ABC11 Eyewitness News - Eyewitness News at Noon - September 24, 2026

Episode Date: September 24, 2026

Eyewitness News at Noon - September 24, 2026 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Right now at noon, rain could impact your afternoon. We are tracking a few lingering showers across the area. Plus, look at this, a nor-easter battering the North Carolina coast, a section of Highway 12 closed because of that, some pretty significant damage. Breaking right now at noon, new reaction to UNC's football fallout for the first time. I witness news is hearing from Chancellor Lee Roberts. After two major resignations of the program, what he's telling us about his support for head coach, Will Belichick. Also breaking this hour, a former NC State athletic trainer is charged,

accused of sexual abuse by several former Wolfpack athletes. What we're learning from his first court appearance all the way down in Florida. Right now, live coverage from your local news leader, today's top stories you need to know, and your first alert forecast. Here's what's happening where you live. This is ABC 11 eyewitness news. Right now at noon, IWooders News helping you plan for the afternoon ahead, and you can see what's coming. we have your first alert to rain and clouds as we take a live look across central

Carolina. The shower's coming down a bit heavy in Fayetteville. And the rain is much needed, of course. The latest drought monitor is out and it showed some conditions that had gotten worse in the last couple of weeks in parts of Central Carolina. So hopefully this rain's going to help that. Thanks for joining us here for Iwood of Susan noon. I'm Amber Repenta. And I'm Barbara Gibbs. It's got a meteorologist, Kualan Murphy with the latest on the board. I'll take away. Hey, good afternoon. Yeah. Although the rain's been steady at times, it just has not been enough, unfortunately, to get us through the drought. The latest monitor coming out does not include today's rainfall, of course, but it shows conditions since last Tuesday.

And it does show the extension of severe drought now for more of the triangle at this point. So we're going backwards. We also have more drought expanding into Wilson and Wayne counties and still those areas in red for areas north around the state line. That's where we have extreme drought conditions. You're doing pretty well around the sand hills. You're out of drought for the time being. And that's where a lot of the locally heavy rainfall has fallen in the last 24 hours. is picking up over an inch of rain.

In general, we've seen about one half of an inch of rainfall or less in spots. The monitor for the month showing those dry conditions and this tells the story too. We've had over two inches of rain so far at RDU, but the deficit now approaching two inches and Fayville's deficit approaching one inch for the month. First alert Doppler net showing some locally heavy rainfall south and west of the triangle in Cumberland County, including Fayetteville back into Hoke and parts of Moore and Lee counties. Scattered light showers from the triangle back to the west, also north, and east. We're seeing some of that lighter rain too. All associated with this area of low pressure offshore, heaviest rain offshore and back to the west as well. We'll keep lingering showers around through this evening. And then later tonight, we will start to dry out. Cloudy skies over downtown Raleigh. We're sitting at 60 degrees right now with 50s and 60s out the door. Gusty wins too in the teens and 20s. What to expect for the weekend. One thing you expect should be sunshine. I'll have more on that when I come back. Back to you.

All right, Quaylan, thank you. We're following several breaking news stories this hour. We began with the football fallout at UNC Chapel Hill. And all new here at noon, we're hearing from Chancellor Lee Roberts for the first time since general manager Michael Lombardi and defensive coordinator, Steve Belichick, announced their resignation. Elena Athens is joining us live on campus right now. Elena, what can you tell us? Yeah, this is the first time eyewitness news is hearing from Chancellor Lee Roberts. And breaking at noon, it is a show of support, Chancellor Lee Roberts.

as well as the athletic directors say they both stand behind coach Bill Belichick. We're disappointed that we're talking about this, but nobody made us do an investigation. Nobody made us hire an external firm. Nobody made us reveal the existence of an investigation, but we did it because we care about the conduct and standards of the football program. So head coach Bill Belichick's son, Steve, resigned last week following an investigation into the football program. General manager Michael Lombardi was the first to resign from his post after being placed on administrative leave. According to ESPN sources with direct knowledge of the proceedings, the investigation was wide ranging in scope and included questions about sexual relations with female staff and players, as well as drug use within the program, separate from this investigation. A UNC football player recently was suspended indefinitely after a gun was allegedly found during a traffic stop.

Now, Robert said today the school is continuing to put in place policies, training, and monitoring to oversee the program will continue following this breaking news. As it develops here on UNC's campus. For now we're live in Chapel Hill. Elena, Athens, ABC 11, eyewitness news. All right, Elena, we look forward to your next report. A lot to unpack there. Thank you. And we continue to follow more breaking news as a now former NC State Athletics,

trainer has been arrested related to alleged misconduct from his time while working at the university. Robert Murphy is now facing several felony and misdemeanor charges. He's been accused as sexual abuse by several former Wolfpack athletes. Michael Perchick joins us from the downtown Raleigh Avenue Center with the latest on the story. Michael. Robert Murphy was taken into custody in Ocala, Florida, where he now lives and made his first appearance in court this morning. He is facing 32 counts. That number matches the number of former student assets. The number of former student athletes were part of a civil lawsuit filed against him and university officials alleging they were abused under the guise of medical treatment or subjected to overly intrusive drug tests. Now, of those counts, nine are for felony sexual contact and 23 are for sexual battery.

Murphy worked at NC State from 2012 to 2022, ultimately becoming sports medicine director. It was in that final year that allegation of abuse first emerged after a former men's soccer player filed a criminal complaint. Now, back in June, the civil suit was dismissed for procedural reasons, a decision which has been appealed in a statement. A spokesperson from NC State wrote, quote, sexual misconduct of any kind is unacceptable. The health and safety of students and student athletes is paramount to NC State Athletics in the university. We are aware of the charges filed by Wake County against Robert Murphy. We will cooperate with law enforcement in this matter as this is an ongoing legal matter. We cannot comment further at this time.

Now we have reached out to an attorney who represented Murphy in that civil lawsuit but have not heard back. We're working to learn more about when he will be back here in Wake County. In Raleigh, I'm Michael Perchick, ABC 11 eyewitness news. All right, Michael, thank you. Also breaking all new here at noon, a Raleigh firefighter arrested charge with assaulting his ex-girlfriend and another woman. According to court documents, David Casares pulled his ex-girlfriend's hair and scratched her chest. Another woman tried to get him to stop when he allegedly elbowed her in the face. Documents show Kazares then grabbed his ex-girlfriend's cell phone to keep her from calling 911.

This all happened earlier this week. Kazarez is now charged with assault on a female and domestic violence. And also breaking here in the past 45 minutes, we learned about a man stabbed in Raleigh. Police responded to thoroughbred lane just after 1.30 this morning. That's in the Walnut Creek neighborhood. Officers found a man stabbed there. He was taken to the hospital and is expected to recover. Police say the victim and the suspect were in a fight leading up to the stabbing.

36-year-old Demetrius Hinton was arrested and is charged with assault. All news since 10, a road in Johnston County is back open after a Clayton fire truck is involved in a crash. Happened about 6 this morning on a covered bridge road near Payton Drive. Police saved the truck overturned while responding to an EMS call. Three people were on board. Thankfully, no one's hurt. The cause of the crash is still under investigation. This accident happened on a tight country two-lane road, not in the interstate. city area where you have multiple lanes of traffic and things such as that. So, you know,

low shoulders, tight shoulders, things such as that. And so, you know, we don't have all the details yet. We will be investigating to determine ultimately what the cause of the accident was. Officials say the engine involved is one of two new engines recently purchased by the town. New at noon, we're asking the Hartnett County Sheriff's Office for information about this big scene overnight. Our breaking news crew on the scene here on Carolina, O.C. circle that's in the town of Linden once we learn more information we will pass it along happening in the next hour Durham police presenting their second-quarter crime report to the City Council it shows violent crime increase from last year

driven by surges and rapes and aggravated assaults community advocates are calling for more support after several recent incidents involving young people and guns new at noon Wake County's newest school making it official I witness news on hand for a ribbon-cutting ceremony for Hilltop Needmore Road Elementary and The door's open last month, just in time for the new school year. About 800 students already call at home. Today we spoke with Principal Caroline Miller. She says students and staff are all very excited about the new building.

Our students have loved their new building, their new classrooms have great collaborative furniture. Each hallway has its own space where students can come together and learn, collaborate in a shared space. The school is on the track. for calendar for students and staff. An historic visit happening in our nation's capital. The Chinese president at the White House for his first DC visit in over a decade.

He said to meet with President Trump on key issues facing the U.S. and China. New here at noon, President Donald Trump is hosting Chinese President Xi Jinping, his first visit to Washington in 10 years. The two presidents have packed a schedule of meetings today, followed by a state dinner. Karen Travers from ABC has the White House. With more on the big issues, the two leaders are expected to do. discuss. Barbara Amber, President Trump said today that he and President Xi have forged a great friendship built on mutual trust. He also said that the U.S. and China have worked together on

key issues, but he is facing a lot of pressure, even from some Republicans, to take a tougher stance. Pagintry and policy today at the White House for the state visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping, President Trump rolling out the red carpet for Xi, personally greeting the Chinese leader at Joint Base Andrews last night. And the state. And the state, morning, a lavish welcome ceremony on the White House grounds. All of this comes as China supports Iran in the war against the U.S. China is Iran's top trading partner and the largest buyer of Iranian oil, and China is reportedly supplying Iran with intelligence for its war effort. Some Republicans are warning that the president should not trust Xi.

I wouldn't have turned my back on President Xi if he were two days dead. Is she such something? Our commander-in-chief should keep in mind that his guest is a brutal, unelected, and oppressive dictator and whose massive military arsenal is aimed directly at the United States of America. A group of democratic lawmakers, all veterans wrote a letter to the White House accusing China of providing intelligence to Iran that led to a July strike in Jordan that killed three U.S. soldiers. But President Trump and his administration have brushed off those concerns. I think it's just responsible statecraft for our leaders to speak and meet with one another.

And that's the way we view it. That's the way we view this visit. Also on the agenda for today's meetings, artificial intelligence, Taiwan, and tariffs and trade issues. Ahead of this summit, the U.S. and China agreed to extend their trade truce until mid-January. It was set to expire in mid-November. Reporting from the White House, Karen Travers, ABC 11, eyewitness news. Here, and thank you. Coming up next at noon, our first alert forecast team continuing to track the powerful noreaster impacting the North Carolina coast. And calls for AI oversight continue to grow after an artificial intelligence agent infiltrated an Australian government website. We have the details. Eyewitness News. We are Local News, weeknights four to six 30 and 11.

Demands for AI oversight are continuing to grow at home and abroad as we learn about the first known hack of a government website. by an AI agent. And now several states and some tech CEOs are joining the calls for regulation. ABC's Armando Garcia has more. Today, calls for AI oversight continuing to grow. 23 states pending a letter to Congress, demanding regulations for AI, and warning, quote, unchecked AI endangers Americans and could soon threaten our financial system, critical infrastructure, and national security.

This comes after Australia's prime minister revealed a rogue AI agent hacked a public health website in June. This situation is obviously unacceptable. Officials say the agent gained unauthorized access to public and non-public files, the first known hack of a government website by an AI agent. Open AI acknowledging the incident saying their models took actions we did not intend and that their internal review found no evidence of patient records being accessed. News of the breach coming on Wednesday, the same day the CEOs of Anthropic and Open

AI made an urgent plea to the United Nations Security Council. We are at a crossroads. If managed poorly, I even believe that AI could be a risk to humanity as a whole. The CEO's urging world leaders to establish guardrails for AI, like banning its use to make biological weapons and establishing safety protocols for countries to report rogue AI incidents. Regardless of what we do, managing these risks is ultimately bigger than any one company, and it has an industry-wide and global scale.

Those calls for international cooperation, a rebuke of President Trump, who on Tuesday at the UN, called efforts to regulate AI a globalist scheme. Open AI CEO Sam Altman is one of several tech leaders expected at the night's state dinner with President Trump in the Chinese delegation. Armanda Garcia, ABC News, New York. In the meantime, Tom Siegel, the former Vice President of Trust and Safety at Google, is joining other tech insiders and academic researchers in raising concerns about the advanced

technology and particularly the impact it could have on children. The most important thing that I could say, that's several others, I will say is most important one is slow down. At this point, I think we have to slow down in terms of, you know, the new features are being developed to the degree that kids get exposed to them, how often they use them. We just don't understand enough about the negative impacts that it has on kids. Segal announcing that he has now joined Common Sense Media, a children's online advocacy group. Happening now millions along the East Coast on alert for the impending noreastern while the storm is set to hit the week this weekend coastal areas are already feeling the

impact yeah take a look at highway 12 here on the north carolina coast right now the ncdot says the roads close between the bass night bridge and rodanthi and it comes as very powerful waves crash ashore there on the outer banks the national weather service has issued a coastal flood advisory for parts of eastern north carolina well that is nasty quaila it is nasty and it's all due to the winds that's going to be one component of this and they won't be able to assess that into the pushes out, which will be probably a couple of days from now. Other issue is that we're looking at high tide cycles and a full moon on Saturday. So that's going to lead to even some higher impacts, too.

Wind gusts of 25 to 45 miles per hour. Latest Hatteras, 43 miles per hour. We're going to look at beach overwashed conditions, flooding possible through Saturday, likely in the early Sunday, too. Those persistent gusts will continue. Models have backed off a bit on some of those gusts of 50 to 60, but in general, 35 to 50 miles per hour and coastal flooding and inundation. We're seeing that already play out this morning and this afternoon.

Those wind gusts tomorrow evening will be still at 30 plus along the coast, but the wind direction starts to change. So hopefully we can get some of that water away from the sounds in the outer banks. And as the low continues to pull away and head to the north and northeast, we'll see less impacts in the chance for recovery and assessment to continue into the weekend. We have the low pressure offshore here, rain and storms offshore, and still some scattered rainfall here in Lentu, no thunder at this time. Cloudy, damp and breezy through the afternoon hours and still quite chilly.

Chili mornings also ahead. You'll want the layers, of course, and your umbrella today. You won't need the umbrella after today. Make some plans for the weekend, really starting tomorrow. You'll have some great conditions out there. Overcast, gray, it's dreary, 60 degrees right now in the Triangle in Fayetteville, 64 Goldsbro, Sanford, 59, 55, and Roxborough. And gusty winds, too, in the 20s.

Those will be sustained through the late day hours as well. 60s through 7 p.m. upper 50s at 10 tonight. By that time, we're dry. Tomorrow morning, some hints of sunshine on the way, especially mid to late morning, 60 degrees at 10. So rolling through the evening, I think a lingering shower to the south of the triangle. We'll see maybe some partial clearing late tonight,

and that will dictate how low the temperatures can drop tomorrow morning. For now, I do think we'll have some isolated upper 40s north tomorrow morning, 50s for all other spots with some sunshine and clouds the mix tomorrow that's going to lead to high temperatures, upper 60s and low 70s. Now Saturday morning, I still think another shot at some upper 40s north and low to mid 50s triangle and south, but a bit more sunshine on Saturday. So temperatures get lifted into the upper 70s for your Saturday. Finally, some dry weather for this week's high school football. Temperatures around kickoff near 70 degrees, 62 afterwards. I would say jackets, sweaters or

hoodies for football games Friday night. Weekend plans near 80, bright skies and pleasant humidity stays low. Problematic with the rain potential. It's good for the weekend, of course, but as far as the drought goes concerned through the end of September, we're looking at dry conditions here at home. Tropical storm Faye has been revived in the tropics, Atlantic Bayes and open water system there, so no impacts to land, but maybe for the shipping industry, of course. And this disturbance here off the coast of Africa has a higher chance to become a depression. Maybe your storm by early in the weekend. So aside from seeing impacts around the Cabo Verde, islands it's way out over the eastern Atlantic so 60s for highs today maybe stuck in the 50s

in some spots I think we'll see some upper 40s north tonight 50s for all other locations and partly cloudy back to some sun tomorrow 73 near 80 this weekend and next week the warming trend continues we're low to mid 80s Monday Tuesday and Wednesday and by Wednesday night low temperatures around 60 degrees right sounds good Kuelan thank you coming up next marking two years since Hurricane Helene devastated parts of the western part of our state, how the governor is showing support for Western Carolina this week. And preseason action on the ice continues tonight. The Cains return to the ice. This time that they're hitting the road, they're returning to their roots. We'll tell you about it. Happening today, Governor Josh Stein visiting Western North

Carolina marking nearly two years since Hurricane Helene. The governor is set to take part in several events over the next few days, highlighting recovery efforts there. Today, the governor will meet with small business owners and join the Boone Area Chamber of Commerce for the spirit of Boone annual membership gathering. Tomorrow, the governor will host a Western North Carolina recovery meeting, and Saturday he will visit Chimney Rock. And then Sunday, the governor will take part in a Helene Remembrance Service at St. James AME Church in Asheville. Happening today, the Stanley Cup champions on Greensboro Ice, the Hurricanes Play a Rare home game tonight, not at Lenovo Center, taking on the Nashville Predators, and a preseason showdown

at First Horizon Coliseum. It's been nearly 30 years since Carolina called Greensboro home, playing there from 1997 to 99, and while they're now permanent arena was under construction. Tonight's game starts at 7 o'clock. You can watch it all on ESPN Plus. Still ahead here at noon addressing teen violence. The three areas of focus for officials in Comberland County aimed at keeping your kids safe. And we're nearly a month away from the midterm elections and update on North Carolina's high-stakes Senate race that could change the balance of power in Washington. A reminder, you can find Iwood News Live on ABC 11, Disney Plus, and everywhere you stream.