welcome to news 4 this week. >> hi, everyone. i'm veronica johnson. we'll show you interesting, local stories making news this week. among them, putting passengers in danger. the startling revelations from ntsb this week about safety on metro, and what they say needs to be done to fix it. it's a huge decision, picking a college. for students in lowden county, it's one they share with a teacher in a tangible way. identity theft on the car lot. how crooks are able to clone your car and make it harder to find if stolen. first, we've reported on bank robberies, smash and grabs and burglaries. police in montgomery county are searching for

it was pricey. there are a lot of questions about how he pulled it off. news 4's pat collins has the story. >> reporter: didn't like how it felt. he's been selling high-end plumbing supplies for more than 20 years. last week, we had a sale he'll not soon forget. >> i'm 63. it's just something i still be live with for the rest of my life. >> reporter: police say this man came into union hardware and bought this designer bathtub. it retails for $13,000. it was on sale for $6,700. ross swiped the guy's credit card. the guy pulls out his cell phone and die dials a number, gets a n on the phone. ross punches in the numbers. before you can say bubble bath, the deal is approved. that guy makes off

high-end bathtub. >> by the time we figured it out, he was gone. >> reporter: how did the guy come up with the credit card, and what were the magic numbers that made this go from a deal denied to a deal approved? >> detectives are still investigating the circumstances around the credit card. the suspect provided an out of side identification that came back to nothing. detectives were unable to trace the id to anything. >> what happened here is a slick, sophisticated scam. there may be more victims. there may be more suspects. police, they want to know. in bethesda, pat collins, news 4. new developments for anyone who wants to get their driver's license. we told you about the proposal for a driver's ed course that could cost you thousands of dollars or more. the d.c. council passed emergency legislation, blocking the courses. the council said a lot of people can't

if it will be holding public hearings before any new courses are proposed. metro has a learning disability. those are the word from investigators in a humbling day for the transit system this week. the hearing was primarily set to release the official cause of the deadly lafont plaza incident, a short scircuit. metro used trains full of passengers to root out smoke and fire issues. >> this seems reprehensible. >> something is fundamentally flawed. >> my first reaction is for the families and the victims. that's what i feel. you know, clearly, again, it reinforces, you know, the challenges i'm up against. >> the ntsb says the only way to get metro back on track is substantially wrap up strong oversight of metro

picking a college means new swag, including hats, bumper stickers, sweatshirts. as david discovered, seniors at a louden county school are looking forward to leaving a piece of their future behind. >> reporter: at first, it may look like an obsession. >> i think probably around 60 or so. >> reporter: who needs dozens of college sweatshirts? >> i love sweatshirts. it's my go-to on the weekends. >> reporter: meet denise, a biology teacher. >> i had to have a friend of mine come in and redo the closet. >> reporter: for denise, it's not really about need or making some fashion statement. rather, it's about them. her students. past and present. >> it's weird. you never pick up the sweatshirt without thinking about the kid. it started off as a kind of thank you to her. >> reporter: one of

students, now a science teacher at dominion. she said it began as a way to honor a teacher always there to encourage. even after graduation. >> once you're one of her kids, you're one of her kids. you'll be one of her kids even when you're her colleague. i'm still one of her kids. >> reporter: that's how deknnis sees it. >> i have 20 worth of kids in this room. >> reporter: she still remembers them. >> that was given to me by alisa. alex. this is jake cole, one of the kids this year. >> she cares about her students and it shows. >> this is the hall of fame board. >> reporter: she writes it out. >> the minute they figure out where they'll go to college, they put it on the board. we have tech people. we've got some jmu people. i do have somebody from your alma mater. this is written in green. >> reporter: a teacher kept warm by her students' bright futures. >> they know that i've got something, you know, that will remind me

virginia, david colver, news 4. >> great way to inspire the students. new addition to the national mall is getting a huge financial boost when news 4 this week returns. a slew of a-list celebrities slew out for the museum of african-american history and culture. there will be plenty of people to visit the museum. the new numbers that show tourism is spiking in the district. there's moving... and there's moving with move free ultra. it has triple-action support for your joints, cartilage and bones. and unlike glucosamine chondroitin, it's all in one tiny pill. move free ultra. get your move on.

move free ultra. it has triple-action support for your joints, cartilage and bones. and unlike glucosamine chondroitin, it's all in one tiny pill. move free ultra. get your move on. the new african-american history museum is getting some big support from a couple of a-list celebs. actor denzel washington hosted a fundraiser at his los angeles home last weekend. the museum's director says an elite crowd raised more than $17 million for the project. tv producer shonda rhimes donated $10 million alone. the museum has a hefty $540 million price tag.

contributed half of that, leaving the smithsonian and others to make up the difference. >> and it was wonderful to sort of have people who are highly visible, but people who you don't know, but who suddenly say, i want to give $1 million to support this museum. so we had a goal of $10 million to raise in california for that event, and we raised much more. >> other donors included baseball great hank aaron, george lucas and oprah winfrey. it'll open september 24th. more and more people are spending their vacations in the district. tourism broke records in 2015 according to the report by destination d.c. more than 19 million people visited our fare city. tourism took a dip after 9/11 and the 2009 recession. it's been steadily up since 2011. tourists spent more than $7 billion in d.c. just last year. the industry supports 74

right now, the final phase of work to restore the turf of the national mall is underway. the $40 million project stretches from all the way from third, all the way down to 14th street. news 4 was there, as co-workers laid down big rolls of grass. the sod was placed over -- get this -- specially engineered soil that is compaction resistant. that's some soil right there. it's designed to withstand the weight of crowds. we get a lot of people down there. the plan is to have it all done before the next presidential inauguration. one of the hottest tickets in town and it's the main attraction. main attraction is recycled. how a popular exhibit is being transformed and repurposed in one of d.c.'s most unique spaces. plus, your identity isn't the only id you have to worry about. how thieves are cloning your car's

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the national building museum, with thousands of plastic balls? well, they're now being used in a whole new way, and it's becoming the hottest ticket in town. news 4's megan takes us underneath the streets of dupont circle. >> it's an interesting idea, recycling art and recyclingn old space that that's been used in a long time. the trolly station. do you remember the balls used in the beach exhibit at the national building museum? those little balls are now a part of a new installation. they've taken all of those balls, and they've actually glued them together and put little velcro pieces on. people who are lucky enough to score a ticket, and they are very difficult to get, well, they're going to be able to come down here into the old trolly tunnel. they'll be able to use these blocks to build art. you can do anything you want. you can

you can build something new. anything that strikes your fancy. the desires? they want people to be creative and have a good time. >> i want people to have a lot of fun, building anything they can imagine. i think they will because we've done this so far and have had a great time doing it. >> you do have to have a ticket for this exhibit. tickets are hard to come by. in fact, they are sold out for the next several weeks. dupont underground, they're going to be making more tickets available. they will post the time slots on their website as soon as they're available. keep your eye on it because only 40 people can be down here at any given time. so those tickets are going to go fast. underneath dupont circle, news 4. smile. it's weeks, not years, so keep trying. it's identity theft of your car. investigation by the news 4 team

crooks in the d.c. area to cover their tracks. scott and the team take us along for the ride, as police bust a suspected car cloner. >> reporter: a buffet of luxury cars, any car thief would crave. just look at the lot at lucky line motors in fredericksburg, virginia. luck wasn't on their side one night after closing last summer. >> they just pushed that button, unlocked the car and they're gone. >> reporter: a crook slipped into a white corvette, drove down an embankment and on to route 1. the office manager said he hasn't seen the $30,000 corvette since. >> what was the name for your car? >> a black mamba. >> reporter: someone swiped her bmw. >> i was krieg, yecrying, yelli >> reporter: she suspects they jumped in and sped off when

police say both of the crimes were the work of thieves who cloned the cars they stole, creating new vehicle identification numbers for the vehicle. making the vehicles much more difficult to find. >> it's the reason we have vin numbers and license plates on the car, to show it is unique to the owner. >> reporter: with prince george's county police. >> many people are affected. >> reporter: a review of police records in the past six years show car cloners struck along the east coasts hundreds of sometime times, including virginia and maryland. later selling the cars to unsuspected buyers. >> everyone we're dealing with are for profit sieges. >> reporter: more people search to buy used cars for a discount online, says an investigator for the national insurance crime

that have been wrecked or totaled in fires. >> reporter: police with the washington area vehicle enforcement team helped take down the crooks who stole candice's car and other vehicles recently. a crime ring called simple city. some members eventually were prosecuted for $5 million in thefts. the team tagged along with the unit as they tracked down another car. >> i'll make them stop now. >> reporter: this lexus was stolen with a bogus vin. >> can you step back? >> reporter: this stolen avalanche also with a new vin. >> you can automate it. as many ways as you and i can sit here and discuss and think up, it's probably been done. >> reporter: guess what else police found? a white corvette, the same stolen from the car dealership nine months earlier. 60 miles away.

changed. >> that man arrested for stealing the corvette. he's facing several criminal charges and zedd yuscheduled to arraigned in may. >> this story started with a tip. if you have something for the team to investigate, visit our washington app and click on investigations to send them an e-mail. one of the most stunning views but you've probably never seen it. a monument to world war ii is hoping for a makeover so you can

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with a little known structure, a towering view of d.c.'s monuments, you might bike path each day without noticing the harmony of the bells. this week, the dutch remember the fallen of world war ii. as they did, they also hope to restore what is a symbol of liberation and gratitude to the u.s.

northern virginia reporter has the story you'll only see here on jews on news 4. >> reporter: it's the middle ground known as ir-jima and the land of the national cemetery. most didn't know this existed. >> you didn't know it was here? >> no. >> did you know about it? >> no, we found it a surprise along the way. >> reporter: it's the netherlands carolon. or is it carolon? >> depends who you ask. by my response, it's carolon. others will say carolon. >> reporter: the carolon, with its now 50 bells, a gift from the queen of the netherlands back in 1952, following world war ii, who moved here in 1960. >> it tells the story of gratitude. >> reporter: it certainly is how the dutch see it. >> we were liberated by the americans and the canadians. this was our gift to the american

for liberating us. >> reporter: look behind me. arguably, this is the most impressive view of washington, d.c. at ground level, this is nothing. let's head up. we made the walk. no elevator here. seven stories to the observation deck. looking down on d.c.'s monumental skyline. as we walked right underneath some of the massive bells. >> we're about 70 feet or so up on the carolon. the bells are playing above us. it's a little loud, as you can hear. but this is an incredible view, as you've been able to see. hopefully, this will eventually allow the public, many of you, to come up here and enjoy this view. it's going to take though repairing some of the structural problems. >> what we're seeing here is a deterioration of the skin. we're concerned about what is happening with the bones. >> reporter: the repairs would cost $2.7 million.

assuming they can raise the money. >> our goal is to bring back that educational component. bring back the life in the park. >> reporter: the ambassador hopes more visitors will make the carolon their destination. if anything, to remind a future generation of the past. >> you have to tell, especially the younger people, that it is not a given that we live in a free world like we live today. that you have to defend that freedom. that we're doing that. >> reporter: in arlington, virginia, david kolver, news 4. >> beautiful. that's all for news 4 this week. i'm veronica johnson. thanks for joining us. we'll leave you with video from this past weekend. until next time, be safe, be kind, be happy. bye, everybody.

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shocked this happened right close to my house and everything. >> everything was like blocked off. all the entrances and exits. >> rifles, cops over here. the cops over here were like, get in, get in. >> this is really crazy. he wanted to commit suicide by cop and talking to me about having a last meal. three people dead, the suspect the gunman in custody this morning. >> what we're finding out about a spree of violence as the community begins to heal. >> announcer: "news4 today" starts now. we will bring you the very late nest that shooting rampage that caused a lot of terror throughout the area. first, folks waking up to a