This year marks the 67th annual lighting of the WRAL-TV tower in Raleigh, an annual tradition that has grown to include celebrations with towers at American Tobacco Campus in Durham and Rocky Mount Mills.


WRAL Tower Lighting: WRAL lights the towers in Raleigh, Durham and Rocky Mount

WRAL Tower Lighting

Get ready for a warmer winter as La Niña makes a comeback, bringing below-normal snowfall to our area. 

La Niña returns: Expect warmer winter with below-normal snowfall for Triangle in 25-26

winter weather snow showers

What it really means to be an organ and bone marrow donor

The U.S. Attorney's Office and the FBI will hold a press conference to
announce federal charges involving the disruption of an alleged New Year's
Eve attack.

Happy New Year, uh, and it is a happy New Year, although it came very close to not being such a happy New Year for a lot of people this year. I'm here to announce, uh, in partnership with the Mn Hill Police Department and the FBI that we have foiled a terrorist attack that was planned to take place on New Year's Eve in Min Hill, North Carolina. Now, New Year's Eve, we all know is a wonderful time where we all celebrate the past year, we look forward to and plan the next year, and everyone deserves to do that, to celebrate the New Year without being concerned about their personal safety. And thanks to the law enforcement that stands with me today and others, we are fortunate that people can do that. The FBI, the Menhill Police Department, the New York Police Department worked around the clock on this matter, not just building a case for us, but surveilling the subject and making sure the public was safe at every moment, including Christmas Day. They worked around the clock on this, and I very much appreciate it. The defendant here lived in Mint Hill. The planned attack was to take place in Mint Hill. I wanna thank Chief Joe Hatley of the Mint Hill Police Department for being with with me here today and for your work over the holidays, Chief. I really appreciate it. Uh, I'm sure you know Jim Barnacle by now. He's the Special Agent in Charge of the FBI for North Carolina. Uh, the FBI worked tirelessly on this case, and I can't thank you enough for that. FBI agents spent their Christmas Day surveilling a subject so that families in Charlotte and Mint Hill and Western North Carolina could spend their day celebrating with their families, uh, and, and I'm very thankful for that. That is true public service. If you see a police officer or an FBI agent, please thank them for spending their holidays on this so that we all could spend our holidays with our families. I also want to thank the prosecutors in my office who also worked over the holidays, getting a search warrant and an arrest warrant, uh, and making sure that the public was safe and that this terrorist attack was foiled. The defendant here is an 18-year-old named Christian Sturdivant. He has been planning this attack for about a year, but he's been planning an attack for far longer than that. He was planning this attack in support of ISIS, and we have charged him with attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, that organization being, of course, ISIS. Now this is still very much an active investigation. We had to act quickly here to protect the public, uh, so we are light on details, but we'll tell you as much as we can, uh, and Mr. Barnicle will probably tell you more than I will about those charges, but I thought I would give you an overview of what's in the federal complaint and the charges that we charged. So Mr. Serdivan started on the internet. He started reading ISIS material, started going to ISIS websites, making TikTok videos, and eventually reached out to what he thought was a member of ISIS. In reality was an undercover agent with NYPD in New York. He pledged his allegiance to ISIS with that undercover agent, and he disclosed his plans to do jihad soon. Uh, he then met a second undercover with the FBI, uh, who he also thought was an ISIS participant. And he started to be very specific with his plans. He talked with that undercover agent again, who he thought was ISIS. He talked about, uh, where he was planning to do this attack, which was at a grocery store and a fast food restaurant in Mint Hill, places that we go every day and don't think that. We may be harmed. He talked about what means he would use to kill innocent people. Uh, he said he was going to wear a Kevlar vest and attack people with knives and hammers. And of course, he talked about when he was going to carry out this attack, which was New Year's Eve, uh, a time when American life is on full display, right? We're all out there in crowds celebrating, uh, all that, all that has happened this year, all that is to come, uh, that we are so proud of. Uh, and that is when he planned his attack to, to attack that American way of life. Uh, the FBI executed a search warrant at his home, and they found the instrumentalities of the attack. They found hammers and knives hidden under his bed. They found notes where he planned his attack and detailed his attack and plans for how he was going to carry out this attack. It was a very well planned, thoughtful attack that he had planned and that was fortunately foiled here. He was preparing for jihad and innocent people were going to die, and we're very, very fortunate they did not. Uh, but the fact that along the way in this extensive planning of this attack, he encountered not one but two undercover officers should make the public feel very, very good and very safe because law enforcement is out there every day, and we know they have a lot to do. But they have people out there making sure that as people plan these terrorist attacks, they have stops so they find it and they did find it here and on Christmas while we were all opening presents, they were sitting in a driveway making sure that the public was safe, and we're very, very appreciative of that. Mr. Sturdivant was arrested on New Year's Eve, the day he planned his attack. Of course it did not become public today. It has been under seal until today. He made his initial appearance in federal court this morning about an hour ago. And this case is now moving through the digital judicial process. So he will have a preliminary hearing after that and a detention hearing, and of course we will seek that he remain detained, but that's up to a federal judge on that issue. He faces a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years, uh, but as I always tell you, every individual defendant gets a sentencing hearing where a judge takes into account a host of factors under the United States sentencing guidelines. They look at that individual defendant, uh, the, the judge, he or she looks at that individual defendant and makes a decision on sentencing. So we don't know what the ultimate sentence will be here. Originally, I think it is notable as part of their efforts, the FBI took Mr. Sturdivant to a state magistrate judge to try to have him involuntarily committed, and that was because he had threatened not only other people's lives, but in the process said that he planned to die by a police policeman shooting him. So he had threatened other people's lives and self-harm, but the state magistrate judge denied involuntary commitment. Fortunately, the FBI did not give up then, uh, and continued to build a federal case, uh, and get the evidence they needed to charge him and detain him, uh, and keep everyone safe on New Year's Eve, and I'm very, very thankful for that because countless lives were saved here. On New Year's Eve, everyone is at the grocery store. We're all buying the things we need to celebrate, and we could have had a significant, significant loss of life, a significant injury here. So, uh, we will be here, uh, at the federal level dedicated to making sure the public is safe like we were in this case. And I know that there's a lot that goes on behind the scenes that's never public for investigative reasons, and it's, it's very, um, satisfaction it brings me satisfaction to be able to tell the public what law enforcement is doing, um, when you, when you don't know it and what's going on behind the scenes to keep everyone safe. So with that, I will turn it over to, um, Special Agent in Charge Barnacle, uh, who could tell you a little bit more, uh, about the details. Uh, thank you, Mr. Ferguson, um, and thank you Chief Hartley or Hatley from the Min Hill Police Department for your partnership in this investigation. Uh, my name is James Barnacle. I am the Special Agent in Charge of the FBI here in North Carolina. Christian Sturdivant pledged his loyalty to ISIS. And committed himself to commit to killing Americans on New Year's Eve.

Mark Bergin

FBI announces details about planned New Year's Eve attack in Charlotte area

Christian Sturdivant 

Get the latest WRAL WeatherCenter Forecast whenever you need it, including the DUALDoppler5000 and the 7-Day Forecast.

<p>Meteorologist Grant Skinner here in the Weather Center. A seasonable start to the week with temperatures cold in the morning, then in the 50s in the afternoon. Then temperatures will climb throughout the week, pushing to around 70 degrees. Then our next chance for showers arrives next weekend. Tonight it will be chilly, dropping into the 20s and 30s across the area, 30 in Raleigh, 31 in Fayetteville, 27 in Roxborough with some building high clouds. Then at the bus stop, make sure the kids have the coats because it's going to be 34 degrees to start with lots of sunshine. Then by the afternoon in the mid-50s, it'll be sunny and cool as the kids are heading home. Now with an upper level ridge pattern building over the area, start in the 50s on Monday, but then quickly build into the 60s on Tuesday, then around 70 degrees into Wednesday and Friday of this week we have that southwest flow that brings in that warmer air. So the temperatures will only climb into the middle and back portion of this week and with highs between 66 and 71. Yeah, it's gonna be feeling more like springtime, like the late March, early April temperatures. So a lot warmer this week after a seasonable start. It'll be cold tonight, but then 56 for your high on Monday. Into the 60s by Tuesday, close to 70 on a couple of days this week. Then our next rain chance arrives ahead of our next cold front on Saturday. Now we're still nailing down the exact timing of those scattered showers, but right now it looks like Saturday, mainly later in the day. Then once that cold front passes, we'll have chillier temperatures that end next weekend in the mid-50s by Sunday with lows back to around 30 next Monday morning. So again, cold tonight, then a seasonable day on Monday for the afternoon, then warming up this week.</p>

WRAL WeatherCenter Forecast

Nightly N.C. Education Lottery drawings during the 11 p.m. News.

Good evening. I'm Darren Vought. It's time for tonight's drawings for Sunday, January 4th, 2026. We begin as always with Carolina pick 3, where the first winning number is 8. The second is 8, and the third is 7, and our pick three, Fireball number tonight is 6. Joining me for tonight's drawing is our auditor from Preston, CPA. We move along to Carolina pick 4. The first pick 4 number is 2. Second, also 2. The third is 4 and the fourth is 7 and our pick 4 Fireball number is 1. Turning now to the Carolina Cash Five. If no one wins the top prize tonight, tomorrow's top prize is estimated at $412,000. Good luck. The first cash 5 number is 26. The second is 20. The 3rd, 14. The fourth is 34 and the fifth and final number tonight is 21. The lottery has contributed over $12 billion to education, so thanks for your support and thanks for playing the North Carolina Education lottery.

Evening Pick 3 Pick 4 and Cash 5

Daytime Pick 3 and Pick 4 drawings are held at 3 p.m. daily. They can be seen as live or on-demand video.

Good afternoon. I'm Grant Skinner. Welcome to this afternoon's drawing for Sunday, January 4th, 2026. Let's get started with Carolina pick 3. Our first pick three number is. 1. The second is 8, the third is 7, and our pick 3 fireball number is 6. Joining me for this afternoon's drawing is our auditor from Preston CPA. Now let's move on to Carolina pick 4. The first pick 4 number is? 5. The second is 6. The third is 2, the fourth is 4, and our pick 4 fireball number is 9. North Carolina Education Lottery has contributed over $12 billion to education. Thanks for your support.

Daytime Pick 3 and Pick 4 Drawing

Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday Powerball drawings, as shown live on WRAL.

This is Powerball. Good evening, America. I'm Laura Johnson. Tonight we have another life changing jackpot for you. It's worth an estimated $74.4 million. So get those tickets out. Let's play that first number up is 60. Followed by the number 53. Tonight we're gonna meet NJB who won $50,000 playing Powerball. Now for the rest of those numbers, we've got 1821, rounding it out with the number 40. Your Powerball number tonight. Good luck, everyone. is 23 and your power play multiplier is 3. Let's take a look at those numbers one last time. Remember, there are multiple ways to win. We'll see you back here Monday night. Good night, everyone. It's time to play America's favorite jackpot game. This is.

Powerball Drawing

U.S. President Donald Trump addresses the country in detailing the strike on Venezuela and the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

Trump talks military strike, capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro

Tuesday and Friday Mega Millions Drawing.

>> ACROSS AMERICA WITH MEGA JACKPOTS, IT'S MEGA MILLIONS HAPPY NEW YEAR THERE, CAROL BLACK IN THIS FRIDAY, JANUARY 2ND IS THE KNIFE ENHANCED MEGAMILLIONS JACKPOT IS AN ESTIMATED ANNUAL TIME. 157 MILLION DOLLAR SETTLEMENT DOT COM I HAVE TO DO IS MEANT TO 5 WHITE. PLUS THE GOLD MEGA BALL. SO GET OUT YOUR TICKETS. GOOD LUCK. THE FIRST NUMBER. IT'S 13. AND THAT'S FOLLOWED BY 52. UP NEXT IS 6. THAT'S FOLLOWED BY 34 AND FINAL WHITE BALL IS 43 GOLD. MEGA BALL IS FOR YOUR WINNING NUMBERS AGAIN. ARE 13. 52 6.

Mega Millions Drawing

See an aerial view of the acorn drop and fireworks in downtown Raleigh.

FBI announces details about planned New Year's Eve attack in Charlotte area

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