rnht now o "news4 this he week," price to park. why you soon could be paying more than six bucks an hour to park in som o partsf the district. w> overdose spike. aarning about a dangerousin ease in drug deaths in part of northern virginia. plus, remembering mlk. a look at the tributes in our area to a civil rights >> announcer: welcome to "news4 this week." hello, everyone, i'm leon eeharris. this police in alexandria sounded the alarm after a sudden spike inuscted opioid overdoses. four people suffered overdoses over the week two of them died. northern virginia bureau chief julie carey reports detectives are now trying to find the source of the deadly drugs a steer overdose survivors into

treatment. >> reporter: an alarming pattern in alexandria over the holiday weekend. four suspected opioid overdoses in just 72 hours. two women died. one call came in from this grocery store when a customer as found unconscious n bathroom. >> 30-year-old breathing heavy in the bathroom and is unconscious. >> reporter: alexandria health officials and police not waiting to sounding the alarm. >> we have created a spike alert system. tain number a c within a certain amount of time, we know there could be a public safety and health issue. so we want to push out that information as quickly as possible. >> reporter: with this overdose spike, they're still awaeing medical examiner's reports to found out what's to blame, whether it' deadly fentanyl or something else. investigators are moving ahead to try to find a source, whilehe encouraging surviving overdose victims to get treatment. >> ourma p goal is to get people who overdosed help and

treatment. after that we try to disrupt the illegal sale and distribution os narcott a higher level. >> reporter: the help starts with a new initiative. detectives deliver this recoverg to overdose survivors. among the items inside, a phone progra with numbers leading to treatment. >> in them are plugged two phone numbers, a p detective'sne number and treatment system phone number. 25% of the time we've connected with the person and got them help. that's extraordinary. >> reporter: police and city officials hope their warning will get togl those strg with addiction and their loved ones. an important partf their message, the opioid reversal drugna an, can be picked up for free at the alexandriath he department. i'm julie carey, news4. no one is going to likehe ing this but prices are going up to park in one busy part of the district. adam tuss took a look t h much you're going to have to pay the next time you drive to pennu ter. >> reporter: pretty substantial changes when it comes to parking

meters in part of the city. we're talking about the penn quarter section of the district as much now could cost as $6.50 per hour to park at a y.tered spot during some portions of the now, of course ddot and the city have been working on a program where they charming youe m to park during peak events, like a wizards game or caps me. the idea is that you encourage turnover and people won't park for longeriods of tim and other people will be able to finding a parking spot. nevertheless, some people say that's a bit steep, $13 for two hours on the street, but those parking changes are going into effect and you suld be ready for it. back to you. >> thank you, adam. a measure to decriminalize fare evasion on metro is one step clo br tooming law. d.c. council voted for the first time to override a veto from mayor muriel bowser. we've shown you people cheating the stem,umping the turnstiles. under this new law if you're

caught you'll face a $50 fine, y however, won't face jail time and a criminal charge. supporters for decriminalization says stiffer punishment unfairly targets poor people. the mayor sided with m ro and said it loses between $25 and $50 million a year from fare evade evaders. thi week we remember dr. martin luther king jr. his day one of servic reflection and honor, all in the name of the man who helped change the course of civil rights in this country. news4's derrick ward shows us the tributes to dr. king in d.c. >> reporter: it's a holiday, but not one for resting and this year for those viewing one of the big parades, not one for being warm. >> it's pretty cold outhere. >> reporter: on martin luther king avenue the an costia section, the mlk parade has been a fixture for years and charles

has found a srime viewit for most of them. >> i've been coming even before it was a holiday. i was out here then. >> reporter: the frigid temperatures weren't enough to chill the spirits of those who came and braved the arctic air. >> yes, i am bve enough. >> reporter: andanaged to play on and people marchedwi proudly their banners, be they young or seasoned. all across therea events and opportunities that embody the theme of the holiday being a day on a not a day off. in alexandria at washington lee high school, some young people volunteered to helpodthers with and books, food for the mind. >> we learned some interesting facts about mlk, nothing everybody knew. >> reporter: back here in d.c. wher parade ended, service started. service to the community. >> part of the dream is helping someone else, reaching out to someone else. >> reporter: and for charles, on

the day we remember a man tomen s in a time of turmoil, a call to reinvigorate that mas dream which lives on. >> we as a world need to ctoe ther. >> reporter: and if that indeed happens, perhaps then we will have lived up to the vision that he left us with. at the mlk memorial, derrick ward, news4. when we come back, new year, new school. a look at the new digs for some studen in alexandria, and how the teachersel there hped them make that transition mid-school year. plus, we'll show y how a young woman took a cancer diagnosis and turned it into a way to give back to i'll introduce you to this week's harris' hero.

hopes of a minimum wag in virginia were dashed in the state senate this week. a bill that would hav gradually raised the minimum wage to $15 support,had republican but it died by a 21-19 margin. that means virginia's minimum

wage will remain $7.25 an hour, which is the same as what's mandated by federal la wages in d.c., maryland and even west virginia are all higher. students left patrick henry school in alexandria last week to never return again. well, now they're t attendinghe new patrick henry lk-8 schn the same property. the new building has been five years in the making. the classrooms areigger and more modern. there's a new indoor perform tce space, a city's new recreation center is also attached. the school's teachers had b a role in the mid-year moveover. over the coming months, the original building will be torn down to make way for athletic fields and additiona parking. if you want to see a time lapse of the construction or find out more aut the new school, just search patrick henry on the nbc washington app. when we come back, a young woman's battle against cancer inspireser to find a way to make things better for others walking the same walk. i'll introduce you to this

week's harris' hero. plus, what do you do with all that unused medicationndying arou your house? one part of our area is starting a new program to make sure those unused drugs don't fall into the wrong hands.

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a problem with unused or outdated prescriptio drugs i they're often discarded the wrong way. well, there's a new push in fairfax county to do something about that. northern virginia bureau chief julie carey explains. hr >> reporter: t away doesn't necessarily mean go away. drugs thrown in the trash or down the drain end up in roe enent or maybe even in the wrong hands. >> we're finding these substanssubt sues are becoming ubiquitous in our streams. it's a concernt tha we identify what are those effects and how do we better control them. >> reporter: officials in fairfax county wanting to keep problems like that from

happening. they have added prescription drop boxes to every police station in the county, expanding on a pilot program that turned out to be effective. >> people are encouraged to drop off their unused or unneeded medications to these drop box locations. it a safend convenient wayf to dispose o old, unusedec medication bse we don't want it to end up in th wrong hands. >> reporter: but there's some things you should not bring to the drop boxes. >> prohibited items include needles or sharps of a kind, liquids of any kind, illegal narcotics or drugs, or drugs from businesses or clinics. >> reporter: residents can also ge rid of unwanted drugs at either of the county's drug nt take-back e or a deactivation kit that neutralizes the medicine. >> peopl put their medicines in and then it can go in the trash. many of the clinics in the county have the deactivation bags that you can grab and take with you. >> reporter: in northern virginia, i'm julie carey, news4. >> for more information on what you can and can't put in those drop boxes, the locations and

other ways to get rid of unwanted prescription drugs,ea justh drug drop boxes on our nbc washington app. you know,s some kant to follow in the footsteps of their parents. some choose a different path. the son ofke maryland ball coach mark turgeon said that he wanted to play basketbal while still letting his dad be a dad. sherree burruss us this unique bond for fathernd son. >> it's racking. coaching is a lot easier than being a dad. >> at the end of the day i can hear himthe sideline. he's also a fan. he's really nervous. it's really cool to see him.o i'm not used tthat. >> reporter: mark turgeon is used to drawing big plays on thi sines or saying something after a big win as the head coach of the maryland men's basketball team. nowadays, you'll see him in the bleachers watching his son,

will, a freshmanhe guard for cardinals. >> i'm all dad. me has really never l coach lwhim, so i've as been a dad to him. he's got enough coaches and enough going on in his tlife. i j try to support him. >> i lot of people asked me why i didn't walk on at maryland or play for my dad. one reason is i wanted to actually play. the second reason is i didn't want my career path to be made because i'm mark turgeon's son. i want to be will turgeon, the catholversity basketball player. >> i looked at will as a great high-level division iii basketball player. the last name doesn't matter when you have those kind of skills. >> rorter: the turgeons have through en connect their love of basketball, but that doesn't mean being a coach's kid is easy. >> you know, you get a lot of crap from fans onocial media and fans in person like your dad shouldn't be here, blah, blah, blah. thankfully i fell in love with the game thanks to him, so our

relationship has been very strong through sports, which i'm very thankful for. i'm hoping that i can do some things over the next four years here and make him very proud. >> let me let you in on something here, right before the end of her interview with coach turgeon, she says that he gke a little c up talking about his son's accomplishments. coach asked that we not show that part of the interview and we are resshcting his , but clearly you can tell just how proud he is of his son, for good . now, as we mark teen cancer awareness week, we want to introduce you to a cancer survivor who took her experience asio motiv to make treatment easier for others who have the same challenge. nikki was 17 years old when she was diagnosed with a rare form of thyroid cancer, and then she found there weren't enough support resources geared toward teenagers with thedisease, so she decided to do something about it. that's whyikki is this week's harris' hero. >> you're not in this alone. >> reporter: today nikki is

visiting a patient with cancer at a nova hospital. >> and you wish somebody was doing this when you were in the hospital? >> i r:. >> reportehe's here to hand out a teen support bag. >> hi. here you . thank you. >> yeah. i hope you enjoy it. we picked the ims out. hopefully it can help make the time here a little easier. with orter: she came up the idea after spending so much time herself in the hospital, ttling a rare for of cancer. >> people would be sending me gifts and stuffed animals and coloring books. while i appreciated that, it wasn't targeted towards me at 17. se are rter: so t designed with teens in mind. >> you have a stress ball, adult coloringbook, a journal, another thing to pass the time, sudoku book. >> reporter: eight years after that first organization, her organization called bite me cancer has taken off. they now hand out bags to patients at 115 hospitals in 45. stat >> it's pretty good to use the cards and the it was just good to pass the

time. >> i just wanting to be able to relateo them a know that they're not in this alone. i've been there. i want them to be happy when they get it. >> reporter: she's thankful for how the organization has grown, but the most meaningful come from the time spent with the patients. >> we had a teen who was diagnosed when she was in high school and her peers were just so mean to her.li didn't believe that she actually had cancer. i just remember talking to her and she was t me that i'm such this lig for her. i was just like me? i'm inspiring to you? and her having to put up with to of that just really spoke me, and i was like, okay, what a doing is making difference. i've made a difference. >> and her passion for making a difference, as you can see

there, is very, very real. nikki told me that in those moments like that, she feels like her battle with thyroid cancer was all worth it. bite me cancered initi their first teen cancer awareness week in virginia back in 2015. e if you'd l to get involved or learn more about bite me caer's mission, check out the nbc washington app and search heroes when we come m back,tin luther king day is celebrated as a day of service. we'll introduce you to a mother who answered that call

the spirit of dr. martin luther king jr. has inspired people to give back and volunteer each year. news4's meagan fitzgerald talked with one local volunteer whoie exempl that spirit all year long, helping others as she heals from thenc iredible string of tragedies in her own life. >> reporter: for decades the united planntig organizaon, or

upo, has been helping and saving lives. >> w serve theunderserved population in washington, d.c. >> reporter: ianna is the director and volunteers here. she knows firsthand the impact her organization has on neighbors, who are struggling to survive. >> weldrovide c care, an early learning department, job placement, job training. >> reporter: but one particular voluoreer provides than just food and resources. >> my name is wanda. >> she is someone people can relate to. >> reporter: her name is wanda dudley, and she gives hope to ople who feel like life has dealt them an unbearable hand, because she once felt that way too. >> my husband actually passed away. well, he was killed in 20. and my oldest son, he died in ne of lastyear, 2018, from pneumon pneumonia. >> reporter: just last month, her youngest son, richard, was

gunned down on elvins road in southeas t >> it's tal and tribulation that i go through on a daily basis. >> reporter: but if you meet wanda, you'd never know about the pain she carries. >> it's an unexplainable joy. i can't explain it. when i come, people they smile at me and i don't come with my problems. >> reporter: her pain and depression disappears, while wanda is serving and helping to save the lives of few will ever realize that they are the ones helping to save >> undercover they don't even know, you know, that i pull joy from them. >> reporter: in the district, i'm meagan fitzgerald, news4. >> wanda, you're the kind of person that makes this world work. thank you for what you do. that's all for "news4 this week." i'm leon harris. we'll leave you now with more images from martidaluther king thanks for joining us. have a great week. eggo thick and fluffy waffles

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to defeat your toughest cold and flu symptoms fast. new theraflu powerpods. press. sip. relief. >> announcer: "news 4 today" starts now. striking a deal. there will be no sixth week for the government shutdown, as politicians come to an agreement friday. rning, how long could it take to get all of the fel employees back to work? a pre-dawn raid. one of president trump's long-time allies in handcuffs. rider stone is out of jail and getting ready to come to washington. police are looking to track down a crook who found a favorite target in northwest d.c. a lot to bring you up to speed on this saturday morning, of january, 2019. good morning. i'm david culver. we want to