welcome to news4 this week. hi, everyone. i'm veronica johnson. we're going to show you some of the more interesting local stories making news this morning. among them, not so fast. we'll show you where some of the busiest red light cameras are in our area and why police officials say they're here to say. detox missing facts. nutritionists weigh in on how well these diets can work and whether we need them at all. plus this -- >> words can't describe how i feel right now. >> the surprise that left a high school student speechless. and ready to make history in his family. first, it happened in russia but local scientists are also buzzing over the meteor that came crashing down from space. it happened on the same day a

large asteroid came close to the planet. news4's tom sherwood at the smithsonian. how soon this could happen again. >> reporter: a meteor slammed into earth inside russia with a sonic boom injuring hundreds. almost the same day, a large asteroid narrowly misses earth, passing just 17,000 miles away. just a near miss in galactic terms. >> now that sounds like a long ways, but keep in mind, that's less than one-tenth of the distance to the moon. >> reporter: the two extraordinary incidents from space have smithsonian scientists enthralled about the chances for new materials to study. smithsonian natural history scientist tim mccoy. >> it's very exciting. it is a great thing to be able to see one of these events. two big things like this making news and making people aware of the kinds of things we're doing just don't happen very often. >> reporter: mccoy showed news4 labs inside the smithsonian war more than 35,000 meteorite pieces are kept. these pieces are 4.5 billion

years old. and mccoy answered a question you might ask -- what are the chances something for space could hit and destroy the earth's population? >> can that happen if. >> it can happen, but recognize it only happens after scale of say every 100 million years. it is not likely to happen in your children's lifetime or your children's lifetime or your grandchildren's lifetime. >> reporter: outside the natural history museum tours like this class from south carolina seem to take the threat of doom in stride. >> we're exhausted after being in washington 2 1/2 days. i don't have any other information about it. >> reporter: would you tell these young people with you you have to worry about a meteorite hitting the earth making us extinct like dinosaurs? >> i think the chances are extremely slim. and i was a science teacher so there you go. >> reporter: tom sherwood, news4. fortunately, the odds of winning the lottery are better than your odds of being hit by a

meteor. a lucky couple in virginia has that success story to share. dave honey well won a $217 million powerball jackpot. he and his wife nancy collected their check today in richmond. that's where the honeywells have bought -- dave honeywell bought his ticket. he was right there at the airport on his way to a business trip. he says he was a nervous wreck once he saw those winning numbers. >> my hands were shaking so bad, i couldn't believe it. i kept feeling my front pocket. every so often i'd go in the other room and look to see if the ticket's still in there. >> the honeywell were about to face streequestration cuts beca they work for the defense department. they say they are leaving their jobs and the first big purchase will be a new car. speaking of billions of dollars, that's the kind of revenue generated by red light cameras each year. some say the controversial cameras aren't really serving

their purpose. the news4 eye team reveal which ones generate the most money locally and she takes a look at the road ahead. >> reporter: run that red light, odds are you'll get caught on camera. as more police department opt for high-tech enforcement. >> we had 54 traffic fatalities. that's dramatic. >> reporter: dramatic in revenue. we found drivers in the washington region received at least $18 million in fines in just a one-year period. straight ahead -- we'll show you which red lights near you are the biggest money makers. > >> there is a role for red light money. they've proven to be effective. >> reporter: hugh mcgee is a traffic safety consultant. there is a formula used ed td create traffic lights. he says they can make drivers safer. if they do their job, they should put themselves out of

business. >> the income is seen to go down to a point where perhaps you're only covering the cost of the system and not really realizing a profit. >> reporter: some communities have eliminated their programs. fairfax, virginia in 2005 and buoy, maryland in 2007. >> we're going to 72 from 23 active right now. >> reporter: but prince george's county is more than doubling its red light cameras. major robert liberatti doesn't ever see the program going away because the county has the highest number of traffic fatalities in maryland. >> with nearly 500 square miles, there's a lot of intersections here, a lot of roadways that need to be covered. >> reporter: he says the county is looking at mobile red light cameras. >> once it is achieved its goal, and traffic is now compliant, it's time to move on. >> we're going to keep it standing. i think the technology is good. >> reporter: the d.c. police chief says the cameras are here to stay, even if the violations drop. >> for us, they'll probably never put themselves out of business because we have a lot

of people that come here from all over. they're traveling in and out of the city. >> reporter: the news4 eye team wanted to know which cameras rake in the most money in each jurisdiction. in 2011, it was the camera on ft. myer drive and lee highway in haarlington, this camera on pointer ridge drive and route 301 in prince george's county, over in alexandria, patrick and gibbon streets. and in d.c., this camera on south capital near i street southwest brought in more money than any other in our region -- $743,000. the chief says it is not about the money but safety. she plans to expand the automated enforcement to other areas like stop signs. >> i can use my police officers more for crime. i can make sure that my officers are safer doing their job, and i can increase safety for people in the community. it is win-win all the way around for me. >> for a list of red light

cameras in our area and how much money they make, go to our websi website, nbcwashington.com. is one of your cooking staples the real deal? when we come back, we'll show you why you may not be getting what you pay for when you're buying extra-virgin olive oil. plus, why d.c. inspectors are checking up on the amount of

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d.c. inexpecters are looking at weather bartenders pour up when you pay for a drink. "the washington post" reports that the office of weights and measures made unannounced visits to bars along h street. they check to see if customers were getting the right amount of alcohol served in their glasses. bars can be fined up to $2,000 for underpouring drinks. no fines were issued on the recent visits in question according to the "post." well, you might not be getting what you pay for if you head to the store for a popular kitchen staple -- olive oil.

if it's extra virgin, it will usually cost extra money. but not all bottles with that label actually made the grade. liz crenshaw explains why you may be buying into a fraud. >> reporter: olives grown in the sun, and then pressed and processed just the right way, make extra-virgin olive oil. the golden green stream that flavors your food and lightens your wallet. carrie kelly owns a boutique olive oil shop in virginia. each extra virgin oil is taste tested before it is sold. >> first you want to get a sense of the aroma and really smell the fruit. >> reporter: international standards define extra virgin. the oil mutt be extracted from fresh olives, mashed mechanically, not with chemicals or heat, and it must meet strict taste, smell and chemical composition standards. with more consumers cooking with it, extra virgin at $12 a bottle is getting extra shelf space at local groceries, and more specialty shops are selling the

liquid gold for as much as $48 a bottle. >> producing extra-virgin olive oil is labor intensive and very expensive so the temptation for fraud is huge. >> reporter: the fraud kelly and others in the oil industry worry about is the labeling of oil as extra virgin when it doesn't meet the standards. >> there's three positive things you look for with olive oil. fruitiness, bitterness and pungency. >> reporter: dan flynn runs the olive oil center at the university of california at davis. it tested 186 extra-virgin olive oil samples from grocery stores and specialty stores in california using international standards. >> and nobody is pulling olive oil off the shelf and testing it. when we did that, we found that a lot of it wasn't very good. >> reporter: in fact, uc davis found of the five top selling imported extra-virgin olive oil brands sold in california, 73% of the samples failed the international sensory standards for extra virgin.

uc davis says the failed oils were either oxidized, of poor quality, and/or adulterated with cheaper refined oils. >> it was sort of low grade, defective, off-flavored olive oil that was being sold to consumers as top grade extra-virgin olive oil. >> reporter: if your palate doesn't know extra virgin from any other oil what difference does it make if extra virgin on the label isn't extra virgin in the bottle? you're getting ripped off in the pocketbook charles parrot runs the quality monitoring program for the u.s. department of agriculture. olive oil importers can ask usda for its seal of approval, essentially certifying extra virgin oil is in the bottle. >> it has to meet a very high level of chemical and flavor in smell profiles to be able to make that grade. >> reporter: but the program is voluntary and only one oil producer has asked for the usda

seal. so today when you spend extra bucks for extra virgin -- >> nobody is really out there minding the store. if you're going to spend that kind of money you really deserve to get a really good quality oil. >> reporter: liz crenshaw, news4. >> sure, we all want the real thing. right? so how can you tell then if you're getting really good quality extra virgin oil? experts say it tastes fresh, like fresh olives. it's peppery, it's grassy and it is really strong. color, however, not an indicator and it is best if it's less than a year old but not every bottle gives you that harvesting. celebrities like beyonce made them popular, but is a detox diet right for you? experts talk about the benefits and the risks. and why the first lady self-described mid life crisis is now going down in white house is now going down in white house hioshe makes things fun.

she can be silly, which embarrasses my sister, but i love it. sometimes she lets us pick out stuff we love, like sunnyd.

she likes that it has vitamin c, b1, and 40% less sugar than most regular soda brands. my brother doesn't care about that. he just loves the taste. so do i. ♪ make today a sunny day. fiber one. uh, forgot jack's cereal. [ jack ] what's for breakfast? um... try the number one! yeah, this is pretty good. [ male announcer ] over a third of a day's fiber. fiber one. ♪ shimmy, shimmy chocolate. ♪ shimmy, shimmy chocolate. ♪ we, we chocolate cross over. ♪ yeah, we chocolate cross over. ♪ [ male announcer ] introducing fiber one 80 calorie chocolate cereal. ♪ chocolate.

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activity like walking or even just standing may have more overall health benefits than shorter, intense workouts. dutch scientists compared a group that exercised vigorously for an hour a day to a group that walked an stood for several hours a day. both groups burned the same number of calories. but cholesterol and insulin levels were significantly better in the low-intensity group. there you go. well, their promise is to rid your body of toxins. excess calories, even help you shed a couple of pounds. but do we really need to put our bodies through a detox? a look at myths and facts about these diet plans that have grown in popularity. >> no refined sugar. >> no oils. >> no dairy. >> no refined flours. >> reporter: for 30 days, these women turned their diets upside down. they eliminated all processed foods, along with most animal products and fats. they say it was part of a detox diet. >> i wanted to make sure that in

addition to you eating healthier, that i was getting everything, all that bad stuff i was eating out of my system. >> reporter: the women found their diet plan at whole foods market in northwest washington, part of the store's healthy eating challenge, led by e. beth johnson. >> i want people to understand that detoxing is something that our body does all the time. but then we can help our body along by choosing foods that help. >> reporter: johnson encourages participants to start by eliminating refined sugars and flours, dairy, oils and to strictly limit their meat intake to about three ounces a week. >> clearing out your system, giving it a chance to reset, recalibrate, kind of come back to center. >> reporter: the women say they're both feeling lighter and more energized now, but nutrition experts warn that other types of detox diets, especially those that are strictly liquid, could leave you feeling quite the opposite. >> there's no additives to indicate that it benefits the body in any way. and frankly, the risks outweigh any type of benefit. >> reporter: registered

dietician joy dubois says a highly restricted detox diet can lead to blood diet leading to -- >> you can even have heart palpitations because you affect your electrolyte balance within your body. some folks feel just not too happy and irritable because you're not eating. >> reporter: she says the liver and kidneys help the body detox naturally, and that there's no physiological need to do it on your own through dramatic cleansing or liquid diets. but johnson says that doesn't account for people who already have poor nutrition, drink too much caffeine and don't get enough sleep. >> i think that would be true if you were in an ideal environment where we're all eating what we need to be eating. we do need to give our bodies a rest and a break and to help facilitate that detoxifying process by giving ourselves some really good, healthy food. >> reporter: news4.

>> all the nutrition experts we spoke to did agree on one thing -- people should focus on making healthy lifestyle changes rather than using a fad diet. first came her new look, and now we have her new official portrait of first lady michelle obama. photographer chuck kennedy took it in the green room of the white house. unlike her first official portrait from 2009, mrs. obama is sporting her new bangs, a haircut that she recently joked that she got because she's having a mid life crisis. see? you're not the only one. next -- the life changing surprise for a local high school student.

paying for college. the cost of that college education has never been higher. but one local high school senior won't have to worry about that. he is the first person in his entire family to go to college. news4's seth lemon was there when the student got a scholarship surprise.

>> reporter: 17-year-old alison had no idea his school day would change his life. he received a full academic scholarship to hanover college. >> words can't describe how i feel right now. >> reporter: he beat out almost 200 other future freshman at hanover for the money. the admissions director, monica green, says his ideas weren't the only reason they were impressed. >> when you go back and read his application and you see that he's done well at the schools he's attended, i had had to have him on my campus. i had to have him there. >> reporter: the youngest of three, he's the first in his family to be accepted to college. >> i'm greatly happy. i couldn't achieve this without a all the supportive's received. >> reporter: he says that support came from the teachers and staff at friendship collegiate academy where they don't allow students to use their circumstances as an excuse. >> we're in the heart of ward 7 which is really high poverty, low-income area, high unemployment.

the only way to eliminate that barrier is through higher education. >> reporter: teachers say this is just another example of the school doing exactly what its name says -- friend sship collegiate academy, getting students into college and making sure they graduate. he plans to study computer science at hanover. shashlging and overwhelmed with emotion, he called his mom to tell her the good news. >> guess what? i got the scholarship! >> reporter: a surprise scholarship for a humble scholar who now treats that high school uniform for collegiate pride. in northeast washington, seth lemon, news4. >> see what happens when you work hard? that's all for news4 this week. thanks for joining us. i'm veronica johnson. until next time, be safe, be kind and be happy. [ anouncer ] ihop is in time square to compare

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...the roasted red peppers. it's awesome. [ anouncer ] compare new griddle melts yourself. just $4.99 at ihop. this is an epic breakfast sandwich. [ anouncer ] ihop. everything you love about breakfast. you want that don't you? the world needs more energy. where's it going to come from? ♪ that's why right here, in australia, chevron is building one of the biggest natural gas projects in the world. enough power for a city the size of singapore for 50 years. 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. ♪