Transcripts For WRC News4 At 5 20170103

The new Congress Already making some news tonight. Reporter this new congress did begin with a surprise. U. S. House republicans postponed plans to over haul the agency that polices congresss own ethics. Soon thereafter, the new local members were sworn in as expected. And they began talking about the other newlyelected Government Official who wasnt here, the president elect. Technically new members of congress are still moving in. Gear and furniture are still stacked in the hallway. The official voting has begun. Paul ryan reelected as u. S. House speaker with votes from all local republicans. The speaker of the house, paul ryan. Reporter and marylands new democratic u. S. Senator says hes already preparing to grill the cabinet nominees of president elect donald trump. Do you think youre going to try to block any of president elect trumps cabinet nominees . I have great trouble with many of his nominees. Im going to continue to listen to their testimony. Reporter anthony brown, two years after his surprise defeat in a race for governor, is now a u. S. Congressman. He greeted a room full of supporters from Prince Georges County this afternoon. Its a day we celebrate democracy. Its a day that we celebrate diversity and our devotion to the things that we value. Reporter in the senate, mark warner is still midterm but he won a new post today, officially name. I hope he will little bit more on some of the issues. Having made the transition on business, government, there are some real challenges. Reporter coming up tonight on news4 at 6 00, the surprising thing joe biden said to chris van holland. Hillary clinton will be attending the inauguration. Aides confirmed today that both she and bill clinton will be at the inauguration. Mark s reporter good evening wendy. We now know that president elect donald trump will give his first major speech from washington, d. C. On thursday, the night before hes sworn in during a concert at the Lincoln Memorial. This president doing things differently while honoring the traditions of the reporter al reporter he says while president elect trump will honor traditions like a Church Service at st. Johns church across the park from the white house, the morning of the inauguration, other aspects of the inauguration will be different from previous president s. Youre going to see a shorter parade this year, probably an hour and a half or so, kind of a testament to this president s willingness and eagerness to get to work for the american people. Reporter president elect will only have three balls, unlike president obamas nine. Thats one of the greatest things about the inauguration, the way that the ceremony, the parade and the concert all have aspects open to the public. There will be ticketed areas. There will be free tickets both for the parade and the concert. Reporter plans for the concert thursday night at the Lincoln Memorial are still being made. It president elect in d. C. Prior to the inauguration, well have a preconcert that will feature american voices. Then well have a welcome celebration where the president elect and Vice President elect will speak. Reporter heres what we now know about president elects donald trump schedule in d. C. Hell stay at the blair house across from the white house. Thursday morning hell do the wreath laying at the tomb of the money kno unknown soldier. Then off to capitol hill to be sworn in as our next president of the United States. Well tell you what theyre going to do with all those protesters. Relief tonight for part of the country recovering from days of severe weather. For now, the threat of more dangerous weather has passed. Severe weather across the south killed at least yesterday. One man was found dead in his flooded out car here in florida. Four people were huddled inside a mobile home in alabama when a tornado sent a tree crashing through the homes roof. Tens of thousands of people havent had power since. That same system is bringing us some dreary weather. Lets go straight to chief meteorologist doug kammerer. I think it will be over tomorrow. A little bit of light rain and drizzle continues across parts of the area. Radar not picking up a whole lot. It doesnt pick up drizzle very well. You could see a couple of showers back toward frostburg. The bulk of the rain is now moving off, but there are still some showers back to the west. Warming temperatures, its 46 in d. C. Right now. In the 50s back to the west. There is whe tomorrow before we come crashing down again. Nice tomorrow, but then here comes the cold. Weve been talking about this for days. Weve also been talking about our snow chances going up a little bit. A troubling spike in the number of murders in Prince Georges County. Its been a steady increase. The number of homicide has risen over the past few years but you may be surprised what police are attributing to this. They are blaming the states decriminalization of marijuana. Reporter well, while marijuana is not legal in maryland, it is decriminalized in maryland. Since that happened, the Prince Georges County Police Department has been dealing with a new problem that really showed itself in 2016. 2016 saw an increase in murders in prince georges year, 77 in 2015 and 54 in 2014. Weve taken a long, hard look at the factors underlying our homicide in 2016. Reporter in the lead categories, 21 of 2016s homicide were domestic. 26 were drug related. And 28 were due to disputes among people who mostly knew one another. Its the drug related murders driving the rise in murders in Prince Georges County. 19 of those are associated particularly with marijuana. Reporter prince georges has experienced increased violence among street dealers. A small number of people control that trade. As demand went up, that supply was more valuable and people began to struggle for control of that trade. Reporter while considered a low level drug, there are groups of people making a lot of money off of selling it. The chief historically been a drug of choice in the county. Since its decriminalization, people want more of it. There seems to be more demand for it right now and its causing a struggle reporter home invasions, shootings and many armed burglary in the county are flowing back to marijuana deale dealers. The department will bring this under control. And the ledge slgislature has iy to enforce the will of the people. Reporter coming up, the chief says this is a way that the people who live in this county can help them solve this problem. Well share his advice for you coming up on news4 at 6 00. A new years day heist, six puppies a piece stolen from a virginia pet store. Tonight the search is on for whoever took them. Chris . Reporter jim, this is d. C. Pups. Its a small storefront on Center Street here in manassas right next to city hall. Its owned by a couple who are engaged. They worked so hard that they took a rare occasion to have a date on new years day. When they returned to the store five hours later, they were devastated. I was so upset. Reporter they returned sunday evening to d. C. Pup after a movie and dinner. They discovered six puppies had been stolen in the time they were gone. The breakin occurred through a back window. We put so much love into these puppies. Reporter the puppies are between nine and 12 weeks old and cute as can be. Together, they are worth more than 5800. The couple says they are not concerned about the money. Theyre worried about the puppies. What scared me the most is what are they eating, where are they sleeping . Reporter the couple bought the name d. C. Pup from a business in fairfax, virginia, and opened in manassas in november. I asked them if any of their dogs came from puppy mills. Theres no puppy mills. I cant emphasize that enough. When somebody adopts a puppy from us, they get a schan chain ownership. Thats not something i would do if i was working with puppy mills. When people i would say want to know where our puppies come from, i would tell them were not going to puppy mills. We go every week once a week we go to visit our breeders. We check the reporter ahead, who could have stolen these puppies and what might they do with them. Thats coming up at 6 00. Still ahead, a popular messaging app linked to an extortion scam. The unsettling message used to get money from a victim. Reporter new details tonight about how a charlotte based baggage handler ended up locked in the cargo hold of a plane that landed here at dulles international. Air travelers wondering why that plane didnt make an Emergency Landing. Two children okay after a scary incident caught on camera. The warning from their mother to other parents ou fios is not cable. Were wired differently. So were offering incredibly fast 150 meg internet, coming. I cant believe he is doing this. Its so fast that in the 3. 7 seconds it takes gary watson to beat the local sled jump record, held by gary watson. Fly, gary, fly. His friend can download 13 different versions of the perfect song. His sister can live stream it. While his mom downloads how to se a dislocated shoulder, all at the same time. Gary. This is your last chance to get incredibly fast 150 meg internet, tv and phone for just 79. 99 per month online for the first year, plus a 150 dollar visa prepaid card with a twoyear agreement. Hurry, this amazing offer ends january 21st visit getfios. Com or call 1888getfios to learn more. Thats 150 meg internet, tv and phone for 79. 99 per month. Only from fios. It has been a week now since a man from bethesda disappeared. Now a young woman is facing charges. Police connected her after she did some shopping at a Beauty Supply store. Officers say she charged 700 to john donahoes credit card. Police are trying to figure out how she got his card. Unanswered questions tonight about how a baggage handler was locked inside the cargo hold of a plane that landed at Dulles Airport sunday. News4 was first to report this incident on a United Express jet from charlotte. Reporter a United Airlines spokeswoman tells me shes still in a position to answer some of the biggest questions about this incident, for example, when exactly was it learned there could be a baggage handler in the cargo hold and why didnt the plane make an Emergency Landing to free him . But the faa tells me tonight that the charlotte tower was the first to get word that there could be a worker locked in the cargo hold. They relayed the information to dulles. Thats why they had an Emergency Response waiting. Some of the United Airlines had already heard about the new years day mishap. Others just getting word about the baggage handler accidentally locked in the pressurized cargo hold for the nearly 90 minute flight. Its scary. With all the security and stuff that we go through just to check in, you figure theyd be a little more cognizant out on the ramp. Reporter other united passengers questioned why the United Express jet didnt return to charlotte or make an Emergency Landing. If they knew he was down there, there should have been an Emergency Landing to the nearest airport and got him out of there. Reporter heres some of the dispatch conversation among Emergency Responders just after the flight landed on sunday afternoon. Hes refusing medical attention. Were going to work it as a security incident until we can, i guess, get some confirmation trade dress for a rapramper in charlotte. Reporter United Airlines still cant answer some of the basic questions. A spokeswoman did confirm the faa was notified before the plane landed. Whether or not the pilots new about the man in the cargo hold, still a mystery. Now, one question the airlines was able to answer, does the baggage handler still have a job . Everything is back up and running again after outages led to some major delays for people who traveled into the United States last night. Customs and Border Patrol say an initial investigation found the problem was connected to some changes made to the software that processes travelers. Look at those lines. It led up to fourhour delays other intnational airports around the country. Cpb Officials Say during the disruption they still had access to the National Security related databases. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is the latest politician to make a push for free tuition for middle and lower income families. Today the governor unveiled a proposal called the excelsior scholarship plan. It would offer fru tuition legislators in the state would still need to approve it. When fully implemented in 2019, it would cost about 163 million. Now to some big news from the Auto Industry tonight. Ford is scrapping plans to build a new billion dollar plant in mexico, saying it will expand operations in michigan and create hundreds reporter the Ford Motor Company kicking off the new year by putting a brakes on a 1. 6 billion factory in mexico. Instead the auto maker plans to invest 700 million to expand an existing plant in michigan which will manufacture new electric and autonomous vehicles. Yes, theyll be built right here in flat rock. Reporter the announcement drew cheers from auto workers who learned the expansion would create 700 new jobs at the plant. I dont know if you can understand really the impact of this investment. This is equivalent to a new assembly plant. Reporter the mexico plant had been fiercely characteri ll president elect trump during the campaign. The Transition Team taking credit for fords sudden shift in strategy. The companys declining demand for small cars influenced the decision but also called it a vote of confidence for the incoming administration. Were encouraged by the progrowth policies. Reporter the Obama Administration calls the announcement in the latest step in a long running trend of protecting u. S. Jobs. President elect trump is threatening to Tax Companies that move production overseas. Families of the nine people murdered at their bible study class in charleston have to wait another day for the killers sentencing. Theyll also have to hear dylann roof address the court once again. A federal judge has ruled roof is competent to act as his own lawyer. He granted roof another day to prepare after complain spent undergoing mental evaluations. Roof killed nine people at the emanuel africanamerican Methodist Episcopal Church in 2015 and he is facing the death penalty. A new d. C. Home for the daughter of the president elect. It is just down the block from where the obamas will be living. The reaction from neighbors. And why doctors are saying not so fast when it comes to cl anything with a screen is a tv. Stream 130 live channels. Plus 40,000 on demand tv shows and movies, all on the go. You can even download from your x1 dvr and watch it offline. Only xfinity gives you more to stream to any screen. Download the xfinity tv app today. Just another Beautiful Day out there across the region. Wasnt it just glorious . Two days in a row of dreary, gloomy damp weather. We did need the rain, but now we kind of need it to get out of here. Out there right now, plenty of cloud cover across the region. Winds now currently out of the southwest eight miles an hour. Temperatures have come up over the last hour to about 46. Were going to stay there over the next few hours. 39 right now in winchester. 42 at dulles. Just a nasty afternoon. Still have some showers out there. Much of the rain activity has now pushed way up towards parts of the new england area. We have still have some showers we are done with the steady rain but well see a couple of showers later on through the rest of the evening into the overnight hours. The warmer air is trying the move in. Its 55 at virginia beach. 57 back towards kentucky. Its always so hard to scour out the cooler air. Thats why we did not hit the 50 degree mark as of yet. Tomorrow, though, a little bit better and a break from this nasty weather. 54 degrees. Clouds early, breezy and some clearing late in the day. Then we hit the cold air. By cold, were talking real cold. 36 on thursday, 37 on friday. Look at the weekend. A high of 31 on saturday. Only 29 on sunday. Temperatures in the teens early sunday and monday morning. Early light now on friday. This is thursday night into friday. Heres our computer model showing the snow around the area around 1 00 a. M. Around 5 00 a. M. Just shower activity. There could be some School Delays early on friday morning. Im not expecting a lot, however. But it will be enough to give us some possible delays out there friday morning. On saturday, 31 degrees. Plenty cold enough for snow, of course. The next storm is shifting to our south. Because of that, i think it will stay to our south and not make the turn up. That means most of the snow stays to the south. But we could still get some saturday, but likely staying south, developing off the coast. We will continue to track it here. What about sunday . A high of only 29 degrees and a great day to get indoors. The health and fitness expo taking place at the convention center, well be out there all day on january 7th and 8th. It opens at 9 00 a. M. Ill be there at 11 00. Well see you there. House at 9 00 a. M. To watch you getting ready for the expo. New developments in a story we brought you yesterday about a controversial piece of art on the campus of American University. School officials decided to remove it. Have we seen the last of it . Reporter a new twist on an old scam. Criminals are now using a popular app to get what they want. It happened to a man here in loudoun county. The warning from police. Reporter ivanka trumps new home and washingtons new powerhouse neighborhood. That story, coming up. Youre watching news4 at 5 00. Coming up this half hour, the neighborhood that will soon be home to both the obamas and ivanka trump. An extortionli linked to a popular messagie ining app. Pay up or your child is dead, thats the message sent through a popular messaging app. Reporter remember the days of the old the bad guys would send an email to someone and say, hey, its your grandson john and im in africa im in trouble and i need you to send money right away . That was then and this is now. Police say thieves are really ratcheting up their scare tactics with the use of this popular app. Let me take you to sterling in Northern Virginia in loudoun county. The victim in case was visiting Oakbrook Court in sterling when he started getting these messages last week. First, it was a strange phone call, then it was the messages through the International Phone app called whatsapp. A lot of people use this app to talk to family and friends abroad for free. The messages started coming in in spanish. They were making threats of harming his family. Then they got even more frightening with a video showing an execution, w an execution. Listen to him talking about that video and why the man getting these messages ended up sending 900 via credit card and wire. It showed a video and execution and wanted to threaten that person to say that we have family members that were going to execute if you dont send us money. And in order to prevent that, you need to send money to a separate bank account in the dominican republic. Reporter police are telling us they dont know the source of that video, whether its from a movie, what have you. Theyre still looking into that. Tonight coming up on news4 at 6 00, we are dwigoing to talk at how you cannot become a victim. Long before its debut people in the area expressed concerns about traffic and the potential for crime. Police chief to get his take. Im looking forward to it being a successful venture, just like all of the other things were trying to facilitate and be a good partner within Prince Georges County. The chief did thank both the officers who worked in those first days to help visitors and residents navigate, but he also thanked the community for its patience. Students at stone Bridge High School will soon have a safer route to get to classes. A cross walk with beacons will help students across portsmouth boulevard. Because theres no sidewalk along the portsmouth boulevard side of the school, some students have crossed the road twice. This cross walk is part of the safe routes to school plan in loudoun county. No word tonight when the project will be completed. A student had an idea and it is getting some traction among lawmakers. Today a bill was introduced that requires everyone to buckle up, not just drivers and passengers under the age of 18. D. C. And maryland already have similar laws. Next time you head out to reston, be ready to pay when you park. Today marked the official start for the centers paid parking initiative. A limited number of restaurants and businesses say they will offer validation. There is also now an app you can use on your smart phone to pay for parking. The town center originally planned to implement paid parking in september. Ivanka trump will be coming to washington to help her father run the government. Now that appears to be one step closer to reality. Valley. Goodbye georgetown. The posh place to live in d. C. Now calorama. This is the Washington Home reportedly bought by ivanka trump and her husband. It has 6,870 square feet. It has six bedrooms. It has six and a half baths. And it has the people in the neighborhood all abuzz. Do you know who bought that house down there . I just heard. Reporter what do you make of that . I think shes moving into the best neighborhood in the city. Reporter whats the neighborhood like . Itstony. Its rich, its white. Reporter this is what ive been told they paid for this house . That is correct. Reporter did they get a good deal . Im a realtor and a lawyer by training. I have no comment on that. Reporter im told the house has been totally redone, modern top to bottom, front to back. But getting to it, thats another story. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine 15 steps from the sidewalk to the front door. Theyre young. They can handle it. Me, i just use the servants entrance. Its here on the ground floor. Trumps tracy place northwest. Opens, belmont street right down the block. Weve always invited new neighbors in. Were always happy to get new neighbors. Certainly were going to have very high energy with ivanka over there and the obamas over here. Reporter now at ivankas house tonight theyre doi work, some carpentry work, some painting and theyre having cable installed. Gosh, i hope they get the voice activated remote. That would be huge. So what do you think, its sort of like your place except smaller . And i turn my servants quarter into a spa. So yeah. Those 15 stairs seemed to wind you there, patty. You need to get on the treadmill a little bit, huh . I need to hit the gym. Its a lovely neighborhood. It is. Beautiful. The inauguration is expected to be important to the bottom lines of some local businesses. But the benefits arent for everyone. What happened when a local school tried to fund raise off the big event. And something to think about the next time you pick up a qtip. Why doors arect y27mky y16fy ive spent my life planting a sizesix, nonslip shoe into that door. On this side, i want my customers to relax and enjoy themselves. But these days its phones before forks. They want wifi out here. But behind that door, i need a private connection for my business. Public wifi for your customers. Private wifi for your business. Strong and secure. Good for a door. And a network. Comcast business. Built for security. Built for business. In news for your health, um, i once dated a doctor and he saw me putting qtips main my ear a he said dont do that. I broke up with him because theres nothing that feels better than that. Apparently youre not supposed to do that. In most cases, it is unnecessary to clean out your ear wax. But experts say cleaning out ears too much can cause problems and it poses potential danger because you can scratch the skin of your ear canal. Ear wax is also apparently healthy. It can help guard the inner ear from dirt and other particles. So i can tell you that study was not done by qtips for sure. Never use one of these either. Hey, if youre starting 2017 with a fedex ocus on your healt want you to join us down at our health and fitness expo this weekend. Well share lots of information about Mental Health as part of our changing minds campaign. And a representative from one of the groups youll see this weekend gave us a sneak peek at what she calls the challenge. If you take the 30 seconds a day to write down three things youre thankful for for 21 days, it actually changes the wiring of your brain to look for the positive in the world. Its promoting health, it builds resilience. The best part, tips like that. The entire expo, free. Well be working for you down at the Washington Convention Center Saturday and sunday. Find out information about where to go and what else to expect in our nbc washington app. We sell see you there. Reporter 87 of the students are low income. This is the stool parking lot the parent teaches organization wanted to rent out for oh, thats lovely. The corkscrew spin, flawless. His signature move, the flying dutchman. Poetry in motion. And there it is, the baby bird. Breathtaking. A sumo wrestler figure skating . Surprising. Whats not surprising . How much money heather saved by switching to geico. Fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. A small d. C. Elementary school pta had a great fundraising idea. It raised thousands of dollars by offering Parking Spaces for the upcoming inauguration. The school has been told to refund all the money. Reporter the elementary has 350 students, 87 of them low income. National mall, the school had a great online idea. With the inauguration coming up, raise 1,000 by letting people park in the school lot for donations. They raised 3,200 dollars. But School Headquarters heard about it, said they couldnt do it. Thats their rules. I love the spirit of the school community. Youve got a pta who has a very entrepreneurial spirit. I hope we can find a way to make this happen. Reporter d. C. Schools said we looked into this and while we appreciate the Parent Teacher organization looking to do this, we are not able to rent out parking spots. Council member allen said he still wants to pursue the issue, noting the system does contract out some Parking Spaces. Our School Parkingts used on the weekends. Charges park on them. Other people park on School Parking lots. Reporter parent leaders declined to comment on camera, saying they were just trying to help their low income school. They said theyll start refunding the money online. A lot of women are worried about the future of the Affordable Care act. Repealing it tops the agenda for the congress. That could mean changes in healthcare coverage for millions. Women that news4 spoke with say theyre concerned that the changes will impact the services they get now for low or no cost. Since the election, we have heard from women who are concerned about losing the benefits they gained from the Affordable Care act. Weve heard from a lot of women about Birth Control coverage. In our next hour we share trends local doctors are already seeing in the coverage that women are asking for. Well, its video that is tough to watch. But the parents. Referee tw the parents are making it public. The toddlers are playing in their room and a dresser falls on top of them. Theyre okay, but it could have been much worse. Reporter call it toddler super human strength or brotherly love, but 2yearold body is being hailed a hero for saving his twin brother brock trapped under a dresser. I looked on the camera to see if they were still sleeped and i had seen the dress eer toppled over. Reporter the two were climbing on the dresser in their bedroom. Their weight tips the dresser over, landing mostly on brock. Body immedia j hes able to push the dresser off. Theyre completely fine. Theyre 100 okay. Were so grateful. Reporter while the boys are safe, they want to make sure other parents are aware of the danger. I dont want this to happen to anyone elses child. Reporter that danger lands a child in the emergency room every 30 minutes. Were still seeing every two weeks a child being killed by a tipped over piece of furniture or a tv. I just wanted to spread awareness and make sure people are bolting down their dressers. Reporter the dresser is now bolted to the wall, keeping two very lucky little boys much safer. When is a goal more than just a goal . When it wins the game and when its scored by the unlikeliest of players. The story of one cap making the most of his opportunity. Reporter that player is taylor. Hes playing in only seven games so far this season. Tonight he will be hearing cheers after starting the new year with a bang. Scored reporter just your third goal in 130 career games, its a big deal. When youre the kind of player who everyone in the locker room respects and admires, its a really big deal. He comes to the rink every day with a smile and works his butt off. Its not easy to do when youre not in the lineup and sometimes theres not even a light at the end of the tunnel. Its Pretty Amazing the positive attitude that hes kept. You root for guys like that. Hes had some tough breaks where hes come in and played great but hes been out of the the way the teams been made up. Whenever he has any success, its almost times five because were just that happy for him. A lot of hard extra work in this year just kind of before and after practice to stay sharp. It feels nice. Reporter the cherry on top of it all . Taylors goal coming with his dad in the stands at the verizon center. He also played in the nhl. We actually played College Hockey at the same place too. It was kind of cool doing that. This whole experience just kind of grinding it out, its nice to have somebody you can talk to whos been through some similar experiences. Reporter im sure his dad will be happy to know that the capitals have won six of the seven games he did play in this season. Coming up, the capitals weighing in on the torontos superstar 19yearold american playerer pl playing here tonight. Its cold and rainy and kind of raw out there. Im sick of it. I am too. Were going to have some mild weather before another cold snap. It arrives at the end of the workweek, continues at least through the weekend. We had a little bit of rain out there today. We got a good dose of rain, about an inch and our area. Weve got some rain showers out there right now as we continue through the evening. Most of us are going to be dry. Really were dealing with low visibilities and low clouds and fog developing into the overnight. Again, you can see just a few showers out there here and there. Really not that much. Were at 46 right now. As we continue through the evening, temperatures pretty much staying put. Were going to be damp settling in. Good news is its going to be a little bit more on the mild side as we go through tomorrow afternoon. Plus well have some sunshine, peeks of it. But it is going to be windy. Were going to see winds gust to about 2530 miles an hour. Windy day tomorrow. But youve got to take the good with the bad. Temperatures in the mid 50s. Winds are not a problem on thursday and or friday. Were looking good on thursday and friday. But we do have some snow in the forecast. Tomorrow mornings commute a little windy. Well be dry on thursday morning. Friday morning could have some snow. First lets talk about the temperatures. Mid 50s tomorrow. A cold shot of air coming our way on thursday. Temperatures not making it out of the 30s on thursday. Heres a look at some snow. Weve passing through on thursday. Could see some snow that could continue into friday morning. Could have some minor accumulations by the time the morning kmi ing commute gets st. For saturday, come down to the Washington Convention center. Were at the health and fitness expo. Well see you there both saturday and sunday. We are going to be watching snow by the time we get into saturday. Look at that cold weather as we continue u. Start the car start the car start the car start the car the ikea winter sale. Wooooooo get up to 50 off select items. Now through january 10th. Ikea my husband wants to stay free from artificial ingredients. My whole family wants to stay free from artificial preservatives. And my debit card wants to stay on a diet. Fill your cart with giants natures promise brand. Great prices on over 800 organic and freefrom items. Eat well for less. My giant. Today he honored williams. This really is not the year to come out and say that we think someone who ambushed two fbi agents should be given a statue as a piece of artwork. Reporter American University says the statue wasnt meant to make a statement and that the universitys museum simply displayed it as it would any other piece of art. They released a statement saying, the nature and location of the piece calls into question our responsibility to honor the s safety of our community. We fully agree with First Amendment right to free speech, to shows this piece of artwork. We just dont think it should be in a public space. Reporter today they took the steps to remove it. News4 at 6 00 starts now. We begin tonight with politics. The 115th congress now in session. Members of the most racially Diverse Congress in history were sworn in today. While republicans law makers are ready to swing for the fences they got a brush back pitch from the president elect. Reporter brush back pitch, i like that. Its so true. Up here on the hill the conventional wisdom continues to be that congress is going to teach donald trump how washington really works. But today the president elect, armed as always with twitter,