welcome to news4 this week. >> it was one of our most talked about stories this week, a loyal pit bull stands guard over it owner after a terrible fire. now we've learned what's going to happen to the pit bull. don't worry want a happy ending. plus one of the most demanding and popular competitions on tv and a local chef is taking part. how she got on can "top chef". it's supposed to be a fun way to decorate your home but it's causing problems you can't see. what you need to know about the star shower. hi, i'm chris lawrence. those are some of the interestings stories making news this week. first, a labor of love. a woman in southeast washington

cooks holiday dinner for hundreds of local police officers every year. all in honor of her son who was killed many the line of duty. she's been doing this for 20 years and as mark sea graves reports. >> this is how it's been at shirley gibson's house all day long. hundreds of police officers coming and going, not just d.c. police officers, officers from maryland and virginia, park police officers, all coming to enjoy a home cooked meal, see some old friends and to honor one of their own. one of the first officers here was someone who knew brian gibson well as an officer. an emotional chief kathy lanier. >> always had a big smile, big grin on his face. >> reporter: 19 years ago brian gibson was gned down by a man who wanted to kill any police officer he could find. >> losing brian was terrible if are the police department, the way he was killed. and mrs. gibson has been

constant for us. >> reporter: since his murder, gibson's mother has been opening her home to officers every holiday season and cooking dinner for them. weeks in advance she goes shopping with some officers, needing food to feed 300 to 400 officers. gibson starts cooking three days in advance. >> this sour holiday. this is what makes us happy. and to see them sit down and enjoy the food and walk by and say it's wonderful, that's all we ask. that's all we want from them. it's like having all these sons and daughters, you know? so to have them come eat at mom's house, that's what matters now. >> so she does this, she says -- because she likes to see the police officers come. we do this because we laike to come here. >> reporter: while this is the

19th consecutive year that mrs. gibson prepared the meal, she says that next year will be her last year. it's getting too much for her to handle. several officers say they've heard that from her before and she can't imagine her giving this up. if you want to help out, go to the nbc washington app and we have a link. >> we'll have to keep an you on whether she does it next year. the era of paper metro cards is over. all metro fare machines have now been upgraded. the final two stations to be upgraded and now the paper cards created more waste than paper cards. they also cause mechanical problems which took fare gates out of service. the trip costs $1 less with the plastic smart trip card compared to the paper card. metro rail is taking a beating

but the metro bus is getting a good grade. and the gm says the buses need for attention. over the next year met there will buy 1200 new buses, but they will need to expand the fleet to meet the demands of a grower number of riders who see the bus as an alternative to the train. university of maryland president wallace lou is asking the board of regents to change the name of the stadium. opponents say that former president has racist and segregationist views. lowe is recommending that it be changed to maryland stadium. it's one of the most shared stories on our nbc washington facebook this week, a guard stands guards over its owner after she was injured in a fire in landover. the video was shared all over social media and we have more on

the fate of a faithful pit bull. >> i'm so thank fful for her protecting my sister. >> yesterday morning prushs stood by by her owner after she was hurt in a fire. it made it difficult for emergency management services to get help to the woman who was passed out on the front lawn. >> the loyalty between the two and as we approached, the dog became aggressive and did lung at it. >> eventually they were able to lure precious away long enough to get the woman on to a stretcher. but pit bulls are banned in prince george's county. so precious and her one puppy were transported to the animal shelter. that's where megan comes in. she couldn't stand by and watch her sister lose her dog, not now. >> she just wanted to protect her mommy and her house. >> so she's taking precious and her puppy molly with her to montgomery county. meanwhile, this is what's left

of the family home. an elderly father who is blind us inside the house with his daughter at the time. they are both recovering. >> april is doing okay. my dad had -- he's burned on his face, his nose, his lips and his hands, but he's going to be okay. >> the animal shelter says that these dogs would not have been euthanized but moved out of the county to another facility or family. i'm tracy wilkins, news4. the consumer product safety commission wants people to keep safety in mind. they held a live demonstration in rockville. this is what can happen when a dry tree comes in contact with a heat source. this is what can happen when candles are placed too close to a set of curtains. between 2010 and 2012 canned candles were the source of 6500 residential fires. well, it's an epidemic that

has touched communities across the region. but heroin isn't just affecting the users but their kids as well. we'll show you how. you love bikes. now a virginia family is using the passion to help other kids and

today an annual pilgrimage comes to arlington national cemetery. each year wreaths across america places wreaths on the graves of fallen soldiers. last week they were thousands of dollars short of the money needed to fulfill this year's project. then a surge of donations midweek brought in the money that was needed. between 30,000 and 40,000 volunteers are expected at the cemetary today to lay down the wreaths. 11-year-old colby smith died in october when he crashed his

dirt bike. to honor his memory, his family wanted to collect donations for 25 bikes for kids who don't have one. but contributions by businesses and colby's classmates brought in enough money for 50 bikes. >> my son was a giving child. he always was trying to give back to the community, give his toys and bikes away. so we started this foundation in order to give back to the community and continue his legacy. >> the first set of bikes were given out at an elementary school. the family is planning for another fun raiser for bikes leading up to colby's birthday next may. a local chef is going to get put through the wringer. what it took for her to make the cut. and there are the innocent victims of a horrible epidemic. when we return, we look at what one local hospital is doing to help babies who are addicted to heroin.

heroin doesn't care what your skin color is, how smart you are, how old are you, whether you're male or female. >> that's part of the trailer for a powerful documentary created by virginia office of the attorney general. the documentary draws attention to the heroin epidemic. winchester medical center started to see this troubling trend a couple of years ago in expectant moms. as our bureau chief reports, that means some victims of heroin are newborn babies. >> swaddled in this blanket, one of the tiniest victim os f the heroin and opioid. many winchester, virginia, an area hard hit by heroin use, doctors and nurses began to notice signs of trouble in newborns. the syndrome occurs when babies are exposed to heroin in the

womb. >> they're very irritable, their muscle tone is increased, they're jittery, very difficult to console. they spend a lot of time and energy crying. >> feeding is also difficult. unless treated the babies may fail to thrive. >> those babies need to get the symptoms captured pretty quickly. >> for the past two years, the medical center has ramped up its approach to helping the babies. doing a toxicology screen on all moms coming to deliver. and if they know ahead of time that a baby has been exposed to drugs, an umbilical cord sample is also taken. the most dra mat i believe change came last month. every baby showing withdrawal signs go to the neonate l care unit. their dark quiet rooms help with treatment. so do the cuddlers, like this retired teacher, part of a

volunteer group. >> it's just such a serious need. these babies are so precious and they just need someone to come in and hold them. it's important for each baby to find the position that makes them comfortable and this baby here, she enjoys snuggling on your shoulder. >> on most days between 2:00 and 5:00 infants are being treated for withdrawal symptoms but the aggressive protocols are already showing results. in the past six month, the length of the hospital stay for these babies has been cut nearly in half. >> if you would like to watch the attorney general's entire documentary, go to the nbc washington app and search here win. all right. coming up next, marjorie bradley may not be a household name yet but this rising d.c. chef is cooking on the national stage as a contestant on "top chef." the competition is fierce but she's ready for the fight.

>> i did a lamb -- >> this chef knows that you have to find your voice to be heard. this is particularly true for a woman in an industry dominated by men who often are just louder. >> you do have to kind of speak up and talk to people about what you're doing. and you know, otherwise nobody is really going to know, especially in a city like d.c. >> she's gained recognition as a national chef. but she's a chef who prefers to work behind the scenes and the last thing she expects was to face the glare of a come ra as the contestant on bravo's "top chef". >> i hate the camera. but you get so focused on what you're doing, you don't realize. >> what she did realize is she had to believe in herself even more to take on the show's challenges and grow as a chef. >> when you're in that competition, it's really fast and you have to go with your gut

instincts. >> her top chef competitors and the judges provided fuel for the fight. >> i thought i was coming to like chef summer camp but really's chef boot camp. >> it was her restaurant family in d.c. that gave her strength and inspiration. >> d.c. is an amazing city. they're a great community with all of the chefs and everyone is so supportive of each other. it helped me grow and gain the confidence. >> the best advice she received? >> stay true to yourself. >> she didn't set out to be a top chef or run a restaurant. her parents founded a soup kitchen in northern california where he grow up. >> i like to see people enjoy something. i made that, put it together. i really enjoy it. >> but don't be fooled by her

nature. she's a fierce competitor and she's cooking to win. >> i wouldn't trade it for anything. it's crazy intense and definitely the hardest thing i've ever done. >> wow. makes me hungry just watching that story. marjorie bradley already has a new project in the works, opening a sandwich shop in the shaw neighborhood called "smoked and stacked" and slated to open next spring. well it takes the headache out of sfringing lights up outside your home but it's creating a major problem for pilots. what you can

if you're getting ready to deck the halls for the holidays, be aware, a popular new outside door decoration may cause some unexpected problems. checky benson tells us if used incorrectly, they can create the same issue as shining a laser

pointer at the cockpit of a plane. >> the easiest way to light up your home. >> the most popular version is the as seen on tv star shower but they're all essentially lower wattage home versions of a rock concert laser light show. the laser part is the potential problem. the manufacturerer's instruction manual notes if your intended surface is within 10 nautical miles of the airport lower the angle of the star shower so that no lasers point into the sky. helicopter pilot brings a view from the sky to nbc 4 viewers. >> with the news4 helicopter i've been hit by the red laze near manassas. red is better than green. it with as nuisance, it was distracting. i just pedal turned the helicopter away. i put my back to whoever it was and it was overwith. >> he says that pilots are

acutely aware of the dangers. >> the crucial phases of flight, take off and landing. you're near the ground, more things are happening, not less things. that's the worst thing to get hit by a lazar. >> just two weeks ago, a pilot reported being distracted by the latsers. the homeowner was unaware. >> there has been no incidents of someone use deliberately using the lights. but a reminder, it can cause you an $11,000 fine. thanks, jackie. well the faa is issuing a warning about the star shower. it's coming after an american airlines flight was hit by a lace frer a holiday light machine. a police helicopter traced the source to a property that had one of the beams shooting into

the sky. if you buy these new light displays, you should take precautions to make sure the lasers are hitting your home, not shining off into the sky. we would start by asking the person to adjust them or turn them off. that's the message from the faa that they're giving out to flings right now. that's all for nez 4 this week. i'm chris lawrence. we're going to leave you with the lighting of the national christmas tree. thank jor joining us. we hope you have a great weekend. three, two, one! ♪ ♪

♪ he sees you when you're sleeping jts ♪

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♪ welcome to "redskins chronicles." i'm larry michael at redskins park. each week, we take an in depth look at this team's storied legacy. it's the redskins at chicago sunday. and today, we're going to visit with a man who played for both teams, the bears and the redskins. and continued as a redskins coach under joe gibbs to win a super bowl. more than one, he won three.