this is news4 at 11. >> tonight scandal takes down a d.c. councilman. harry thomas, jr. has resigned. for months the harry thomas scandal has clouded the image and actions of city government. >> tonight we learned thomas pleads to plead guilty to two federal crimes tomorrow. tom sherwood was the first to report t resignation this evening. >> the plea deal has been in the works for weeks. tonight he admits what he's always denied.

harry thomas, jr. has battled controversy over allegations of wrong doing since winning a second term in 2010. thomas announced tonight he's resigning immediately and will plead guilty of felony charges are of stealing $353,000 in funds and reporting false tax reports. he said in a statement i will plead guilty to committing two federal crimes. i am resigning my position as a member of the council effective immediately. i made some very serious mistakes, i was wrong. thomas said in his statement i want to apologize to those i have let down. i deeply regret the pain that this has caused. today i am taking the first at the toward making things right. thomas is due in u.s. district court friday morning to begin

the formal process that is expected to lead to a prison sentence of up to three years. thomas is the first d.c. council member in modern history to resign for criminal matters. a very sad day for his city. >> the people in his ward, will they be unrepresented? >> it will be vacant. there lab special election. the board of special elections will have to call that in 114 days. whoever gets the most votes wins. there are three years left on his term so there's a lot to run for. >> the mayor and council chairman both were involved in their own federal investigations. both spoke to news4 about the investigation. mayor gray is being investigated for allegedly giving cash and a city job to a minor candidate in exchange or a tax on then mayor adrian fenty during the campaign.

chairman quame brown is also under investigation for raising and spending 3d 00,000 in campaign money back in 2008. >> reporter: given how long you've known the family, i was wondering if it's hurting you as much as it's hurting everyone else. >> we'll stand behind his statement at this stage. >> i'm disappointed. it was absolutely wrong. it was something that should not have happened. when he admitted to committing the two crimes that he's been accused of and now has admitted, to i was personally hurt and devastated. >> there is no timetable for the u.s. attorney's office regarding the investigations into maythe mayor chairman brown. >> reporter: jackie bensen is outside his home tonight. jackie? >> reporter: public reaction contains much sympathy, long-time residents who have done much for the city.

but that public reaction is also tinged with anger. the allegations were bad enough but word that harry thomas, jr. will now plead guilty to stealing public money for his own gain leaves him very few supporters among his constituents. >> that's pretty unfortunate in his case. i mean, i'm kind of shocked that he would be involved in embezzling. >> it just caught me by surprise. i'm speechless. >> well, it's what politicians do it seems to me. these days at least. it's like, you know, a lot of people are getting caught up in corruption things. >> i'll really sad about it honestly. it's a sad situation when you vote people into office and then they abuse your trust like that. >> news4 has learned that ward five democratic leaders will meet monday at 7:00 p.m. at israel baptist church on saratoga avenue to discuss moving forward.

doreen, back to you. >> jackie bensen reporting, back to you. we'll have full coverage of his plea hearing tomorrow. >> everything back to normal on the blue and orange metro lines after a rough commute this afternoon. riders saw major delays while crews repaired a crack along the tracks near the stadium-armory station. trains to h to single track between the stations. some of the riders tweeted that their commute took an hour longer than usual. work was completed just after 6:00. metro says the work needed to be done right away. >> the impact to service would have been the same regardless whether we were doing the repairs or waited for the repairs. it's better to do the repairs.

given that service would be affected either way. >> metro issued warnings to riders but there were still imagine delays, especially heading out of the district into virginia and maryland. >> six children were found drinking at a middle school at loudoun county today, the same school where a teacher was found drinking during the day a few weeks ago. shomari joins us tonight. >> reporter: tonight we talked to school officials and the sheriff and they both tell us they commend the students who told them about what happened. >> well, i think it's disturbing. >> reporter: loudoun county sheriff said six students drank alcohol on campus before class started. >> immediate response by the school, by our school resource officer and they worked together to address the problem immediately and make sure all the notifications were made. >> reporter: it's the same cool where deputies arrested a physics teacher for allegedly

being intoxicated. today two of the six students failed a breathalyzer but were not legally drunk. as for the other four, they took since. >> the difference between the two is members of the community accepted up to did the right thing. >> reporter: officials say this whole thing started on a school bus. the kids were on one and were allegedly drinking, then walked on campus through the hallway, into the cafeteria and allegedly continued drinking. figures say they found out when one of the students went to the nurse and said "i don't feel well." >> it's a great opportunity to remind the parents of substance abuse and that they're keeping abreast of what their children are doing and what their children's friends are doing. >> the sheriff's office is investigating where the kids got the alcohol in the first place. shomari stone, back to you in the studio. >> thank you, shomari. >> a fire tonight in prince georges county. officials say it was caused by a

christmas tree. the flames broke out at about 9:00 in brandywine. firefighters say an electrical short sparked the fire in a tree. a woman who was home at the time suffered a small burn to her face. they say the family dog is still missing. >> outside tonight almost balmy as a matter of fact compared to what it was a couple of nights ago, doug. >> that's for sure. temperatures right now about 20 degrees warmer than they were a couple of nights ago. out there today high temperature reached 50 degrees with some sunshine in the district, also 50 in manassis, 52 towards fredericksburg, 46 in leesburg. we're going to continue on this trend before we see more charges as we head into early next week and the middle of next week. the seven-day forecast got a lot of ups and downs in it. >> some breaking news tonight. the "boston herald" and several other news outlets are reporting that penn state has hired a new

head football coach, new england patriots offensive coordinator bill o'brien reportedly has agreed to coach penn state. he spent the day interviewing for the job there. o'brien will replace joe paterno who coached that program for decades but was fired after the sex scandal involving his former defensive coordinator jerry sandusky. an state official announcement is expected this weekend. >> the battle lines are drawn tonight with the primaries just five days away in new hampshire. mitt romney only made a brief appearance in the granite state this morning before heading down to south carolina to campaign with senator john mccain there. polls show romney with a comfortable lead in new hampshire and romney's gop rivals are taking the opportunity to attack the absent front-runner. >> i don't believe a massachusetts moderate is in a very good position to debate barack obama. and i think it would be very hard for him to win the general election. >> meanwhile rick santorum is riding his second place finish in iowa, strong second, while

john huntsman who put all his money into new hampshire is hoping a victory will catapult his campaign. >> senator mccain might have wanted to check his facts before making comments at a campaign event for mitt romney in south carolina this afternoon. during that event in charleston, mccain drew groans in the audience when he congratulated the clemson football team and voiced support for president obama. >> it's wonderful to be back. and by the way, congratulations on the university of south carolina and clemson's victories on the gridiron. i am confident with the leadership and the backing of the american people president obama will turn this country around. we believe in america. we believe that our best days are ahead of us. >> excuse me, president romney. >> clemson was crushed by west virginia last night in the orange bowl. they lost 70-33. >> president obama vowed to keep the u.s. military stronger than ever despite massive cuts to the pentagon's budget. the army will be reduce being

its combat brigade teams from 45 to 32 over the next decade. about 80,000 soldiers will be cut, bringing the numbers down to the level they were pr pre- 9/11. the focus will be less on europe and more on asia and the middle east. some military experts say the cuts are risky. >> you cut the force, which is what he's doing, particularly the army, which will shrink in size and panetta wants to make it shrink any smaller. any time you reduce the size of the force you're taking risk. >> nearly $500 billion will be cut from the defense budget. americans who served will not lose any benefits. >> leaders of the frederick county school system is apologizing ton after a child was left alone on a school bus. it was a 5-year-old girl. she fell asleep on the way to school on tuesday. she was found about 45 minutes

later but her parents weren't notified until the next day. the principal of the school met with the entire staff to talk about the breakdown in communication. >> we're getting a look at the signing on the beltway. the signs will show an e-z pass is required. they'll run from the mixing bowl in springfield to just north of the dulles toll road. >> a new proposal that could have chickens and hens roaming the back yards. >> and now a local chauffeur can afford to be the one in the back. >> and a

urban farming is getting a lot of attention across the country right now and walter tejeda says it's time for the community to discuss its own agricultural options. he says that includes the possibility of land exchange, rooftop gardens and even back yard hens. advocates for back yard hens say the practice has a range of benefits. >> you are what you eat and i think there's probably no better way to illustrate that than to be able to walk into your back yard, pick some vegetables that you grew, bring them into your house, prepare them, take the scraps out to the back yard, feed them to some hen who is will then turn them into a healthy source of protein for us and fertilizer for that garden. >> tejeda says it will still be a couple of months before the public will be able to weigh in on any of the possibilities.

>> a chauffeur from rockville is the newest millionaire in the area. his name is warner ashby and he just won $1 million from the virginia new year's millionaire ralph. ashby bought the winning ticket at a 7-11 on georgetown pike in great falls. took him a few days, though, the winning ticket was one of the ones he had bought. >> i said, golly, i bought a ticket at that store. i started immediately going through my tickets and of course the numbers matched up and i said holy moly, this can't be right. >> it was. ashby says he plans to visit his daughter and granddaughter in tennessee. says he'd like to take a trip to hawaii, always wanted to go there. says he didn't want the news to get out because he plans to keep working and doesn't want to lose his loyal customers. >> a family dog in albuquerque, new mexico is blamed for eating a woman's wedding ring. rachel at kinson usually takes her ring off when she goes to

bed and puts it on her night stand. but couldn't find it when she got up and suspected her bassett hound when he acted strangely. after ten days and the ring didn't come out naturally, she took the dog to the vet and had the ring removed and now she has it back. >> we'll never forget this. the ring and her have gotten more expensive. >> the vet told the family bassett hounds tend to eat rocks. sheer has expensive taste apparently. she now keeps her ring hidden at night. >> try not to think about that ring. >> i knew someone who had a bassett hound. didn't like rocks, he liked to eat people. >> imagine that. they're the slowest dogs out there. >> if you run fast, he can't

catch you. >> exactly. >> it is balmy out there tonight. >> comparatively so. we were at 17 degrees the other night and now we're sitting with temperatures into the 30s in most locations. the lowest temperature out there is sitting at that 30-degree mark. again, our average low temperature this time of year sitting around 28. so we're well above average once again across the area today after just two days below average. 50 degreeses high temperature today with that low this morning of 30 and, yes, i think at least for now you can see good-bye to the cold. i think that cold air is out of here and i don't think it's coming back any time soon, at least not the frigid air we've seen. we've had clouds streaming in from time to time and we will see some clouds. he's are high-level variety. they'll continue to stream on through. we call them high cirrus clouds. can you still see where the cold air lies, just to our north.

39 in pittsburgh, 39 in boston and 36 in buffalo. we hav't seen much in the way of snow. buffalo 3.8 inches officially. normally they're around 35 inches of snow so far. so if you think we have a lack of snow, buffalo definitely seeing a lack of snow there. out toward the west completely different story here. look, it's 66 in st. louis today, near 70 in omaha, over a hundred record highs broken today and that mild air is going to move our way. the cold air that was pushing all the way down into florida will get out of here. here comes that mild air all the way up the coast, right over towards boston and especially in our area where temperatures tomorrow and on saturday will be in the mid to upper 50s. it is going to be gorgeous for the next two days before we see another little bit of a cooldown before the weekend. tomorrow a knew clouds and chilly but not bad. about 33 in the suburbs. tomorrow afternoon we'll see plenty of sunshine. we'll call it a fantastic friday

because that's just going to be what it is. mostly sunny, mild, winds gusting to 25 miles an hour late in the day. over the next few days we go up a little bit on saturday with a high of 57. 49 on sunday after a little cold front comes through but look at the lows. we still stay above freezing in the district. most areas in the 20s but not bad. 46 on monday. that looks like the coldest day of the next seven days. each of those days will be above average it looks like. and the next real chance for any real precipitation comes next wednesday and thursday. that storm is going to be another one of these storms that we just saw come through. it's going to have the potential for a lot of rain and it's also going to be the one that's the game changer allowing some of that cold air to come back in. i do think next weekend will be a cold one. >> better enjoy the warmer temps while we can. >> coming up in sports, an update on

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or the pantech breakout for $49.99. our lowest price ever. get the technology you love, on the network you deserve. now get twice the data for the same low price. hurry in, this offer ends january 15th. verizon. so you got some terps news, huh? >> this is great news. maryland had a terrible season, 2-10, lost their final eight. this is really coach for the coach. the maryland football team landed its biggest recruit of the off season tonight, four-star recruit and running back wes brown announcing his commitment on national television to the university of maryland. this season the 6 foot, 200 pound running back from baltimore rushed for more than 1,300 yards and 22 touchdowns. for wes brown choosing maryland

was easy. >> the uniforms were sweet. tell me the uniforms had a little something to do with it. >> no, it didn't at all. just staying home with my mom, making sure everything is good back home, not go off too far so she won't have to worry. my support is back home. >> and a big get for the terps. they're happy to have wes brown. tonight brown playing in the underarmor all-american high school game in florida. brown on the move, takes the late handoff. 28-yard gain, night stiff arm right there. he wasn't done. brown at the top of your screen here calling for the football. and he takes the checkdown pass. gets the first down, makes it 12 yards for another first down. good sequence for brown making the most of his opportunity tonight. it would all pay off very next play. mark klein throws it up to marvin bracey. hauls it in with one hand. see it again. that is impressive. good for a 32-yard touchdown. gracie headed to florida state.

the white team beats the black team 49-16. >> breaking news, penn state will name patriots offensive coordinator bill o'brien as its new head coach. that's according to espn's chris mortenson. the school plans to make an initial announcement on saturday. >> college hoops, george mason on the road at old dominion where the patriots haven't won a game in eight years. in norfolk, virginia, mason up by 7. byron allen find as cutting mike morrison. monster dunk. morrison added 10 points and 9 rebounds. odu making a run here. kent bazmore splits the defenders and gets the floater to go for 26 his game high 17 points. george mason leads at the break 34-31. second half byron allen with the ball, drives strong to the bucket, plus one and the foul. allen finished with 14 points. just over a minute to go, george mason up by 5. bazmore tries to dunk but mike

morrison says i don't think so. take a look here, it's blocked and the ball gets stuck between the rim and the back board. george mason defeats old dominion 63-54 improving to 11-4. >> tomorrowtown hockey. just two days after taking an elbow to the head, niklas backstrom was back practicing with the team. he said he will make the trip to california for the next two games. >> yevgeny in russia playing for a gold medal. pick it up with 40 seconds, no score. sweet pass but yo han gustavson makes the save. see again. the teams combine for 66 shots in regulation but no score. we go to overtime.

in o.t., loose puck along the board, skates in and goes back hand for the golden goal and sweden wins it 1-0, capturing the gold medal, their first gold medal at the world junior championship in 31 years. man, they are feeling good tonight. good, though, for evgeni, named the mvp of the tournament. that's good news for the capitals. he's going to be quite the gamer. >> those kids are just so unexcited. unexcited. >> i love it.

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a retired teacher who has loved converse sneakers since she was a teen-ager may have a world record collection. her name is penny gold from lake mary, florida. she owns all these shoes. 713 pairs to be exact. all of them chucks. officials from the guinness book of world records paid her a visit today. she believes she has the largest collection of converse sneakers in the world. if she's correct, she'll make her way into next year's book of world records. >> she has some big feet! >> she has some big feet! >> i didn't say she wears

never in my lifetime did i think i could walk 60 miles in 3 days. if my mom can fight and beat breast cancer, i can walk 60 miles. (woman) the fund-raising was the easiest part. people were very giving. complete strangers wanting to help. i knew someday i was gonna do this walk. if i can do this, you definitely can do this. we can do this.

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