of feet above. because safety is never being satisfied. and always working to be better.

y25eiy y16fy right now on "news4 this week," the inauguration is behind us, but the weekend's activities just getting started. how metro is helping people get around for the planned marches this weekend. we also mark martin luther king day this week. we'll show you how people honor the civil rights icon. and call for unity as a new president starts his term. plus wiping the record clean. how people with a criminal past are getting a fresh start in maryland. >> announcer: welcome to "news4 this week." hi, everyone, i'm chris lawrence. donald trump is now the 45th president of the united states after an inauguration day full of pageantry down on the national mall. check out the nbc washington app

festivities. the inauguration is over, but there is still plenty going on. a lot of people are headed to the national mall for the women's march on washington, and metro is making changes to accommodate all those people attending. trains started at 5:00 a.m. on saturday, two hours earlier than normal. and some two dozen additional trains will be added to the red and orange lines. they'll be running every 12 minutes, and there will also be no track work. madame tussauds museum lifted the curtain on its presidential wax figure this week. donald trump is the first president to already have his likeness in wax as a celebrity. he was fitted for the first version at trump tower in new york back in 1997. it takes a team of 20 artists to roll out this updated version. they say each individual hair of trump's famous combover was inserted by hand. this week we also observe what would have been dr. martin luther king jr

the mlk memorial was packed on monday as people marked the cabin. as kristin wright reports, it was a call for unity as the new president begins his term. >> reporter: a unity ride to the martin luther king jr. memorial. >> he sacrificed himself for us. >> reporter: to celebrate dr. king and the civil rights movement he lived and died for. those who came to see the memorial just wanted to be close to dr. king's larger than life figure. as the country prepares for a new president that has little support in the african-american community. but visitors here believe dr. king's dream lives on. >> the idea of this country is much bigger than any president, whoever comes and goes. >> reporter: the national museum of african-american history and culture has few of dr. king's personal mementos. but some, like the alexanders, came here to reflect on the country's complicated story. >> i think

captures the full african-american experience. >> reporter: their mother grew up in alabama, and she remembers. >> as a first grader, the first year that the school in my neighborhood was integrated. >> reporter: on this mlk day, she hopes the country can move forward. >> i'm here as a unifier. not as a person saying i'm taking this side or that side. because i believe that united we stand and divided we fall. >> reporter: back at the king memorial, the feeling of hope is alive. >> over time we have continued to move forward. we've continued to make things better for more people along the way. president donald trump also met with dr. king's son at trump tower in manhattan earlier this week. martin luther king iii told reporters he had a very constructive meeting with the president. king says they talked about voting rights and said mr. trump told him he wants to be a president for all americans. minor crimes can haunt people who try to change their lives. their criminal records can stop

security clearance, even a student loan. this week, dozens of lawyers were in prince george's county to help people get a clean slate. news4's tracee wilkins has more on the expungement fair. >> reporter: many come to church looking for a fresh start. >> make sure you guys fill out first and last name. >> reporter: the people gathered here today are hoping for clean criminal records. >> we're going to fill out the expungement forms. >> reporter: dozens of attorneys participated in this fair, hosted by the prince george's county states attorney's office. for these attorneys, it was not only a day of service but also a day of crime fighting. >> and people who can't get jobs commit crimes. it's just not reasonable that we hamper people because of their history. >> something happened 30 years ago and i'm trying to get it expunged. >> reporter: do you remember where the 1994 one

>> reporter: the crimes are not violent ones. in some cases the attorneys defending these people miss the mark. >> in this case you probably want to reach out to the attorney who represented you. because there was no motion to reconsider filed. >> reporter: although minor offences, they're enough to keep some from getting security clearances or just everyday jobs. >> even if you're not found guilty, you could be found not guilty or it's dismissed, it will still show up if somebody does a criminal search. >> i'm a prosecutor. my chief job is keeping people safe. but part of that is making sure people have opportunities to work in honest and legitimate ways. >> reporter: today's event was so successful, they had to add more chairs and then eventually had to close their doors. >> we're at capacity today. we're very happy. this will definitely be something we'll look to do again. >> reporter: for many who came here, a burden has been lifted. >> it's a very nice program, because i've been

i didn't even the resource. >> reporter: coming up on news4 at 6:00, we'll speak with one mother who says this has changed her future. tracee wilkins, news4. >> if you want more information about how to get your records expunged, open up our nbc washington app. w we posted information on what to do in maryland. search "expunged." when we come back, the new tool one town is using to make sure you pay when you park. plus the new push for year-round school in one district in maryland.

parking violators can now get stung at reston town center. people have nicknamed this device the bumblebee. it suctions to your windshield and prevents violators from driving away. once on your car, security has to remove it, after you pay up. reston town center just started paid parking two weeks ago. a

the bumblebee yet. some folks are still getting used to paying with their phones. >> it's not easy. why can't you just put a meter in there like everybody else? >> parking is $2 an hour in a garage, $3 for street parking. reston town center says it's trying to prevent people from using the garage as a commuter lot. we're at the halfway point of the school year for a lot of local school districts. and one in maryland is talking about a big change -- year-round school. a frederick county public schools committee started the conversation this week. it's not a formal proposal but one the district and its superintendent have discussed before. a spokesman says a year-round school plan might help avoid a scheduling crunch that may be caused by the governor's recent order to start classes after labor day. still ahead, congress takes steps to follow its own rules. how a news4 i-team report pushed the senate to take steps to increase diversity i

plus what we don't know about dr. martin luther king. new news4's barbara harrison talked to a close friend to learn what drove dr. king to start his crusade.

there's a new call for congress to lead by example and hire more people of color for top staff positions on the hill. it comes after the news4 i-team discovered lawmakers in the house and senate don't have to follow the same rules they require for nearly every other employer. the senate may now create a new position to work on increasing diversity. seth mcfarland has more on a possible big shift on the hill. >> i'm not happy today. i'm frustrated. >> reporter: this month, former hill staffer don cravens jr. told the crowd he's embarrassed by the state of hiring practices in congress. >> i was the only african-american chief of staff from 2012

>> reporter: the only one? >> the only one. >> reporter: since he left his job in congress, he says diversity among top hill staffers has not improved. >> when senators are making decisions that affect the country and senators that represent states with large minority populations, and i don't know that they can make truly wise decisions without having people of all backgrounds in those discussions. >> reporter: he says part of the problem is that no one in congress keeps track of how many minorities get hired to work for senators or representatives as was shown by a recent news4 i-team investigation. >> you're right, there's no accountability. there's no fear. >> reporter: for months last year we went digging for numbers of how many staffers in our local offices identify as women, as people of color, or lgbtq. congress requires diversity tracking in the workforce for everyone else. but no one has to track those numbers within congress. and no one does. >> it's a huge disparate. >> reporter: spencer overton heads the joint center for political and economic

attempted to find data on how many minorities work in top legislative roles. >> we found people color make up 35% of the u.s. population but account for only about 7% of top senate staff. >> reporter: that report also prompted a census by the senate black legislative black caucus, which found 5% of senate staffers in dc identify as black. the caucus has drafted a bill calling for the establishment of a nonpartisan chief diversity officer for the senate who would help foster and grow plans for every office to establish and maintain a diverse staff and collect demographic numbers to formal track hires. it's got the support of new senate minority leader chuck schumer, who is continuing a diversity hiring initiative started by former democratic senate leader harry reid. he says dedicating ourselves to diversity will be good for the senate and for the country. schumer, the joint center, and the urban league also want congress to take a cue from the naon

implement what's known as the rooney rule in hiring. >> you should interview at least one person of color for each position that you have open. >> it allows men and women of color to get in the pipeline, to find out what they're missing so they can go and find those skills so maybe the next job opening that comes available, they can apply for that job. >> reporter: there are signs of progress. since the i-team's initial report, six lawmakers have announced the hiring of men and women of color to top positions in their offices. >> and you can see the i-team's first report on diversity on the hill in the nbc washington app. just tap on "investigations." a lot of us are familiar with dr. martin luther king jr.'s "i have a dream" speech. we spoke to one of his closest friends, atlan friends. barbara harrison has more. >> reporter: they had been

small town in alabama. andrew married jean childs. martin wed coretta scott. >> we met has fathers who married women from the same little country town. >> reporter: they credited their wives, not only for the friendship the four enjoyed, but also for the strong commitment to the civil rights movement. >> both coretta and jean were more committed, i think, to get into the struggle to do something about race than either me or martin. >> reporter: he says his wife's hard working family had their savings swindled by those who resented black businesses. >> she was very bitter about race. now, coretta had the same kind of experience. i mean, coretta's father had three different businesses that were destroyed by white people. >> reporter: both men had moved to alabama to pastor churches. he said martin luther king was looking for a quiet, more to f. dissertation, and he pic

most conservative church in the south, two weeks after he finished his dissertation, rosa parks sat down in the bus. >> reporter: rosa parks' arrest angered men in the black community, especially the women. >> they were looking for the right person to start a protest. and when they put her off the bus and took her to jail, they had their candidate. >> reporter: he says the women needed a leader for their movement and queried those who knew the bright young minister, martin luther king jr. and the march toward a new day had begun in alabama. >> actually the march on washington grew out of the demonstrations in alabama. >> reporter: but he says he wasn't too sure what a march on washington could do for the movement. >> we were a little too arrogant to see that a southern black movement could not change america. what it took was a

movement. >> reporter: he says there was a vying for position by the speakers for the event. he says his friend martin didn't push to speak at all. >> in those days, we figured to get on the 6:00 news you had to speak before 3:00. so everybody wanted to speak first. and they were jockeying for position. and he said, i'll speak last. >> reporter: and it was those words, spoken at the end of the day, that everyone remembers. >> i have a dream. >> mahalia jackson, i heard, had just finished singing when martin got up to speak. she kept saying, tell them about the dream, martin. and he launched into this "i have a dream" sequence. it was not written down. >> reporter: mahalia jackson, who sang that day, was one of the few women who participated. andrew young says that was the one thing he and his friend martin felt was a grand oversight. >> that was one of the

washington, there was no woman speaking. they kept the movement going. every little movement, every local movement was pretty much started by a woman. >> reporter: and his greatest tribute to the women of the civil rights movement was to those closest to him and his friend martin. >> i say that if martin and i had not married the little country girls we married from alabama, you never would have heard our names. >> reporter: barbara harrison, news4, washington. >> wow. amazing perspective. when we come back, saying thank you. a dc man who, some say, came back from the dead. this week, he got a chance to meet the firefighter who made it happen.

tiki barber running a barber shop? yes!!! surprising. yes!!! what's not surprising? how much money david saved by switching to geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. who's next?

y27mky y16fy

some say he came back from the dead. a man from dc went a full five minutes without a pulse. but this week he was back up and walking, and he got a chance to say thank you to the firefighters who saved his

news4's amy cho has the story. >> reporter: when firefighters save lives, oftentimes they're left to wonder what happens to those they've rescued. this lieutenant in southeast tells me in 13 years of working, he's never once been reunited with someone he's saved. that is, until today. >> i was dead five minutes. >> reporter: when firefighters arrived at robert law's home, they saw him slumped over on a table. the culprit, asthma. >> to have someone save you, when you have no pulse, that's scary. >> reporter: when law's life on the line, rescuers reacted immediately. >> we jumped right into action and started cpr. by the time we got him to the ambulance, we had a pulse back. >> reporter: he says law came back from death. today law and his family came back to the station to thank the ones who made it happen. >> they saved my life. and all i will do is say thank you, i'm grateful because of that. >> it's nice to see the results

you don't always know what happens to the individuals after they go to the hospital. it's nice. >> reporter: law says he releas realizes what a close call he has. but thanks to station 25, he can count on being around. amy cho, news4 in southeast. >> those paramedics and firefighters do such an amazing job. that's all for "news4 this week." i'm chris lawrence. we have a new president. and soon one of our pandas will be saying goodbye. we'll leave you with some pictures of him through the years. thanks for joining us. have a great week.

know you're watching television thats educational and informational. the more you know on nbc. lauren: hi, i'm lauren thompson and heart of a champion starts right now. today, see how one group of military veterans are finding therapy and camaraderie through the sport of hockey. andrew: we are able to normalize; something that is very difficult to do when you leave the military and come in to a society that doesn't understand what you've been through. lauren: then take a high octane ride with mary carillo down a different kind of racetrack. mary: i mean are these people daredevils or are they just madmen? sir brian: all of the above. lauren: and when american skier julia mancuso isn't racking up olympic medals she's hanging ten in hawaii. julia: i just love being able to express myself in nature, and that's one thing that my coaches know about me.