>> hi, everyone. i'm barbara harrison. we're going to show you some of the more interesting local stories making news this week. among them the pesky presence of mosquitoes. this year more people in our area are getting more than just an itchy bite. what you can do to protect yourself. and he's a hero to baseball fans young and old. we'll show you what he did to win over moms and dads. plus does that letter say you're a win center not so fast. a warning about mail scams hitting the d.c. area. first to a dream come true for a local warrior and his family. after three tours in iraq he's settling into a new home with

his wife and kids. the amazing part is someone else is picking up the mortgage. his story from washington. >> reporter: it is without question a dream come true. the father of this family has been serving and defending this country, they have a place to call home, a free home mortgage here. i was just inside and it's absolutely beautiful. this new home in fort washington is perfect for this family. plenty of room for them to grow. as husband and wife, they have two little ones and another one on the way. he served two tours in the army, where he's been injured. he's been injured three times and is now on medical retirement. the new home was donated through a partnership of jpmorgan chase and operation home front. for years operation home front has provided assistance to families of vets offering

financial and at times food assistance. providing a new home is a new endeavor for nonprofit. so far they have provided 16 families with homes and they are in the process of preparing about 90 more. most of these homes were either for closed or given back to the bank, so it's an opportunity to turn something that was really sad for another family into a blessing for some of america's heroes. >> so it's just amazing that we're able to give a home to a proud warrior and his family who have served our country so patriotically. >> still shocking. a lot to take in. a lot of room. it's great. >> reporter: operation home front's goal is to have 350 military families in one of their rehand homes by 2013. they are not just providing homes but also assistance with a case worker who will help the families manage through their transition. in fort washington, i'm tracee

wilkins, news 4. start agning a new school y is fun if you have something new. students are enjoying a brand-new place to live on campus. the school debuted a wider halls making interaction more usable for deaf and hard of heerpg students. he knows it will be a suck because students had a role in the design. >> they are so excited. i would say the best part about the design and construction of this dorm is that students have been involved since day one. >> as excited as i am. seeing a lot of students moving in with big smiles on their faces, bringing their parents in. it's like bringing people home instead of a dorm. >> gallaudet is designed for deaf students. so do you know how much your kids are partying while away at

college? a new poll ranks west virginia top on a national list. west virginia knocked off ohio university this year. it's been five years since wvu topped the list from the princeton review. the school that ranked in the top 20 12 times since reviews have been published. they have worked to tone down the party image. as for stone cold sober schools, that honor goes to utah's brigham young university for the 15th straight year. well, it's no secret our area has some of the best communities in the nation to live in. in fact, several of them made money magazine's best places to live. in maryland, waldorf number 20, gaithersburg 23 followed by drm town. in virginia, ruston was the best place to live according to money magazine. the highest in the region. centreville, ashton 30,

arlington 45 followed by dale city. the cities were ranked on strong job opportunities, great schools, low crime, quality health care and plenty to do. well, if you spend a lot of your leisure time outdoors, you might notice we have a lot of mosquitoes out there this summer. while most bites are harmless, some of those critters could be watering west nile. more than what you should do to protect yourself. >> reporter: eighty percent of the people who get west nile have no symptoms whatsoever. eighty percent, they get bit, they get infected, they resolve. their immune system is good enough to resolve it. >> reporter: others have flu-like symptoms that show up in a few days. more likely to get sick, over age 50, this time of year big for bull repellant. >> i think it's important because you don't know which mosquitoes have west nile. >> you spray before you go out and play.

>> dr. jorge with the fairfax county health department has spent his life studying mosquitoes. when he had flu-like symptoms like year, the last thing he thought of was west nile virus. >> never crossed my mind. never crossed my mind that it could be west nile virus. >> reporter: by the time he was diagnosed with a blood test, he had begun having seizurseizures. sin it's a virus only symptoms can be treated. doctors put him in a coma. they put him in the hospital, took four months to relearn to walk and recover. >> it's one of those things that happened and it happened to me. >> reporter: there's all kinds of ways to block bugs, insecticides, long sleeved shirts, since mosquitoes aren't just annoying but can make you very, very sick. >> my wife thought that she had lost me. i was intubated. i couldn't breathe. >> reporter: because of our warmer winter, our area is seeing the virus early with a

number of infected mosquitoes is on par with year's past. in fairfax, many are infected. >> talk to your doctors about what concerns you have. >> in fairfax, virginia, news 4. >> anything that holds standing water like a birth bath or kiddie pool is perfect breeding ground for mosquitoes. the risk times are dawn until dusk. are you having fun at the gym? still head on "news4 this week," a new workout that takes the place of rates with new benefits. what you need to know before [ male announcer ] since 1996 welfare recipients were required to work.

this bipartisan reform successfully reduced welfare rolls. on july 12th president obama quietly ended the work requirement... gutting welfare reform. one of the most respected newspapers in america called it, "nuts!" saying, "if you want to get more people to work, "you don't loosen the requirements -- you tighten them." mitt romney's plan for a stronger middle class will put work back iwelfare. [ romney ] i'm mitt romney and i approve this message.

will put work back iwelfare. look at this bed! this nightstand! this wardrobe! what are you doing here? you're in ikea. my dream bedroom is in ikea? yes. what's that bedroom over there? that's your husband's dream bedroom. whatever your style, take home your dream bedroom together. ikea. the life improvement store.

here is an exciting idea. you open your mailbox and it looks like you're the winner of a big cash prize. watch out. it could be a scam. as liz crenshaw reports, just

when one scam shuts down, another one seems to pop up. >> it says, we are trying to reach you about your unclaimed reward. >> fran casey is reading a postcard with a promise. >> you have been selected to receive $100 in a gift rebate good at walmart, target and more. >> who wouldn't want to spend $100 free dollars, so casey decided to call the toll-free number on the card. >> i thought you never know. i have known people who actually won things. there's always a chance. >> when the man called michael on the other end of the phone wanted her credit card number, casey smelled a scam. >> i said, well, michael, i'll tell you what. i would like very much to verify who you say you are. i asked for his social security number. he said he wasn't going to do it. i said i'm not going to give you

my credit card number and he just hung up. i just enjoy beating them at their own game. >> casey was smart. but every day consumers are duped by fraudulent mail. u.s. postal inspector laurie mcalester said the postcard $100 gift is a common scam. the newist gimmick, a debt resolution notice proms promising to lower your debt for a price. it has a seal similar to the irs. this notice states the person owes $49,000. >> unfortunately these debt resolution companies are going through clearing houses and getting names of people that might owe debt to the irs. not only that, they are combining names and sending out mass mailing. the irs is not going to ask you to pay them in order to help you reduce your debt. these people might not have any debt. >> this one is i want you to be a mystery shopper.

here is a postal money order for $975. cash it, send us back the extra. legitimate? >> no. don't cash it. the best thing to do honest to tell whether a postal money order is real is take you to the post office. you should not be paying a company to be their mystery shopper. that's insane. >> while inspectors in law enforcement are working to stop consumers from being scammed -- >> these people running these scams are so intelligent, they are one step ahead. so they have got a new scam ready to go if their first one gets shut down. >> but for consumers like casey, curious but cautious. >> i just had a good laugh over it. >> well, last year alone the u.s. post office received 150,000 complaints involving mail fraud. liz crenshaw says you should never wire money to someone you don't know. that's one of the biggest red flags. well, if you want some

inspiration after your latest birthday, we have someone you want to meet. charles clark from virginia. he recently turned 105 years old. clark was born in 1907 in hamilton, virginia. he worked selling insurance for 15 years before signing up for the army in 1944. he served in world war ii and went to england, belgium, france and germany. mr. clark was married for 56 years. this summer he met president obama. mr. obama is the 19th president in clark's lifetime. well, he's a teenager but already admired by millions. still ahead what brice harper is doing in his time to earn the hearts of his fans. up next, a new workout called viper that could help take the sting out of your ab routine. but somewhere along the way, something went horribly wrong. george allen voted for trillions in debt

while voting to raise his pay four times, then voted to keep special tax breaks for oil and gas companies and took over a half-million from them. worse, allen went to work for them. introducing share everything. unlimited talk. unlimited text. tap into a single pool of shareable data and add up to 10 different devices, including smartphones and tablets. the first plan of its kind. share everything. only from verizon. get $100 off select motorola 4g lte smartphones like the droid razr.

that's been wrapped in a flaky crust stuffed with a gooey center toasted up all golden brown then given a delicious design?

a toaster strudel. pillsbury toaster strudel. so delicious...so fun. mom, we're dying. no you're not, you're just hungry. make some totino's pizza rolls. we don't have any! front... left, totino's. [ male announcer ] well done mom! less drama, more fun! totino's pizza rolls.

are you board with weights or getting tired of swinging kettle bells or medicine balls around? now you may be able to get the benefits of using all those tools with just one piece of gym equipment. we checked out viper at equinox gym in bethesda and asked them, what's your workout? >> three, two -- anybody having fun yet. >> the idea was to create a tool that helps with strength training, so to combine strength training and functional training into a more effective tool. >> try to keep the viper in line with your spine guys. >> hold it in various different ways, don't just go forward and back, internally rotate, externally rotate. we're trying to combine all of those movements into a class like ours. >> sit and push. >> my class is endurance-based because you're moving the whole time. whether the viper is on the floor and we're doing

tilting-type drills, whether for speed or power or warm-up movement -- >> down and through, guys. >> you're trying to accomplish all different areas of training. >> five, four, three, two -- vipers up. >> you're doing cardio moves but holding the weight the whole time. the weight because it's odd shaped, it takes a lot more control and power for the weight itself. >> it's going to give you a tremendous core. you won't just be stronger because your center is stronger, you'll also get thinner in waist. >> i lost 30 pounds and have seen a lot more muscle tone. it's allowed me not to get board with my workout and given me something new to try. >> you're also working as hard as you possibly can for 45 minutes. anything you work as hard as you can, you burn a lot of calories. >> definitely the shoulder and the arms but i also felt like it was enbagaging my core a lot,

which they say is so critical to posture and a lean, toned physique. >> looks like fun. first lady michelle obama is one of the busiest mothers in d.c. so how does she have time for a workout? mrs. obama tells ivillage she wakes up before dawn and goes at 4:30 or 5:00 a.m. so she can be back when her kids wake up. she served as guest editor. she said she and the president watch sports highlighted during workouts. when traveling she does half hour of jumping rope, push-ups and sit-ups. the first lady also confesses french fries are her big weakness. the first family is working on getting the dog bo more fit. the portuguese water dog is on a diet, we hear. he has apparently put on a few pounds in the last months. word of the diet came from the president during the kids steak dinner.

he asked the kids not to drop scraps on the floor because he says bo will eat anything he sees. one of our sports heroes is winning over fans every day. [ male announcer ] some think obamacare is the same as free health care. but nothing is free. obama is raiding $716 billion from medicare, changing the program forever. taxing wheelchairs and pacemakers. raising taxes on families making less than one hundred twenty thousand dollars. free healthcare comes at a very high price. the romney-ryan plan will restore medicare funding and protect and strengthen the program for the next generation. [ romney ] i'm mitt romney and i approve this message.

nationals out fielder bryce happener is a star player in major league baseballer, the 19-year-old is big in the hearts of kids. he host add baseball camp at fairfax high school. the event was paid for out of his own pocket. pegan mcgra megan mcgraph was there for the excitement. >> reporter: these budding baseball stars are hoping their names will be on here. >> i want to remember he's up

there on the nationals and he's really good. >> reporter: 150 lucky kids got a chance to honey their skills at the bryce harper camp at fairfax high school. coaches from around the area led the kids in stations and practice games. the kids are hoping to pick up pointers from the 19-year-old phenom, inside moves that will help them rise to the top just like harper has. >> i want to learn how to play hard like bryce harper. >> it's pretty cool. you can meet bryce harper and go out there and just play the camp. it's pretty cool. >> it's pretty incredible he can look up to a major leaguer who is just five years older than him. how often does that happen? the work ethic he demonstrates as a player, i couldn't be happier to be out there running down every play with every ounce of energy he has. >> after about an hour of

practice, the big moment came. >> that's the one thing. >> it's huge for kids to see that we're just like normal people playing the game we love to play. i want them to know that. we love being out, playing baseball. that's them. they have a dream of playing major league baseball. i was that age at one time, too. >> another great piece of advice bryce harper gave a kid, to have fun. every single time you're out there, remember to have some fun. in fairfax county. megan mcgrath, news 4. >> good advice. that's all for "news4 this week." i'm barbara harrison. thank you for joining us. have a terrific week.