welcome to "news4 this week." >> hi, everyone. i'm jim handly. we are going to show you some of the inning stories in local news. students get an amazing lesson in lifesaving. see how one young man sprang into action when his teacher started choking in class. college students living on just on $2 a day. we will show you why they chose to ditch their lives of luxury and privilege. first, concerns over a kind of marijuana use that's not against the law. it is synthetic marijuana.

it gets you high and it is perfectly legal. but it may have been the substance that recently putt local teens in the hospital. and as craig melvin reports now, health concerns are leading to bans in some states. >> yeah. we are going do this. >> reporter: k-2 is not marijuana but some say it might as well be. people are smoking it all over youtube and owe are many in and around d.c. a man we are calling andy, who does not want to be identified, sells it. a lot of it. >> it's very typical to sell between $3,000 and $4,000 a day. >> reporter: 35, $45 a gram, the smokers get a high as close to marijuana as you can get, legal. they are talking about it on youtube. >> you get this tingling sensation all over your face. >> reporter: without any advertising, andy says his

client base has grown exponentially since they started selling it several years ago. it is not just college kids. places like this one in d.c., different shop than the one andy works with, sees government workers, teachers, servicemen and those struggling with addiction. >> we get referrals, probation officers trying to keep their people out of jail because they won't sell drugs using this product. >> reporter: but the product isn't supposed to be smoked. it is labeled as incense. on each package it clearly states not for human consumption. the winging and nodding between smoker and seller is what has some doctors so worried. the national capital poison center says they are getting more and more calls from smokers that had side effects. >> people seem to get more agitated. they get paranoid. and some can even have seizures. >> reporter: no one is sure why because no one knows forrer is what is in synthetic marijuana. >> there is no one that checks that's what is on the label is

in the products. you don't really know what is in the product at all. you don't know what herbs are in there and you don't know what's being sprayed on them. >> we have asked every single one if they are adding synthetic to the product and they say no, absolutely not. >> reporter: do you believe them? >> no, i don't. >> reporter: you can get k-2 and lots of other brands like it at more than a dozen places around d.c. two months ago kansas became the first state to ban synthetic mayor juan as. the state legislature is considering a bill to make the stuff illegal everywhere. nebraska and north dakota are also considering bans. while state lawmakers wrangle over whether it will stay that way, the drug enforcement agency said that they are already tracking these products and analyzing ingredients and safety data. >> some some cases we have seen the chemicals have -- many times more potent than marijuana. if you are playing russian

roulette here. >> reporter: craig melvin, news4. >> a movie theater manager in virginia has apologized for a display that had his business painted in controversy. a mural on the side of the building depict ad union flag next to a con federal flat. it was meant to represented the unity between north and south. but some patrons called it offensive. julie carey has our story. >> reporter: it is a movie theater like no other in the metro area. just opened near fredericksburg. the join movie coast has a bowling alley, 3-d screens, premium seating, and a lounge. but it was this mural being paint order the bar patio wall over the weekend that captured one new employee's attention and concern. because it feature as confederate flag. >> shocked i wt was being put u. i told my manager that many people would be offended. he told me to shut up and go

back to work. >> reporter: sean said his criticism not well received. he was september home. a local naacp officer came to look for her zblefl artistically it is nice but it represents the confederate flag, represents so many deeds done to our people, that caused a lot of hatred even to this day. when we think about -- we think about that flag and how deprived and -- depressed that people were at that time. >> reporter: the controversy was quickly put to rest by the movie co-manager. when news4 asked the mural the chatter box lounge has a historical theme, photos, some from the civil war. the mural was intended to reflect the ultimate union between north and south. knox says they never meant to offend. >> we feel horrible about it. it was not our intent to offend anybody. what we are going to do, we are going change the banner we came up with. our artist came up with that drawing. had had done a lot of things around here. and we are going to change it to

a virginia flag. you know, still kind of tells the story a little bit, the history. >> reporter: julie carey, news4, fredericksburg. >> usually called on to pro tech their students. it went the other way around in a stafford high school classroom with when a student sprang into action to save his teacher's life. she was choking right in the middle of class. and a normally quiet young man didn't hesitate to help. john schriffen has their story. >> it was like my whole life was flashing in front of me. then i saw the faces my family. oh, my gosh. i'm going to die. >> reporter: miriam lorenza is alive and breathing today, she had, because of one young brave one man, one of her spanish students. don't call 17-year-old storm runman a hero. he says he's a regular guy. >> normal people living lives at stafford high school then something like this happens. spice it is school year up. >> reporter: last monday the 11th grader was sitting in class taking a spanish test when his teacher, miss lorenzo, started

to choke on her sandwich. >> i thought, okay, i'm in trouble. so i had to get you on of the classroom, you know, didn't want to disturb the class. so i stood up and just -- trying to leave the classroom. >> reporter: the class stood up and gasped in shock as miss lorenzo's finger started to turn blue. >> she obviously couldn't breathe. and i -- you would even thinking at all, i just ran up behind her and started doing the heimlich maneuver. >> reporter: runman pulled and pulled and pulled. it took 20 seconds but the piece of bread came free. >> the best moment of my life. i said, i can breathe again. i just said to him, you are my hero. >> reporter: in the halls of stafford high school runman is a local celebrity. >> i just don't think i would have the reaction either. fantastic. i see him every day. he doesn't look any different. he is a hero now. >> reporter: with the semester winding down, does this mean runman gets an "a"? >> that's the question everybody asks but i feel so bad.

he has to earn his grade and he doesn't need my help. >> reporter: john schriffen, news4. >> that smart stun learned how to perform the heimlich maneuver as a boy skoutd and now has been recommended for a heroism award. national honor for a scout that saves a life. his teacher said he did work hard enough to earn an "a" in the class this year. we have much more ahead on "news4 this week." one of the most influential businessmen in washington whose name you may not know. incredible story of joe robert and his plight to become a champion for children. a cat that was once blind can now see. we ♪

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♪ could open a world of wonder ? ♪ ♪ so sensory ♪ so satisfying ♪ the discovery ♪ never seems to stop ♪ ♪ it's the magic friskies ♪ ♪ makes happen ♪ every day ♪ in so many ways ♪ friskies ♪ feed the senses joe roberts may not be a name you are familiar with but he has become a successful businessman here in washington who has used his love of boxing to help out children for decades. and as barbara harrison shows us now, he has never shied away

from a good fight. >> sonny versus muhammad ali. no one happier with the ali victory than this kid -- joe robert. growing up in silver spring, maryland, a fan long before he had enough money to pay for a ticket to see a fight. >> i wanted to become muhammad ali. you know, fourth grade. >> reporter: the oldest of five children, joe was always a scrapper. >> my first fight, god, i was probably four, five years old. >> reporter: from an early age he fell he had to defends himself and his mother against an abusive father. >> i was afraid of him. >> reporter: a trashed box of kid-sized boxing gloves led to a new venture. >> i got the whole neighborhood, put them in my backyard. i thought that by virtue of the fact i owned the gloves, i would be the best guy out there. and this kid whipped up on me like there was no tomorrow. >> reporter: by then joe's father was gone most of the time. >> my father left home when --

were in seventh grade. >> reporter: make nothingly payments to keep her kids in catholic school, joe's mother was proud when show graduated from st. john's military academy. and went on to mt. st. mary's college in maryland. but he was kicked out of college for fighting freshman year. so he decided then to fight competitively. he racked up golden glove wins in the ring. and the young kids in the gym became his mission. >> stopped boxing at 22. >> reporter: he needed a real job and sended up selling first encyclopedias and then real estate in washington. >> i came up with an idea to buy noncon forming commercial mortgages. >> reporter: from that he built an empire. >> we fwrep 0 to $6.5 billion. >> reporter: he never forgot those kids at the gym. violence took the lives of two

of the great kids he mentored. it is one reason why he created fight for children promoting quality education and health care for disadvantaged children in washington. in the last 20 years, he's raised more than a billion dollars for 140 organizations dedicated to helping washington, d.c., kids. including growth for children's hospital. his work had won him fans and friends around the world. they know him as a fighter. he's now fighting for his life after aed is heartbreaking diagnosis of brain cancer. but doctors are amazed that he's winning week after week. he says this round is in god's hands. >> he's decided i can produce more here than i can out there. >> reporter: barbara harrison, news4, washington. >> joe robert recently shaved his head. not for his own treatment of brain cancer but in solidarity with the kids at children

hospital. he challenged friends to pay him $25 each if he was willing to join the kids in a be brave and shave campaign. that challenge to his friends alone raised another $114,000 recently for children's hospital. coming up on "news4 this week," the promising research that could change the lives of diabetes patients. could you live on $2 a day? see why a group of college students decided to give it a try.

some health news now to raise a glass. drinking moderate amounts of coulded three better overall health according to a new study out of paris. researchers studied more than 500,000 people. those that were lower drithan tr counterparts. moderate drinkers seem to be more socially active.

one in 400 american children is diagnosed with type i diabetes. irreversible disease that's usually passed down from generation to generation. but now scientists say that a new vaccine could allow them to one day cure diabetes. meaning patients may never need insulin again. doreen gentzler reports. >> started going and -- i would have to have it. >> reporter: 15-year-old marina butler was having trouble seeing. she was constantly thirsty and using the bad room a lot. >> when i saw the i am sim tomorrowingsing to it made it more clear and said let's get it checked out to make sure because it runs in our family. >> reporter: blurred vision, unusual thirst, and frequent urination, classic symptoms of type i diabetes. and autoimmune disease where the body destroys insulin producing cells in the pancreas, beta cells. without insulin the body can't regulate blood sugar. >> it is like -- lifestyle. >> reporter: for marina butler

that means she needs to take insulin injections four times a day. regularly check her blood sugar levels and count the number of carbohydrate she is eats at every meal. if the clinical trial for a sack convenient called diamed should be successful, diabetes patients like butler might never need an insulin injection again. >> when kids are first diagnosed, they still have some of their producing ability left. the idea of this research is to try to preserve what remains of those cells. that's really the first step in developing a cure down the road. >> reporter: pediatric dr. deborah counts is leading diamed's clinical trial at the university of maryland medical center. she says by giving the vaccine to patients within three months of their diagnosis, the hope is that it will stop the body from destroying eye let cells, saving those remaining. >> kids are young adults when they are first diagnosed with type i diabetes. they have approximately half of their own eye let cells left. >> reporter: researchers will be studying the vaccine and

effectiveness on participants over the course of 2 1/2 years. count says the vaccine has the potential to not only cure type i diabetes but to prevent it from developing in people who are at high risk. >> so for marina, it would hopefully protect her eye let cells so that she would potentially not need more insulin over time and if it works potentially it would also could be given to her kids and -- pref enher kids from getting diabetes. >> reporter: marina butler has been part of the clinical trial nearly two months now. she says her blood sugar has been closer to normal recently and hasn't needed as much insulin. she says she's unsure whether this is related to the vaccine but it still is exciting. >> i know that diabetes runs in my family and a lot of people if my family have diabetes. to be able to stop that trend would be great. >> reporter: doreen gentzler, news4. many parents pay thousands of dollars for their kids to get a good college education on a beautiful campus, say, at the university of mary washington in

fredericksburg. but some recently chose to live in a tent to share a toothbrush and get by on $2 a day. news4's kimberly suiters found out how they did it and why. >> i spent all of my $8 on rice. >> reporter: 15 students lived on that rice, beans and donated food. that explains the pizza box. to sample life on just $2 a day. that's where the challenge week starts every spring. this year his creation caught hold on a dozen other campuses. even though camping out for a cause is no picnic. >> i don't think very well out here. and i'm getting better with the caffeine withdrawal. >> sharing toothbrushes. >> there's such a low caloric

intake your brain doesn't work as well. >> reporter: the students did allow themselves one luxury. >> very important to cope in relationship. >> reporter: a video camera to document their long hot days and sleepless rainy nights. >> week of self-sacrifice. getting around. >> reporter: they put hard and fast rules on themselves. no hot showers. no cold drinking water. >> we had to boil all the water before we could drink it. and it was really hot that week. it took several hours for the water to cool down. >> reporter: no shelter. except the one they built from trash and rebuilt because of the storm. >> i think we considered it a shelter and -- by the end of it i would have considered it a home. >> reporter: the students built their makeshift shelter right here in the heart of campus. they endured rain, hot weather, and dirty conditions. but they say something really special came out of the experience. >> you take handful of college kids that live the life of luxury and -- put them on a strict budget and you watch a whole economy and whole community merge. >> reporter: a community undivided by tvs, cell phones,

ipods. united by a mission. >> what do you want the money for? >> it was a life they actually missed when it was over and drove home how lucky i really am in my daily life. >> reporter: you gave up so much. >> we still had a lot. >> reporter: in fredericksburg, kimberly suiters, news4. >> reporter: they raised more than $22,000

-sure.s for coming back out.

i think you might have hooked it up wrong, though. yea, we're getting way too many channels. no, no. that's -- that's standard. fios also comes with 11,000 free movies and shows on demand per month. ah, standard. gotcha. a certain somebody says "thank you." tell him "he's welcome," but it's still standard. he's happy to be back with his friends. is he? [ male announcer ] call now and get fios tv, internet, and phone for just $99.99 a month guaranteed for two years! this is beyond cable. this is fios. call the verizon center for customers with disabilities at 800-974-6006 tty/v. a cat named harvey has a little extra spring in his step after a life changing surgery. harvey is stray cat that arrived at the washington humane society almost blind. now he can see again.

news4's aaron gilchrist has his story. >> reporter: talk about a fur ball of energy. nothing is slowing harvey down these days in his foster home at the washington humane society's spay and neuter clinic. harvey was here for a different kind of surgery. >> he's -- he did not seem to be visual. he seemed to be blind. he could probably distinguish shapes but really didn't have any vision that was substantial. >> reporter: harvey was found at a d.c. apartment complex in late april and shelter staff quickly discovered his vision problem. dr. goldsmith conducted harvey's surgery and she says as a stray kit yep with no vet care he probably developed a respiratory infection that led to cornual scarring in both eye. >> he had substantial amount of scarring. he had a memorandum rain covering one of the corneas. and that's what we were able to snip away. and remove and over the last, i would say, ten days or so,

the -- the residual scarring has diminished. >> reporter: look into harvey's eyes now and you will see he is recovering pretty well. >> he walks up to every cat to meet them and is very friendly and would love him to go to owe a home with other cats. >> reporter: harvey is one of 30 thousand animals that comes through the humane society every year. it wouldn't be possible without a little help. the society provides low cost spay and neutering and sees tons of animals like harvey. strays that need medical attention. and harvey's surgery cost about 300 bucks. money donated to the society sophie fund. specifically for animals like harvey. >> we are always looking for help with our medical funding and to be able on these type of things we do, come up in our shelter animals. >> reporter: harvey is in the market for a new home looking to see whatever is out there. aaron gilchrist, news4, southeast washington. >> that's all for "news4 this week." i'm jim handly. thank you for watching. enjoy the rest of your weekend,

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