welcome to "news 4 this week." >> hi, everyone. i'm veronica johnson. among the stories this week, she saved three lives over 18 months, all of them strangers. why secret service officer says she's no hero. buyer beware. what you need to know the next time you go used car shopping and how to protect yourself against getting ripped off. and a maryland girl just wants some help for her dad who's in jail. she went all t

and got an incredible response. you've got to see that story. first, we were the first to report the cia left explosive material on a loudon county school bus that left many of you and a lot of parents asking, how could that happen? chris found out what went wrong and what's being done to make sure that it doesn't happen again. >> reporter: the cia sent us this statement that says it is conducting an independent review and strengthening its inventory control of its explosives to make sure an incident like this never happened again. the cia conducted kcanine training here last week. training dogs to dough tekt bombs using a school bus. a piece of explosive training material fell out of a package and was left behind on the school bus. the training program has been suspended. >> we want to make sure that we're not missing anything here, okay? so we just had a meeting this afternoon with the

marshal's office. and we wanted to make sure that we suspended everything with regards to this program till a thorough review is done. >> reporter: on monday and tuesday the bus with the explosive training material on board carried students from three loudon county public schools. >> it was a special needs bus. there were 26 students total. it went total of 145.6 miles with the substance on it. >> reporter: the school system sent out this e-mail to every family informing them of this incident. >> i'm thinking that it was probably an honest mistake, but a very poor one. something that could endanger all of us. >> reporter: the cia says it has conducted a full inventory to account for all of its explosives in its k-9 program. reporting from loudon county, chris gordon, news 4. and relief may be in sight for your car's wheels and suspension. the district's annual

off this week. and d-dot is promising to fill any pothole reported to the agency within 72 hours or less. the effort itself isn't new to the city, but some of the methods that they're using to repair the streets are. crews hope to mitigate the past issues with pothole repairs. if you they'd to report a pothole in your neighborhood, just search potholes in the nbc washington app. well, another big step forward in maryland's purple line project. the maryland board of public works approved a $5.6 billion contract to build a light rail line. a team of private companies has been chosen to design, build, operate and maintain the 16-mile line between bethesda and new carrollton. it's a 36-year contract. construction is set to begin later this year. well, a big welcome at dulles international airport as the first flight from brussels arrived in our region this week. fire trucks shot water over the plane as it pulled into the gate and the ground crews waved their flags. now, passengers tell us it was a ea

very different at the brussels airport. >> they did a remarkable job of keeping us away from any of the areas or anything that we've seen in the news so far. it felt empty, actually. the airport just felt empty. but it was early in the morning. >> the welcome was emotional a little bit. i mean, everyone's shocked still in belgium about what happened, so you can imagine it's nice when you feel other people's kind of affection. >> tears in my eyes. i don't know if my makeup is still there, but i know it was very emotional, you know, thinking after so many days, they came back, and that's what we have to do. life has to go on, you know. we cannot be stopped by those crazy people. >> the brussels airport reopened sunday, and airlines have slowly been expanding service. we're told the flight back to brussels tomorrow is full. well, secret service officer could soon get one of the highest honors awarded by the department of homeland security.

she saved the lives of three complete strangers over the past 18 months, and she talked to news 4's megan fitzgerald about why she still doesn't consider herself a hero. >> reporter: remember the uniformed secret service, every day is unpredictable when patrolling the white house and monitoring the public. >> go ahead. i know i'll be back. >> reporter: it's part of the job for officer cody hughes. >> every day is a new day. so there can be different scenarios that happen every day. >> reporter: over the last 18 months, there have been at least three scenarios that stand out. situations where officer hughes saved the lives of complete strangers. >> there was a medical emergency of an elder gentleman who had collapsed and was turning blue. so my medical instincts kicked in. >> reporter: she's referring to an incident in the east wing of the white house in august of 2014. jack torres who's also the mayor of a city in new mexico had a heart attack in the hallway. but because of hughes, he was

around to welcome his first grandson in january. >> to me, i'm just thankful that this individual can continue with his life. >> reporter: in addition to mayor torres, officer hughes saved a homeless man in lafayette park and a gentleman in leesburg who suddenly collapsed. first responders say the patients would have likely died without her help. but if you tell her she's a hero, she'll quickly remind you that she was just doing her job. >> i care about people so i like helping people. so if i see that something isn't right, i'm going to go and assess to see if everything is okay or if something's wrong. that way they can live to see another day as well. >> reporter: reporting in northwest, megan fitzgerald, news 4. >> love her. well, it's feeling a little wintrylike. sure is. why not talk about christmas? when news 4 this week returns, we'll show you the new ornament that's honoring local first responders and what it's commemorating. and a maryland girl has a new high-profile pen pal. how it could impact the criminal justice system next.

the calendar may say it's april, but it felt a little bit like december 25th at one event this week. the white house historical association unveiled its 2016 christmas ornament. now, the ornament commemorates the fire engines that responded to the white house on christmas eve in 1929. the fire destroyed the west wing that night. president herbert hoover and his family escaped unharmed. d.c. firefighters attended the reveal. >> obviously, we're honored by the fact that being associated with the white house, 1929 is like today 2016, the bell hits, we go and do our job. >> wheelen, a student at art of massachusetts designed this ornament. an 11-year-old girl who's already a published author has a new pen pal. now, he just happens to be the president of the united states.

to help her father and families all around the country. >> dear madison. thank you for sharing your story with me. >> reporter: 11-year-old madison stremmepeck wrote to president obama in february. and this week he wrote back. madison asked the president to help her father who is in prison. >> i wanted to help my dad or other convicted felon to get out of incarceration, to have a job, a house and be able to live a happy life out of jail. >> reporter: the president told madison the white house is working to help her father through the federal interagency reentry council. he says they are pushing to improve programs that help those leaving prison get housing, jobs, drug counseling and more. >> i never thought he would actually read my letter. and it was, like, really? and it was, like, really exciting. and i remember getting my letter in the mail. it was really cool. i remember opening it and reading it.

>> reporter: madison sent the president more to read, a book she wrote called "everyone makes mistakes: living with my daddy in jail." madison says when her father went to prison last february, she had a hard time and could not find a book that could help her through it, so she decided to write her own to help kids in similar circumstances. >> they're not alone and they don't have to keep it inside. if you keep it inside, it's just going to stay there. if you don't get it out in some form or way, it's just going to hold you back from getting better grades or just anything, in general. >> reporter: the president was so impressed with madison, he invited her to the white house thursday for a discussion on women and the criminal justice system. madison got to introduce attorney general loretta lynch. >> madison, i want to thank you not just for introducing me today but for using your voice and using your passion for justice. something that i think is very important, particularly for women to do because our voices carry a lo w

well, not getting what you paid for? consumer reporter susan hogan is helping you understand your rights when it comes to car buying. >> it's right here in prince george's county. i'm tracy wilson. coming up on news 4, i'm going to take you for a tour of

a $110 million muslim center opened this week in prince george's county. it's the largest such facility in the western hemisphere. the massive complex is on good luck road. and bureau chief tracee wilkins got a tour just before that grand opening. ♪ >> it feels really good when you walk in. you seem to be transported to another world. ♪ >> reporter: the center is the la

it's located in the predominant african-american and christian community in prince george's county. >> why not here? >> reporter: our tour guide, sharif, lives just down the road. >> they spared no expense putting this together. you probably didn't know all this was over here. >> reporter: the center goes three stories underground and includes an indoor pool, basketball court, fitness center, and then there's the incredible beauty of what's above ground. >> we have a mosque. we have a fellowship hall which soon will be a four-star restaurant serving turkish and mediterranean cuisine. we have a turkish bath. >> reporter: the $110 million facility was built by the turkish government. it's been operating since april last year. it's a muslim center that includes an auditorium, museum and mosque for worship. but the focus here is education for muslims and all faiths. >> it's certainly apropos for what we need to start on a cure for many of the maladies and sicknesses that we see in the newspaper and weea

>> reporter: the architecture replicates centuries of turkish design. this 14-year-old was born here and lives in fairfax, virginia. she said this is her favorite place to worship because it's like going home again. >> i feel like i've made it. so i feel pretty peaceful in here. >> what you see is what you get when it comes to buying a car, right? it's supposed to be that simple when you're spending thousands of dollars on your vehicle. and when it comes to buying a car, one maryland man says he always does his homework. so in a recent purchase on a used vehicle left him without those features that he thought he paid for, he called our consumer reporter, susan hogan, for help. >> reporter: keith reed had been wanting a pickup truck for as long as he could remember. >> i have searched, searched and searched. >> reporter: and he found one online, an ad through a virginia dealership. under the description, it sho

features including sirius integrated satellite radio. >> because we wanted a good truck. we just didn't want any truck. >> reporter: at the dealership, he says the window sticker on the truck listed several more features including floormats. after negotiating a price with the salesman, he signed the paperwork and bought the truck for $18,000. >> it was only after we sealed the deal i was told that the vehicle did not come with floormats. >> reporter: keith said he asked the sales manager to explain why floormats were listed on the sticker but not provided. >> he then told me, well, mr. reed, you can't go off that sticker. he said, because all we do is change the title of the vehicle on top, and we're not responsible for what's below. >> reporter: so how about the sirius satellite radio listed on the online advertisement? >> at that time xm told me no, mr. reed, your vehicle does not have the sirius xm radio. >> reporter: keith said he now owned the truck and had no choice but to drive off the lot totay

he drove back to maryland where he needed to get the truck inspected. and to make matters worse, it failed. that's when he reached out to news 4. >> because i see your reports on the news. and it's, like, wow, okay. susan gets action. >> reporter: we reached out to the virginia attorney general's office which tells us the virginia consumer protection act prohibits advertising goods or services intent not to sell them as advertised. news 4 also reached out to the dealership, although they never responded to our calls or e-mails, they did contact keith. the dealership agreed to honor what was advertised. and on top of that, keith said they even agreed to fix items that caused his truck to fail inspection. now, most states have similar consumer protection laws that prohibit false or misleading advertising. if you feel that you're a victim of deceptive advertising, you should contact the attorney general's office in the state where the business is located.

that you may not have heard about. but some local kids are taking part in the journey there for them was an incredible one. their story next.

okay, the ncaa college basketball tournament may be over, and i'm kind of glad that it is because my tar heels lost and my bracket just crashed and burned. but there are some athletes in fairfax county getting set for the national stage for over two decades now, the fairfax falcons paralympics sports teams have allowed young people to live out their dreams through athletics. this year both the prep and the varsity wheelchair basketball teams have reached the pinnacle of their sport. our jason pugh got a chance to sit down and talk to the falcons about their big week ahead. >> reporter: each player for the fairfax falcons has an incredible story. >>

normal. >> i was diagnosed with a condition called building heart syndrome. it affected my hearing, my vision and my spine. >> i was born with cerebral palsy. the doctor said i wasn't going to live. but i lived anyways. and here i am. >> reporter: this program has given these young people a place to build relationships they normally wouldn't have. >> the things that he can't do with the regular high school team, this gives him an opportunity to get out there and just be himself and to open up and make a lot of new friends. >> it's cool seeing the program where it is right now. it's cool seeing the growth when we started volunteering, there were only three or four kids on the team. and now we're up to 27 kids. it's really cool kind of seeing everything take off. >> reporter: this week the falcons will head to louisville, kentucky, for the national wheelchair tournament. putting their skills to the ultimate test. >> and i'm really excited especially since thiis

year. and this is the first time we've qualified. i mean, i think we have a really good team this year. and that's why we were able to qualify. >> it's kind of that ultimate prize where i guess it's such a great opportunity for the kids, and just being able to go and have them see all the different levels of play, it's just an incredible experience. >> and we're cheering for the fairfax falcons. well that's all for "news 4 this week." i'm veronica johnson. thanks for joining us, as usual. until next time, remember, be safe, be kind, be happy. bye-bye, everybody. ♪ ♪ ♪

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♪ a♪ hello! it's a ys ♪ buenos dias mundo! ♪t ♪ come on, come along and play! (hey!) ♪ ♪ here in nina's world ♪ hello, hello, hello, hey! ♪ gonna be the best day ever ♪ ♪ come on, come along and play! (hey!) ♪ ♪ here in nina's world