WPTF Afternoon News

As powerful winds threatened to spark new wildfires in Los Angeles, firefighters and equipment mobilized to protect the area and contain existing blazes that have already destroyed thousands of homes and claimed at least 24 lives. Crews and firefighting planes were stationed across the city and the dry, brush-filled hillsides to tackle any flare-ups. Fred Maske, a Hillsborough native and actor liv...

Wildfires are no longer confined to a specific season—experts now describe it as a "fire year." Toddi Steelman, has been observing the unusual January fires in Southern California, which she attributes to a dry winter following an arid summer, exacerbated by the Santa Ana winds. Steelman joined Jeff Hamlin to explore why wildfire risks have become a year-round phenomenon and the climate factors dr...

Chip Kennedy joins Anthony DeHart and Steve Rao on the WPTF Afternoon News

Jeff Brooks of Duke Energy

Steve Rao joined Jeff Hamlin on the WPTF Afternoon News to discuss and give commentary on the political news of the day.

Now that his term in Congress has ended, Wiley Nickel is looking back at his legacy and looking ahead at what’s next. The lawmaker acknowledged that he is “carefully evaluating” the opportunity to run for the U.S. Senate and will make a final decision next year. Nickel has been a critic of gerrymandering In North Carolina, a process by which electoral district boundaries are manipulated to favor o...

A lingering arctic cold front potentially means more prolonged exposure of body parts to freezing temperatures in North Carolina. Severe cold can result in bad health outcomes depending on career, pre-existing conditions, age, amount of clothing and lifestyle choices. The medical director of emergency medicine at UNC Rex Hospital said there are reasons your body has to work harder to stay warm. Dr...

A nurse is recovering after she was attacked and severely injured by a patient at a Moore County Hospital. According to a spokesperson from FirstHealth, a patient assaulted a nurse on Monday in the emergency department at Moore Regional Hospital in Pinehurst. The nurse, Crystal Thompson, said the patient attacked her then placed her in a chokehold, slammed her head against the floor and broke her...

Darryl Robinson, a name etched throughout the App State men's basketball record books, will have his jersey retired by the program on Feb. 22, App State Athletics announced Monday. Robinson's jersey will be the first in App State men's basketball history to be hung from the rafters. The retirement ceremony will take place at halftime of App State's home finale against the Marshall Thundering Herd,...

Forecasters are predicting that the Triangle could see snow Friday and Saturday . It has been 1075 days since measurable snow in the Triangle. Weather is predicted to begin to deteriorate around the evening commute on Friday, possibly starting as snow as a low-pressure moves northeast toward the Carolinas. With this storm, power outages are possible on Friday and Saturday, depending on ice accumul...

The Carolinas are bracing for winter weather conditions across our region that will begin Friday. With a wintry blend of snow, ice and freezing rain, The Auto Club Group expects to receive a high number of road service calls for assistance. Since high call volumes are also possible during this time, motorists can also request road assistance by using the free AAA Mobile app or AAAcom. If you must...

Durham and North Carolina are remembering an icon and advocate who died Tuesday. Dr. Lavonia Allison who was a longtime civil rights activist passed away at age 94 in Durham. Her son, Vincent Allison, made the announcement on Facebook. Dr. Allison led the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People for 14 years. She retired from the committee in 2011 and remained active in local politics. Form...

Eric and Terry Murray, parents of the late PGA TOUR player Grayson Murray, have announced the official launch of the Grayson Murray Foundation in their son’s honor. Murray, who was open about his personal experience with anxiety, depression and addiction, passed away on May 25, 2024 at the age of 30. A native of Raleigh, Murray played college golf at Wake Forest, East Carolina and UNC Greensboro....

North Carolina’s highest court blocked on Tuesday the certification of a November election result for one of its own seats so it can review legal arguments by a trailing candidate who contends over 60,000 ballots that were cast shouldn’t be counted. The decision by the Republican-dominated state Supreme Court to issue the temporary stay is a setback for Democratic Associate Justice Allison Riggs....

Facebook and Instagram owner Meta says it’s scrapping its third-party fact-checking program and replacing it with “community notes” written by users similar to the model used by Elon Musk’s social platform X. Starting in the U.S., Meta will end its fact-checking program with independent third parties. The company said it decided to end the program because expert fact checkers had their own biases...

The fact that Shamsud-Din Jabbar and Matthew Livelsberger both served in the military shines a light on a growing mental health crisis, according to members of a North Carolina veterans group. Deb Elek served in the Marines. Since then, she started 22 Saves Hockey in Rolesville, named for a sobering statistic--the fact that an estimated 22 veterans are lost to suicide every day. The group works to...

It’s peak respiratory illness season in the Triangle, with hospitals facing a surge in COVID-19, RSV, and flu cases. Dr. David Weber reported an increase in both cases and emergency room visits, compounded by Duke University Hospital’s recent flooding, which redirected ambulance patients to UNC Health. Dr. Weber joined Gayle Hurd to discuss how healthcare teams are managing the crisis, including c...

Miles Wolff, who brought professional baseball back to Durham in 1980 for just $2,417, forever changed Minor League Baseball and made the Durham Bulls a beloved fixture of the Triangle sports scene. Beyond baseball, Wolff introduced hockey to Raleigh six years before the Carolina Hurricanes arrived and served as Commissioner of the independent American Association. Now set to be inducted into the...

The involvement of two North Carolina men in separate terrorist attacks in Las Vegas and New Orleans has raised concerns among local veterans' groups. Holly Doggett, Executive Director of NAMI North Carolina, emphasized that loved ones are often the first to notice behavioral changes in veterans, who may otherwise remain silent. She joined Jeff Hamlin to discuss the rising incidents of radicalizat...

North Carolina basketball legend Lennie Rosenbluth is being inducted into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame in Kansas City. Rosenbluth played a pivotal role in leading the Tar Heels to their 1957 National Championship, earning Most Outstanding Player honors after back-to-back triple-overtime victories against Michigan State and Kansas. Adam Lucas, writer for TarHeelBlue.com, joined J...

Tom Murry, Court of Appeals Judge & Steve Rao

Steve Rao joined Anthony on the WPTF Afternoon News to discuss and give commentary on the political news of the day.

Steve Rao joined Bruce Ferrell on the WPTF Afternoon News to discuss and give commentary on the political news of the day including Josh Stein's first act as Governor and what a second Trump term will look like.

The FBI now says that the pickup truck driver responsible for a deadly rampage in New Orleans acted alone. Officials said Wednesday that they were seeking additional potential suspects in an attack being investigated as an act of terrorism. But Christopher Raia, deputy assistant director of the FBI’s counterterrorism division, said Thursday that the evidence now shows that Shamsud-Din Jabbar was s...

The holidays are winding down. That means it's time to start worrying about how many extra calories you're ingesting and how to avoid those additional pounds for 2025. Luckily, there are lots of simple things you can do to keep active during the cold winter months to keep those extra pounds at bay. Whether you're in need of a few at-home exercises that you can do without a lot of equipment, or you...