>> until maryland starts to take the crime, the crime of a drunk driver behind the wheel of a car killing someone, until they take the crime seriously. there is no justice for the families. there is no justice for the victims. maureen: montgomery county police officer noah leotta died yesterday a week after a car hit him in a traffic stop. he worked in a unit that targeted drunk drivers. suzanne kennedy is following the story and is live with a look at how maryland laws compare to those in the rest of the region. and how lawmakers are reacting. suzanne: a third of all fatalities are caused by drunk drivers and some say the practice for first-time offenders is not strict enough. noah leotta was a rising car in the montgomery county police department.

keen interest in drunk driver enforcement. his live was taken by a driver suspected to be under the influence. >> the state of maryland have some of 2 the weakest laws. >> most drunk drivers get a slap on the risk rather than the hard penalties on the books. >> the captain recognized noah leotta's desire to stop drunk drivers. he had an enforcement reading raring to go. >> nightmare for me. when you find the special someone and they have a niche like he does, all you want to do is help them to become successful. >> pennsylvania, virginia and west virginia all have mandatory admission interlock laws for the first-time d.u.i. offender. state delegate ben kraemer tried unsuccessfully to get

the measure passed. >> i question why the citizens of maryland don't deserve the same protection that our neighbors in virginia and in pennsylvania and west virginia enjoy. >> they are in the final stages of planning the funeral that will likely be held next week. maureen: they are honoring leotta. they tweeted out a picture with the black band in leotta's memory. we invite you to share condolences on facebook.

>> you can share your thoughts and the condolences on the facebook page. chief mark magaw is retiring to accept a promotion. he will be the deputy chief administrative office for public safety. hank will be the interim chief. he played a physical role choosing -- on not -- potentially violent situation in the riots in baltimore. the defense rested today after three days of testimony in officer william porter's case. the officer took the stand in his own defense. he was accused of failing to strap gray in the back of the

police van. the coverage of the case is online at wjla.com. with >> congress avoided a shutdown of the federal government. house passed a last-minute resolution extending the current spending plan another five days. senior political reporter scott thuman monitoring what is happening on the hill. >> why five days? >> that is how long they hope it will take to iron out the details. in the meantime, the crisis averted for the five days. the brief extension will keep it funded through wednesday night. using restriction over the u.s. oil exports.

tax cuts that could be worth billions in ten-year time. so that is what we are looking at. at least for now. we have the syrian refugee crisis, the cuba relations. a lot to dole with over the weekend. maureen: scott, thank you. federal workers going to get extra time off the jobs for christmas. within the hour, president obama signed an executive order to make christmas half day of work for all federal employees. that gives them half of thursday. and the entire weekend for the holiday. fireworks on the campaign trail as the presidential candidates dr. ben carson threatens to leave the g.o.p. the threat came after they discussed broker convention in project dinner.

>> republican leadership says talks were to address concerns that no candidate will win the nomination before the national congress vention in july. still ahead on "abc7 news at 6:00" -- the plan to triple the driving fines and the reasons behind it in the district. and how maryland could register hundreds of thousands of new voters. call for the citadel's president to re-sign over pictures of students dressed as klan -- to resign over picture of students dressed as klansmen. doug: we'll talk about the weekend weather with st

maureen: the police put out a crime alert after a series of mugs. police believe the same man logged several people.

if you have information call crime stoppers. there are calls for the president of the citadel re-signed over cadets were dressed as ku klux klanmen. they have all been suspended. >> this is a slap in the face. the citadel is only a few blocks away. with the students and the leadership have done is opened up a wound. that is hard to close. >> that is reference to the nine african-americans killed in racial attack at church. the citadel president says he will not re-sign. the university of maryland

football stadium going to get a new name. they voted to change it from byrd stadium to capital one field at maryland stadium. it's named for the school's president from 1936-1954. who supported racial segregation. >> activists took to chicago. they are outraged by the shoot of laquan mcdonald. they waited more than a year to release dash cam video of the shooting. the officer had been charged with murder but the family says that is not enough. >> the feeling of chicago is the real feeling itself.

>> they called on rahm emanuel to re-sign. he has apologized for the death but says he won't step doing. up next at 6:00, $1,000 speeding sixty? the proposal. how warm will it get and when the reality could return in the weather. robert: i'm robert burton. in sports how does curt cousins respond? the answer coming out of the and randy wittman calling the wizards out again. what he said when "abc7 news at 6:

maureen: no word what caused the accident on the bridge on the beltway that cused a backup for commute. four-vehicle accident left a person dead and three others hurt. no word on the identity. virginia police are looking for a man that say ran someone over after an argument that

happened after midnight in the parking lot of the bar and grill in winchester. the police say lamar wool-ridge ran down the victim and fled. vdot wants to increase fines. they propose fine going $25,000 over the speed limit. hitting bicycle is $500 offense. stopping, parking in bike lane would set you back $200. >> those two violate the law don't have the means to pay.

maureen: a.a.a. said they would create a debter's prison. they are looking to a voting bill to allow thousands to the rolls. they would allow reg star to cull name from the data bases to be registered to vote if they aren't already registered. supports say relying on a driver's license leaves out potential voters. >> we are headaching sure that people have access to vote.

maureen: you can go to wjla.com/toys for a link to toys for tots wish list on amazon. we are at the start of what should be a beautiful weekend. chief meteorologist doug hill is enjoying it. live around the corner from us. doug: we are at the virginia side of the key bridge. i came here this afternoon we started to report, there were a dozen folks around. but now there are hundreds. a lot of stalls, local merchants. goods here. you can get food or something to drink. a fun night. one of the common things from the people here tonight is how

unusual it is to the middle of december to be outside with so many people enjoying being outside. a chill but that is what the bonfire is for. the band is playing all night. they are taking a break and they will be back. steve: we will close to temperatures and even on monday. 66 degrees. 48 is the temperature for the date. so 20 degrees where we normally are. in december we have listen lucky with the temperatures above average. take a look. all the days from the first to the 11th. above average reading.

48 in frederick. 52 in winchester. 49 in culpeper. the oldest to the year well north is not super cold. south and west to the 60's. reporting at 65 degrees. so satellite and the radar. not a lot going on. we have partly cloudy skies. patchy developing tonight and tomorrow. most is gone for eight or 9:00. waking up tomorrow, 45 in fairfax. lago with temperatures around 46. a lot of mile air moves from the south. highs in the middle 60. on sunday warmer yet.

tomorrow looks fantastic. upper 60's at 4:00 in the afternoon. once again the temperatures are 20 degrees above average. a cold front on monday. tuesday tumbles to the lower 60's. 60 on wednesday. week from today, back to reality with the temperatures around 47 degrees. head to robert. robert: seriously? okay. it's not your fault. let's talk about the wizards and what randy wittman said about the play. what does a quarterback do when the receiver is frustrated? i will let kirk cousins tell you. sports is next.

>> we are digging ourselves in a hole playing cool and soft at the start of the game. >> don't care what sports you play, no athletes wants to hear the s-word. "soft." randy wittman referred to how they start off at home. they are on the road tonight in new orleans. they will face anthony davis and the pelicans. the only team worse than the

pelicans in the conference is the lakers. a guy that is not soft is john wall. wall averaging 26 points a game. they will try to rebound from the seven turnover game on wednesday. switching to football. jackson had six receptions for 80 yards against dallas. good game for him. you can see it here. don't know how many times he was passed up. but apparently one too many for receiver. >> hi said i heard you were open. should have got you the football. they have done a good job to get me the football. they made me right many times.

robert: baseball, swing and a miss for nats on the free agent market. heyward revealed to to a deal with the cubs. this is the second time they got the prize. earlier this week ben zobrist picked the cubs over the nats as well. final note. another night of the prep highlights. high school sports finals at 11:30 on the sister station, newschannel8. check out the high school sports. maureen: that is where the heroes are. steve: this is what i do when i go home. robert: i know you do. it's beautiful tonight and tomorrow. the next several days, and tomorrow. the next several days, and then cooler next we

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breaking news tonight. donald trump about to speak. and the eye-opening new numbers tonight. what americans now think of his proposed ban on muslims in america. and the fire at a mosque, was it arson? and the hunt for one clue after the california terror? could it be at the bottom of the lake? and the former cop, facing 263 years in prison after being convicted. and one of the hottest gifts of the year, and the home that caught fire. what authorities say they forgot to do. and the reason behind the