RALEIGH, NC (WWAY) — The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation broke ground Tuesday on the first phase of a multi-phase campus construction and renovation project in Raleigh.

The project includes a new headquarters building, renovations to the agency’s former headquarters and a new logistics building. Phase one totals more than 100,000 square feet of new and improved space and is expected to cost $97.5 million.

SBI Director Chip Hawley said the project is designed to bring employees from multiple locations into one modern campus.

“This project is about more than buildings — it’s about bringing our people together and creating a home,” Hawley said. “Our goal is to consolidate employees from multiple locations into one modern, state-of-the-art campus designed to support collaboration, efficiency, and innovation.”

The new headquarters building will include three floors and more than 73,000 square feet of space, with capacity for 227 staff members. It will house several sections, including administration, human resources, the Fusion Center, information technology, training, professional standards, accreditation and human trafficking.

The old headquarters building will be renovated to house the Criminal Information and Identification Section.

The new logistics building will include space for the Bomb Squad, SRT, K9 and Criminal Apprehension Team.

Construction is expected to be completed in late 2027, with SBI personnel moving into the new facilities in early 2028.

Future phases of the campus plan include a logistics building expansion, a maintenance building shared by the SBI and North Carolina State Highway Patrol and a parking garage.

The total four-phase campus master plan is expected to cost about $164.8 million and include more than 252,000 square feet of space.

RALEIGH, NC (WWAY) — Governor Josh Stein signed an executive order Tuesday aimed at increasing housing opportunities and improving affordability across North Carolina as the state faces a growing housing shortage and rising costs.

Executive Order No. 36 directs state cabinet agencies to work together to increase housing supply, improve affordability and access, and use technology and data-driven strategies to support housing efforts.

“Too many families are struggling to make rent or afford a home,” Stein said. “This executive order directs a whole-of-government approach to get more homes of all types built and make homeownership more accessible and affordable for North Carolinians.”

As part of the executive order, Stein announced the appointment of Janneke Ratcliffe as senior advisor for housing policy. Ratcliffe will help lead development of what the governor’s office says will be the state’s first coordinated housing strategy.

Ratcliffe previously served as vice president of the Housing and Communities Division at the Urban Institute in Washington, D.C. Her role will include working with local and tribal governments, state agencies and public and private partners to identify housing solutions and establish measurable goals.

The announcement comes as North Carolina continues facing housing affordability challenges. State officials say North Carolina is projected to face a shortage of more than 750,000 housing units by 2029, with low- and moderate-income households expected to be among the hardest hit.

According to information released by the governor’s office:

• About half of all renters in North Carolina spend more than 30% of their income on housing.
• Nearly 30% of older adults spend more than one-third of their income on housing costs.
• Teachers in 23 North Carolina counties did not earn enough on average in 2025 to afford fair market rent where they work.
• Fifty-three percent of enlisted military families in North Carolina report spending more than 30% of their monthly income on housing and utilities.
• North Carolina saw the ninth-highest rental price increases in the nation between 2024 and 2025.

The executive order establishes several priorities, including creating a statewide housing strategy, directing agencies to prioritize housing access and resilience in planning efforts, aligning state resources and programs, and improving data and technology tools to support local governments and builders.

(ABC) — A popular patio swing sold at Costco is being recalled after multiple people have been injured when the swing seat reportedly detached during use, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.

World Bright International Limited, the company behind Agio outdoor furniture products, in cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, recently announced a voluntary recall of more than 18,000 Agio Menlo Woven Patio Swings with the model number of 1934256.

According to the recall notice on May 14, the swing seat can separate from the frame while someone is sitting on it, creating a backward fall hazard that could result in serious injury.

The company said it has received eight reports involving the seat detaching from the swing structure. All eight incidents resulted in injuries, including impacts to the head and arms.

The recalled swings were sold exclusively at Costco warehouses and on Costco.com between Feb. 1 and March 20, 2026, with prices ranging from about $549 to $649.

The outdoor furniture includes a black metal frame and swing arms, a fabric canopy and a cushioned brown wicker-style seat. The frame measures approximately 75 inches high, 71 inches wide and 48 inches deep.

In a recall notice shared with Costco customers and posted on Agio Living’s website, World Bright International Limited urged consumers to “STOP USING THE SWING IMMEDIATELY.”

Consumers are being urged to stop using the swing immediately and contact World Bright International Limited for a free repair kit. The company said the kit includes four replacement hooks and instructions on how to install them.

“On behalf of ourselves and Costco, we want to thank you for your support and cooperation, and we sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this recall may cause,” the company added in the notice.

ABC News has reached out to World Bright International Limited for comment but did not hear back immediately.

(ABC) — Home Depot got a lift in the first quarter from professionals and also homeowners stocking up on spring supplies.

Profit fell from its first quarter last year, but the national home improvement retailer beat Wall Street expectations.

“The underlying demand in our business was relatively similar to what we saw throughout fiscal 2025, despite greater consumer uncertainty and housing affordability pressure,” CEO Ted Decker said Tuesday.

The housing market has been static as Americans wrestle with rising costs and other economic concerns.

Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes were essentially flat in April, another lackluster showing for the housing market during what’s traditionally its busiest time of the year. Existing home sales edged up 0.2% last month from March to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.02 million units, the National Association of Realtors said a week ago. Sales were unchanged compared to April last year.

The U.S. housing market has been in a slump dating back to 2022, the year mortgage rates began climbing from historic lows that fueled a homebuying frenzy at the start of this decade. American consumers are cautious as gas prices fuel an inflation surge of 3.8% in the U.S. Labor Department figures last week showed that gasoline prices are up more than 28% compared with a year ago.

For the three months ended May 3, Home Depot earned $3.29 billion, or $3.30 per share. A year earlier the Atlanta company earned $3.43 billion, or $3.45 per share.

Removing certain items, earnings were $3.43 per share. That’s better than the $3.41 per share that analysts surveyed by FactSet were calling for.

Revenue climbed to $41.77 billion from $39.86 billion, which topped Wall Street’s expectations for revenue of $41.59 billion.

Sales at stores open at least a year, a key gauge of a retailer’s health, rose 0.6%. In the U.S., comparable store sales climbed 0.4%.

Customer transactions declined 1.3% in the quarter, but the amount that shoppers spent increased to $92.76 per average receipt from $90.71 a year ago.

Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData, said in a statement that Home Depot is continuing to navigate well through a weak housing market and constrained consumer spending.

“Overall, Home Depot is a well-run business that has impressive dominance in its sector,” he said. “It has been right to pivot to the professional side of the market as this is where the opportunities currently lie. However, it must also ensure it stays up to par on the consumer side – and that means improving small things and making marginal gains now, as these will translate into bigger benefits as the market recovers.”

Home Depot still anticipates fiscal 2026 total sales growth of about 2.5% to 4.5% and comparable sales growth to be about flat to up 2%.

Shares rose slightly before the opening bell Tuesday.

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli forces intercepted one of the remaining Gaza flotilla boats, stopping the vessel when it was about 82 nautical miles (around 150 kilometers or 95 miles) from Gaza, according to the flotilla’s website tracker.

A livestream on the website showed Israeli forces in a dinghy pulling up to the boat, called the “Andros,” and activists with their arms in the air.

The screen then went dark with a message saying the boat had been intercepted.

A handful of ships were still within 100 nautical miles of Gaza and sailing toward it as of Tuesday afternoon.

The Israeli navy’s new action resumed a day after the Israeli navy interdicted the activist flotilla in international waters off Cyprus.

It was the latest attempt by the Global Sumud Flotilla to challenge Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza and underscore the grim living conditions of Palestinians living in the territory.

Dozens of vessels departed from the port of Marmaris, Turkey, last week in what flotilla organizers described as the final leg of their planned journey to Gaza’s shores.

Some 41 boats were intercepted on Monday with another 10 continuing to sail before the Andros interception, according to Global Sumud Flotilla’s tracker.

KINSHASA, Congo (AP) — The World Health Organization director-general openly worried Tuesday over the “scale and speed” of an outbreak of a rare Ebola variant in eastern Congo, where authorities reported a sharp increase in suspected deaths — to at least 131 — and over 500 suspected cases.

The virus spread undetected for weeks after the first known death as authorities tested for a more common strain and came up negative, health experts and aid workers said. This Bundibugyo virus, a rare variant, has no approved medicines or vaccines.

Congo’s health minister, Samuel Roger Kamba said investigations were underway to determine whether the deaths and 513 suspected cases were “actually linked to the disease.”

WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said he is “deeply concerned about the scale and speed of the epidemic,” adding the U.N. health agency will convene its emergency committee later Tuesday. He pointed to the emergence of cases in urban areas, the deaths of healthcare workers and significant population movement.

The WHO says ‘patient zero’ has not yet been confirmed

The WHO has declared the Ebola outbreak a public health emergency of international concern, requiring a coordinated response. Resources were being rushed to the two affected provinces near the border with Uganda, which has reported one death in a person who traveled from Congo.

The head of the WHO team in Congo said authorities haven’t identified “patient zero” in the outbreak.

Dr. Anne Ancia also said the Erbevo vaccine, used against a different Ebola strain, was among those being considered for possible use. But even if that or another is approved, it would take two months to become available.

Inside Congo, cases have been confirmed in the capital of Ituri province, Bunia; North Kivu’s rebel-held capital, Goma; and the localities of Mongbwalu, Nyakunde and Butembo — home to well over a million people in all.

Dr. Peter Stafford, an American doctor is among the Bunia cases, said the Christian organization he works for, Serge. He had been treating patients at a hospital. Three other Serge employees were working there, including Stafford’s wife, but were not showing symptoms.

False negative Ebola tests delayed the response

Congo has said the first person died from the virus on April 24 in Bunia, and the body was repatriated to the Mongbwalu health zone, a mining area with a large population.

“That caused the Ebola outbreak to escalate,” said Kamba, the health minister.

When another person fell ill on April 26, samples were sent to Congo’s capital, Kinshasa, for testing, according to the Africa Centers for Disease Control. Bunia is more than 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) away in a country with some of the world’s worst infrastructure.

Samples from Bunia were initially tested for the more common type of Ebola, Zaire, Congolese officials said. They came back negative, said Dr. Richard Kitenge, the health ministry incident manager for Ebola, and local authorities assumed it was not the virus.

Only laboratories in Kinshasa and Goma, which is now controlled by the M23 rebel group, have the capacity to test for the Bundibugyo virus. It was not clear what measures the Rwanda-backed rebels were taking in the outbreak.

On May 5, the WHO was alerted of about 50 deaths in Mongbwalu, including four health workers. The first confirmation of Ebola came on May 14.

“Our surveillance system didn’t work,” said Jean-Jaques Muyembe, a virologist at the National Institute of Bio-Medical Research.

“The Bunia laboratory … should have continued searching and sent the samples to the national laboratory. Something went wrong there. That’s why we ended up in this catastrophic situation,” he said, and asserted that members of parliament and senators were aware “there were deaths and nothing was being said.”

Matthew M. Kavanagh, director of the Georgetown University Center for Global Health Policy and Politics, criticized the Trump administration’s earlier decision to withdraw from the WHO and make deep cuts in foreign aid — “the exact surveillance system meant to catch these viruses early,” he said.

The U.S. State Department pushed aside criticism on Monday, saying it sprang into action immediately and has provided $13 million in assistance for the response.

This is a rare type of Ebola

Ebola is highly contagious and can be contracted via bodily fluids such as vomit, blood or semen. The disease it causes is rare but severe and often fatal. During an outbreak over a decade ago that killed over 11,000, many were infected while washing bodies during community funerals.

“Ebola is very much a disease of compassion in that it impacts the people who are more likely to be taking care of sick folks,” said Dr. Craig Spencer, an associate professor at the Brown University School of Public Health who survived Ebola more than a decade ago after contracting it in Guinea.

The U.S. CDC says it causes fever, headache, muscle pain, weakness, diarrhea, vomiting, stomach pain and unexplained bleeding or bruising.

The severity of the symptoms and the rising caseload were fueling growing panic in Bunia neighborhoods.

“I know the consequences of Ebola, I know what it’s like,” said resident Noëla Lumo. She previously lived in Beni, a region hit by former outbreaks. When she heard about the latest one, she began making protective masks by hand.

The region already grapples with a humanitarian crisis

Eastern Congo long has grappled with a humanitarian crisis and the threat of armed groups that have killed dozens and displaced thousands in Ituri in the past year. Ituri already had over 273,000 displaced people out of a population of 1.9 million, according to the U.N.

U.N. staff have been asked to work from home and avoid physical contact and crowded areas, said a Bunia-based U.N. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the subject.

The most important challenge is breaking the virus transmission chain, Muyembe said.

“Of the 17 epidemics we have experienced in (Congo), 15 were brought under control simply by applying public health measures,” he said. “The disease is transmitted through contact with bodily fluids. If you avoid this contact, you break the chain of transmission and the epidemic stops.”

___

AP writer Jamey Keaten in Geneva contributed.

(AP) — In Paris, police deployed tear gas. In Milan, Italy, a fistfight erupted. In London, Singapore and New York, all-night queues snaked from the doors of Swatch stores — the latest examples of status-symbol “drop culture” to flash across the globe when status symbols and resale value collide.

The company at the center of it all, Swatch, no stranger to over-the-top retail outbreaks, said it was time to chill. The Swiss watchmaker said Monday that there’s no shortage of its Royal Pop pocket watch, a collaboration with Audemars Piguet’s luxury timepieces.

All for a “bioceramic” timekeeper that retails for around $400 — but perhaps more to the point, resells for thousands of dollars. By Monday, the candy-colored flex objects proliferated on eBay, with one boasting: “IN HAND!!! Swatch x AP Royal Pop,” for 3,055.58 British pounds ($4,092.31) “or Best Offer.”

It was the latest eruption in a generation-long trail of consumerist frenzy — both online and in the physical world — that has touched companies from Nike to Walmart to Apple as human beings race, sometimes frantically, to keep pace with buying trends and the potential for resale.

“It looks like people got crazy to get a Royal Pop to make money through resale, not because they are fans of the Swatch,” said Pierre-Yves Donze, a business history professor at Osaka University Graduate School of Economics. “People want money, especially. Royal Pop is not like a cool product, but a way to make easy money.”

That’s a change, he said in an email, from past product drops from Swatch and other brands that benefit from the reach of social media to create the appearance, at least, of overwhelming demand. Previously, he said, people spent the money on buzzy objects because “they wanted to have it in their collection.”

Swatch did not respond to a question about its products being resold way above retail. But in a statement to The Associated Press, the company pointed at demand and retailers. It said that in about 20 of Swatch’s 220 stores worldwide where the Royal Pop was launched, “challenges arose on launch day because the queues of interested customers were exceptionally long and the organization of some shopping malls was not sufficient to handle this level of turnout.”

An internet-fueled frenzy

On social media, the Royal Pop has received over 11 billion views since the launch, the statement said.

It compared the Royal Pop to that of the MoonSwatch launch during the pandemic in March 2022 in partnership with sister company Omega. Then, a similar swoon appeared to ensue: masked people could be seen on social media from Singapore to Sydney, running apparently to Swatch stores.

Swatch has more than four decades of experience with hype. In 1984, it suspended a 13-ton yellow Swatch from a building in Frankfurt, Germany, around the same time people started donning its innovative timekeepers that were mass produced, affordable and very different from traditional heirlooms. People old and young began wearing timepieces in “White Memphis” and “Chrono-tech,” with its primary color hands.

This past weekend, the Swatch store in festive Carnaby Street again drew a line of people, this time ahead of the release of the Royal Pop. A mob of several dozen blocked the sidewalk at the Swatch store on nearby Oxford Street on Sunday, just before it opened. Then police closed all Swatch stores in London and several other U.K. cities. News outlets around the world reported similar scenes, with shuttered stores in the Netherlands and a “mosh pit” vibe in New York’s Times Square.

In France, police used both tear gas grenades and tear gas spray to disperse crowds that gathered outside the country’s Swatch boutiques, the national police service said.

It said officers used gas grenades at the sprawling Westfield Parly 2 shopping mall west of Paris, where TV footage also showed officers with riot shields and helmets stationed outside the watchmaker’s outlet, its shutters down. Officers in the southeast city of Lyon also deployed a gas grenade when a crowd ignored repeated warnings to disperse on the city’s Bellecour public square, while municipal police in the southern city of Montpellier used tear gas spray, the police service said. It said crowds gathered peacefully outside Swatch outlets in other towns.

Swatch France posted on Instagram that “because of public security considerations,” its stores in a half dozen French locations were closed for the day.

Reassurances that supply will keep up with demand

The company, meanwhile, issued a statement assuring people that the Royal Pop will be available for months.

The pocket watch launched only in retail stores and was not available online — a risky move, some critics said, because the atmosphere was likely amped up by the big money at stake for the resellers in line. There were sporadic injuries reported as well as some arrests and property damage.

To many companies, the liability risk of the hype is too high.

“A lot of the streetwear drops and sneaker drops that used to happen when I was younger, all of them have moved online because of safety concerns,” said Odunayo Ojo, a London-based fashion and cultural critic, said on his YouTube channel, Fashion Roadman. Either Swatch “didn’t get the memo,” he said, underestimated the draw to the new product or strategically hyped the drop to pump sales.

“Swatch already has a track record of understanding how these things go,” Ojo said.

By Monday, the lines had died down, perhaps because, as onlookers near a Swatch store in Paris said, there were no Royal Pop watches left in stores. New shipments, they’d heard, were on the way.

OAK ISLAND, NC (WWAY) — Four boaters and a dog were brought safely back to shore Monday after a boat capsized near Lockwoods Folly Inlet.

Crews from multiple agencies were called to The Point in Oak Island, at the far west end of West Beach Drive, at 2:06 p.m. after reports of a capsized boat and multiple boaters in the water.

Crews found two boaters in the water. Two other boaters and a dog had already been picked up by a passing civilian boat.

The Town of Oak Island says its Ocean Rescue Division used a rescue watercraft and the town’s new Mobile Drone Control Unit to locate and rescue the two boaters still in the water. Oak Island Water Rescue also contacted the civilian boat and retrieved the other two boaters and the dog.

Within 15 minutes of the initial call, all four boaters and the dog were brought back to shore. They were placed in the care of Brunswick County EMS for evaluation and treatment of minor or non-life-threatening injuries.

The town says the boat, a 19-foot Carolina Skiff, remains lodged in the sandbar area of Lockwoods Folly Inlet and should be considered a navigational hazard until it is professionally removed.

Boaters are urged to avoid the area with caution. If the boat becomes dislodged and washes ashore, beachgoers should not touch or interact with it.

The response included Oak Island Water Rescue, U.S. Coast Guard Station Oak Island, Tri-Beach Volunteer Fire Department, Brunswick County EMS, the Oak Island Police Department and the Oak Island Fire Department.

The town is also reminding boaters to have U.S. Coast Guard-approved life jackets and flotation devices for all passengers and crew in a readily accessible area, or actively worn when traveling through rough waters such as an inlet.

(ABC) — Marine scientists have discovered a record number of new species living in the depths of the world’s oceans over the past year.

A total of 1,121 new marine species were discovered in a single year, marking a “significant step” in the research needed to understand and protect the oceans, according to the scientists behind The Nippon Foundation-Nekton Ocean Census, the world’s largest mission to accelerate ocean species discovery.

The whopping number of discoveries marks a 54% jump in identifications in a single year, the researchers said.

Among the new species discovered include corals, crabs, shrimps, sea urchins and anemones — some found living at depths of more than four miles beneath the ocean surface.

The “Ghost Shark” Chimaera, a distant relative of sharks and rays, was discovered in the Coral Sea Marine Park off the coast of Queensland, Australia. Chimaeras are among the most mysterious inhabitants of the deep ocean, the researchers said. They predate dinosaurs and diverged from rays and sharks into their own distinct evolutionary lineage nearly 400 million years ago.

Symbiotic bristle worms were found living within a “glass castle” on volcanic seamounts in Japan. The “castle” is actually intricate chambers of a glass sponge, whose skeleton is made of crystalline silica.

The ribbon worm, a predator marked by striking pigmentation, was discovered close to the surface, between depths of 3 and 16 feet.

A striking new species of shrimp — the Mediterranean shrimp — was also found in a sea cave off Marseille, France, the researchers said. It is marked by a vivid orange banding and intricate appendages.

The species were identified amid 13 expeditions across some of the world’s most remote and least-explored ocean regions, as well as nine discovery workshops, the researchers said.

“This year, Ocean Census has shown what is possible when scientific ambition is matched by global collaboration at scale,” Mitsuyuku Unno, executive director of the Nippon Foundation, said in a statement. “Through expeditions reaching polar depths to tropical seas, and the science to turn samples into discoveries, this team is revealing the extraordinary richness of ocean life.”

Up to 90% of ocean species remain undiscovered, previous research has suggested.

Documenting the breadth of species living in the oceans is necessary for policymakers and marine managers to properly protect the ocean, the researchers said.

The average time between a species’ initial discovery and its formal “description” in scientific literature is historically about 13.5 years, which puts species at risk of extinction before they are even catalogued, the researchers said.

“With many species at risk of disappearing before they are even documented, we are in a race against time to understand and protect ocean life,” Michelle Taylor, head of science at Ocean Census, said in a statement. “For too long, thousands of species have remained in a scientific “limbo” because the pace of discovery couldn’t keep up.”

To address this, marine scientists are now recognizing “discovered” as a formal scientific status that can immediately be recorded.

NEW YORK (AP) — A biotech company that aims to resurrect lost creatures said Tuesday it has hatched live chicks in an artificial environment — a development that was met with mixed reviews from scientists and critics of its de-extinction mission.

Twenty-six baby chickens — ranging from a few days to several months old — were born from a 3D printed lattice structure that mimics an eggshell, according to Colossal Biosciences.

Colossal previously announced it had genetically engineered living animals to resemble extinct species, including mice with long hair like the woolly mammoth and wolf pups that take after dire wolves.

Colossal’s CEO Ben Lamm said the artificial egg technology could one day be scaled up to genetically tweak living birds to resemble New Zealand’s extinct South Island giant moa, whose eggs are 80 times the size of a chicken’s and would be difficult for any modern bird to lay.

“We wanted to build something that nature has done a pretty good job of developing and make it better and scalable and even more efficient,” Lamm said.

Independent scientists say the technology, while impressive, lacks some components to be truly considered an artificial egg. And they said the idea of reviving extinct beasts is likely impossible.

“They might be able to use this technology to help them make a genetically modified bird, but that’s just a genetically modified bird. It’s not a moa,” said evolutionary biologist Vincent Lynch with the University at Buffalo.

To hatch the chicks, Colossal scientists poured fertilized eggs into the artificial system and placed them in an incubator. They also added calcium, which is normally absorbed from the eggshell, and imaged the embryos’ development and growth in real-time.

Scientists say Colossal has designed an artificial eggshell with a membrane that allows the right amount of oxygen to get in, just like a real egg. But other components of an egg — like temporary organs that form to nourish and stabilize the growing chick and remove waste — weren’t included.

“That’s not an artificial egg because you’ve poured in all the other parts that make it an egg. It’s an artificial eggshell,” said Lynch.

In decades past, researchers have used cruder technology to create transparent eggshells that hatched chicks from plastic films or sacks. Such technologies are useful to study chicken development and glean insights that can also be applied to other mammals and even humans.

“Producing a chick from an artificial vessel is not necessarily new,” said Nicola Hemmings, who studies bird reproductive biology at the University of Sheffield. Hemmings is not part of the Colossal team.

There’s a long road ahead before Colossal attempts a moa resurrection using this artificial egg system. Scientists first need to compare ancient DNA from well-preserved moa bones to genomes of living bird species. And they need a bigger eggshell.

“We didn’t want to wait till we were ready to birth a giant moa. We actually wanted to start working on the engineering challenges for surrogacy and birth now,” Lamm said.

Even if Colossal succeeds in creating a tall bird similar to the moa, some scientists are concerned about what happens after — including how it would survive in a landscape that looks nothing like that past.

“The big challenge is, what environment is this animal going to live in?” said bioethicist Arthur Caplan with New York University’s Grossman School of Medicine.

Such de-extinction efforts may make more sense with currently endangered species, where scientists could preserve sperm and egg cells from living members to attempt to bring more back, Hemmings said.

“My personal interests lie more in preserving what we’ve got than trying to bring back what is already gone,” Hemmings said.

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) –This week’s Pet Pals are two adorable kittens up for adoption.

Feline matchmakers says these two cats are very playful and would love a home that can help them feel stimulated and get their energy out.

While they are energetic, Feline Matchmakers also says they sleep a lot and love to relax.

They can be seen by appointment after filling in an application from felinematchmakers.org. You must be over 21 and live in the Wilmington, NC area to adopt.

(CBS NEWS) — Two American nationals were arrested Sunday in Japan after one of them entered the monkey enclosure at a zoo where a baby macaque named Punch became a global internet sensation earlier this year, police said Monday.

In a statement shared with CBS News’ Japanese partner network TBS News, the Ichikawa Police Department identified the suspects as 24-year-old Reid Jahnai Dayson, who they said was a university student, and Neal Jabahri Duan, 27, who told the police he was a singer.

Dayson reportedly climbed over a fence and dropped into a dry moat surrounding the monkey exhibit at Ichikawa City Zoo outside Tokyo. Duan allegedly filmed him.

Images on social media showed a person scaling the fence in a costume that included a smiley face head with sunglasses, prompting the monkeys to scatter.

The men did not come close to the animals and were quickly apprehended by zoo officials, an official with the Ichikawa Police told the French news agency AFP.

The two men face charges of forcible obstruction of business, which they refute, the police official said.

The duo did not have formal identification with them and initially tried to lie to police about their names, the official told AFP.

Ichikawa Zoo said in a post on its X account Monday that from Tuesday, access to view the enclosure housing Punch would be restricted, with “intrusion prevention nets” installed and permanent patrols at the site getting underway. Zoo managers were also discussing banning video recording at the site, according to another post.

The zoo said “no abnormalities have been observed among the animals” following the incident.

#HangInTherePunch

The arrests come after the zoo saw a surge in domestic and international visitors driven by Punch’s viral fame. The baby monkey became an internet star earlier this year after the zoo posted photos of him clutching an IKEA plush orangutan for comfort after being rejected by his mother.

Punch was raised in an artificial environment after being born in July, and he began training to rejoin his troop earlier this year. His predicament sparked huge interest online, spawning a devoted fanbase under the hashtag #HangInTherePunch.

An unprecedented number of tourists have flocked to Japan in recent years, but some residents have become fed up by foreigners’ unruly behavior.

Last year, a Ukrainian YouTuber with more than 6.5 million subscribers was arrested after livestreaming himself trespassing in a house in the Fukushima nuclear exclusion zone, and an American content creator known as Johnny Somali was arrested in 2023 for allegedly trespassing in a construction site.

(AP) — When Australian farmer Rhys Smoker announced he’d found a live frog in a bag of lettuce, his housemates didn’t believe him.

Smoker had been preparing a steak and salad dinner on Saturday for the three people who share his house in Esperance in Western Australia state when he spotted the frog among the leaves inside the sealed plastic bag he’d bought from a supermarket, housemate Laura Jones said on Tuesday.

“He’s like, ‘Oh Bro, there’s a frog in the lettuce.’ And we’re like, ‘No, you’re taking the mick, like that’s not real,’” Jones told AP. Taking the mick is a slang term for attempting to fool someone.

Smoker brought the bag into the lounge room to show Jones and her partner Billy Le Pine.

“Obviously there’s a little frog hiding out and, yeah, we all had a little laugh about it,” Jones said.

Le Pine said they named the frog Greg before releasing it at a pond near the house.

“We thought we’d give him a wee send off tune as we played Crazy Frog for him,” Le Pine told Australian Broadcasting Corp. Crazy Frog is a Swedish CGI-animated character and Eurodance musician.

Smoker and his partner Lilli Ashby had bought the lettuce at a Woolworths supermarket in Esperance the same day Greg was discovered.

Five years ago, a shopper confronted a 3-meter-long (10-foot-long) nonvenomous diamond python on a shelf of a Woolworths supermarket in Sydney. Also in 2021, a shopper discovered a venomous pale-headed snake wrapped in plastic with lettuce in an ALDI Sydney supermarket.

Woolworths said the frog in the salad was an isolated incident and there had been no other similar cases reported. “Our teams are investigating this with our suppliers as a priority,” a Woolworths statement said.

Woolworths apologized to the household and provided a replacement bag of lettuce.

(WWAY) — Dry weather continues today with hot and humid conditions for Tuesday.

The high pressure remains anchored offshore early and middle portions of this week keeping dry… very warm and muggy weather in place. High temperatures today through Wednesday will be into the mid to upper 80s with sunshine and a few clouds. By late week… the combination of weakening high pressure… a cold front advancing toward the region and increased moisture flow will lead to a chance of some much needed showers or thunderstorms. On and off thunderstorm chances are expected for Memorial Day weekend.

WWAY FORECAST:                                              

Today: Abundant sunshine mixed with a few clouds. Warm and muggy high around 86.

Wednesday: Mostly sunny. A hot & humid afternoon with high temperatures into the upper 80s.

Thursday: A few showers and thunderstorms. Highs into the upper 80s.

(CBS) — The death toll from the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has risen to 131 from 513 suspected cases and there has been one death in neighboring Uganda, health authorities said Tuesday.

The head of the World Health Organization said he was “deeply concerned” about the outbreak.

“Early on Sunday, I declared a public health emergency of international concern,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told the World Health Assembly in Geneva. “I did not do this lightly. … I’m deeply concerned about the scale and speed of the epidemic.”

One American doctor working with an aid group in Congo has tested positive, and several others are believed to have been exposed.

The outbreak is of particular concern to global health officials in part because the virus detected is a less common strain.

The virus behind this outbreak is the Bundibugyo virus, health officials have confirmed. This is only the third known outbreak of this virus, and there are no vaccines or treatments.

Ebola vaccine targets Zaire strain

Ebola disease is caused by orthoebolaviruses, of which there are multiple species.

Three of the viruses have been known to cause large Ebola disease outbreaks, according to the WHO. They are Ebola (or Zaire) virus, which has been the most common; Sudan virus; and Bundibugyo virus, the one identified in this outbreak.

The only approved vaccine and treatments are for the Zaire strain. Because each virus species has different genetic material, they need different vaccines.

There are some other vaccines in development, but nothing that targets Bundibugyo virus is close to being ready for use, said Dr. Céline Gounder, a CBS News medical correspondent and infectious diseases specialist who deployed in the response to a past Ebola outbreak.

2 previous Bundibugyo outbreaks

Before this outbreak, there were two known outbreaks caused by the Bundibugyo virus, and both were smaller than the current one.

The first discovery of the Bundibugyo strain occurred in the Bundibugyo District in Uganda in 2007. There were 149 cases and 37 deaths in that outbreak, The Associated Press reported.

The second known outbreak was in Congo in 2012, with 57 cases and 29 deaths reported, according to the AP.

Because there have been fewer outbreaks of this virus, there is far less data about how it behaves than for the Zaire virus, which has been around since 1976 and caused dozens of outbreaks, Gounder said.

Symptoms of Ebola disease

Bundibugyo virus disease, the type of Ebola disease caused by the Bundibugyo virus, is severe and often fatal. The virus spreads from person to person through direct contact with bodily fluids of someone who is sick or has died from the disease.

The early symptoms can often be mistaken for other illnesses, the WHO says. They include:

• fever
• fatigue
• muscle pain
• headache
• sore throat

Those can progress to other symptoms, including:

• vomiting
• diarrhea
• abdominal pain
• rash
• organ dysfunction
• internal or external bleeding (less frequent)

The fatality rate of Bundibugyo virus disease, based on the past two outbreaks, is about 30 to 50%, the WHO says. While still highly deadly, this is lower than the fatality rate of the Zaire strain, which can be up to 90%.

“Early intensive supportive care including rehydration and treatment of specific symptoms, can improve survival,” the WHO says. “Seeking early care can be lifesaving.”

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Former Los Angeles police detective Mark Fuhrman, who was convicted of lying during testimony at the O.J. Simpson murder trial, has died. He was 74.

Fuhrman was one of the first two police detectives sent to investigate the 1994 killings of Simpson’s ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend, Ronald Goldman, in Los Angeles. He reported finding a bloody glove at Simpson’s home but his credibility came under attack during the trial as the defense raised the prospect of racial bias.

Under cross-examination, Fuhrman testified that he had never made anti-Black racial slurs in the past decade, but a recording showed he had done so repeatedly.

Lynn Acebedo, the chief deputy coroner in Kootenai County, Idaho, said that Fuhrman died May 12. The county does not release the cause of death as a rule.

Alan Dershowitz, a prominent lawyer and law professor who was a legal strategist on Simpson’s defense “Dream Team,” said Fuhrman was a “much better detective than he was a witness.”

“He’s very smart, and you know, a very, very aggressive detective. Ultimately his actions helped us win the O.J. case because of his use of the ‘n’ word,” Dershowitz said Monday evening. “I got to know him later, after it was all over, and we had a cordial relationship.”

Fuhrman retired from the Los Angeles Police Department after Simpson’s 1995 acquittal. He subsequently moved to Idaho with his family and set up a 20-acre (eight-hectare) farm, raising chickens, goats, sheep and llamas.

In 1996, Fuhrman was charged with perjury and pleaded no contest. He later became a TV and radio commentator and wrote the book “Murder in Brentwood” about the killings.

A criminal-court jury found Simpson, a former star NFL running back and actor, not guilty of murder in 1995, but a separate civil trial jury found him liable in 1997 for the deaths and ordered him to pay $33.5 million to relatives of Brown and Goldman. He served nine years in prison on unrelated charges and died in Las Vegas of prostate cancer in 2024 at the age of 76.

Kato Kaelin, a friend of Brown who also testified in the murder trial, wrote in a post on X that he wanted to respectfully acknowledge Fuhrman’s death and that he hopes Fuhrman’s loved ones can find peace.

“While we were never close personally, our lives were indelibly linked through our roles in the O.J. Simpson trial over thirty years ago. It was a deeply complex and painful chapter for everyone involved, but any loss of life is a time for reflection and solemnity,” Kaelin wrote.

Fuhrman’s father left when he was 7 years old, and Fuhrman often cared for his younger brother while his mother worked. As an adult, he joined the Marines and then the Los Angeles Police Department.

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — A ceremony held Monday, May 18th at the Wilmington Police Department honored the law enforcement officers, deputies and troopers who lost their lives while serving communities across the Cape Fear region.

The annual memorial ceremony, held at Wilmington Police Headquarters on Bess Street, brought together officers, family members and local leaders in a solemn tribute to the fallen and a reminder of the dangers law enforcement officers face each day.

“I think it’s an honor to the officers who have fallen and to their families,” said retired Wayne Norris. “I think it’s showing respect. You don’t want to forget ’em.”

Norris, who spent 31 years with the Wilmington Police Department, said the ceremony also served as a personal reminder of officers he knew who were killed in the line of duty.

“There was an officer named Nunalee back in the ’70s who was killed on Wrightsville Avenue in an ambush,” Norris said. “I was close to Nunalee. It was tough, it took a while, I’ve never gotten over it, but I’ve accepted it.”

Officer James Nunalee Sr. was among 18 officers, deputies and troopers honored during the ceremony.

Dozens of officers from the Wilmington and Carolina Beach police departments, along with deputies from the New Hanover and Brunswick County Sheriff’s Offices and troopers with the North Carolina State Highway Patrol, attended the event to pay their respects.

Family members of fallen officers and deputies also participated in the ceremony, which is held annually during or shortly after National Law Enforcement Week, held this year between May 10th and 16th.

The memorial comes as Wilmington police have recently responded to several high-profile incidents, including two downtown stabbings, an officer-involved shooting, and an incident Sunday involving a suspect accused of punching an officer after stealing and crashing a fire truck.

Wilmington Police Chief Ryan Zuidema said those situations reflect the unpredictable and dangerous nature of law enforcement work.

“There’s obviously a lot of unknowns. It’s a very dangerous job for the men and women,” Zuidema said. “That is certainly demonstrated here tonight, how dangerous this job can be. But we want to make sure we provide all of our officers the best training we can, the best equipment we can and make sure that they have the support they need to go out and do their job each and every day.”

Norris said serving in law enforcement is more than a profession.

“Most definitely a calling,” he said. “It’s not something you just come in looking for a job. It’s got to be a calling. And I think it’s a special breed of men and women that receives the call.”

Zuidema also noted the ceremony comes as the department prepares for the busy summer season, with large crowds expected across Wilmington and the Cape Fear region during Memorial Day weekend and throughout the coming months.

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — A new pop-up park in downtown Wilmington is set to officially open Friday, offering residents a temporary gathering space as part of the nation’s upcoming 250th anniversary celebration.

RALEIGH, NC (WWAY) — Gov. Josh Stein has proclaimed May 18–22, 2026, as North Carolina Heat Safety Week, highlighting the growing risks of extreme heat and encouraging residents to take steps to protect themselves during the state’s heat season, which runs from May 1 through September 30.

The proclamation aims to raise awareness about the health dangers associated with high temperatures and to spotlight state and local programs designed to help communities respond to extreme heat.

“Being resilient to extreme heat means understanding how it can affect you and your community,” Stein said. “All North Carolinians can take actions to protect themselves and their families, employers can protect their workers, and local governments can protect their residents.”

State officials pointed to rising heat-related health impacts across North Carolina. In 2025, more than 5,700 heat-related emergency department visits were recorded, and last July ranked as the second-warmest July in state history.

Experts say vulnerable populations—including outdoor workers, older adults, infants and children, pregnant people, athletes, individuals experiencing homelessness, and those with underlying health conditions—face the highest risk during extreme heat events.

State agencies, including the Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) and the State Resilience Office, are expanding efforts to help local governments prepare for and respond to extreme heat. These include guidance for establishing cooling centers, public outreach tools, and the Heat Action Plan Toolkit, developed in partnership with Duke University’s Heat Policy Innovation Hub and other organizations. Eighteen local governments have completed the Planning for Extreme Heat Cohort program to date.

Public health leaders also emphasized prevention and awareness. Symptoms of heat-related illness can include heavy sweating, dizziness, headache, nausea, muscle cramps, and fainting.

“We encourage everyone to sign up for heat health alerts, know the symptoms of heat-related illness and protect your health this summer,” said NC Health and Human Services Secretary Dev Sangvai.

As part of its ongoing response, NCDHHS is also operating the NC Heat Health Alert System, which sends free email alerts when dangerous heat conditions are expected. Residents can sign up to receive notifications based on their county.

In addition, Operation Fan Heat Relief is currently underway through October 31, 2026, providing free fans to eligible older adults through local aging agencies to help residents stay cool during the hottest months of the year.

CAROLINA BEACH, NC (WWAY) — Families of fallen veterans gathered Monday off the North Carolina coast to honor their loved ones during a memorial at sea, giving nine service members a final resting place beneath the Atlantic Ocean.

The ceremony was part of Veterans Memorial Reef, an artificial reef project that combines memorials with marine conservation efforts. A few miles offshore, the cremated remains of nine veterans were lowered to the ocean floor inside concrete memorial structures designed to create habitat for marine life while serving as permanent tributes.

As the memorials were lowered into the water, family members aboard nearby boats held individual services honoring each veteran.

Thomas Marcinowski, founder and CEO of Veterans Memorial Reef, said the ocean holds a special significance for many veterans, making it a meaningful final resting place.

“A lot of veterans want to be placed at sea, so this is a way of them not only getting closure, but getting them out onto the ocean where they wanted to be. The other part of that is veterans continue to serve the country. They are now on an artificial reef where you are going to provide growth, fish, everything else to keep serving the nation,” said Marcninowski.

Among those honoring a loved one was Martha Gabriel, whose father, Wade Huffstetler, served in the Navy during World War II. She said the memorial reflected both his service and his connection to the water.

“He would have loved this because of the Navy aspect and the water,” said Gabriel.

Marcinowski, a U.S. veteran himself, said the reef also serves another purpose: preserving the stories and legacies of veterans who may not have surviving family members.

“We have veterans out there who had no family that we’ve placed out there that will never be forgotten for what they did for their country,” said Marcinowski.

One of those veterans was John Fryar, who served during World War II and the Korean War.

Steve Muir with the Saint James American Legion Post said honoring Fryar reflected the group’s mission to ensure no veteran is forgotten.

“We wanted to see, based on his service, that he had a proper burial, and he did. That was one of his last wishes, several days before he died. I was with him, and he said, ‘I want to be buried at sea,’ so we made sure it happened,” said Muir.

This year’s event honored veterans who served in World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. Organizers said this year’s ceremony also carried added significance, celebrating America’s 250th anniversary.

The veterans’ legacies now live on beneath the waters of the Atlantic, where their memorials will continue serving both as places of remembrance and as part of a growing marine ecosystem.

WILMINGTON, N.C. (WWAY) — The City of Wilmington is continuing efforts to improve roadway safety this week with the installation of new speed bumps along Burnett Boulevard as part of its broader Vision Zero initiative.

City crews began work Monday to install nine new speed bumps along Burnett Boulevard between Sunset Avenue and Virginia Avenue. The project is expected to take approximately two weeks to complete.

Construction work will take place daily between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. However, road closures along Burnett Boulevard are expected to remain in place overnight and on weekends throughout the project.

The traffic-calming measures are part of Wilmington’s Vision Zero strategy, a long-term effort focused on eliminating traffic fatalities and severe injuries across the city.

The city’s Vision Zero plan sets a goal of reducing all traffic deaths and serious injuries to zero by 2036.

 

 

 

(WWAY) — Debate continues over the proposed Eastwood Road overpass project as supporters and opponents weigh in on what could become one of the largest transportation projects in the Wilmington area.

According to the North Carolina Department of Transportation, the estimated $81 million project would carry Eastwood Road over Military Cutoff Road, separating the two major corridors and eliminating the existing intersection. Transportation officials say the project is intended to improve traffic flow and reduce congestion at one of the region’s busiest intersections.

Still, opposition to the proposal remains. Some community members have questioned whether the project would significantly improve traffic conditions and have raised concerns about potential impacts during construction.

Among those concerns is the timing of the project alongside planned bridge replacement work in the Wrightsville Beach area. Susan Bulluck, chair of the Wrightsville Beach Chamber of Commerce, said she worries overlapping projects could create challenges because Eastwood Road serves as the primary route on and off the island.

“These brides will be built earlier and hopefully take less time, but they are scheduled to happen at the same time as the overpass, the hardscape,” said Bulluck.

Now, the Greater Wilmington Chamber of Commerce is voicing support for the proposal, calling it an important investment for the region.

Natalie English, president and CEO of the Greater Wilmington Chamber of Commerce, said the project addresses both traffic and safety concerns at a heavily traveled intersection.

“It is a critical component of the state’s transportation improvement plan, and it’s at an intersection that is one of the top 5% in the state of North Carolina in need from a congestion and safety perspective,” said English.

PENDER COUNTY, NC (WWAY) — Pender County Schools is once again working to ensure local students have access to nutritious meals throughout the summer months through its 2026 Summer Meals Program.

In partnership with the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction and No Kid Hungry North Carolina, the program provides free breakfast and lunch for children and teens while school is out of session.

Beginning Wednesday, June 3, 2026, and running weekly through August 12, families can pick up seven days’ worth of meals every Wednesday from 12:30 to 2 p.m. at six designated locations: South Topsail Elementary, C.F. Pope Elementary, Malpass Corner Elementary, Rocky Point Elementary, Atkinson Town Hall, and Maple Hill Presbyterian Church.

No application is required to receive meals, though officials encourage families to pre-register online or complete a form at pickup.

The initiative is part of a statewide effort to combat food insecurity and ensure students return to school ready to learn.

No Kid Hungry North Carolina, an initiative of Share Our Strength based at UNC-Chapel Hill, has worked since 2011 to expand access to healthy meals for children across the state. More information is available on the organization’s website.