, farm sink! where's my room? we had to take just a little bit for the kitchen. because your kitchen dreams can be big. ikea has it all. a. hi, everyone. i'm veronica johnson. we are going to show you some of the more inning local stories making news this week. a fund-raiser fraud warning. how to make sure the money you are donating to to charity goes to a good cause. get to know a stranger in seconds without even speaking. we will show thank you new app that lets you do just that. and a hip new approach to a surgery that impacts hundred dreds of thousands of people each year. the technique that's getting patients back on their feet even faster. first up, if you see something suspicious on metro, would you report it? what would put passengers to the test. scott mcfarland and the i-4 news

team show you how riders responded. ♪ >> foggy bought only metro station. midday. everything seems normal. trains coming and going. and passengers rushing on and off. some having their phones, buying tickets. beneath the escalator, something out of the ordinary. a knapsack. a small camera tucked inside. with metro's permission we put the bag there. 60 to 70 unattended bags are reported each month. someone calls metro police. agents come to inspect. the caller, unknown. but things slow down after that. we leave the bag in place. restart the clock. new crowds arrive. we wait. and wait for more than a half hour. at one point man on his phone stands directly over our bag. literally touching it with his

foot. he doesn't report it. instead boards the next train. hundreds of passengers, several trains, come and go and the bag is either ignored or unnoticed. in the 39th minute of our test, janet of d.c. comes hustling off an escalator, through the gates, to security. >> i saw there was an unattended knapsack. i asked the next person if it was his. he said, no. i came. i do what they say to do. i reported it. >> she is relieved to find out it is just a drill. >> these are dangerous times in which we leave. >> what could happen in 39 minutes. >> anything could happen in 39 minutes. i mean, it could happen within two minutes. people got to be aware of their surroundings. >> so many people we see would be in position to spot and report this bag are instead fixated on their phones. for the afternoon rush we look to a more crowded station. metro center. this time leaving the bag next to a bench. and we watch as eli looks towards the bag and then the bench and then takes a seat.

he does not report it. >> first i look around to see if it belonged to anybody. well, it has to belong to somebody. i'm sitting down anyway. i was like -- if it is dangerous or if it is an explosive -- i'm pretty much toast. >> at one point 20 minutes go by between reports. we moved the bag on to the bench where several people sit right next to it. two passengers do eventually notify security. including anna king of northwest d.c. >> i thought it was sketchy. it was just kind of sitting there unattended and nobody was close to it. >> metro says it is beefing up its protection. >> look around and be aware of your surroundings. >> the bomb squad has nine bomb technicians on staff and 17 trained k-9s. metro made it's easier to report suspicious bags. setting up a new text message alert system if you see something suspicious. we were under cover for three hours and just four people reported our bag.

>> bottom line is if you see something sketchy, say something. this scenario sound familiar? your closet is overflowing with clothes, shoes and a bunch of other stuff that you really don't even wear anymore. as angie goss shows us, it is easier to clear the clutter and make some dough. >> cleaning out that closet. >> so much to go lou. >> a task most women dread. new secondhand shopping sites and apps are making it beautifully easy. and people like maria gonzalez are making serious cash. >> you can just take a picture, snap. it is on the site and people buy it from you. >> gonzalez says she made up to $500 in one week selling her old clothes, using this mobile app. it is a cross between instagram and ebay and lets users shop each other's closets. you set your own price. when something you post sells, print out a mailing label and ship it for free.

in tend you pocket 80%. local con silent shops are taking note and moving into this online phase for an industry that's known for the traditional drop job. like this one in northwest are now making it's easier to consign any time. if you go to our consigner page, it tells you all about how to consign your items. >> carmen lopez, owner of the current boutique, just launched a website that lets you mail in your clothes. >> you can just box them up and ship them to us and we will look through and pick items we think we can sell for. >> did you your cut from the sale, 50%. the saying goes, we wear only 20% of what is in our closet. if true, no wonder the fashion sites are on the rise. just look at the possibilities. >> this is a little small for me now. >> more than likely they are just hanging around. angie goss, news4. >> angie put to the a list of the more popular apps for us.

all you have to go is go to nbcwashington.com and search resale. another new free app is about to hit the market that could make the world a lot smaller. wendy rieger shows us how much it could let you learn on the spot about people you never even met. >> a popular song once said that some enchanted evening, you may see a stranger across a crowded room. before you fly to their side and make them your own, wouldn't it be nice to see if maybe that isn't a stranger at all? >> a mobile application that gives you real-time information about the people around you. >> michael jason is the founder of social radar. he says his app will help you work the room. >> the idea is you can walk into a room and go to a meeting, event, conference, look down and say there are ten people here you know. four co-workers, three people from college, friend from high school, two friends of friends. by the way, one of your friends

got their mba and another one was reepsly married. >> the gps is signaling where we are. and we in our me, me, me mentality are always funneling information about ourselves to various networks. facebook, foursquare, linkden, instagram, google. michael chase just put two and would together. >> this is now a billion location beacons in the world. there are 2 billion user profiles. month one to date has successfully integrated that location data with the profile data to make it useful so when you walk into a room, you are aware of the people around you. that's the idea behind social radar. >> how will this give me an edge? >> imagine always being able to maximize your network ability. if you go into a movie you know all of the people you are connected with. >> he says it can work for business or pleasure. >> how many times have you gone to a restaurant only to realize this is -- a friend of yours was

sitting around the corner just out of your view. how many times have you been in an airport and randomly run into somebody and up didn't realize that was also taking a plight about the same time. how many locati flights did you? basically with social radar you would know which of your friends were nearby. >> this sounds like a stalker's dream. the social radar has a setting that lets you be invisible or anonymous. >> you don't want anyone to see you, you can say i'm invisible. you can still see who is around you. but you are not sharing your information. >> jason is an american university grad and old hand on at this. he created the blackboard learning system out of college. and now reeighting social radar and a tech incubator in downtown d.c. >> i think this type of technology is that next giant step. >> enhancing the chance of a chance encounter. wendy rieger, news4. >> the social radar app will be available in the new year. it is a hip party song.

♪ still ahead we will show you how it inspired one local man to help others in need. a maryland mom finds her son's picture being used to raise thousands of dollars online for a surgery. only problem is he is completely healthy. the i-team investigates, next. [ male announcer ] introducing new fast acting advil. with an ultra-thin coating and fast absorbing advil ion core™ technology, it stops pain before it gets worse. nothing works faster. new fast acting advil. look for it in the white box. [ coughing ] [ crying ] sorry. [ male announcer ] new robitussin dm max nighttime. fast, powerful cough relief that helps you sleep like a baby. robitussin nighttime. don't suffer the coughequences.

and you appreciate the things i do. tell me you love me. even if you say it every day. just tell me. [ female announcer ] everyone you love has something they need to hear this holiday. tell them with a hallmark card.

[ female announcer ] everyone you love has something they need to hear this holiday. we never plan on a full house. it just...happens. like my ranch dip. two cups of sour cream, a little this, a little that,

and a packet of hidden valley original ranch. ranch dip. hidden valley it. all of us here at nbc 4 want to thank you for your generosity to people who have lost so much. working together we raised more than $25,000 with our typhoon relief phone bank. the foundation will make sure that all of the money collected is distributed to typhoon relief efforts. in other charity efforts, chances are you have seen the images of a sick child in need of help. but how do you know that your donation dollars are going to the right place. liz crenshaw has this warning.

>> every day is a gift for the nokes family. four years ago melanie and her husband weren't sure they would get the chance to watch their daughter come home from kindergarten. >> her prognosis was five years which right now we are at 4 1/2. >> lily has an incurable form of brain cancer. the struggles for the family, not just emotional. >> we couldn't do it. we had to live with my parents. we lost our house. >> the family reached out for help to brave a nonprofit that raises money and awareness about childhood cancer. >> we provide for families that need them, gas cards, grocery cards. we do home repair and i am movements. >> tom mitchell started still brave after losing his own daughter to cancer. helping 10 to 15 families at a time he says every day he sees people asking for help, sometimes with darker motives. >> immediately i saw red. i was angry.

i was very angry. >> she knows that better than anyone. her son christian had a profile on a different fund-raising website, giveforward.com. describing his terminal heart condition and asking for money to go towards surgery. the only problem? >> my son is fine. and he doesn't have a heart condition. he's perfectly healthy. >> the profile, posted by christian's estranged father, raised more than $11,000. >> by the time i saw this, he had already cashed out and been paid two weeks prior. >> give forward says that it is not to blame for the fake profile. telling the news4 i-team mr. johnson deceived just as he deceived his own family and friends. as soon as we found tout truth we took immediate action to refund the donors' money and make things right. we tried speak with johnson but he wasn't home and didn't

respond to our e-mails. >> i think that they are both responsible. i think that give forward has a responsibility to its donors. >> now a federal judge could decide. in court records, give forward says it is immune under the communications decency act. and that it didn't provide, creator select any con ten for the fund-raiser. the companyays that it is not responsible for what third parties post and does not have an obligation or resources to research each user. hodges' attorney argues give fofrd should take some blame since it provides coaching and makes money by keeping 7.9% of all money raised. >> what's that 7% going to if not to protect the citizens donating to help people's needs? >> do your homework and research. >> tom mitchell says month matter what group or site you are donating to, find out if the profiles are vetted.

and who specifically will be getting the money. >> we are very thankful for the help that we have. >> liz crenshaw, news4. >> give forward tells us they spot check for specific postings, especially after tragedies like hurricanes. they allow donors to fling problems. the website says all the money raised by christian's proceed fail was returned, including its fathers. for help how to protect yourself log on and click investigations. well, helping you feel pain-free, a little faster. coming up a new approach to a common surgery. decreasing recovery time for patients. plus, our first look at a new museum exhibit and why -- it is kind of a big deal.

moms-to-be who stay active may be boosting their baby's brains. a new study from the university of monday throwal found that pregnant women that did 20 minutes of exercise three times

a week had babies with more mature brain development. experts recommended moderate exercise for pregnant women as opposed to vigorous exercise. nearly half a million people undergo hip replacements every year. it is a procedure that can, quite frankly, take weeks, even months, for recovery. as doreen gentzler shows us, there's details on a new approach that is helping patients feel pain-free faster. >> you are pretty tired after a game. it is a workout. >> at 70, elliott still referees nearly 15 games a week. active sports like lacrosse, basketball, and soccer. but all that pounding on the playing field started to take a toll on his body. >> i didn't have any cartilage in the hip. >> he had his first hip replacement surgery nearly eight years ago. he says the procedure left him in a lot of pain. >> i was hurting pretty badly after the operation two weeks into it, three weeks into it. >> while he eventually healed from that first surgery, he

learned last summer that his other hip would need to be replaced. but this time, the doctors told him they would do it differentry. instead of operating it through the back of his hip they would come at it through the front this time. the anterior approach. >> when we go around the front we don't have to detach any muscles. >> dr. mark is an orthopedic surgeon at med star georgetown university hospital. he says that traditionally doctors operate through the back of the hip or the posterior. a method that requires them to cut through large muscles leading to more pain and a longer recovery time. but with the anterior approach, there is no cutting of muscle. >> it is not 100% pain-free. it is still a hip replacement. what we found is in early period it is much easier in terms of the ability to get in and out of bed and walk. >> studies show the benefits for a patient is significant. the doctor says he studied 150 cases. those who had surgeries with the anterior approach typically got out of the hospital a day

sooner. >> i was walking the night of may surgery. >> elliott says that he was back on the playing field just a few weeks later. >> you don't feel that -- the pain from the arthritis, the bone on bone. you don't feel that, you are very happy. >> doreen gentzler, news4. >> coming up, a look at the new exhibit that just might put you exhibit that just might put you [ female announcer ] we eased your back pain... ♪ ready or not. [ female announcer ] ...so you can be up there. here i come! [ female announcer ] ...down there, around there... and under there for him. tylenol® provides strong pain relief and won't irritate your stomach the way aleve® or even advil® can. but for everything we do, we know you do so much more. tylenol®.

welcoming the sunrise with a taste of vanilla biscotti. whether it's one cup or a full carafe, turn any day gourmet with folgers gourmet selections.

>> welcome back. we are taking a look at prince george's county now where a new effort to help young job seekers dress for success and some unique inspiration. it is at the marlow heights community center in temple hills. the director says that he got the idea after listening to justin timberlake and jay-z's hit song "suit and tie." >> part of the idea and process is a part of the solution. you do stuff and you don't know

how valuable it is. you know, get to choose. we know that it is valued in a suit. >> every little bit that they can get. so par the program has given away more than 80 suits. >> to all of us here at news center 4, i'm ron burgundy. you stay classy, san diego. >> that's right. a lot of us know that line from the hit movie "anchorman." now a new exhibit is helping washington stay classy. the newseum has a new anchorman wing that includes prompts and costumes from the original film. the launch comes ahead of the release of the sequel. that's it for this week. i'm veronica johnson. re, be safe, be kind, be happy.

[ female announcer ] we eased your back pain... ♪ ready or not. [ female announcer ] ...so you can be up there. here i come! [ female announcer ] ...down there, around there... and under there for him. tylenol® provides strong pain relief

and won't irritate your stomach the way aleve® or even advil® can. but for everything we do, we know you do so much more. tylenol®. the day d.c. has waited 100 days for has finally arrived. counting down to a giant panda naming celebration happening today. and the national zoo is pulling out all of the stops. new from overnight, revamped health care website ready to be tested to see if it could handle more users. welcome to news4 today. i'm richard jordan. >> i'm erika gonzalez. we want to start with weather. you may not need the big coat today. >> amelia's filling in for