right now on news 4 this week. on alert. how jewish centers across the country are deal with a growing number of bomb threats maryland's largest county takes on the governor over school funding. peak bloom just around the corner because of the unusually warm winter we've had. >> welcome to news 4 this week. >> hi, everyone. first up the growing wave of anti- anti-me man tick crimes. several schools had to be evacuated this week after threatening calls. mark seagraves have the message for jewish leaders and the police. >> the political climate in the country is such right nowha

situation. i know that the president denounced antisemitism last week and i would like to see more of that. and sort of finding out who's behind the calls. >> the flet to the school in rockdell was phoned in to the supper campus. >> they said there was a bomb on our premises and jewish souls would be destroyed. >> police were on the scene within minutes. a similar threat in fairfax, according to jewish organizations, there have been nearly 70 threats to jewish schools open community center across the country this year. and just this weekend were more jewish cemeteries in the philadelphia area were vandalized. >> it's anxiety provoking for the families in the school and for the students ultimately. i think it's a terrible situation that exists right now that we have to field

fax counties as well as the fbi are investigating the latest threats. >> i'm certain those facilities and the people who work and attend school there have already been advised to be aware of the surroundingin inings and if the anything suspicious, report it immediately. prince georges county, a battle is brewing between the school leaders and governor larry hogan. news 4's chris gordan explains what's at stake. >> prince georges county schools have a lot of needs that may not be met according to the county execut executor. if the state of maryland continues diverting public school money to subsidize private school students. >> we need more money to build schools. our schools are 40, 50 years

programs that we know is working. >> county executive baker is asking maryland lawmakers to eliminate the boost program of private school vouchers. they say governor hogan's budget cuts $20 million from public schools to make available $7 million for private school subsidies. this parent went to private school but chose public school for her child. i feel strongly that public schools are something that all of us hold in common, that it's something that we invest in together as taxpayers. and that's important to me. >> here in annapolis, there are attempts to tie the republican governor larry hogan to president trump. >> from this issue of favoring private schools over public schools, he's now made himself the outspoken supporter of trump and his anti-public school agenda. >> a spokesperson for governor hogan sent a message saying what

that the boost program offering public scholarships to low income students was passed by the maryland general assembly with the agreement of its top democratic leaders. in annapolis, chris gordan, news 4. d.c. cherry blossoms could hit peak bloom in two weeks. national park says says between march 14th and march 17th. that's when 70% of the trees around the basin are blossoming. as tom sherwood shows us, the early bloom also means changes to the festival. >> the cherry blossom festival has been around for 90 years, the premier tourism event mere in the nation's capital. more than 1.5 million people are expected.

and the most fun celebration of japan/u.s. anywhere in the world. [ applause ] . we are going to make this cherry blossom festival great again because it's already great. [ laughter ] >> the parks service announced warm weather would bring the blossoms unusually early. >> and the projected dates are march 14 to 17th, 2017. >> that's even before the month long festival was officially to begin days later. the festival planners scrambling to move up some events. >> okay. what does that mean for the festival this year? the festival will now start on march 15th and the presenting events and programs and tours will all continue as scheduled

>> the district's high school band helped kick off the festival announcement. warm weather or not, it means millions in tourist dollars. news 4. >> can't wait to get out there and see them this year. when we come back, metro's safe track program heads to its next location. we'll tell you which parts are affected. federal workers wasting time and your money searching the web for porn. th ♪ we buy any car dot com ♪ ♪ we buy any car dot com ♪ ♪ we buy any car dot com ♪ ♪ any any any any ♪ did you know trading in your car at a dealer could cost you money? a recent study found consumers who trade in their car pay an average of $990 dollars more.

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metro safe track 13 is under way and it's going to run all way to early april. phase one will impact the blue and yellow lane trains. no yellow rush trains will operate but additional yellow line trains will run between reagan national airport. phase two

lanes. it's a sign of spring around here, streets started this week in the district. for you, that means remembering to obey the posted parking restrictions. the fine for not moving your car, $45. but for the first ten days of the program police are only hand out warnings. the street sweeping program runs from march 1st through the end of october. still ahead, news 4 your health. we'll show you a technique gaining traction and how it could help cure your child of common food allergies. >> zbloo federal workers surfing porn on the job. it's not just one ag what if we could bring you better value by having better values? at blue apron, we work directly with more than a hundred family farms. so instead of spending on costly middlemen and supermarkets, we can invest in the things that matter most:

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news 4 your health now. up to 15 million americans suffer from some kind of food allergy and a good number of them are children. but how do you keep

well fed and safe? we've got one couple's solution. >> sasha welters 18-month-old daughter may be allergic to eggs. >> we brought her initially because she had eczema. and i was told that kids with eczema tend to have allergies. and also they said that allergies can be hereditary. i have allergies to food too. >> keeping eggs out of her little girl's diet has been difficult. >> eggs are in everything. >> so this little girl is taking on a challenge at the allergy and asthma center in rockville. >> we're back to do the egg challenge and see how she does eating eggs. hopefully we pass. >> that involves taking small amounts of the food of concern and introducing it at 15 to 20-minute intervals and just watching for any kind of reaction. >> gabriella will get one whole egg in

possible reactions. >> things you look for is hiefs, wheezing, difficulty breathing, swallowing of the lips, some people vomit. a combination of symptoms that we look for. >> how did gabriella do? >> this takes a load off of my shoulders and hers too. she may not have noticed. be that's okay. >> you can eat eggs. >> wow. what a load off. the benefits of these challenges is since they're performed in real-time they're pretty con cluesive and the child's diet can be safely expanded. of course always check with your doctor to discuss the best treatment options for your child. federal workers are known for working long hours and facing big to-do lists. a lot of them do their jobs well. but an investigation by the news 4 i team found there are some bad apples. scott mcfarland reports in a growing number of cases they're on the clock but notct

the job. >> behind your computer at the office, no one over your shoulder, what's okay to click and what's not, and what if your employer is the taxpayer. like samuel capland inside his office at this federal facility, he used his work computer to open e-mails from his private account. >> do you regret doing that? >> of course. >> it was -- the best way i can describe it is ridiculous for me to do that. >> included in the e-mails, sexually explicit images. he admits some were even of children. >> it just doesn't sound rational. >> he later pled guilty topo session of child porn and served three years prison time. the news 4 i-team were tipped that extreme cases are rare, we investigated how long federal workers wasted t

we sought records from 12 major agencies, some of the large egs government employers in d.c. and nationwide asking only for their most egregious cases, cases in which internal investigators were called in or which the employee admitted to hours of porn viewing a day. and we found more than 100 cases. >> that's classified as fraud, waste an abuse. they should be working on projects. >> agencies do police their computer networks for this as an investigator frr the environmental protection agency inspector general. the i-team found seven employees admitted to on-the-job porn surfing since 2013. one worker admitted viewing porn for four to six hours a day. >> two to six hours a day using their computer system. >> to view pornography. >> yes, sir. >> and

worker at the federal railroad searched for porn 252 hours in one year, nearly 10 full days of work time in 2013. at the justice department which prosecutes illegal pornography, the i-team found nearly two dozen cases in just the past two years. >> what does that same to the person -- >> congressman mark meadows chairs the subcommittee and says the cases found by us are unacceptable. >> that's the thing that your work has shown, is this is not just an isolated incident at one particular agency. we're starting to find it across almost agency. >> and he said the problem will grow until federal agencies pass a sweeping zero tolerance policy, one offense and you're gone. though every agency says computer use is against agency rules and would result in discipline, several said penalties vary. >> you could go from onege

job of policing it. >> and the congressman has just introduced new law to make it illegal to search porn in government offices. >> sometimes you lose track of who you are and where you are. >> samuel said he should have known better. he was on the job at a virginia office of the fbi showing some bad apples think they'll never fall. scott mcfarland, news 4 i-team. >> how did the feds crack some of these cases? the i-team posted an interactive feature in our nbc washington app. look under investigations. he is the king of the jungle and the top cat at at the national zoo. when we come back we go inside the mouth of a lion for his regular dental checkup. fios is not cable. we're wired differently. maybe that's why we've been ranked highest in customer satisfaction by jd power 4 years in a row. and now you can love fios too. get our best offer of the year. 150 meg internet with equal upload and download speeds, tv and phone.

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dentist to take care of the problem. this week we got to watch as resident lion luke got his annual checkup. >> luke was in fine form recently as he roamed the big cat house at the national zoo. luke is clearly the king of his castle. but the big guy wasn't looking so royal when we found him kongkon conked out on an operating table. >> the rooth of this tooth was up here. >> this is veterinarian dentist bare ron hall doing a regular checkup on luke to make sure they're thel hi. they have to knock them out. luke has a team of technicians monitoring his vital signs and keeping

asleep. he specializes in exotic animals. he's so rare he's in demand at zoos around the country and at sanctuary is around the country. >> i've worked on black bears, grizzly bears, brown bears, pretty much every cat. i haven't done -- polar bears is on my bucket list. >> wild animals need dental work because an unhealthy mouth can make an animal sick. also alpha males can have a bad tooth, be in pain and they hide it because pain is a sign of weakness and can get them killed in the wild. luke is quite special. he came to the national zoo when he was a year old. >> luke was brought in to our facilities from a facility in south africa. which means his specific genetic line was not represented in north ama

>> that gave the breeders a fresh gene pool to expand the lions here in this country. luke proved to be a rock star. >> he's been an outstanding breeding animal for us, producing five litters, four of which have survived. he's had a great run for us. >> luke is now 1 is, slowing down a bit, although he can live into his 20s. staring into the business end of a lion, one has renewed respect for this king of the beasts especially when the doctor told you this. >> you can extract every tooth in their mouth, the power of their muscles, they can pop your head bike a grape. >> luke can still bite your head off. he left with teeth intact and a mouth cleaned up, ready to, you know. >> wow. what a cool job. i had no idea that job even existed. and get this, dr. hall

his service to the zoo for free. he's a member of vets without borders and provides free health care for animals all over the world. that's going to do it for news 4 this week. we're going to leave you with pictures of the cherry blossoms of years past. they'll be blooming before you know it. thanks yr joining for joining u. have a great week.

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look at this, a fire ripping through an apartment building. now on news 4 today, the deadly aftermath and what investigators are uncovering about the victim. >> safetrack hits alexandria again. >> feel the cold. we are waking up to bitter temperatures and a chilly start to the weekend. storm team 4 is tracking how spring -- >> we love you, please come back. hope you're having a good start to your saturday morning so far. >> i'm angie goff. >> we need to rake someone over the coals