>> right now on news 4 this week, a big week on metro. hundreds of positions eliminated at the transit agency. why the general manager says the cuts are necessary. plus metro's safe track program rolls on. why your plane trip could be effected by the next safety surge. also a news 4 exclusive. a pregnant woman denied access to the bathroom at a metro station. so she calls transportation reporter adam tuss. >> welcome to news 4 this week. >> hello, everyone. we are focussing on metro this week and we begin with the general manager's big announcement to eliminate hundreds of jobs. this comes in the midst of metro's big safe track safet

be made. >> the announcement came in a memo to metro employees. 500 positions deemed redundant or noncritical will be cut from the agency. they're expected over the next several months. >> d.c. city council member jack evans is on the metro board and says it's sad when jobs are cut but that the decision is necessary. >> it's important to down size. we have 13,000 employees and i think paul's actions are are very important to send a message that we are very serious about getting our house in order. >> it's in the midst of the most ambitious and for some most disruptive changes. it's stations on the silver and blue lines while repairs, upgrades and safety enhancements are performed. leaving thousands of computers to take shuttle buses around the closure. what do those effecte b

surge think of the purge? >> on the back end a lot of work done there too. so camper things going forward with the maintenance too. >> that's a lot of people being fired. i don't know if that's a good thing. >> they have a lot of redundancy already. >> they have to be worked out so the entire process could take months but he wanted notifications to go out as soon as possible so those effected could prepare. >> metro won be an option if you plan to fly into or out of reagan international airport in the coming weeks. starting on tuesday it will shutdown the blue and yellow lines for a week. and after that another week long shutdown will happen between the airport and pentagon city. >> that will mean a little extra time for my commute. i'll have to reverse my bus route and take two transfers instead of my usual straigh

shot in. >> so far safe track has been successful because many of you have been willing to make alternate travel plans. and a warning if you live in montgomery county. red line work will impact riders for six days beginning august 1st. trains will singgnal tracks but the fact that it's happening in august will make it easier on commuters. they want you to start making the plans now so it's asking you to find ultimate ways to get around. remember you can find out more about how it will effect your trip by going to the nbc washington app and searching safe track. >> this week we also learned about a pregnant woman that says she has been denied access to the only bathroom available in her metro station. she ended up getting sick because she couldn't use the bathroom. adam tuss asked metro for a response and got some answers. it's a story you'll see only on news

happy time for rachel. she just announced to her family she is having her first child and she just learned what it is. >> so you just found out? >> we just found out. and we are a member of teen girl. >> she rides metro every day from shady fwroef to mcpherson square but being pregnant made her to v to use the restroom often. >> i would love it if i didn't have to go to the bathroom as frequently as i did but when you have to go, you have to go. >> now at shady grove she is allowed to use the employer bathroom while the customer bathroom was closed. until a recent trip. now when she came to the station and asked to use the restroom, the employee restroom, a restroom she used multiple times before she was told no. that's when the shock set in. >> he said no that i had abused my bathroom privileges and that i wasn't allowed to use it. ias

>> rachel not allowed in and that's when the story took a whole other turn. >> i ended up having an accident and got so upset and embarrassed that i got sick on myself and i had to go home. >> she is working from home now more often because she worries about a sil issue. she filed a customer complaint and not much happened. that's when she called us. >> i was so appalled and frustrated and that's when i wrote news 4 and contacted you and said please help. >> rachel says the issue was much different the next time she saw the station manager. she says she hasn't had a problem. >> he immediately jumped up, he went, unlocked the bathroom and said news 4 already called us. >> metro declined an interview only saying customer service handled the issue. at shady grove, news 4. >> d.c.'s next mayoral election is a few years away but we're already learning who one of the candidates will be. the question is who is

to be running against? and how one virginia county is helping people make safer

>> the next election may be two years away but the d.c. mayor told reporters she plans to run for re-election in 2015. during a d.c. democratic party unity event. a political rematch may be in the works. >> he wasn't on the ballot june 14th for the city's democratic primaries but three of four she endorsed have lost. >> i think that the voters have spoken and i look forward to working with a new council. >> we talked for an hour last week. >> one ally that lost was council member evette alexander who

gray who lost his re-election for mayor to bowser in 2014 didn't appear with her during the unity breakfast. gray is expected to seek a rematch in 2018 if the opportunity arises and bowser confirmed she is running for re-election. >> when do you think you'll start preparing to run if you don't do it every day to run for re-election yourself? >> i don't know but i will be running. >> the new democratic nominees must get by the november general elections before the new mayor's race can actually start to take shape. news 4. >> for the first time in fairfax county if you buy something online from someone else you can now finalize the sale at a police station. it's called an exchange zone. the goal is to keep you safe. there were two places to do this to make your exchanges at t

police station. they are clearly marked. there were also posted signs warning about 24 hour surveillance. police say be ware if someone is reluctant to meet you at the exchange zone. that could be a red flag. >> they could pull in under 24 hour video surveillance. no need to come inside. in the event of an emergency they can call 911 or a bad feeling rather than wait for that to happen please walk into the station and the officer can take the report and be with them and determine everything is okay. >> police will use this as a pilot program. hers is one of the most recognizable faces at the olympic games. now shannon miller is sharing a very personal story about a serious health battle. she has a warning for other women. and the zika virus is causing many people to do everything they can to get rid of the mosqs.

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>> when you hear the name shannon miller, olympic grace, champion spirit may come to mind. but five years ago at the age of 33 she got news that changed her life forever and set her on a new path. >> this is shannon miller at the 1996 olympics in atlanta. at the top of her game with 7 medals, the most decorated gymnast in u.s. history. but 15 years after her olympic victory she received some shattering news. >> my doctor found a baseball sized cyst on my left ovary and that snowballed into any test that might be available to figure out what was going on. >> married with a young son, shannon was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. >> everything stopped.

pelvis along with one ovary and a tube. >> i was very lucky they caught it early. that is not the case with most ovarian cancers. >> it ranks 5th among cancer deaths among women and the american cancer society estimates about 22,000 cases will be diagnosed this year. >> there are symptoms of ovarian cancer and most women at early stages have symptoms but they're not specific. >> the top four symptoms of ovarian cancer are bloating, pelvic or abdominal pain. weight loss. changes in bathroom habits. shannon was able to give birth to another child after surgery and chemotherapy and earlier this month she reached a key milestone. five years cancer free. she lives in florida with her husband and two children and has made it her mission to spread the word to women about making their health a

cancer survivor and i want to speak up and speak out about it because we need to understand the signs and symptoms and know that it isn't just quote an old persons disease. this is a disease that is horrific and the earlier that you can detect it the more occasions you have. >> it doesn't necessarily equal ovarian cancer but it's critical to get anything like that checked out and as with other cancers early detection is key. >> as lawmakers address the zika virus problem you may be thinking of ways to protect yourself from that. susan tells us what you need to know before you pay someone to spray your yard for mosquitos. >> you can't miss the ads. businesses promising to spray your yard and get rid of mosquitos. neighborhoods, homeowners associations, spending lots of money to keep residents safe. how effective are are they? experts say there's not enough evideno

another. >> without knowing exactly what a commercial business is utilizing and there's no way to give you an answer as to how effective it is. >> the doctor is with with the department of health. when it comes to spraying your yard he warns chemicals can harm more than just mosquitos. >> they may be pesticide related type chemicals and they may also be natural organic type chemicals. there's no way to target the specific mosquitos. so when we do spraying you're effecting all insects that are in the wave of the spray zones. >> the u.s. environmental protection agency says before hiring a company to spray your yard for mosquitos make sure that it's licensed. that it's associated with a professional pest control association and the company has proof of insurance. experts say

in your yard that won't cost you any money. remove standing water like bird baths. get rid of the water that collects on top of the swimming pool covers and dump pet water bowls daily. kill mosquito larve before they're old enough to bite you. experts say it's the most effective and affordable way to keep your family safe. and if you do choose to hire a company to spray for mosquitos it may only be as effective as your surrounding neighbors or kmuns doing it as well. we have a lot of information for you including propossessional pest control associations right now in our nbc washington app. just search mosquito. >> when we come back, the new push to make sure that we never forget those that sacrificed their lives in one of our

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>> it was the last war of the 20th century.

than half a million american troops to the middle east. now more than 25 years later an effort is gaining strength to make sure those that didn't come home are never forgotten. >> it's the company. alpha company. >> it's been a lot of years since fred flipped through the first photos of his first tour in the middle east. he flew scout missions in operation desert storm. >> we were facing the fourth largest army in the world at the time. iran and iraq fought for 8 years. this was a battle tested army. >> the war sent 700,000 american troops to the persian gulf. it started with an air assault on january 17th, 1991 and ended four days after ground forces went into iraq on february 24th. it was a decisive coalition victory but not one without costs. >>

such as mike daniels. >> they were 2 of 383 fighters that didn't come home. >> we feel that it belongs here close to the others. especially vietnam. >> here is the northwestern corner of the national mall where he is spear heading the effort to build the national desert storm veteran's war memorial. within the shadow of lincoln's memorial. >> it will be something that people will be able to see the history of our country chronologically even. >> after six years of work the memorial association had congressional and presidential approval to build. early rendering showed a massive curved wall made of stone. the design is also meant to surround visitors with images and stories from the gulf war and the names of those that died. >> and the left hook design shows the military maneuver up into iraq and to liberate them. >> right now theem

it's fund-raising efforts. he believe it will cost $25 million or more to build the memorial. his group only raised a small fraction of that so far. >> we have an aggressive time line but we still want to have this up and dedicated sometime in 2018. >> in the meantime he is trying to create awareness. on memorial day, 500 desert storm vets marched in d.c.'s annual parade. it marked the first time they gathered since the war ended. it was a chance to put a face on the memorial effort for the fallen and to honor their own service. the service of guys like mike daniels and fred wellman. >> i would hate for america to forget there was a moment of time we stood up and did our duty and did it well. >> in washington, aaron gill crest, news 4. >> that's all for news 4 this week. we leave you now with picture

weather on the georgetown waterfront. thanks for joining us and have a great week. ♪

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