's happening where you live. This is ABC 11 eyewitness news. 5 a.m. Katia is back. Good morning, Carolina. Welcome on this Tuesday. It's February 10th. I'm Joel Brown. And I'm Anna Rivera. Thanks so much for joining us today. We are finally getting a break from the cold air with the taste of spring like warmth today. Well, the cold is still here this morning, but I promise we'll make up for this afternoon with temperatures climbing. well above average will get it to the warm up when I come back. And defense arguments begin in the sentencing hearing of a Raleigh mass shooter details on who's expected to take the stand today. Plus we'll break down how Raleigh City Council is working to provide more affordable housing options for people in Raleigh.

It is time for a first check of weather and traffic together. Meteorologist Quaylon Murphy back with us as well on this Tuesday and boy I don't have to tell any of you. This winter has been extremely cold. You've got the light blue on. I do. It's Easter. new suit. Come on now. I'm trying to manifest. It's okay. Manifest spring. Yeah. It's working. The manifest spring here. And I think I may have some luck today. Yeah, yeah. You're going to get Obama allegations after this blue suit today. I can wear a blue suit.

You and see allegations too. February if I like to. Hey, the blue suit is helping, Joel. Believe it. Temperatures will climb into the 60s this afternoon. This morning, though, clear and cold down into the 20s and 30s on the way to the bus stop early on. You don't need any rain. today we have bright skies so maybe just grab the shades for today temperatures will be in the 60s by the afternoon hours here's a live look over downtown durham this morning where the temperature is 29 degrees 27 in irwin 30 in clinton 29 in raleigh smithfield 25 and south hill 29 so we're all sitting below freezing but much warmer than yesterday by 10 to 20 degrees for most of us the wind's coming in from the south so that's going to help again push those temperatures up this afternoon so 37 degrees at nine o'clock noon

sunshine 56 degrees. If you're going to pull out your blue suit like jolt today, we'll be in the 60s with sunshine at 3 o'clock. Listen, 50s at 9 o'clock and clouds increased tonight. We're not going to drop that much overnight. Temperatures will hold in the 50s into tomorrow, which is going to feel really nice. Hopefully you can make some plans outdoors today and tomorrow with those temps in the 60s. Your first alert to some morning showers tomorrow. So commutes will be a little wet for some of you early, but cooling down on Thursday. So again, a really nice midweek for us. Soking rainfall does arrive. this weekend. That's the holiday week and Valentine's Day. We'll talk more about the timing of that. When I come back right now, first check up the roads weather and traffic together. Anna, back to you. Quailan, really quiet on the roads. What we would expect to see, crash count sitting at zero and also not seeing any congestion. Let's take a live look right now at I-40 and US 1. You can see traffic still really light. The sentencing hearing for Headingham mass shooter Alston Thompson is set to resume today. Yeah, late last month, Thompson pleaded guilty to killing five people, including his own brother during a shooting spree in October 2020. This week, the defense is planning to call

Austin Thompson's mother back to the stand. Tamara Scott standing by live for us at Wake County Justice Center with what we can expect to today's hearing. Tamara, we've heard the line of questioning they have for Thompson's mother could take several hours. Good morning.

Hey, good morning, Anna and Julia. Today begins the second week of testimony here for the hearing and that will ultimately decide Austin Thompson's bait. And last week, the state closed its case with an FBI profiler. But today, the defense will present their case and we're expecting to hear more from Thompson's mother.

So throughout last week, a Raleigh police investigator says leading up to the shooting, Thompson searched serial killers and school shooters upwards of 25 times, but less than 0.5% of content in his phone included assaults and shootings. We also saw an alleged confession letter where Thompson himself wrote why he killed his brother and others. Also victims and two spouses of victims testified. I hear a gunshot and I feel what felt like a train going through my knee drops me to the ground. But because who I am and what I believe has given me the grace to forgive the young man who shot me. Now both of Thompson's parents have testified that they did not see any sort of warning signs.

Elise even testified and apologized to the families of the victims and the victims themselves. Court is expected to resume at 9.30 this morning. Back to you. And we'll be right there for it. Tamara, thank you. The manhunt for a Virginia police officer that stretched into North Carolina is now over. The ABC affiliate in Richmond reporting Charles Stokes was taken into custody last night at home in Cambridge, Virginia. Stokes is accused of shooting a woman during a domestic dispute Sunday afternoon while off duty in Linenberg County. Police say Stokes ditched his car north of the triangle in Vance County and stole a Honda Civic. Stokes is now facing felony charges. He's being held in jail this morning. Happening now, authorities in Robeson County are searching for a 15-year-old in connection with the deadly shooting.

It happened Saturday evening on truck lane outside of the renter community. Investigators say 17-year-old Alexis Gonzalez of Red Springs was found dead on the scene. On Sunday, the Robinson County Sheriff's Office identified a 15-year-old as the suspected shooter. Authorities say they're still working to find the teen. The 15-year-old's name has not been released. Meanwhile, a state house hearing on Jones Street about public safety in Charlotte getting heated. Members of the House Oversight and Reform Committee grilling Charlotte law enforcement leaders at yesterday's hearing in Raleigh. Mecklenburg County Sheriff Gary McFadden testified along with former Raleigh Police Chief Estella Patterson, who's now chief of Charlotte MEC police. Republican lawmakers continue to criticize the Queen City's handling of immigration and public safety.

The issue came to a head last year when a woman was fatally stabbed on the Charlotte light rail. Yesterday's testimony getting tense when House Majority Leader Brendan Jones called out Charlotte's approach to fighting crime. Competence in the law, incompetence in running jails, and competence of handling crime, and most notably incompetence in keeping the citizens of Mecklenburg County safe. That is, to be frank, completely unacceptable. The Mecklenburg County Sheriff doubling down on his record and what he says is his commitment to the community. House lawmakers also pointing the finger at their Senate colleagues for failing to pass a state budget money that is allocated to law enforcement and public safety.

Affordable housing is a main concern for many in the area. Raleigh City Council is trying to find ways to provide more options for people of Raleigh. In October, they approved a major financing step for more square apartments to have more affordable apartments in the heart of downtown. Bianca Holman is live at Raleigh City Hall with their efforts in the latest efforts that they've been trying. Good morning, Bianca. Hey, good morning, Anna. So the city realizes that they need help. They want to make sure that whatever they implement is going to be successful. So they've enlisted the help of an organization called Center for Public Enterprise to help create a affordable housing program. And this group has worked with cities and municipalities like Montgomery County, Maryland, which is right outside the nation's capital, also Atlanta, Georgia, a major, you know, metropolitan city. And then also other places like Chattanooga, Tennessee. So they're going to have a presentation, later on today at that city council meeting later on at four. And here's some of what they have found in their,

you know, research and their study of what we have here. The city can do this and they can have more public, more affordable housing according to the organization by doing the following three things. A revolving loan fund to provide a portion of construction financing, lower costs, permanent financing enabled by existing HUD and Treasury programs and tax relief,

a set accessed via public, ownership. So those are three things that the organization believes the city can do to help increase that. And then if they do that, we should be able to have that 70% of current or new project should be market value. And then 30% would be geared towards affordable housing units in new developments that come to the city. So the city council is going to be meeting later on this afternoon at 4 o'clock. Live and Raleigh, Bianca Holman, ABC 11, eyewitness news. Talking about this for a while, looking for some solutions today. Bianca, thank you. 508 is the time on this Tuesday morning and update on mail troubles impacting a triangle neighborhood straight ahead.

The lawmaker now taking action. And as heating problems continue at Shaw University and Raleigh, students are now staying in a local hotel. This morning we have reaction from students impacted by the move. This is first alert weather from ABC 11. I witness news. And today it's Tuesday 5.11 at the time. Good morning to you. We're tracking some quiet weather for you today and also really nice warm up this afternoon. Here's a live look from RDU. No issues getting in or out of our airport today. And statewide, we're looking good too. Some early morning passing clouds. Most of those have shifted off to the east. Get ready for a nice warm up today. Near 70 degrees in the sandhills. Lots of sunshine. Looking at sunny skies in the triangle to mid to upper 60s and low to mid 60s for our northern counties today. Your first alert tomorrow will have some showers. Most of those will wrap up by noon tomorrow. They'll be really light. Maybe holding on to a straggler or two for location south and east of the triangle tomorrow. afternoon. Clipper system tracking around the Great Lakes that's bringing some snow showers also to the areas around the northeast.

Pretty quiet for the Gulf South. There is some fog that could be dense in spots there early. So maybe some travel impacts. But overall, conditions are quiet across the country. A little cool down for the end of the week with better rain chances for the weekend. More on that when I come back. Joel. Quaylin, thank you. A federal judge has ruled against a group of North Carolina A&T students who want the State Board of Elections to allow early voting on college campuses. It comes after the board voted to remove voting locations at three college campuses. The judge ruled it would be potentially impossible for the court to force universities to open early voting locations on such short notice because in person voting begins this week. Eyewitness News is talking with Shaw University students in Raleigh who have been displaced from their dorm after last week's fire.

Students who were living in Dimple Newsom dorm say they're now staying in a motel. They tell us their stay includes free breakfast but no other meals. Best Western. I've been there for like two days. And the university is covering the cost of it? Yes, ma'am. How are y'all supposed to be getting back and forth to school? They have a shuttle bus that comes at scheduled times. Shaw University hasn't said how long the students need to stay at the motel.

We've reached out to the university for details, but we are still waiting to hear back. By 513 now and coming off the weekend, where many of us may have consumed tons of food, including buffalo wings. Are you now looking to cut back on meat? If so, experts say there's a more practical approach. It's called flexitarianism. In our 7 a.m. streaming hour, we're going to break down what it means, how to spell it, and why doctors say it works. 516, now to the Winter Games. And for the first time since crashing seconds into her Olympic downhill race trying to compete with a torn ACL, Lindsay Vaughn, speaking out for the first time.

Plus, just one day after winning gold in the team figure skating event, Madison Shock and Evan Bates returned to the ice. ABC's Alex Stone with how they did. After her frightening and devastating crash on the slopes of Italy, Lindsay Vaughn is speaking out. That crash coming just 13 seconds into her downhill race. She was airlifted from the slopes. From an Italian hospital bed, the 41-year-old writing on Instagram, Olympic Dream did not finish the way I dreamt it would. It wasn't a storybook ending or a fairy tale. It was just life. Adding my ACL and past injuries had nothing to do with my whatsoever. Her teammate Breezy Johnson who won gold in the same event says her heart aches for Vaughn. Johnson was among the first athletes at the Olympics to find the medals

are so heavy they break off of the ribbons. As Johnson was jumping for joy it broke off her neck and damaged the metal. Don't jump in them. I was jumping in excitement and it broke. I'm sure somebody will fix it. It's not like crazy broken but it's a little broken. Less than 24 hours after winning gold and the figure skating team event Madison Chalk and Evan Bates back for the rhythm dance portion of ice dancing. The duo is currently in second place. The free dance is set for Wednesday. Team USA also finding success on the ice on Monday.

The U.S. women's hockey team beating Sweden 5-0. Carolyn Harvey and Joy Dunn. Each had a goal and two assists. The women play Canada on Tuesday. Chance of USA is curling mixed doubles team. Corey Dropkin and Corey T.C. secured their spot in the gold medal game for the first time in history. full of energy, the duo pulling off a 9-8 victory over Italy.

And pin collecting is always a big deal at the Olympics. This year, crowds gather in Milan to swap pins from games gone by. Kevin Stowers started trading in 1992 at the Atlanta Games. You meet people through the pins that you would never meet any other time. Collectors say the older pins can be expensive, fetching over $1,000 in online auctions. Alex Stone, ABC News, Los Angeles. You ever get into Olympic pin collecting? No.

I was interring. You don't have to say it like that. Here, I look over here. No, you're going to get the same reaction. No, no, no, no. Tell me more. Tell me more. Atlanta 96, I was interning.

I got all these pins and collect it was a big thing when you're there and then you go home. What am I going to do with these pins? What am I going to do with all these pins? I don't know. I'm certainly in my parents' house somewhere. He's a really bad collector. Why are those pins in?

It's going to be one. Yeah, it's going to be warm again today. My takeaway was don't jump in your metal because it'll break. Yes, I know. I saw that so bad. Okay, temperatures of the 60s today and tomorrow and that will be 10 to 15 degrees above average. We do settle back down into the 50s Thursday and Friday, but no incoming Arctic blast for the weekend. Temperatures will be mid to upper 50s. Now we do have a shot at some morning showers tomorrow.

They'll be really light and they'll be out of here by lunchtime for most of us. And then our next chance for rain arrives late Saturday. into Sunday so we have some wet conditions around with some soaking rain potential even on Sunday. This morning we're nice and quiet. We had some passing clouds this morning. What's left of those near Roanoke Rapids and just north of Rocky Mountain. Here's a live look downtown Raleigh, nice and quiet on your Tuesday morning. It's still cold, but not as cold as yesterday morning. Temperatures right now, mainly in the upper 20s and low 30s. We'll be at 37 degrees by 9 this morning by noon today. Sunshine 56 degrees, but that's not where the temperature climb stops.

3 o'clock this afternoon, 66 degrees. We're gonna hold onto some mild conditions. This evening, clouds increase and temperatures overnight will be in the 50s tomorrow morning, so it'll feel way better around here. High pressure offshore, so that's helping that onshore flow. The front to our south will start to lift north

as a warm front, so that's gonna help bring about the warm conditions today. And then we'll track the next cold front west of us, which will move in tomorrow. So this is by 9 o'clock tonight, temperatures, mid-50s, those clouds start to build in. Here we are tomorrow morning. I think six, seven a.m.

We'll have a shot at some spotty rainfall early. So those communities could be a bit wet. We'll be finished with most of us with the rainfall by noon tomorrow. Maybe a couple of isolated lingering showers around Samson County tomorrow afternoon. But by this time, we're in the 60s and winds from the north because that front will have passed through. That's going to help take those temperatures back down into the 30s into Wednesday night, Thursday morning. And then my Thursday afternoon, temperatures are back to normal, which is in the 50s. But we'll have a bit more sun and clouds in the mix too on Thursday.

So today, high temperatures will be in the 60s from Durham to Raleigh, 66 in Smithville, 63, and Henderson, Lumberton, 70. Fayetteville, you'll have a shot at 70 degrees this afternoon, 67 degrees in Goldsbro. Tonight we drop into the 50s with increasing clouds, very mild conditions, into tomorrow afternoon, 64 degrees against the morning showers, most of those wrapping by noon tomorrow. It's going to turn breezy once that front starts to push in and passes through so we could have a increased fire danger risk for Wednesday afternoon. The high still 64 though on Wednesday. Overnight lows in the 30s Wednesday night. Thursday's high 53 degrees into Friday still a good deal of sunshine.

The high temperature around 51. Valentine's Day should be dry during the day with rain chances going up Saturday night. Sunday soaking rain highs mid-50s and then Monday drying out pretty quickly with highs in the mid-to-upper 50s. Weather and traffic together. Anna back to you. Boyle of things looking good so far for your Tuesday morning commute. If you do have somewhere to be early this morning, you won't have to deal with any crashes. Also congestion, not a factor at this point.

either. Let's take a live look right now at 40 in aviation parkway where traffic is still really light. 521 now and make sure you stick around for a good morning America. Ahead at 7 o'clock the Super Bowl champs at the happiest place on earth. Sam Darnold and the MVP Kenneth Walker the third talking about their big win while celebrating at Disneyland. ABC 11 first alert weather on eyewitness news every day. 525 and an update this morning about mail problems plaguing the Eno Valley area of Durham. Last week, eyewitness news spoke with several neighbors in the Placid Valley community who say they haven't received mail in two weeks. Yesterday, Congresswoman Valerie Fushi, who represents Durham, sent a letter to the U.S. Postal Service demanding answers. Fushi saying, in part, the lack of timely and accessible information undermines public confidence in places an unnecessary burden and places an unnecessary burden on affected residents.

The Postal Service said last week winter weather impacted some routes in the triangle. Meantime, SpaceX might be shelving its Mars ambitions, at least for now. Here's ABC's Perry Russell with this morning's TechBites. In today's TechBites, SpaceX changing its focus. Elon Musk's company is shifting priorities from Mars settlements to what Musk calls a self-growing city on the moon. He says the lunar city is more achievable due to launch windows and other logistics and could be done in under 10 years. OpenAI is now testing ads in chat GPT. The ads will appear at the bottom of your chats,

and the company promises not to share or sell its users' conversations or data to advertisers. They say the test run is to learn, listen, and make sure they get the experience right. Finally, Discord is putting new age verification requirements in place starting in March. The platform says all users will have a teen-appropriate experience by default. Adult users interested in more mature content will have to verify. their age by submitting a government ID or a selfie video. Those are your tech bites. I'm Perry Russell.

Have a great day. Selfies from space are about to become a thing. NASA has given astronauts permission to bring their smartphones with them on missions. Before now, they had to leave their devices behind and use NASA approved cameras to take pictures. The agency says the new policy has already taken effect and applies to the next mission,

which is a SpaceX flight to the International Space Station that could happen as soon as Thursday. Today's a great day to go outside and get a taste spring. Yeah, let's take a live look outside right now. Here's a view of the Bull City. Pretty cold, awfully chilly. But later today, it will be the warmest day in over a month. Meteorologist Quaila Murphy coming up next with your first alert forecast bottom of the hour.