8AM News on WRAL - Monday, March 9, 2026

And a dense fog advisory is in effect until around 11 o'clock this morning. I'll show you where you're more likely to run into some of that fog. And rising gas prices, the cost at the pump is climbing as the U.S. and Israel carry out strikes on Iran. Where prices stand right now and what we could expect as we enter a new week. Plus, budget crisis update. We're expecting to learn more about the financial situation in Rocky Mount today. What we know as state auditor prepares to weigh in. WRL News at 8 starts in less than 30 seconds. At Leith Honda in Raleigh and Autopark Honda in Carry, we make your buying process easy. And with every new car purchase, you'll enjoy complementary oil changes and exceptional service. It's no wonder we've earned so many five-star reviews. You'll also get peace of mind pricing with every used vehicle. And if it's not the perfect fit, no problem. Bring it back within three days for an easy exchange. Visit our showroom at Autopark Honda and Carey or Leith Honda in Raleigh. It's easier here. from WRL News Headquarters in Raleigh, your number one source for local news. WRL News, coverage you can count on. Good morning. It's 8 a.m. on your Monday morning. Thank you so much for being with us here, starting off the forecast. Today is a little bit warmer. I'm Laura Levine and Ken Smith has the day off. I should start with that. Elizabeth, we also have a dense fog advisory right now. We do. And of course, it's behind you, Laura. We don't have any fog. A lot of Wake County is seeing not fog conditions, but we do have the dense fog advisory, in effect, for a few more hours. And you can definitely see the low cloud cover and fog right here in the forefront. screen as we take a look at a Crossweight County toward Garner and we're seeing it in some places for sure. 57 is our current temperature. Our winds are nice and calm. Our visibility is a quarter of a mile in Fayetteville, a half a mile in Clinton and Roxburgh, quarter mile in South Hill. It does look like we're beginning to see some improvement, which makes sense the sun's been up for a little while now and that sense energy will help to dissipate some of the fog. 61 in Southern Pines in Fayetteville. It's 53 in Rocky Mount and 50 in Rocksboro right now, so we have a bit of a spread in our temperatures. By lunchtime, lots. of sunshine and highs will climb into the upper 70s. We could see a few isolated showers the next couple of days and then a better chance for rain Thursday. We'll walk through that coming up. Elizabeth, we want to take our viewers outside at I-440 Newburn Avenue to show just how busy it has been out there on the roads. You'll see there's no slowdown, but actually. I'm a liar. Yes, there is a slowdown right there towards the end of the road there from this particular camera angle. I-40 at Carreytown Boulevard, it looks like it's pretty smooth sailing, no particular issues just yet. We want to try to show you the drive times in just a little bit, having a little issue with my computer, but we're trying to get that all resolved to let you know about any possible delays as you are headed to your morning commute. But you can keep us to all morning long, 101.5, HD3. You can still hear me talk about them. Chris, thank you.

I feel like if we're starting to ramp up in that direction, it makes the 60-day window look less likely to achieve. So let's just be straight up with the American people. Let's move with a discussion about what an authorization for the use of military force looks like and provide the legitimacy to the president. And Thom Tillis there on Jake Tappers showed he warned that the American people are questioning whether or not we should be in this war. He says the administration needs to make its objectives and goals clear. And still ahead now in less than 10 minutes, we hear from a local woman who was in Israel as the war in the Middle East broke out her story after she returned home. And you can also look for updates on the war in Iran in our evening newscast on WRL starting at 4 p.m. Well, in just about an hour now, we'll learn new details about Rocky Mount's finances. The state auditor will release the results of his probe into the city's budget situation. State auditor, Dave Bullock, office announced an investigation into the city's finances back in September. That's when the city revealed it had been spending millions more than it brought in monthly for at least two years. The city said residents would have to pay more in natural gas and electricity. It also said it would reduce spending by at least $30 million. for about 10 months. And it paused projects and, of course, laid off employees. Now, the state auditor's office says they will be releasing the audit this morning and hold a news conference again in less than an hour about 9 o'clock this morning. Happening today, Governor Josh Stein will unveil his critical needs budget. He says it will address the state's most pressing needs. This comes as North Carolina has not had a comprehensive budget in nearly two and a half years. The governor plans to speak at 10.30 this morning. Police and Durham now are investigating after two people were injured in a shooting. Durham police got the call on East Pilot Street just before 10 a.m. yesterday. Officers found two men shot on that scene. Both were taken to the hospital. Police do not have any suspects at this time, and this investigation is ongoing. Some officers in Wilmington are now on leave this morning after a shooting and killing of a man, they say, was driving toward them. This happened early yesterday morning near the city's waterfront. The officers were at the scene of a different shooting inside a parking deck. While officers were investigating, they spotted a man inside a nearby car that matched the suspect's description. Police say he refused to get out and pulled forward toward officers. Several officers fired their guns. The suspect was shot and later died. All officers involved are now on administrative leave, which is standard while the FBI investigates. Asheville police are now investigating after several people were shot and injured in downtown. This happened early yesterday morning. Asheville police did not specify how many victims there were, only saying there were several. They were taken to the hospital and are expected to be okay. Police say they have a person of interest in this shooting in custody.

New developments now this morning in the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie. Law enforcement says that they are looking into new evidence near her home in Tucson, Arizona. Authorities say they are now looking into a damaged utility box near the house. Investigators say the equipment could be connected to a reported internet outage in that area around the time she vanished. The outage may have disrupted nearby surveillance systems, potentially affecting video evidence that could help track the suspect. Authorities say they are close to a breakthrough, but much of the evidence remains confidential. Nancy Guthrie, as we know, was reported missing more than a month ago. The family is offering a $1 million reward for information leading to her recovery. Your time now is 8.09 returning from Israel. A North Carolina woman is home after witnessing violence break out in the Middle East. We'll have her story about what happened as Israel and Iran began trading strikes. Protests in New York. Two people were arrested after an explosive device was thrown outside the mayor's residence. What we've learned from police about the chaotic scene. Elizabeth. And we're starting with some low cloud cover and fog in spots. Mostly Wake County is looking pretty clear at the moment. We're looking at sunshine as we get through the remainder of the day today. Temperatures will climb into the upper 70s and then a chance of rain follows. I'll show you when.

813 taking a live look at Durham right now. Of course, this is the deep app, and you can see that low cloud cover hanging over the buildings there, and, you know, the grass looks pretty nice and green. It's going to be only about a month before it is baseball season. We have a quarter mile visibility in Fayville, Roxborough and South Hill, about a half a mile in Clinton, and so definitely dealing with some low clouds and fog this morning. We have a dense fog advisory across the viewing area. Here's a live look at Andrew, and they're in eastern Wake County, really, and southern, I should say, Wake County, dealing with a lot of... Dens fog there. 61 in Southern Pines in Fayetteville, 46 in Roe in Rapids, 53 and Wilson 57 in Durham. So walking a dog this morning, temperatures are pretty comfortable. All the fog should burn off before lunchtime and we'll see a nice afternoon with highs in the upper 70s. Traffic-wise, Elizabeth, we're getting a look here at I-40 at Carreytown Boulevard. No real slowdowns are seeing here. There's a school bus, so no issues in terms of delays in that regard. I do want to move over to a different camera here, I-440 at New Bern Avenue, where you'll see a lot busier over there. And that slowdown we saw earlier toward the, looks like the toward the right of the screen there has since gotten a little bit better. So that's not too bad. As you continue your morning commute, keep in mind that you can tune into WRL News on the radio to make sure that you have the latest information and any podcast. possible delays that we learn will give to you. 101.5 HD3.

There's some kind of situation that happened at RDU where a plane was seen going off a runway there. But in terms of what led up to that or what is the result of it, that's what we're trying to get right now. Actually, I'm going to step over and just kind of skip this next video. This one just kind of shows the different vehicles that are on the runway. But this is the plane we're talking about. I try to look and see what that plane was registered to, but fly to where it wasn't pulling up that tail number there. So we're going to try to get more specifics in terms of what happened here. And what led to this, the... the plane going off the runway. Should we learn more information? We're reported here on the WRL Live Center. Okay, Chris, thank you. A local woman is sharing her experience being trapped in Israel as the first strikes took place in Iran. She says she watched missiles outside of the hotel that they were staying in and taking shelter. We spoke with Lilia Austin after she returned to North Carolina over the weekend. She says that she was with a group of around 100 women who are a part of a Christian organization. They were traveling to Israel just one day before the war began. They quickly realized that it was unclear when they would return home as the Israeli airspace. closed and many routes were unsafe to travel. Austin says the experience gave her a new perspective on what people in the Middle East are going through. One of our tour guys, you know, she was a mother of three children and just to know I'm a mother of three children and I get to go home and make sure my kids are safe, but she doesn't get to go home and be with her kids because her kids are serving in the war. So that really just will always stay with me. Eventually, the group was escorted from Israel to Cairo where it was safe to fly out. You can find an extended portion of Heidi Kirk's interview with Lillia Austin on the WRL YouTube page. Just search WRL on YouTube. Well, now to some breaking news this morning happening right now, crews are responding to a fire on Millbrook Road and Raleigh, that's near North Hills. Let's get right over to WRL's Ali Kalibar, who just arrived there to the scene and the WRL breaking news tracker. And Ali, tell us a little bit about what you're seeing out there right now. Well, Laura, we are seeing a massive response right now, and we did have to get kind of behind the response because Millbrook at North Hills is shut down. There's a lot of crews blocking it right now. We can see that fire crews are shooting water out at the house. We also saw flames. Within the last few minutes, we can still see some flames from this house. It looks like it's tucked in some trees here. We are seeing a big cloud of smoke as well. And we even saw that cloud of smoke on six four. road about two miles away from this fire. So, of course, we are working to find out exactly what happened if anybody was inside at the time, if anybody was hurt. We have a lot of questions. We are working to learn, but we can see that this is a very active response happening right now. Of course, we're going to keep you updated. Reporting live in Raleigh, Alley, Cad the Bar, WRAL News. Okay, Allie, thank you. The NYPD has confirmed that an explosive device was thrown outside the mayor's official residence at a protest this weekend.

City Mayor Zohran Mamdani Zohran Mamdani and the First Lady were home at the time, but were not hurt. The incident happened on Saturday during an anti-Islam protest led by conservative influencer Jake Lang. Lang's group was met with counter-protests and the situation became chaotic. Police say one of the counter-protesters through the explosive device. Two men from Pennsylvania were arrested in connection to the devices. Four other people were arrested in connection to the protest. The U.S. military says it has carried out another strike on suspected drug boat in the eastern Pacific, killing six people. This happened yesterday. Officials say a boat was believed to be operated by designated terrorist organizations involved in drug trafficking. This is one of dozens of strikes that have been carried out against suspected drug boats since September. At least 157 people have been killed in those strikes. Well, things are back to normal at Kansas City International Airport this morning after an evacuation yesterday. The airport was evacuated while authorities investigated a potential threat. Terminals were evacuated, flights were diverted, and planes that had already landed were held on the taxiway. It is unclear what the threat was or where authorities searched. FBI director Kash Patel later announced that the threat was not credible. The airport reopened later in the day. Well, people look from across the state gathered in downtown Durham over the weekend for a communities over corporate profits rally. The goal of the rally is to spotlight environmental progress benefits for people, not profits. Even organizers of Gantz says communities in our state are facing pressure from large-scale infrastructure projects and corporate development. This is about giving folks hope, giving folks inspiration, and realizing people are organizing now, communities are organizing now, to make those real wins happen. Enfield Mayor Mandel Robinson was also in attendance. More than 1.5 million voters cast their ballots in North Carolina's primary elections this year, potentially upending the power dynamics at the state Capitol and comments lost on both sides of the aisle. Early voting results show that unaffiliate voters took more Democratic ballots than in prior years. And President Trump's endorsement yielded mixed results. Our NC Capital team compiled a list of things we learned from these primary results. You can find that on our website at WRL.com. Happening today an event in Durham to help you get your passport. It's designed for travelers to get a passport book or a passport card, which are both real ID compliant. The fair is at North Carolina Central Student Union today. It'll be from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. today and tomorrow. Way County's spring big sweep is coming up soon. You can sign up now to help clean up litter around parks, streams, and neighborhoods. There are several events happening on March 14th. You can register online. Happening tonight, Team USA takes on Team Mexico and the world basketball, baseball, classic that is. Team USA is one win away from making it to the knockout stage thanks to a victory against Great Britain over the weekend. Tonight's game starts at 8 p.m. You can tune in to watch that game on Fox 50.

Well, turning to the forecast now, we had such a beautiful weekend with a whole lot of sunshine. And today we're going to see some more warmer weather, even though it's a bit cloudy out there, Elizabeth. And we still have that dense fog advisory, in effect, until about 11 o'clock this morning. But we're definitely seeing differing conditions across our area. This is a look across Wake County. And you could see this low cloud cover here, at least in the eastern part of the county. I've definitely seen that in the south. So we pulled up the Andrew County, Andrew camera just a few minutes ago. This is looking over toward Garner, 57 degrees, that's our temperature. Nice mild start this morning. And technically we're looking at seven mile visibility at RDU, but definitely seeing some pockets of fog and mainly in our southern part of the southern part of Wake County. Fayville's at a quarter mile. So is Roxborough and South Hill, three quarters of a mile and Rocky Mount. So it's fairly widespread. Just doesn't cover the entire viewing area. Here's why, of course, we had rain that rolled through overnight last night and some lingering moisture from that had created the conditions for fog this morning. Now, over the next couple of days. Both tomorrow and Wednesday, there's a very small 20% chance of a shower. And then the best chance will come on Thursday with a cold front coming through, mainly during the afternoon is when we would see some showers and possibly some thunderstorms. This is a look at tomorrow morning, though, where you can see an isolated shower that pops up. Most of us won't see that, but it's worth a mention. And then we'll see sunshine through the afternoon and a record high, likely for it tomorrow. There's 11 p.m. on Thursday. Wednesday at 6 a.m. likely to have some low cloud cover and then maybe a sprinkle or two during the afternoon. Just a small chance of that. And then on Thursday, that's when the cold front comes through. That's going to bring us our best chance of some scattered showers and thunderstorms. However, that view of future cast doesn't look to promising. So we'll keep our eye on it. Right now, we're going to give it a 60% chance for Thursday. And we'll continue to walk you through the timeline and how things are shaping up as it gets closer. Probably around a half an inch of rain. We definitely still need it. We're still looking at drought situation across our area. Once the front comes through Thursday, Some big changes for Friday will be in the upper 30s on Friday morning and a cooler afternoon, but still on track for some really nice weather for the weekend. Another nice weekend? Oh, no, I hate that, said nobody ever. All right, traffic-wise, we're taking a quick look outside. You'll see I-40 at Garner Road looking pretty clear, so no problems in that regard. I-440 at Newburn Avenue. We're also starting to see things, for the most part, look pretty smooth. No backups or delays. You should know about that. So we'll continue to watch very closely on how that develops. And then I do want to show you just. One more camera here. I believe it was it. I-40, Carrey Town Boulevard there. Plenty of vehicles are out on the road, but no issue there in terms of delays. Should we run into any problems this morning? We'll let you know. Just keep us tuned on the radio all morning long during commute. GPS trackers for kids. They promise peace of mind, but are they sharing more than families realized? Five on your side. Test a privacy risk. Parents need to know. As you get into your car, tuned to WRL News Plus on your radio and Raleigh on 99.3 FM. In Durham, 96.5 FM and everywhere on 101.5 HD3. Good morning. Your time is 826. I'm Laura Levine. Let's get right over to meteorologist Elizabeth Gardner to tell you about this dense fog advisory, Elizabeth. It covers the entire viewing area until about 11 o'clock this morning. And here's a look at Lewisburg. You could definitely see some low cloud covers slash fog there, especially as you look off into the distance. Our temperatures, of course, are on the warm side this morning. We're ranging anywhere from 46 in Roan at Crapids to 61 in Fayetteville and a good bit of fog out there. We will see at least some clouds to start with this morning.

This afternoon, we're down to only about 25% of the sky covered with clouds. That means it'll warm up nicely into the upper 70s. A great afternoon to get outside. And traffic-wise, we're looking at the roads pretty clear this morning. No issues in terms of delays or backup, so that's good. But, of course, if that changes, we'll let you know. Let's look at another one. So this is I-440 at Newburn Avenue, but a different camera shows you, again, busy out in the roads, I-40 at Kerrytown Boulevard. Just make sure if you want to know about any possible delays as your morning commute continues, keep us tuning on the radio. 101.5 HD3. Right now, crews are fighting a house fire near Millbrook Road and North Hills Drive in Raleigh. You're taking a live look at that scene from the WRL breaking news tracker. The intersection is closed as those firefighters are working to put out the flames. And happening today, we will learn more about a state auditor's report in Rocky Mount. This is after the city said it was dealing with the budget crisis. City leaders revealed in September that they had been spinning millions over budget for at least two years. That report is set to be released at 9 a.m. Coming up next on Fox 50, new developments on the war in the Middle East. And coming up on today, Kathy Lee Guilford stops by Studio 1A to chat about her new book. Now, breaking news from WRAL, coverage you can count on. And that breaking news takes us to Raleigh. Right now, West Millbrook Road at North Hills Drive is blocked as firefighters are battling this house fire. You can see the flames there from the WRL breaking news tracker. The latest from that scene coming up in minutes. And a dense fog advisory remains for another a couple of hours. We'll talk about what it will look like as you head out the door this morning. And jump at the pump. Gas prices have jumped half a dollar across North Carolina in the last week, how the war in Iran could push prices even higher. And financial crisis findings, today we're getting a deeper look at Rocky Mount's financial troubles. With the state auditor is expected to reveal about the city's budget situation. We have a lot of updates here at 830 on your Monday morning. Thanks for joining us. I'm Laura Levine. We're going to get you updated here in just a moment. Let's get right over to meteorologist Elizabeth Gardner with a look at. which you should expect when you're heading out the door, Elizabeth. Some people are going to see some dense fog out there, especially some of our southern and northern counties. This dense fog advisory lasts until 11 o'clock this morning, and it's for the entire viewing area. It's been pretty foggy down in the sand hills this morning, and you can still see plenty of that here at Pinehurst at the resort and country club. Not enough to keep you from putting, but might be enough if you're trying to actually get out, you know, play 18 holes. You know, if you're really good and you hit that ball a really long way, you might not be able to see it. is our temperature right now. And looking at visibility, it's been the lowest this morning in the sandhills and around Fayetteville and then up near the Virginia line. Parts of the triangle have been seeing some of it too. Our temperatures are in the low 60s in the south and also we're mostly in the mid to upper 50s heading out the door. Lots of sunshine by lunchtime and temperatures will be in the upper 70s for this afternoon. We still have two days this week where we could break a record high. I'll show you how hot it will get coming up.

In terms of traffic, we're still monitoring roads here, I-40 at Garner Road. I mean, you'll see there no issues there. People are able to drive on the road without any problems at all. Looking at a different road, let's look at I-40 at Carriottown Boulevard. Again, same situation. There are no backups, no delays. That's good. We're keeping our eye on any potential delays you should know about. Typically, I'd show you like a map right here, but we are having some issues with the traffic computer on my end. We'll try to get those resolved to get you a closer look at the sensors and what the triangle looks like right now in terms of commuting. If you are going to begin, Your morning commute, keep us tuned on the radio all morning long. 101.5 HD3. Chris, thank you. Now back to that breaking news this morning. West Millbrook Road is shut down right now at North Hills Drive as crews are responding to a fire. Alex Padilla Bar is at the scene right now in the WRL breaking news tracker. And Ali, it's a pretty active scene that you have behind you. It is very active. We can still see flames coming from this house. We can see the big plume of smoke as well. We're seeing a lot of fire crews. I can't even count them because they're kind of hidden behind some of those trees on West Millbrook Road. Now, just within the past few minutes, I spoke with a neighbor. She says that this was an abandoned house. And a firefighter even confirmed that with me. She says that it was sold about 10 years ago. She also says that Raleigh firefighters used this home to do training and that this was. not a training. Now, we are working to confirm this information with Raleigh Fire Department. We are working to find out if there were any injuries, if anybody was inside, if this was an abandoned house fire, but we are seeing that this is still a very active fire. We are still seeing those flames as well as the smoke coming from this house. So we are staying on top of this story. Reporting live in Raleigh, Alex Padilla, News. Ali, thank you. A major development we've been watching over in the war in Iran. The Iranians named their new supreme leader. We're talking about Meshaba Harmony, who has been chosen after his father, the previous Ayatollah, who was killed late last month in a U.S. Israeli airstrike. The IDF has threatened to kill any successor to Homini. The number of people killed in Iran is at least at 1,200, according to the leadership there. The U.S. military has announced a 7th soldier died from their injuries from an Iraq. Iranian attack in Saudi Arabia. Iran's foreign minister has rejected calls for a ceasefire telling NBC news, his country must continue fighting for the sake of our people. So here at home, we have seen the price of gas rise pretty quickly because of the war happening right now. W. REL's Kelsey Coffee is live in Raleigh, and Kelsey, prices across North Carolina are up once again.

Yes, Lori, the average price of gas up about 50 cents a gallon just in this week. We'll go ahead and give you a live look now at prices here on Gorman Street in Raleigh. 339 a gallon at this Exxon. We'll also show you the average prices from AAA that were released earlier this morning. The national average $3.48 a gallon. State average $3.27 a gallon. And our average here in Raleigh, just above that at $3.33. Diesel prices are skyrocketing almost twice as quickly as gas. Patrick Dahman with Gas Buddy explains how this could increase the cost of what you buy. That could impact your next online order. You know, whether you ship or use logistics, that is probably something that is going to be more impactful as diesel fuel generally is more of a fuel that powers many of the engines that power the U.S. economy. The WRL News app can help you find some of the lowest gas prices. Just search for our fuel tracker. There you can plug in your zip code so you can find some of the best deals out there. Kelsey Coffey, WRL News, live in Raleigh. North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis is also sharing his viewpoint on the handling of the war on Iran. Thom Tillis spoke to Jake Tapper on CNN State of the Union. He spoke about reports that the Trump administration is weighing deploying U.S. troops to Iran. The senator says President Trump has a 60-day window before he needs authorization from Congress. Thom Tillis also warned the American people are questioning whether we should be in this war. He says the administration needs to make its objectives and goals clear. Coming up in 10 minutes now, we'll hear from a Chapel Hill mother of three who traveled to Israel one day before the first strikes in the war happened, how she survived the war zone, and how she made it back home. You can also look for updates on the war in Iran in our evening newscasts on WRL starting at 4 p.m. Today, the Wake County man accused of shooting and robbing another man is expected in court. 22-year-old Trayvon Hodge is charged with assault with a deadly weapon, inflicting serious injury and robbery with a dangerous weapon. He's in jail without bond. The shooting happened on Alfreda Court near Wendell around 7 o'clock yesterday morning. Wake County Sheriff's deputies found a man who was shot. He was taken to the hospital and is expected to be okay. An arrest warrant says Hodge stole between $40 and $80 in cash from the victim. The Wake County Sheriff's Office has not said if or how the victim and Hodge knew each other.

Also expected in court today, a 19-year-old accused of driving while intoxicated. This is someone investigators say caused a crash that sent several people to the hospital in Holly Springs. This crash happened on Highway 55 near Avon Ferry Road around 4.30 yesterday morning. Police say Tristan Smith rear-ended a sedan stopped at a red light. The driver and two passengers and the other car were taken to the hospital. Smith was also taken to the hospital, but later released. He's facing several charges, including driving while intoxicated. Well, today he'll have another chance to ask Wake County EMS questions and learn more about their emergency response changes. Their new protocol prioritizes callers who are in the most severe danger. They'll also use fewer emergency lights and sirens. Those changes will take effect early next month. Today's public meeting starts at 7 p.m. It'll be at the North Regional Center on East Holding Avenue in Wake Forest. There will also be three more meetings this week in Kerry, Willow Spring, and Wendell. Line wait times at airports in America are now reaching up to two hours or more. This is because... TSA worker shortages related to the partial government shutdown. So some TSA agents are again working without pay while Congress debates funding for Homeland Security. At one point, Houston's airport issued a ground stop recently because of the volume of people and two few workers. The TSA recommends that you arrive four to five hours before your flight to ensure that you'll get through any lines. A woman is facing charges this morning after LAPD says that she fired several shots at the home of music artist Rihanna. You can see the bullet hole scattered on the mansion's gate. This happened Saturday afternoon. LAPD says the woman drove to the home and started shooting with an AR-15-style rifle. Officers also say Rihanna was home at the time, but no one was injured. The Blue Devils are back-to-bag champions for the second year in a row. Duke wins the women's ACC tournament title after beating Louisville in overtime yesterday. With less than 30 seconds left in OT and Duke up by two, Riley Nelson got the pass and knocked down the corner three beating Louisville 70-65. Duke is now tied with Maryland for the most conference titles of all time. And on the men's side, of course, the ACC tournament gets started tomorrow. Seven seed NC State will take on the winner of Stanford and Pitt in the second round on Wednesday at noon. Then on Thursday, Duke and UNC will play in quarterfinal games after getting buys in the first two rounds. The Blue Devils will play at 7 p.m. and the Tar Hills will play at 9.30 p.m. The championship game is Saturday. Trapped in a war zone. A triangle mother of three shares what she experienced during airstrikes in the war on Iran, how she was able to get home. Plus, they promised peace of mind, but are kids trackers sharing more than families realize? Five on your side test the privacy risks parents need to know.

Our dense fog advisory is in effect until 11 o'clock this morning. And, of course, we're looking at the potential for that patchy fog to affect your morning commute. Definitely not a major impact here in Durham. You can see everybody there on the Durham Freeway moving along just fine. This will be considered a deck of low clouds. So we're definitely seeing a good bit of that. But visibility is down to a quarter of a mile in Fayville. We would consider that fog and potentially an issue. I'll tell you, noticing that sensory map, it does look like that our fog is beginning to lift. But it's pretty thick still. here at Pinehurst right now. And our temperatures are nice and mild, anywhere from the mid-50s to low 60s as you're heading out the door. As we take a look at what's next, some record highs for tomorrow and Wednesday. A chance of rain both days, but a better chance on Thursday with a cold front and then turning cooler on Friday. I'll show you when we could dip down into the 30s again coming up. Traffic-wise, Elizabeth, I'm keeping my eye on the road to look for any possible delays and backups. People should know about this is I-440 at Newburn Avenue. No issues there in that regard. And then on I-40 at Kerrytown Boulevard, no issues there. There is an issue I do want to tell you about, and Sky Five is above it right here. I want to show you this is live right here. And this is at West Millbrook at North Hills Drive in Raleigh. You'll see there's a fire that's here, the smoke that's billowing from what appears to be a house over there. And this road, this is what's blocked off with EMS, first responders, et cetera, police. So what we're trying to do is trying to figure out when this is going to be cleared up, what caused that fire as well because the response here is pretty significant. Stay with WRL News. We'll try to get you an update here as soon as we can. Chris, thank you. A Chapel Hill woman is sharing her experience being trapped in Israel as the first strikes took place in Iran. Lillia Austin joined a group of around 100 women, part of a Christian organization, to travel to Israel. The group arrived just one day before the first strikes on Iran began. Austin says the missiles attacks were where she was staying started shortly after tensions rose in Tehran. They triggered air raid sirens sending her group into bomb shelters. When we knew that the US had a strike against Iran, we knew that things would not stay quiet. So I believe we all had a clear sense that things were going to be changing. And she says the group was eventually able to make their way to Cairo navigating airspace closures and routes deemed unsafe to travel. Their guides who traveled alongside them helped them find a flight back home. She's now using her platform through the church to share what it was like in Israel. You can find an extended portion of Heidi's interview, Heidi Kirk's interview, with Lillia Austin on the WRL YouTube page. Just search WRL on YouTube. Laura, I do want to bring our viewers back into the WRA Live Center because we have a breaking update as the state auditor has released an investigative report into the spending at Rocky Mount. We were talking about that story this morning, but now we have a little context. It seems that there was some kind of allegation that was made about the city spending thousands of thousands of dollars of taxpayer money here. And this also centers around what's called the City of Rocky Mount Comprehensive Plan in which there was a contract of nearly $800,000 that the city had entered into.

with a company called ACOM, and I should be more specific. The person who entered into this contract was actually the former city manager, Keith Rogers, according to this report here. Essentially, it says that in the summer of that year in 2024, Rogers told the council that the city entered into an agreement with the company. But the city council members said that, yes, they talked about spending up to $1 million, but they never received a presentation of this. And so they never approved beforehand. And so transparency, again, that's the issue here. We've been talking about this. So if you're someone who is from Rocky Mountain, you want to see a little bit more because it's actually two-pans. that the state auditor put together with a little more context. We are working on getting an article online right now on WRL.com. We will put this report on there so you can see it for yourself. A lot to unpack there. Thank you, Chris. Police in New York say a device drone during protests outside Gracie Mansion was an explosive. Mayor Zohran Mamdani and the First Lady were home Saturday at the time this happened. They were not hurt. Two suspects, ages 18 and 19, are now under arrest. Investigators say the pair referenced ISIS in statements to law enforcement. Bomb squads also searched a vehicle linked to the suspects. It's Oscars Week and the 98th Academy Awards are this Sunday. David Daniel looks at a current Oscars trend and more in today's Hollywood Minute. This world is intricately stitched together, boys. Every thread we pull, we know not how it affects the design of things. The Academy Awards have gotten more international in recent years. One of Train Dreams four nominations is for its Brazilian cinematographer Adolfo Veloso. Meanwhile, Brazil's The Secret Agent also has four nominations, including Best Picture and Best International Feature, an award won last year by another Brazilian film, I'm Still Here. In this moment, we're living, I feel like it's amazing too. represent not only Brazil, but Latin America, to represent all the immigrants in a very delicate moment. And I feel like this only shows how people all over the world are amazing and we should be hearing everybody and we should be paying attention to all those voices. Of course, it was our friendship. Hillel had the key that made Philean Anthony sound the best they could be. The Red Hot Chili Pepper's first guitarist, Hillel Slovak, gets his due in The Rise of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Our Brother Hillel. The documentary looks at how a childhood friend helped shape the rock and roll Hall of Famers sound. The film debuts March 20th on Netflix. In Hollywood, I'm David Den.

One leading game company is taking legal action against the Trump administration over its tariffs. Nintendo filed its lawsuit after the Supreme Court's decision to block President Trump's reciprocal tariffs. Nintendo says it experienced, quote, irreparable harm from the import taxes. Now the company is asking for a prompt refund of the fees it's already paid. More families are turning to kid-friendly smartwatches and GPS trackers to keep tabs on their children, but how secure are those devices? Five on your sides, Keeley Arthur explains what parents should know before buying one. GPS trackers like this one give parents peace of mind. They can see their child's location with just a tap. But are they sharing more information than families realize and sometimes not securely? Parents often assume that products made for children are held to higher standards, but that's not always the case. Consumer reports analyzed 15 popular devices, reviewing privacy policies, app permissions, and how data is handled. They found many devices collect more than the location, like messages, voice notes, and movement patterns. And some fell short on security lacking protections like multi-factor authentication or encrypting messages. The details of what information is being gathered and how it's being stored aren't always easy to track. For parents looking for safer options, consumer reports as some products stood out, including Apple Air Tag and Ufi Smart Track Link for Bluetooth tracking, and the Apple Watch SE and Garmin bounce among smart watches. Coming up tonight, I'm going to tell you which of these products scored the highest when it came to security settings and tell you what every parent needs to check on their child's tracking device. Keeley, Arthur, five on your side. All right. Well, now it's time to get a check on the forecast with meteorologist Elizabeth Garner. And Elizabeth, our friends in Michigan there, they really dealt with some bad weather this weekend. They really did. Take a look at this. We have this video that shows so much destruction there. This is from Union City, Michigan, and they were just allowed back into the neighborhood yesterday. After an EF3 tornado, it killed three people, and it damaged dozens of buildings in homes. And you hate to see something like this. This is the same frontal system that came through and just brought us some rain. We ended up with a level one risk yesterday, but we didn't have any severe weather here. And so we're certainly thankful for that. That front is moving offshore right now as we take a look there at where that front is moving out of here. And again, just brought us some much needed rain. It wasn't a whole lot, but, you know, we could use all the rain that we can get. Some leftover moisture this morning has brought us some dense fog. So the advisory is still in effect until 11 a.m. But definitely seeing some improvement. You could see here in the foreground. This is some blow cloud cover as we're looking across Wake County. That was a lot thicker just about an hour ago. It's beginning to thin out a little bit. 57 is our temperature in the triangle right now. We're still looking at quarter to half mile visibility down here in the sand hills. And in some of our western counties and northern counties too. Raleigh eastward is where we've had a little less fog. Our temperatures range from the mid-50s to right around 60 as you're heading out the door right now and around town this afternoon. It should feel really comfortable. 78 in Raleigh, 77 in Durham and 81 in Fayetteville.

average temperatures for most of this work week. We see near record highs on Tuesday and Wednesday. As a matter of fact, those temperatures would break the previous record. And then we bring it back down to normal on Friday. That's probably going to feel pretty chilly. But our normal high is actually 61. 81 is the record high for tomorrow. We'll likely beat that at 84 in Raleigh. And then 84 is the record in Fayetteville. And our forecast highs 86. Here's a look at what we're going to see the next couple of days. Both tomorrow and Wednesday, we have a small chance of a shower along with those very warm temperatures, but our next best chance of rain comes on Thursday. This one also could end up producing some severe weather to our west, across the plains, across the Midwest. We're not likely to see that here, but we will turn much cooler and windy on Friday. After that, we'll likely rebound again. Our temperatures climb into the 70s for the weekend. Stay with us. We'll be right back with your top stories.