Transcripts For WJLA ABC7 News At 5 20150916

Harrington. No facial expression whatsoever. The next Court Appearance is set for the 30th of september. In charlottesville, jeff goldberg, abc7 news. Leon thank you, jeff. Now police first identified Jesse Matthew as a suspect in Hannah Grahams disappearance about a year ago. He was arrested in that case september 24. Five days later, police announced a forensic link between graham and harrington cases but matthew wasnt charged in the harrington case until last night. Heehaws convicted of three counts in an assault case in Fairfax County in 2005. Alison in other news now. Today marks two years since shots rang out at the Washington Navy yard. It also marks the deadline for the families of the 12 People Killed by a Government Contractor to file any lawsuit against the wrongful death. Sick families filed multimillion dollar lawsuits in the past two weeks. The company thatover saw the work should have known about the violent outburst before the shooting. Also today new developments. In just the last hour yeah about the cases of Food Poisoning at a trendy d. C. Restaurant. The City Department of health says as many as 150 people could have fallen ill after eating there. Sam ford is live outside the restaurant in northwest. Sam, what caused all of this . Sam according to the Health Department, one or two items on the menu. The restaurant in this part of d. C. Has been shut down for six days because of this scare. The Health Department said today the likely source were truffle fries and mushroom croquets. They confirmed ten cases of salmonella. Another 60 people were sick from the foodborn illness and they are affecting the investigating the effect on another 150 people were exposed. This comes after report from the Health Department from people in d. C. And five states who reported eating and getting sick. The Health Department had confidence to allow the restaurant to reopen today. The director told reporters the investigators found no salmonella in the restaurant. Rather in the people who had eaten at the restaurant. They still dont know how it got there. We dont have anything to trace it to particular employee. We have done observations of food handling practices at the establishment. We have enter into a plan of agreement with the particular establishment that includes a number of things they will do related to the employee training food handling processes and the like. Sam reporting from northwest washington. Sam ford. Leon thank you. One week from today pope francis will be in america. Today, expenses went up around part of the University Campus to prepare for his arrival there. More than 25,000 people are expected to go there. They want to be there for the National Shrine for the next week mass happening there. But its just one, one stop rather on a whirlwind 48hour trip to the nations capitol. Pope francis will arrive at joint base andrews tuesday afternoon. Then it will settle in on massachusetts avenue where he will stay while he is in town. For many people, i think it will turn out to see him the way they would to see beyonce or somebody. Leon his big event beginning wednesday morning with a welcoming ceremony at the white house. Meet with president obama. Returning the visit he received at the president at the vatican last year. Then he will stop by cathedral to pray the bishops. He is a gentleman. I think the United States and the world needs a calmness, peacefulness and a gentleness. Leon then that afternoon he will celebrate mass at the basilica. This is the first canonization to take place in the United States. The first papal mass at the National Shrine. Its truly an historic event. Leon thursday he will be the first pope to ever address a joint session of congress. He will also appear on the west lawn of the capitol before tens of thousands of onlookers. And he will conclude his time in washington with a stop at st. Pa ricks catholic st. Patricks catholic church, helping with the catholic meal program for the poor. Those are my bether reason who are my brethren who are homeless, tired, hungry, under employed. Whatever the challenge is we must stand by people, not stand over people. That is the message and the vibe he brings to washington. Alison as you can imagine people are snapping up all kind of merchandise ahead of the popes arrival. Mike carterconneen live at Catholic University Information Center with a look at some of the hot items out there. Hi, mike. Mic they have a little bit mic they have a little bit of everything. All sort of books and items. This is an affiliate of the archdiocese. But it is independently operated. Everyone is excited about the visit. Gives you a pleasant feeling. With the popes visit a week away, the stores are stocking up on the products. Same with pope francis face on it. The catholic information downtown has tchotchkes. Its unclear if pope francis would nod with approval but the best selling thing is the pope francis bobblehead. People are really excited. It seems everyone, catholic or not wants a piece of the pope. The Street Vendors around the white house are selling the tshirt to tourists for 5 and 8. We got our merchandise a month ago. Selling wonderfully. Especially tshirts. I will buy something for the granddaughter that goes to catholic school. They want to experience the trip and having to remember him by. If you are looking to buy the merchandise call ahead or look online first. Smithsonian institution and the other popular site and attractions around the National Mall told me today they are not selling pope francis related suv nears. After the pope leaves washington, this stuff might not sell so quickly. Mike carterconneen, abc7 news. Alison wow all right, mike. Thank you. Leon we are counting down to his arrival in the u. S. The coverage begins when the plane touches down at joint base andrews tuesday. Abc7 and newschannel8 will provide more than 40 hours of coverage on the pope in america. One more note. Tonight join us for an hour special leading up to peoples pope in d. C. That starts at 8 00 on abc7. Hopefully we can have a stretch of weather like this when the pope comes to town. Leon maybe at Pope Benedict and the rain beau came out when he took rainbow came out. What are the chances . Doug slight chance of showers tuesday an. Well wait to see. It could be fun. Until then the chances of rain are nonexistent. More sunshine at bethesda country club. The high clouds here and there. 85 right now in bethesda. 85 in falls church. 84 in bowie. And 84 in fort washington. 83 in manassas. For this evening, a few high clouds moving in from the south. Temperatures will drop of after sunset at 7 15. We will be in the range of 54 to 64 degrees by early tomorrow morning. Tomorrows weather is very much like today. We will have sunshine. For the kids at the bus stop, then 81 at recess time. 82 by the time the school is over. Check the weekend and more chance for rain in the forecast in a few minutes. Leon thank you, doug. Now we move to developing story overseas. The refugee crisis in europe has reached a boiling point today along the serbiahungary border. Riot Police Used Tear Gas and water cannons. Along a razor wire fence at the border. The escalate came after they reinforced restrictions to stop the refugees flowing from western europe. The refugee. What we say, we cannot accept. We cannot bear the burden of that. Leon the pressure now for the United States to step in and step up the response is increasing. White house said the u. S. Could accept 10,000 refugees. Citks call that number inadequate. Alison still to come at abc7 news at 5 00 mobile track 7 on i66 tonight as the new traffic measures take effect. Well find out how they are working. Leon candidates get ready for tonights second g. O. P. Debate. We will take you to california to get a preview later on here. Alison plus. Im embarrassed. Im embarrassed for our country. Alison mr. Stewart comes to washington. Find out what hes asking for. Scot Montgomery County version of Grand Central station set to open in four days. Why will there be no ribbon cut alison right now a new traffic system is up on i66. But it may not make advenes for the rush hour commute. Brianne carter is going to explain why. Brianne well, allyson, it seems like any time of the day we be are driving down the road is in a backup. Overhead from the roof camera in the mobile track 7. These are part of the automated traffic system. The goal of this is to help with the Traffic Safety and congestion as well. If, in fact, there is a congestion ahead, crash or a con construction you will notice whether or not the additional lane that is used in the rush hour peak times right now is open. Traffic will be able to open up and move in the lane. They can use it with any time of day now. Coming up at 6 00, what the drivers are saying about all of this. Reporting live, brianne carter, abc7 news. Leon thank you. Alison another project designed for a smoother commute is set to open this weekend. Leon that is right. The Silver Spring Transit Center, thousands of hours overbudget. Montgomery county reporter kevin lewis is live tonight. He has a look why it will open with fanfare. Kevin many years ago politicians were here for groundbreaking ceremony. This sunday no red river or a pair of the oversized scissors for what should have been exciting occasion. The lights are on. The escalators are running. But the padlock keep people from entering the Transit Center. Five years delay and the 50 million overbudget, this concrete goliath will open sunday. Maybe because everything will be together instead of running this way, that way. For the buses. The long awaited grand opening will be without pomp and circumstance. Today we learned Montgomery County chose not to hold a Ribbon Cutting ceremony. They are embarrassed by the over charges. Whatever. A waste of money. I would be here throwing Rotten Tomatoes at them. Instead the workers are focusing on working on the electronic bus delays. This will be the busy Transit Center in the system. It is deseened for future growth. But they remain skeptical about the structure integrity. Is it safe . Has it been inspected again since they revised the concrete issue. You are still not convinced . Im not convinced. Crews still have to take down hundreds of feet of fencing wrapped around the Transit Center. Of course, that work is set for saturday. The Transit Center set to open on sunday. How will the monday morning commute go . Im kevin lewis. Leon uber and lift will soon be at the d. C. Airports. However today the metropolitan Washington Airport Authority that overseas Reagan National and Dulles Airport approved new regulations for the ride sharing services. Understood the rules the drivers need a permit to operate at the airport and they will have to pay a 4 fee for each pick up and dropoff, of course will be passed on to customers. Ultimately they will balance out between it will cost more in taxes or uber at that point. If its more affordable. Uber lift and the Similar Companies have to pay a onetime 5,000 fee for access. The new rules are set to go into effect on november 1. At 4 00 today, doug said we are stuck in paradise. That is a perfect way to describe it. Doug yeah. The downside is the longer we go without rain the drier it gets and the brush fires. We had one a couple of days ago. The good news is we have had wind. Its unusual. In the past several days the winds are calm and very light. Its the story tonight. It will change eventually. That is the job to figure out when. The best chance for showers is tuesday. Even that is a 30 chance. We start you off with a view from the time lapse. From the weather bug station at Damascus Elementary School in upper Montgomery County. 82 in manassas. Three miles per hour. Sunny, its dry. Very calm. 85 at Reagan National. No surprise here because it is controlled by a large area of the atmosphere and High Pressure. Tonight the winds are calm and cool. We have superimposed this here. Southeast is getting rain day after day. Plenty of rain. That is the southern end of the High Pressure center. It is picking up the moisture off the atlantic. Off to the west we are seeing a warmup. The gradual warmup will shift in our direction. But its not dramatic. We will go slowly to the upper 80s. The high pushes off slowly. A touch more humid. Plenty of sunshine. On sunday the cold front will approach. Most model say any showers will be in the mountains. But the real effect on our area is change of the wind direction. 87, 86 degree temperatures. We will see the cooler temperatures. Maybe by tuesday if the continue fold isnt too far south. It could go satellite and radar and the big picture. Quiet close to the area. Tomorrow the day planner will start with the 60 degree temperatures in the morning. 81 at midday. 86 in the afternoon. More sunshine. Looking ahead to the next seven days this is what we see for you. The cold front will come through. No rain on sunday. It will be cooler. Cooler still for monday, tuesday, wednesday and maybe a chance of showers on tuesday or wednesday. Alison well see. Okay. Thank you. Popular restaurant is looking to make its mark in the area. Leon plus i dont normally like it that much. Im scared. Leon concerns about concussions in student athletes. Kellye im kellye lynn with a question for parents. How much fast food are your kids getting . Adults have a new the results of a new study coming up. Alison but first a look at what is coming up tonight on abc7. Well be right back. Leon kellye lynn has more on how many fast food the kids eat. Kellye many of us turn to fast food for nutrition. The new report shows us how much of the food is reaching our kids. I like to have something good. Kellye a new report shows on any given day a third of children anded a las sent consume fast adolescent consume fast food. They find for children 2 to 11 years old, 8 of the daily calories from fast food. For kids 1219, nearly 17 . Which averages out to children and ad lesssants getting 12 adolescents getting 12 from the calories. This family admits to eating fast food twice a month. I shouldnt be eating it. But its really good. Pediatrician recommends the parents discuss the dangers of eating too much fast food with the kids. Her approach is communicate and cut back. But you dont have to eliminate. Fast food, we are not going to get rid of them. But we can teach kids how to use them in moderation. Kellye another recommendation is choose a healthier option like grilled salad. Some offer Healthy Options like bottled water, fruit and yogurt. Alison and a size of fries. One of the best sushi restaurants coming to d. C. Its l. A. That signed on for space at mstreet and northwest. Its expected to cost 10 million and expected to open in the fall of 2016. Alison life after the daily show includes lobbying on capitol hill. Find out what jon stewart is pushing for in d. C. Today. Announcer youre watching abc7 news at 5 00. An your side. Alison we are two and a half hours away for the second debate for the president ial candidates. 11 of them will take the stage at 8 00 at the reagan president ial library in california. The rest will meet in an undercard starting in a half an hour. The colleague brad bell is in simi valley with a preview. Brad this is the reagan president ial library. A beautiful location. I want to give you a peek of the scenery. This is part of the story in advance of the debate. It will take place in the air force one pavilion. Dramatic backdrop. The two debates, first getting underway in half an hour will feature the undercard. There will be 11 candidates in the primetime debate that begins at 8 00. They will look if any candidate makes a move upward or downward in the polls. We will bring you a live report tonight. Alison we want to mention in the interest of fairness, the first democratic debate is next month. The first of six debates will be scheduled for october 13 out in las vegas, nevada. Leon today on the hill, stewart came and took time to lobby members of congress about the health of the september 11 responders. The former daily show host met to talk about the 9 11 health and computation act. It is set to expire at the end of the month. Why is it incoment on the First Respond income bent on the First Responders to have to consistently push to get benefits coming to them for the acts of valor . Leon he remarked if we cant get the bill passed we should shut it down. The last comment refers to the possibility of another government shutdown. Congress has two weeks from today to reach a budget deal. Coming up at 6 00, hear what congressman Chris Van Hollen plans to do to keep the government running. Alison shoppers are lining up for taxfree marijuana in colorado today. They led for the marijuana sales to be included a tax holiday. The Marijuana Tax is 25 usually. Retailers are hoping to attract more customers. Shoppers lined up for the door buster style deals. Olive garden bringing back the neverending pasta pass. 2,000 of the passes will go on sale online tomorrow at 2 00 p. M. Family pass is 300 with unlimited pasta and soft drinks for seven weeks starting october 5. The passes are expected to sell out fast. Leon you think . Yeah. You think . Forget dinner and a movie for a date. A new app will promise to find you a date on how you like your bacon. Sizzle launched today. How do you like the bacon cooked . Well try to match you up. For the record the brains behind the app are oscar meyer. Of all places. Leon its the one food you cant ruin. Alison especially for men. Find a wife that likes bacon. Leon golden. Facebook users will have a new outlet to express themselves. Instead of liking posts they want something to dislike them. Mark zuckerberg says the dislike interaction is surprisingly complicated and says that facebook will begin testing it. Alison later t im steve rudin. Saturday temperatures 87 degrees. Mostly sunny. By the game, we have a good deal of sunshine but there may be added clouds. We will scal for the temperatures to make it back into the 70s. Where we should be for this time of year. Stay with us. Abc7 news at 5 00 continues right leon for more than ten years a local organization is bringing smiles and laughter to thousands of children who have to spend weeks and months at a time in a hospital. The nonprofit is called hope for henry. Its this weeks harris hero. Its a special day for young patients at the med star Georgetown University hospital. Washington nationals mascot come with hugs and gifts. All to bring laughter and smiles to children with cancer and other serious illnesses. Its part of the program run by hope for henry. Laurie and her husband started up the nonprofit after their 7yearold henry died from a rare disease. There were very few organizations that provided sustained services that acknowledge that the kiz are actually just regular kids are actually regular kids. If you give them an experience they dont feel so out of control in a setting and they will cooperate more. The smiles make it clear that hope for henry is having an impact on everyone at the hospital. Wow wow she has fun. You know seeing everybody come in and give her gifts. She enjoys it. Just keeps everyone up and not down because they are in the hospital. Im really glad they have been here. We are not providing medical care but we are providing care that is critical. In addition to visits by the special guests, hope for henry makes each special celebrating birthday and holiday for the kids. They can earn hope for henry bucks when they go through difficult treatment. The program is also at the Children National medical center. In all, hope for henry brought mails and joy to 14,000 children. Wow what an incredible organization. Thank you for that. Coming up on abc7 news at 5 00 he is bruise and blistered but did he do it . Update as a local man tries to run an amazing race for special children. Kimberly they are trying to make required gear for soccer players. Alison if you saw the womens world cup, you saw the headband that was to prevent a concussion. But kimberly suiters reports that not everyone believes it will work. Kimberly whether they save gold, throw strikes or skate on ice nearly all the Young Athletes have seen or felt concussion. I was nervous about heading the ball. I couldnt head the ball in practice. She is doing headers here as a nationwide add campaign for protective headband called halo. The product ens dorsed by two local world cup champs. Why not protect the head . Is it not as important as the shin . She did not wear her black custom fit headband for the espn body issue but she wont step food on the field without it. I said okay, the second one. If i get a third one i could be done. That is what ended the career. Maybe it would have been different. Dr. Joya runs the prevention clinic for the d. C. Area coaches and he is not convinced that the science has caught up with the sport. The headband doesnt keep soft tissue moving inside the head. The band cant prevent concussion. It really itchy. It costs money, to play soccer costs money. But consider can cost of wearing nothing at all. This is a headband of kevlar and foam. I coach and i played soccer for a long time. You can feel the force disburging. It doesnt have the same impact. You could see a benefit there. Will it protect the brain . Probably not. The same argument was once made for shin guards that were at one time not required gear. They dont keep you from breaking your leg but they provide important layer of protection. Kimberly suiters, abc7 news. Thank you. Now a springfield man trying to run and he finished the 200 endurance run at 11 00 this morning. Two hours before the cutoff time. This is a great story. Alison inspirational guy. He is unreal. Check on the roadways. Thomas sullivan on traffic watch. We are seeing a lot of different spots that you want to watch out for, voume and congestion. We have an earlier crash on the beltway. Right near old georgetown road. Everything moves to the shoulder. As we move to the inner loop, getting to the 270 shirt. We have one lane blocked. That is for the crash. Keep in mind that a lot of activity heading southbound to 295 will take 20 minutes. Getting from the 11 street bridge closer toward the bottom of the capital beltway. Overturned tacker trailer. A crash coming in on the freeway. Emergency crews are on scene. It has down to 8 miles per hour. As we move to talk about the beltway through the prince georges county, the crash just before branch avenue. Two lanes are blocked with this. That is a look at traffic. Back to you. Leon thank you. Look at what is coming up tonight at 6 00. The new technology aimed to improve the commute on one of the local congested local highways. We are two weeks away from a deadline to prevent a government shutdown. The plan a congressman is putting ahead of the danger. Well see you at 6 00 for all that and more. Alison okay. First another check of the weather situation. Leon lets check it. Doug its gorgeous again. 85 at the Reagan National airport. We will enjoy comfortable evening and days of the warm and the dry weather. Lets get you in the forecast here as we head through the evening. The temperatures will drop a few degrees over the next couple of hours. Sharply after the sunset. 82 at manassas. 82 in hagerstown and baltimore. 79 it in annapolis. This is going to be milder tomorrow morning. We will wake up with the temperatures in the upper 50s to the lower 60s. Through the day, more sunshine and maybe high clouds. 81 at lunchtime. Through the afternoon probably top out at 85 or 86 degrees. A good looking day ahead. Interesting to keep an eye on a cold front that is coming through saturday or sunday morning. That could give us a possibility of sprinkle or showers but most of us will have a sprinkle in northwest and it will be 82. Noticeably cooler next week. Next chance of showers is tuesday and wednesday but that is only 30 chance. We will talk more about the upcoming weather at 6 00. Back to you. Alison doug, we will sea you then. Thank you. Leon erin was pulling us in on what is coming up here. We followed alfred morris. I have to hear it. Leon now redskins quarterback cousins preparing for rams. Erin cousins isnt flashy. He is now driving his grandmas van to work. Thats right. Look at this. The 2000 limited edition conversion van. This is what he has been driving to practice. The q. B. Brought it from his grandmother. Maybe he should start the Carpool Service to take the offensive line to practice in exchange for good protection. Here he is on the new mode of transportation. The car i was driving day today, to and from the facility. I have been lazy and i havent gotten another car to go from a to b to work. The van has had to fill the role. I could use another car to get from a to b. Leon there you go. Erin wizards and the playoffbound missics will have a stateoftheart facility in washington. There plan for a new practice facility and a 5,000seat arena for the mystics who play the home game at verizon center. We want them to have the own arena and be the best in class in the wnba as a testimony to city and embracing all we are doing with the sports team. Erin there were firework last night in cleveland. The only problem alex rios doesnt play for cleveland. Huge boos rang out as soon as he made the big mistake. Wrong team i feel bad for the guy. Normally you see fireworks at major fireworks when they have a home run. Leon i can say this because its my home folks but that is so cleveland. That hurts. Thanks for nothing. Alison we love the van. Erin starting a trend with that. Leon president obama says he can come to the white house with his homemade clock. Leon what prompted the with his homemade clock. Leon what prompted the presiden okay. So everyone is saying, hey you gotta get fios but why . Why fios . Well, fios is a 100 Percent Fiber Optic Network to the home, so you can get 100 out of all your devices. And access to the Fastest Internet and in home wifi available. With big capacity too, so everyone in the house can be online all at once. Only fios has 500 meg download speeds, with equal upload speeds. So you can upload your favorite videos up to 5x faster than cable. And with the fios mobile app, you can view your entertainment at home, or on the go. But the main reason to get fios . Were rated number 1 in customer satisfaction. Why fios . Ultimately, thats why. Right now, get 25 meg fios internet, tv phone starting at 79. 99 a month, guaranteed for two years. Plus get 350 back with a two year agreement. Call or go online today, hurry this offer ends september 19th. Get out of the past. Get fios. Alison homemade digital clock landed him in handcuffs after it was mistaken at school. Now a texas teenager is receiving invitations from the white house. Even facebook ceo to show off his engineering skills. Marci gonzalez has the latest. Marci a Simple Science experiment in a pencil box. Just like this one. Marci landing the 14yearold in handcuffs. They told me i committed a crime of a hoax, a fake bomb. Marci the allegation stunning who said the socalled bomb was actually a digital clock he rebuilt over the weekend. And brought to show the engineering teacher. But another teacher saw it first, was concerned and called police. Explaining that the freshmans explanation wouldnt help. He only said it was a clock and was not forthcoming about any other details. The police say they took him into custody out of abundance of caution but realized the awardwinning young scientist didnt mean to alarm anyone and they decided not to file charges. Still civil rights advocates question whether this was discrimination. I dont think it would be a question if his name wasnt muhammad. Marci his father is meeting with the principal to discuss the threeday suspension from school. Alison that is it for abc7 news at 5 00. Right now at 6 00, new Technology Launches aimed to make for easier commute. How is it doing on day one . Salmonella outbreak blamed for making people sick at a restaurant. And a soccer team that faces another challenge. You abc7 news at 6 00 starts now. Announcer abc7 news at 6 00. On your side. Maureen right now the first rush hour test of a new system to improve the commute for the thousands who rely on interstate 66. The Traffic Management system went en route today. Were joined live from mobile track 7 to explain how it works. How is the traffic out there at this time . Brianne its not too terrible. We are driving in an additional lane. The shoulder lane is open to traffic its usually like that in the peak hours but now with this new process in place, the atm can open the lane at any time of day. Also part of the new expansion here in terms of the atm put online today, we will see more in terms of what is hapening on the roads. There will be additional signage and cameras that are getting Law Enforcement as well as the traffic managers able to see things they are happening in realtime out here on the roads. The goal is for improved safety. Along this is the most region in the region. Most of the time of the