welcome to "news4 this week." >> hi, everyone. i'm chris lawrence. we're going to show you some of the more interesting news stories. among them, a major shake-up on the d.c. council. three incumbents lose their primaries. and they are being called the memorials of the future. the finalists of what could be a very different way to remember our nation's most important people and events. and it's an iconic building with a controversial path and it's now back open for business. we'll give you a tour of the watergate. phase one down, phase 2 already under way. the program is moving in from northern virginia after two

weeks of around the tracking. phase two begins today and we'll have stations between eastern market, minnesota avenue and bening road completely closed. the work will last about 16 days. as you can tell from that map, phase 2 will impact prince george's county for those on the orange, silver and blue lines. bureau chief tracee wilkins has more. >> the orange line and the blue line and silver line are going to be shut down for prince george units. >> reporter: 60 to 70% of prince george's county residents need to find another way to get to work next week. they are making it clear that the stations won't carry the estimated 25,000 people who use metro in the county. >> if you have a bus bridge with

20, 30, even 40 buses, the numbers don't add up. >> reporter: jack evans visited to explain, among other things, the upcoming impact of the second surge of metro's safe track initiative. >> around the region, people are really trying to step up and figure out how to make this work. >> reporter: originally, prince george's told metro the company lacks the money necessary to move commuters around closed metro stations on the orange, blue and silver lines. >> our neighbors to the east and west of montgomery and then in virginia and d.c., they are running surpluses right now and we are not. so we have to be very vigilant about how we operate. >> but now the county is planning to offer a free shuttle from knew carlton metro station to the green line helping to avoid shutting down benning road and minnesota avenue stations. this makes the second surge more complicated than the first that involved single tracking. >> this one requires us to do the bus bridge but you

to go to the green line. >> a fairfax county school is making changes after a father called news4 concerned that his 6-year-old was able to wander away from school this week. rich pope says he was shocked when a police officer showed up to his house with his son who was supposed to be in a kindergarten classroom at london town elementary. the boy says his class went to recess while he was off using the restroom so he walked out the back door of the school and just kept walking for more than a mile. someone spotted him at a nearby shopping center and called the police. >> it's school. did anything happen to him? >> that's part of the reason i wanted to meet with you to make sure that the community is aware to heighten the level of vigilance against this sort of thing happening again. >> despite the changes, pope says he's not satisfied and says he'll be keeping his son at home until all of his concerns are addressed. the d.c. council is about to look

three allies of the mayor was defeated in the primary contest which is going to be a huge shake-up to the political landscape. news4 tom sherwood looks at that shake-up. >> reporter: former mayor benson gray beat alexander in ward 7, one of three incumbents close to bowser. >> voters came out to speak so we look forward to working with new members of the council. >> reporter: bowser beat gray in the race for mayor and now he must face him on the council. >> that's how i worked with him when he was the mayor and so that's how legislature and executives work. >> appearing on radio today, gray said he could put aside his personal feelings over that mayor's race. >> i don't have any intention to simply use this as an opportunity to throw rocks or, you know, to poke at mayor

out another possible run for mayor and gray says the three council losses were a statement of bowser's poor leadership. >> it seems to me it's a repudiation of the things that has occurred over the last year and a half. >> reporter: some council members who con grad lated gray tuesday night said bowser might have to work harder with a less compliant council on the issues. >> i think the council will be more cohesive with these wins because i think, you know, you'll have the greater independence of judgment. >> we'll get hopefully a more deliberative body that is independent thinking and not just looking for votes. >> reporter: independent of the mayor? >> independent of the mayor. >> riders say it happens more often than you think. metro buses just shut down. now we've learned there is a reason and the agency is taking steps to make sure it stops. and he's a lawyer by day but you can now also

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this week, we got a look at what could be the future of memorials in our nation's capital. four finalists were revealed at a national park service competition exploring new designs for less prominent memorials. one proposal involves projecting images of landscapes on to an infrastructure and rising sea levels to show climate change in action. the finalists were chosen from 89 different proposals and a winner will be announced in september. news4 has learned that metro is making a change to its buses in an effort to keep you safe. the transit agency is adding lots to the emergency battery disconnect switches. last august, officials temporarily suspended its service on elvis road after a man was shot and wounded on a

someone pulled that switch which shut off the power and left passengers stranded. the shooting victim is suing metro and his attorney argues if that bus hadn't been shut down, his client would not have been shot. >> i think it's terrific and i'm going to have a chance to do t i would say the other jurisdictions have found out that it's safer for the public and hope to put the locks on the other buses. >> metro had no comment on the pending lawsuit but has asked the judge to dismiss that case. it wouldn't take much of a sleuth to discover that the expansion has occurred on the international spy museum. this is what it's going to look like when finished. the spa museum contains the largest artifacts on public display of espionage and will continue to be on f street during the construction and the new building will open in the sp o

your time share but nbc 4 has a warning. why one woman found a deal to help hers is too good to be true. and there's a new edition to the national zoo this fall. we'll meet the new parent, next.

well, if you own a time share, you may be looking to rent it out this summer. a woman from virginia gave hundreds of dollars to a company to rent her time share but they never did and wouldn't give her a refund. susan hogan joins us now with the outcome. >> reporter: for people who own a timeshare, it's almost impossible to use all of the points in one year but as this woman found, paying another company to rent it out seemed like a great deal but this deal turned into a dud. felicia gibson and her husband recently bought into a timeshare

places in virginia, flora, new jersey and las vegas, nevada. >> we have a lot of points. >> reporter: and they simply can't use them all. so when she received a call out of the blue from a timeshare company in florida, she was intrigued. >> i couldn't pass it up. >> reporter: the deal was simple. pay $950 in front and the company will advertise and promote her listing. >> they told me after one rental, i would make that money back. >> reporter: that was back in october. but as the months passed by with no renter, she realized the deal was turning into a rental dud. >> i was told, you know, after a couple rental you're going to have a nice christmas. >> reporter: felicia isn't laughing now. after five months and no renters to speak of, she asked for a refund and was flatly refused. >> i was hot. >> reporter: according to the company's rental agreement, refund are only given if you cancel your contract within the

first ten days of signing it. the agreement also states the company has 180 days to rent your property. if they can't within that time frame, they will pay to remarket your time share. but as time ticked on, she was losing faith. >> they have said again that the dates are incorrect or this is not the correct location. you know, just excuses. >> reporter: that's when she contacted nbc 4 response. >> i seen how you guys go out there for the consumers. >> reporter: we contacted the timeshare rental company although we never heard back from them, felicia did the very next day. >> he said, miss gibson, this is what we can do. we can give you half of your money back. at this point, if he said $2, i would have been happy. i just wanted something to say, you know, you can't do this to people. >> reporter: the company never did get back to us despite numerous attempts to get a statement from them. the federal trade commission has a wng

regarding timeshare rental companies. it warns never pay upfront fees and don't fall for a company that claims the market is hot and has a ton of renters or buyers for you. if you have a consumer problem, let us know about it. go to our nbc washington app and search response. i'm susan hogan, news4. well, we are getting our first look inside an iconic washington landmark open to overnight guests for the first time in a decade. the renovation of the watergate hotel is complete and news4's derrick ward has more. >> reporter: redone with furnishings that harken back to the '60s and '70s. >> it was a

people and actresses and political people were here all day long. >> reporter: you would be hard-pressed to find a corner that wasn't rounded off. the architect envisioned something that would blend with the river that runs alongside and the views looking back out over the potomac are breath taking. >> we actually, as a matter of fact, cast the world renowned designer rona red who is a student of the original architecture and he's talking about the same language of the design, that it's curvy and the materials are the same materials that were used. >> reporter: you can't mention the word watergate without the 1972 break-in and political scandal that brought down a president. >> our number is 800-619-1972. so it's the day of the break-in. of

>> reporter: even the keys bear an homage to it, that you don't have to break in. the lights can be programmed to twinkle. the most infamous guests, the watergate burglary, wants to give visitors another reason to keep it on the map. >> the food is here, the fashion scene is here and the hotel scene needs to catch up. >> reporter: talk about embracing the scandal that made this hotel famous and brought down a president, this is how the invitation to the night's affair goes out, it's a cassette tape that's a usb drive and here written on the case, the words, if these walls could talk. at the watergate, derrick ward, news4. >> i love it. what a great touch. they are known as the greatest generation and a teacher from virginia is trying to keep their stories alive by bringing history right into the classroom.

a middle school in fairfax county is taking history out of the texooks and bringing it into the conversation. northern virginia bureau reporter david culver tells us how. >> these middle schoolers learning to lean in and speak up. >> how did you first hear about this? >> sitting with them at table after table, veterans of world war ii. >> wt

they lived it. >> and i had no idea that there were people during that time that were suffering. >> reporter: and fielding questions from curious minds. >> you became a paratrooper? >> yes. >> how did you feel about that? >> it's one thing to be able to read about it, whether it's a textbook or on the internet and it's certainly another thing altogether to talk to the people who made that history. >> reporter: 15 years ago, this history teacher invited one veteran to share his story to his clas. it's since grown to more than 100 and now includes holocaust survivors, civil rights activists and those who have served in more recent wars. they share their stories in large group settings and others over intimate table talk. >> i was one of them. that was scary. >> reporter: frank kohn has been coming here for 12 years. >> oh, i enjoy it. >> reporter: now 90, he's on a new mission to educate.

appreciation that war is hell. this is not something to be desired to go into. >> you get to see it from a facts point of view and emotional point of view from the people who were actually there. >> reporter: seventh grader shelby ale prefers learning history this way. but just as the session ends, we notice something. >> you want to hear something about the russians? >> reporter: it's tough to tell who really loves this more. >> okay. all right. >> sorry. >> i look forward to it from the next day. tomorrow. let's see how it's going to go next time. >> reporter: in shanteli, virginia, news4. >> it looks like it's going great and this is my favorite show and mike chick, a defense attorney from arlington, a lot of people are calling the ninja warrior. >>

[cheers and applause ] >> mike chick! a lawyer! >> chick decided to try out after hearing he has a medical condition in which his heart stops beating if he passes out. he was one of the first people to complete the course in atlanta and is now moving on to compete in the city finals. some great news out of the national zoo. congratulations are in order for the orangatangs, they are parents to be. they conducted an ultrasound live for us all to see. the zoo has been preparing for the past three years. this is batang's first baby and she's expected to give birth sometime in september. well, that's all for "news4 this week." i'm chris lawrence. in this past week, i got a chance to meetom

taking part in some very special summer camps in our area. a look at our camp for kids kickoff this week. thanks for joining us. have a great week.

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