VALDESE, N.C. – A firefighter was injured while battling a house fire in Burke County on Saturday night.

Firefighters responded to Mountain Ridge Circle in Valdese around 7:15 p.m. Crews quickly initiated an attack to put out the fire while also requesting more units to respond for additional fire suppression and manpower.

One firefighter was injured at the scene and transported to a local hospital for minor injuries.

Units from the Valdese Fire Department, George Hildebran Fire/Rescue, Triple Community Fire Department, Icard Township Fire/Rescue, Salem Fire/Rescue, and the North Carolina Fire Department responded to help put the fire out.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

Check out the Gaston County Mugshots from Saturday, April 18th.

*All are presumed innocent until proven guilty.

Check out the Mecklenburg County Mugshots from Saturday, April 18th.

*All are presumed innocent until proven guilty.

 

 

Major change is coming for your Sunday across the WCCB Charlotte viewing area. A strong cold front is set to move through early tomorrow morning, bringing scattered showers and a major temperature drop. This evening will remain nice after a nearly record warm afternoon. By tomorrow morning, winds shift out of the north as a few passing showers are possible through the late morning, but won’t last long as they cross the region from west to east.

Sunday afternoon will be near 20 degrees colder than today as cooler air funnels in during the day. A mix of sun and clouds will be common after rain works out, with Sunday evening being dry, although a bit chilly with the breeze added in. Monday morning will be the coldest in a while with lows around 40 in the Piedmont before afternoon highs rebound back to the low 70s. Tuesday will be the same before the warming trend kicks in towards the end of next week. We are back to summer temperatures and sunny skies by the end of the work week.

No drought relief this week with a statewide burn ban is in effect for both Carolinas as the driest start to a year on record continues. The good news is there are signs that by the end of April we could see a change in the pattern that may bring a return to more consistent rain chances. Make sure to stick with the WCCB weather team for the latest!

Saturday Night: Partly Cloudy. Low: 59° Wind: SW 5-10

Sunday: Scattered AM showers. High: 69°. Wind: NW 10-20

Sunday Night: Partly cloudy. Low: 41°. Wind: Light

Monday: Sunny. High: 83°. Wind: W 5-10

 

16th Governors Awards Arrivals

Natalie Portman arrives at the 16th Governors Awards on Sunday, Nov. 16, 2025, at The Ray Dolby Ballroom in Los Angeles. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)

Natalie Portman is expecting her third child at age 44.

The actor told Harper’s Bazaar she is “very grateful” to be welcoming a child with partner Tanguy Destable, 45, a French electronic music producer known by his stage name, Tepr.

“Tanguy and I are very excited,” she told the outlet. “I’m just very grateful. I know it’s such a privilege and a miracle.”

The actor shares two older children, son Aleph, 14, and daughter Amalia, 9, with ex-husband Benjamin Millepied. Portman and Millepied divorced in 2024.

A publicist for Portman, Keleigh Morgan, confirmed news of the pregnancy but did not give further details.

Portman has spoken about how she grew up the child of a fertility doctor.

“I grew up hearing about how hard it is to get pregnant,” she told Harper’s Bazaar. “I have so many people I love who’ve had such a hard time with it that I want to be respectful around that as well. It’s such a beautiful, joyous thing, and it’s also not an easy thing.”

She also said she is feeling good physically, with “more energy than I thought I might.”

Portman’s upcoming projects include Cathy Yan’s “The Gallerist,” about an unusual art world caper, and Lena Dunham’s “Good Sex” on Netflix.

LENOIR, N.C. – Two people are dead, including one child, after a crash involving an alleged drunk driver in Caldwell County on Friday night, according to the North Carolina State Highway Patrol.

It happened around 8:45 p.m. on U.S. 64 at Union Baptist Road in Lenoir.

According to the highway patrol, a Ford F-150, driven by 20-year-old Matthew Frye, was traveling east on U.S. 64 when the vehicle crossed the centerline and collided with a Honda Civic. The Ford then struck a guardrail and a utility pole.

Shortly after the collision, a Ford F-250 collided with the Honda in the roadway.

The Honda driver, 78-year-old Pink Lackey, died at the scene. An 11-year-old passenger, sitting in the front seat of the Honda, also died from the crash.

The F-250 driver was not hurt.

Speed and impairment are believed to be contributing factors in the initial crash, the highway patrol said.

Troopers found Frye, who was not injured, in a wooded area nearby and took him into custody.

Frye has been charged with two counts of felony death by motor vehicle, driving while impaired, drive after consuming under the age of 21, and improper passing. Additional charges are pending, troopers said.

The 2026 summer travel season could be full of headaches.

“Supply and demand are the undefeated champions of business and economics,” CNN Business’ David Goldman said.

Jet fuel prices have rocketed upwards since military action against Iran began, and travelers are going to be picking up part of the tab.

“This is a dire situation for airlines if they don’t cut flights and raise prices for fliers,” Goldman said.

The International Energy Agency says Europe has roughly six weeks of jet fuel on hand, and officials say if oil supplies remain stuck in the Strait of Hormuz, some planes could be grounded.

“The price of jet fuel is up north of 40% since this war started and airlines are starting to cut flights,” Chief Market Strategist at B. Riley Financial Art Hogan said.

The ripple effect could also produce other travel-related problems.

“Routes that are going between two cities that aren’t necessarily hubs, you might have to go around, get inconvenienced,” Goldman said. “You might have fewer nonstop flights and more delays as well.”

Analysts say it may be a while before things return to normal.

“Once the straits open up, it takes time to unclog the 800 tankers that are there, get them to the places they need to be and get the refineries back open and processing all the fuel” Hogan said.

Aptopix Lebanon Israel Iran War

Assem Abdallah reacts as he enters his friend apartment destroyed in a Israeli airstrike in Kfar Roumman, southern Lebanon, Friday, April 17, 2026, following a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

CAIRO (AP) — The standoff over the Strait of Hormuz quickly escalated again Saturday as Iran reversed its reopening of the crucial waterway and fired on ships attempting to pass, in retaliation after the United States pressed ahead with its blockade choking off Iranian ports.

Confusion over the strait, through which roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil passes, threatened to deepen the energy crisis roiling the global economy and push the two countries toward renewed conflict. The ceasefire between them is due to run out by mid-next week, and Pakistani mediators were working to put together a new round of direct negotiations to keep the truce going.

Iran’s joint military command said Saturday that “control of the Strait of Hormuz has returned to its previous state … under strict management and control of the armed forces.” It warned that it would continue to block transit through the strait as long as the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports remained in effect.

Revolutionary Guard gunboats on Saturday opened fire on a tanker transiting the strait and an unknown projectile hit a container vessel, damaging some of the containers, the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said without identifying the vessels. TankerTrackers.com reported that two Indian-flagged vessels were forced to turn around after being fired on by Iran, including a supertanker carrying Iraqi oil.

The renewed escalation resulted from attempts by both sides to maintain leverage amid negotiations over an ultimate deal to end the war and address Iran’s nuclear program.

For the United States, the blockade is a key tool to keep up pressure on Iran, short of resuming bombardment. By cutting off much of Iran’s exports and imports, it could strangle an already crippled economy.

For Iran, closure of the strait — imposed after the U.S. and Israel launched their surprise war on the country on Feb. 28 — has proven to be perhaps its most powerful weapon in the confrontation, causing oil prices to spike, threatening the world economy and inflicting political pain on Trump.

Progress threatens to unravel

On Friday, Iran announced the reopening of the strait to commercial vessels after a 10-day truce was sealed between Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon. The reopening triggered a fall in oil prices. Iran’s closure of the strait since has triggered an energy crisis that has roiled the global economy.

U.S. President Donald Trump, however, said that even with the reopening, the American blockade “will remain in full force” until Tehran reaches a deal with the U.S. Trump imposed the blockade, halting all shipping to and from Iranian ports as the ceasefire between Iran and the U.S was announced last week to keep pressure on Iran to make a deal in Pakistan-brokered talks to end almost seven weeks of war.

His comments triggered immediate outcry from Iranian officials, calling the blockade a violation that would prompt a re-closure of the strait.

“Americans are risking the international community, risking the global economy through these, I can say, miscalculations,” referring to the blockade, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh told the Associated Press on Saturday.

“Everybody must understand to what extent American side is risking the whole ceasefire package,” he said, speaking after a diplomatic forum in Antalya, Turkey.

Ebrahim Azizi, head of the Iranian parliament’s National Security Commission, said that the strait was “returning to the status quo,” which he had earlier described as ships requiring Iranian naval authorization and toll payment before transiting.

A data firm, Kpler, said movement through the strait remained confined to corridors requiring Iran’s approval.

U.S. forces have sent 21 ships back to Iran since the blockade began on Monday, U.S. Central Command said on X.

Pakistan pushing for progress toward new deal

The renewed standoff over the strait came hours after Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar told the forum in Antalya that his country’s diplomats were working to “bridge” differences between the US. and Iran.

Pakistani officials were fanning out for talks with senior players. Its army chief met senior Iranian officials in Tehran while its prime minister held talks in Antalya with Turkey’s president and Qatar’s emir. Pakistan is expected to host a second round of negotiations between Iran and the U.S. early next week.

But Khatibzadeh said the Iranians were not ready for a new round of face-to-face talks with the U.S. because the Americans “have not abandoned their maximalist position.”

He also said Iran will not hand over its stock of 970 pounds (440 kilograms) of enriched uranium to the United States, calling the idea “a non-starter.” Khatibzadeh did not address other proposals for what to do with the material, saying only, “we are ready to address any concerns.”

On Friday, Trump said the U.S. will go into Iran and “get all the nuclear dust,” referring to the enriched uranium, which is believed to be buried under nuclear sites badly damaged by U.S. military strikes last year.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei issued defiant remarks on Saturday, saying Iran’s navy stands “ready to inflict bitter defeats on its enemies.”

In a message celebrating the anniversary of the establishment of Iran’s army, he hailed Iran’s drone strikes that targeted Israel and the U.S. interests across the region during the past seven weeks of war. Khamenei has bot been seen in public since he was elevated to supreme leader after his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed in Israel’s opening barrage of the war on Feb. 28.

Questions linger about Lebanon truce

French President Emmanuel Macron said a French soldier was killed and three others injured on Saturday morning during an attack on U.N. peacekeepers in southern Lebanon. “Everything suggests that responsibility for this attack lies with Hezbollah,” Macron wrote on social media.

There was no immediate comment from Hezbollah.

This week’s declaration of a ceasefire in Lebanon was seen as a boost to efforts for an Iran agreement. Pakistani Foreign Minister Dar said fighting between Israel and Hezbollah had been a key sticking point in U.S.-Iran talks last weekend in Islamabad.

Still, it was unclear to what extent Hezbollah would abide by a truce it did not play a role in negotiating, especially when it leaves Israeli troops occupying a stretch of southern Lebanon.

In Beirut, displaced families began moving toward southern Lebanon and Beirut’s southern suburbs despite warnings by officials not to return to their homes until it became clear whether the ceasefire would hold.

The war, which began with U.S. and Israeli strikes on Feb. 28, has killed at least 3,000 people in Iran, more than 2,290 in Lebanon, 23 in Israel and more than a dozen in Gulf Arab states. Thirteen U.S. service members have also been killed.

LONDON (AP) — A life jacket worn by a passenger on RMS Titanic as she escaped the sinking steamship on a lifeboat sold at auction on Saturday for 670,00 pounds ($906,000).

The flotation device was worn by Laura Mabel Francatelli, a first-class passenger on the doomed ocean liner, and is signed by her and other survivors from the same lifeboat.

It was the star among items in a sale of Titanic memorabilia by Henry Aldridge & Son auctioneers in Devizes, western England, and sold to an unidentified telephone bidder for well over the presale estimate of between 250,000 and 350,000 pounds.

A seat cushion from one of the Titanic lifeboats sold at the same auction for 390,000 pounds ($527,000) to the owners of two Titanic museums in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, and Branson, Missouri.

The prices include an auction-house fee known as the buyer’s premium.

“These record-breaking prices illustrate the continuing interest in the Titanic story, and the respect for the passengers and crew whose stories are immortalized by these items of memorabilia,” auctioneer Andrew Aldridge said.

Billed as the world’s most luxurious ocean liner and described as “practically unsinkable,” the Titanic hit an iceberg off Newfoundland during its maiden voyage from England to New York. It sank within hours on April 15, 1912. Some 1,500 of the 2,200 passengers and crew died.

The Titanic is still a subject of worldwide fascination, in part because of the range of passengers aboard the ship, from paupers to plutocrats.

Francatelli was traveling with her employer, fashion designer Lucy Duff Gordon, and Lucy’s husband Cosmo Duff Gordon. All three survived in the ship’s lifeboat No. 1, which was launched carrying 12 people despite having capacity for 40. Its failure to pick up survivors from the frigid water became a source of controversy.

The record auction price for a piece of Titanic memorabilia is 1.56 million pounds (almost $2 million at the time) paid in 2024 for a gold pocket watch given to the captain of RMS Carpathia, the ship that rescued 700 Titanic survivors.

The South Carolina Forestry Commission is issuing a statewide burn ban.

That includes all outdoor burning like campfires and burning yard waste.

Officials say the move comes amid particularly dangerous mixes of elevated wildfire risk factors throughout the weekend, along with those escalating drought conditions.

That ban will remain in effect until further notice.

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