North Carolina
NC man wins lottery, fights to is get his money after it was kept to pay debt he didn’t owe
TIMBERLAKE, N.C. (WTVD) — A Timberlake man won the lottery but couldn’t immediately collect his winnings. Carl McCain tried his luck in the November 4 Mega Millions drawing and matched four numbers. He says, “It was a four times winner, so it was $800 that I won.”
Because of the size of the prize, McCain had to travel from his Timberlake home to the North Carolina Education Lottery’s regional office in Raleigh to claim his winnings. “I filled the form out and give them my ticket, and I sit down and wait,” McCain said.
Instead of receiving a check, McCain says he was handed paperwork explaining that under the North Carolina State Lottery Act, if a winner owes a debt to state or local agencies, lottery winnings, minus taxes, are applied to that debt. McCain says a lottery employee told him, “These two counties you owe money are Lenoir County and Wayne County. I said, well, I never been there before. I don’t know anybody there.”
McCain says he contacted both counties and provided his name and birthdate, but was told there was no debt. However, when he gave his Social Security number, he says he was told, “Another man’s number name is hitting off your social security number.”
McCain says that was the first time he had ever heard of the issue. He wanted more information, but says he was told it couldn’t be released. He says the counties told him they would look into it. After waiting more than a month with no answers, McCain says he called several more times and was told officials were still investigating.
That’s when he decided to contact ABC11 Troubleshooter Diane Wilson. McCain says to Wilson, “I told my wife, I said, you know, we need to call Diane Wilson. I said, because I seen her get refrigerators and washing machines so why can’t she get $800 for me?”
ABC11 Troubleshooter reached out to the North Carolina Education Lottery, which confirmed McCain’s winnings were processed properly and sent to Lenoir County. When Wilson contacted representatives in Lenoir County, they said they had been looking into the issue for more than a month and were still working on it. Shortly after Wilson’s inquiry, McCain received good news. He says, “They erased my social security number out of their databank.”
Within days, McCain received a check for his lottery winnings, minus the required taxes. He later told Wilson, “I was glad that you intervened and came to my rescue.”
Lenoir County says the debt tied to McCain’s Social Security number dates back more than ten years and may have been a case of mistaken identity. It’s still unclear how the error occurred. The bottom line: McCain finally got his lottery winnings and says he’s still trying his luck.
SEE ALSO | NC customer’s Wi-Fi hotspot swap leads to $1,700 bill, ABC11 Troubleshooter gets customer his refund
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North Carolina
2026 primary turnout report released for eastern NC counties; see your county’s numbers
Here are the voter turnout numbers for the 2026 primary election, according to the North Carolina State Board of Elections.
Hyde County had the highest voter turnout, while Onslow County had the lowest turnout. Check out what the voter turnout in your county was below:
BERTIE COUNTY
Ballots Cast:
31.85% (3,911 out of 12,280)
CARTERET COUNTY
Ballots Cast:
29.06% (16,543 out of 56,931)
CRAVEN COUNTY
Ballots Cast:
18.63% (14,119 out of 75,778)
DUPLIN COUNTY
Ballots Cast:
21.93% (6,981 out of 31,832)
EDGECOMBE COUNTY
Ballots Cast:
18.16% (6,428 out of 35,396)
GREENE COUNTY
Ballots Cast:
19.70% (2,147 out of 10,900)
HYDE COUNTY
Ballots Cast:
37.27% (1,123 out of 3,013)
JONES COUNTY
Ballots Cast:
25.91% (1,805 out of 6,966)
LENOIR COUNTY
Ballots Cast:
16.73% (6,251 out of 37,371)
MARTIN COUNTY
Ballots Cast:
17.61% (2,858 out of 16,228)
ONSLOW COUNTY
Ballots Cast:
11.44% (14,816 out of 129,537)
PAMLICO COUNTY
Ballots Cast:
24.03% (2,446 out of 10,180)
PITT COUNTY
Ballots Cast:
15.71% (19,429 out of 123,705)
TYRRELL COUNTY
Ballots Cast:
30.49% (723 out of 2,371)
WASHINGTON COUNTY
Ballots Cast:
28.66% (2,312 out of 8,067)
WAYNE COUNTY
Ballots Cast:
21.49% (16,408 out of 76,358)
Wednesday, March 4, 2026 6:41PM
RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) — North Carolina schools and businesses took part in a statewide tornado drill Wednesday morning as part of Severe Weather Awareness Week.
The National Weather Service led the drill at 9:30 a.m., broadcasting it on NOAA Weather Radio and the Emergency Alert System. Schools, workplaces and households across the state were encouraged to join in.
The National Weather Service didn’t issue a follow up alert to mark the end of the drill. Instead, each school or business wrapped up once they felt they had practiced the procedures thoroughly.
Wednesday’s drill also replaced the regular weekly NOAA Weather Radio test.
SEE | New warning for parents amid new ‘fire-breathing’ social media trend
Make sure to download the ABC 11 Mobile App ABC11 North Carolina Apps for Connected TV, Mobile News, Echo
Copyright © 2026 WTVD-TV. All Rights Reserved.
Nida Allam in 2022; Rep. Valerie Foushee (D-NC) in 2025.
Jonathan Drake/Reuters; Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
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Jonathan Drake/Reuters; Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
Incumbent Rep. Valerie Foushee holds a narrow lead over challenger Nida Allam in the Democratic primary for North Carolina’s 4th Congressional district as ballots continue to be counted.
In a race seen as an early test of whether Democratic voters desire generational change within the party, Foushee holds a lead of just over 1,000 votes with 99% of results in so far, according to the Associated Press.
Under state law, provisional votes will be counted in the coming days in a district that includes Durham and Chapel Hill. If the election results end up within a 1% margin, Allam could request a recount.
Successfully ousting an incumbent lawmaker is often extremely difficult and rare. However, there have been recent upsets in races as some voters are calling for new leaders and several sitting members of Congress face primary challengers this cycle.
Allam, a 32-year-old Durham County Commissioner, is running to the left of Foushee, 69, framing her candidacy as part of a broader rejection of longtime Democratic norms.
On the campaign trail, Allam ran on an anti-establishment message, pledging to be a stronger fighter than Foushee in Congress, both in standing up against President Trump’s agenda and when pushing for more ambitious policy.
“North Carolina is a purple state that often gets labeled red, but we’re not a red state,” she told NPR in an interview last month, emphasizing the need to address affordability concerns. “We are a state of working-class folks who just want their elected officials to champion the issues that are impacting them.”
She drew a contrast with the congresswoman on immigration, voicing support for abolishing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Foushee has declined to go that far, advocating instead for ICE to be defunded and for broader reforms to the federal immigration system.
Allam also clashed with Foushee over U.S. policy towards Israel. As a vocal opponent of Israel’s war in Gaza, Allam swore off campaign donations from pro-Israel lobbying groups, such as AIPAC, and repeatedly criticized Foushee for previously accepting such funds.
Though Foushee announced last year that she would not accept AIPAC donations this cycle, she and Allam continued to spar over the broader role of outside spending in the race.
Their matchup comes four years after the candidates first squared off in 2022, when Allam lost to Foushee in what became the most expensive primary in the state’s history, with outside groups spending more than $3.8 million.
However, this year is poised to break that record. Outside groups have reported spending more than $4.4 million on the primary matchup, according to Federal Election Commission filings.
WUNC’s Colin Campbell contributed to this report.
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