you don't just engineer a future-proof hybrid system. you engineer amazing. ♪ welcome to "news4 this week." >> hi, everyone. i'm veronica johnson. we're going to show you the more interesting local stories making news this week. among them, all the way home. he's not a little piggy, but needs help. he hopes to be someone's new pet. what is your work out? we check out the class that makes getting stronger abs look like child's play. a look at the gift that changed a child's life. first, one of the destinations in adams

neighborhood says construction is keeping customers from coming in. darcy spencer has more on the calls to take action. >> reporter: the sign says adams morgan is open for business. all the construction may force them to close their doors. this is the sound of progress, the street being dug up. sidewalks being replaced. it's happening on 18th street in adams morgan. shop owners say it's driving them out of business. how is this affecting your business? >> very bad. >> reporter: he's own add small grocery store for 15 years. inside, it's empty. how long can you hold on? >> maybe one more month, maybe. >> i have been here three weeks or four weeks. >> reporter: because of all this? >> because of all that, yeah. >> reporter: they have to navigate a potentially dangerous construction zone.

>> i was confused. i wasn't sure if the stores were open or not. >> reporter: signs like these say sidewalk closed. this street project started in february. before that, they were replacing utility lines. some say construction took away as many as 100 parking spaces. show us what you have to do to get into your business here? >> well, for today, i have to do this. i have to walk through and, you know, some debris. >> reporter: she yons a design company. she says the project will help business in the long run. >> please hold on. we'll do a pr campaign saying adams morgan is new and improved and mean it. >> reporter: some are hoping to hold on long enough to see it happen. darcy spencer, news 4. >> the work is expected to wrap

up by next may. the construction company is going to be fined if they are not out of there by that time. could we see more work done on the martin luther king monument? it was first brought to our attention, the quote is yes, if you want to say i was a drum major, say i was a drum major for justice. say i was a drum major for peace and right outness and the other shallow things will not matter. the quote on the statue reads i was a drum major for righteous peace and justice. they say it makes him sound arrogant. discussions are set to happen later this month after the postponed dedication of the memorial. well, this week washington is mourning the loss of a trail blazer in the struggle for gay

rights. jim handly has more on the life and legacy of frank. >> they asked. i lied and didn't tell. >> reporter: a pioneer. he felt an injustice and fought to make a difference for others. it was 1957. he was fired from his job as a government astronomer for being gay. the washington blade newspaper met him more than 30 years ago. >> he was courageous and his activism back at a time when you could face arrest. you could face discrimination, loss of job and he motivated a generation of activists. >> reporter: after being let go, he didn't leave quietly. he contested the firing with letters to the civil service commission, congress and the white house. he sued and lost in the lower courts and pressed on with a brief in 1961. today he's seen as the first civil rights claim to be brought

to the u.s. supreme court. >> frank came along saying we are not going to contritely beg for our rights, we are going demand them and assert ourselves because we are right on all grounds. >> reporter: last year, this stretch was named in his honor. today, mayor gray talked about his local legacy and asked for a moment of silence. what they said today, he made the city, nation and world a better place. >> he left a footprint here. he left his mark on our community not by one specific thing he did, but really by upholding the adage that one person can change the world. that's how he lived his life. >> reporter: in 2009 he wanted to be remembered most by coming up with the slogan gay is good. a bold and brave phrase back in 1968. jim handly, news 4. >> very brave.

supporters and gay rights advocates are planning a memorial in november. there's a special animal who is looking for a new home in virginia. he's definitely not the typical pet. he was found wondering along a road in prince william's county. we are introduced to the big guy known as wilbur. >> reporter: if you want to add a furry friend to your family, you'll find the one at the prince william county animal shelter. >> typically, dogs, cats, occasionally birds, then there's wilbur. >> reporter: you have to go out back to meet him. he's 5 years old, 200 plus pounds, strong and on the stubborn sides. oh, and he eats like a pig. >> he is an escape artist. most of them are. he was released because they couldn't contain them the way

they needed to. >> i grew up in southwest iowa and on farms. i handled other pigs before. this is lyndon hawkins. >> he was walking down the road. i grabbed on to his back legs and pulls him over to the ditch and rolled him on to the side and held on to him making friends with him until a supervisor brought a live show stock up. >> he loves dog biscuits. >> here you go, buddy. >> reporter: and he loves to be scratched behind the ears. >> he's tempmental. he wants to go and do what he wants to do. >> he's cute. he's cute, but he is a pig. >> reporter: wilbur isn't the only misfit. a minihorse and minidonkey are

here. two strays found wondering together. we'll save them for another story. >> they all look like characters. wilbur is strictly and outdoor pig. if you are interested in adopting him, contact the prince william county animal shelter. still ahead, promises to take the has el out of hard boiled eggs. and the medical myste

hopefully you can stomach this story. this was the world chili eating championship that took place during the taste of d.c. contestant joey chestnut took home the top prize. he took home $3,000 for eating two gallons of chili.

he beat sonia the black widow thomas. >> i feel great. >> you know what, i'm -- i want to show them my hometown people. >> two gallons is the new world record. the previous record was 1.5 gallons. the chili bowls sponsored the event. they made more than 30 gallons of chile for the championship. the black widow is a little lady, but she can eat a lot. if you have peeled a lot of hard boiled eggs, it can be tedious. one product says it can hard boil the eggs without the shell. sounds excellent, right? liz crenshaw checked it out and asked, does it really do that?

>> introducing eggies, the fast, easy way to cook hard boiled eggs without the shell. crack and pour in your egg. boil it on the stove top, twist it open for a perfect hard boiled egg every time. >> the times you want to serve something to somebody and picking off the little pieces. >> reporter: joyce hates peeling the egg shells off hard boiled eggs. she was more than willing to try eggi eggies. the system came with two sets of six eggies and two egg slicers. we paid $26 for the eggies, including processing and handling. we brought the system and the infomercial to joyce's home. >> crack, cook and twist. >> but -- >> does it really do that? >> reporter: now, this was not in the infomercial.

you must coat the inside of the eggies with nonstick cooking spray or oil. do not spray directly in to the eggies, spray on a paper towel and coat it. how is this working for you, joyce? >> more trouble than i expected. >> reporter: after we oiled up the eggies, we assembled them. now, we have to crack the egg into the top. whoa whoa whoa! >> yeah, mine is all over the counter, too. >> reporter: oh, lord. >> that hole is kind of small. >> part of the eggs are in the eggies. >> reporter: once it was in the system and the lids on, we put them in warm water. the water started boiling and eggs started cooking. it didn't look right. the egg was oozing into the water. we left them alone until the cooking time was complete. time to take them out and let

them cool. to release the egg, hold the bottom half upsidedown and squeeze until it's free. it's cooked. looks like it worked. >> they are not attractive. looks like something is wrong with them. >> reporter: it's dimpled. if you are slicing it for a salad, how is that working? >> it's not. for egg salad, it would be fine. >> reporter: we contacted the makers about joyce's concerns. they said eggies delivers on the promise of no hassel hard boiled eggs. when all was said and boiled, joyce said it wasn't fast or easy. >> i don't think so. it hard boils eggs, that's what it does. you don't have to peel but i don't think it's worth all the effort. >> reporter: for $26 would you buy them? >> no.

>> reporter: liz crenshaw, news 4. >> that looks like way too much effort for me. coming up, a second opinion leads to not one but two miracles for one couple. and a light hearted class that comes with a serious work out and a light hearted class that comes with a sbig!us work out big.

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what's it going to do to the planet? natural gas is the cleanest conventional fuel there is. we've got to be smart about this. it's a smart way to go. ♪ in news for your health now, a medical mystery for a young virginia couple trying to have a baby. when they couldn't get pregnant, doctors told them don't worry. instinct said there was something more serious going on. doreen gentzler explains how it may have saved this family. >> we had been trying for a little over two years. nothing was happening. >> reporter: all heather and her husband wanted was a baby. when they weren't having success, they knew something was wrong. >> the doctor i was going to at the time was giving me the run

around. >> reporter: she took matters into her own hand. she found a reproductive endocrinologist. he believed she has polscystic h hormone problems. >> there's no one specific thing you say. you test for this and they have a diagnosis. >> reporter: when he looked at her uterus, he found something troubling. >> scar tissue. >> it was biopsied and came back as cancer. i dropped to the floor. i was bawling. >> reporter: she had a tumor on her ute rouruuterus. >> when they said historectomy.

>> reporter: she underwent close screenings for a year. last january, something happened. >> i hadn't been feeling great. i had been feeling nauseous. >> she figured it was the stomach bug and decided to take a pregnancy test. the test was positive. when she least expected it, she was finally expecting. >> heather's fertility problems probably saved her life. she had an evaluation and this otherwise wouldn't have been noticed for possibly for years. >> reporter: september 1, calee grace was born. a healthy nine pounds, five ounces. >> getting to hold her was amazing. >> doreen gentzler, news 4. >> doctors still don't know if it was the cancer causing the

fertility problems or the ovarian syndrome. everyone agrees, it's a good idea to seek a second opinion if you have questions or concerns about a medical issue. a lot of people agree it's fun to work out. but it's hard to stick with a plan sometimes. that's part of this class in d.c. it works your core using a classic toy, the hula hoop. we asked participants, what's your work out. >> relax your shoulders. relax your hands. beautiful. hula hooping is exploration of movement in the body with a hoop. many times, people can't hoop on the waist. there are -- you basically can hoop anywhere on your body or around the hoop or inside the hoop. we used our arms, legs, necks and then a lot of range of motion within the joint. >> it creates a core strength in

a huge way. so, as your muscles understand how to choreograph and how to synchronize what they need to do your core becomes stronger and stronger as you dance. fly up and catch it. >> i was using lot of core arms, legs. i mean my whole entire body. >> super challenging. it's a different way of moving. >> it's like a meditation and can be a work out. i think people who don't know how to do all the sports. >> it's fun. it's light hearted. it expands your energy. you are able to get playful while toning your body and becoming flexible. >> you can get a work out without knowing you are getting a work out. >> open mind and play. >> well, i didn't see too many

guys in that class. think about that. next -- >> they have given us our life back. >> indeed. the labor of love that's made >> indeed. the labor of love that's made all the difference for ature, you're always looking ahead... to what's next... to what's possible confident... that taking action now, is the way to create... a better tomorrow. that's why we're announcing, that with the planned merger with t-mobile, at&t will begin bringing five thousand jobs to america from overseas. we will invest eight billion dollars more... and deploy the next generation of wireless broadband to nearly everyone in america.

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here is a great story. let's travel south of fredericksburg, virginia. there, a wounded warrior and his wife say they have been given their lives back thanks to the generosity of local home builders. jane watrel has their story. >> reporter: welcoming a visitor to their new home is a dream come true. the former army sergeant double amputee is the recipient of a mortgage-free home. >> we are thankful every day.

you don't have to be in your legs all day. you have that freedom to relax and be comfortable. >> reporter: comfortable because the home is adapted for him to be totally self-sufficient. >> it's easier to maneuver. i can go around the house. everything is wide enough. i am cruising around and turn around in any area. >> they have given us our life back as a normal, married couple. the worries, the daily worries of leaving and was he able to reach this or do that is no longer there. >> reporter: this is the 101st home built for the homes for our troops. it includes amenities that make lives easier for wounded troops. >> it is an independence. now, i'm able to, when i'm in my wheelchair go into the closet. it's a huge, roll-in closet.

>> reporter: in the bathroom, a roll-in shower. small but important details to help vets take care of themselves. >> it helps a lot with soldiers who have injuries with arms. having your dignity back and not always having your caregiver help you out. the construction took about four weeks. >> a month of your time to make their life that much easier, you can't find a better cause. >> now that they are settled in, they are on a new mission. >> we want to work as hard as we can to get the rest of these soldiers homes like this. >> reporter: they plan to build at least 100 more of the specialty adapted homes around the nation. at least one will be built by atlantic builders here in fredericksburg. jane watrel, news 4. >> for more information on homes

for our troops and to help them out, visit our website, www.nbcwashington.com. that's all for new"news4 this " week." i'm veronica johnson. thanks for tun

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