right now on "news4 this sek," the price to park. why youn could be payingn more tha six bucks an hour to pa p in somearts of the district. ovadose spike. warning about a dangerous increase in drug deaths in part of northern virginia. plus, remembering k. a look at the tributes in our

area to a civil rights icon. >> announcer: welcome to "news4 this week." hello,everyone, i'm leon harris. this week police in alexandria sounded the alarm after a sudden spike in suspected opioid overdoses. four people suffered overdoses over the weekend. two of them died. northern virginia bureau chief julie carey reports detectives are now frying tod the source of the deadly drugs and steer overdose survivors into treatment. >> reporter: an alarming pattern in alexandria over the holiday ekend. four suspected opioid overdoses in just 72 hours. two women died. oneall came in from this aldi customer ore when a was found unconscious n bathroom. >> 30-year-old breathing heavy the bathroom and is unconscious. >> reporter: alexandria health officials and police not waiting to sounding the alarm. >> we have created a spike alert system. when we see a certain number

within a certain amount of we know there could be a public safety and health issue. so we want to pusht out tha information as quickly as possible. >> reporter: with this overdose spike, they're still awaiting the medical examiner's reports to found out what's to blame, whether it's deadly fentanyl or something else. onvestigators are moving ahead to try find a source, while encouraging the surviving overdose victims tget treatment. >> our primary goal is to get people w overdosed help and treatment. after that we try to disru the illegal sale and distribution of narcotics at a higher level. >> eporter: the help start with a new initiative. detectives deliver this recovery bag to overdose onsurvivors. the items inside, a phone programmed with numbers leading to treatment. >> in them are t plugg phone numbers, a detective's phone systemand treatme phone number. 25% of the time we've connected with the person and got them lp. that's extraordinary. >> reporter: police and city officials hope their warning will get to those struggling

with addiction and their loved ones. an importahe part of message, the opioid reversal drug narcan, can be picked up for free at the alexandria health department. i'm julie carey, news4. no one is going to like hearing this but prices are going up to park in one busy part of the district. adam tuss took a look at how much you're going to have to pay the next time you drive toenn quarter. >> 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 where it now could cost as much as $6.50 per hour to park at a metered spot duriog some ns of the day. now, of coue ddot and the city have been working on a progr where they charming you more to park during peakents, like a wizards game or caps game. the idea is that you encourage furnover and people won't park for long periods time 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 beffect and you should ready for it. back to you. >> thank you, adam. a measure to fare evasion on metro is one step closer to becoming law. d.c. councilhe voted for first time to override a veto from mayor muriel bowser. we've shown you people cheating the system, jumping the turnstiles. acder this new law if you're caught you'lle a $50 fine, however, you won't face jail tina and a cri charge. supporters for decriminalization says stiffer punishment unfairly targets poo people. the mayor sided with metro and said it loses between $2 and $50 million a year from fare evade evaders. this week we remember dr. martin luther king jr. his day one of service, reflection and honor, all in e 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 r e big parades, not one being warm. >> it's pretty coldut here. >> reporter: on martin luther king avenue in the an costia section, the mlk parade has been a fixture for years and charles has found a prime viewing spot for most of them. >> i've been coming even before it was a holtay. i was ou 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 brave enoug >> reporter: a managed to play on and people marched proudly with their banners, be ohey yo seasoned. all across the area events and opportunities that embody the

theme of the holiday being a day on and not a day off. in alexandria at washingto lee high school, some young people volunteeredth to help others food and books, food for the mind. >> we learned some interesting facts about mlk, nothing everybody knew. . reporter: back here in d where the parade ended, service started. service to the community. e>> part of ream is helping someone else, reaching out to someone else. nd>> reporter: for charles, on the day we remember a man taken from us in a time of turmoil, call to reinvigorate that man's dream which liveson. >> we as a world need to come together. >> reporter: and if that indeed happens, perhaps then we will have livedthp t vision that he left us with. at the mlkmo al, derrick ward, hews4. w we come back, new year, new school. a look at the new digs for some students in alexandria, and how the teachers there helped them make that transition mid-school

year. plus, we'll show you how a young woman took a cancer diagnosis and turned it into a way to give back to others. i'll introduce you to this week's harri hero.

hopes ofe minimum w hike in virginia were dashed in the state senate this week. a bill thae would h gradually raised the minimum wage to $15 an hour had republican support, but it died by a 21-19 margin. at means virginia's minimum wage will remain $7.25 an hour, which is the sames what's mandated by federal law. 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 attending the new patrick henry k-8 school on the same property. gthe new buildas been five years in the making. the classrooms are bigger and more mode. there's a new indoor performance space, and the city's newon

recreaenter is also attached. the school's teachers had a big role in themi year moveover. over the coming months, the original building will be tor down to make way for athletic fields and additional parking. if y want to s a time lapse of the construction or find out more about the new school, just search patrick henry on the nbc washington app. when we come back, a young woman's battle against cancer inspires her to find a way to make things better for others walking the sam walk. i'll introduce you to this week's harris' hero. plus, what do you do with all that unusedat medicn lying around your house? one part of o area is starting a new programuro make s those unused drugs don't fall into the wrong hands.

having a working smoke alarm in your home more than doubles your chance of escape in case of a fire. smoke alarms can provide an wearly warning if you fol these. repalce your smoke alarms every 10 years. if they're old an discolored it's time to replace them. check your batteries regularly. a great time to change them is every spring and fall when you change your clocks. and lastly, check your alarms weekly. replasave lives. test. beco

a problem with unused or outdated prescription drugs is they're often disrded the wrong way. well, there's a new push in fairfax county to do something aboutthat.

northern vginia bureau chief ju. e carey explains >> reporter: throw away doesn't necessarily mean go away. drugs thrown in the trash or down the drain end up in the environment or maybe even in the wrong hands. >> we're finding these substanssu substances areecing ubiquitous in our streams. it's a concern that we identify what are tho effects and how do we better control rthem. orter: officials in fairfax county wanting to keep problems like that fromen hag. they have added prescription drop boxes to every police station in the county, expanding on a pilot program that turned out to be >> people are encouraged to drop off their unused or unneededca medions to these drop box locations. it's a safe and convenient way to dispose of old, unused medication because we don't want it to en up ithe wrong hands. >> reporter: but there's some things you should not bring to the drop >> prohibited items include needles or sharps of any kind, quids of any kind, illegal narcotics or drugs, or drugs

om businesses or clinics. >> reporter: residents can also rugs at of unwanted either of the county's drug take-back events or a deactivation kit that neutralizes the pldicine. >> p put their medicines in and then it can go in the trash. many of th 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 thos, drop bo the locations and other ways to get rid of unwanted prescription drugs, just search drug drop boxes on our nbc washington app. you kn some kids want to follow in the footsteps of their parents. somehoose a different path. the son of maryland basketball coach mark turgeon said that he wanted to play basketball while still letting his dad be a dad. therree burruss shows us this unique bond for fa and son. >> it's nerve racking. coaching is aot easier than

being a dad. >> at the end of the day i c hear him on the sideline. he's also a fan. he's really nervous. it's really cool to see m. i'm not used to that. >> reporter: mark turgeon is used to drawing big plays on the sidelines or saying something after a big w as the head coach of the maryland men's basketball team. nodays, you'll see him in the bleachers watching his son, will, a freshman guard for the cardinals. >> i'm all dad. will has leally neveret me coach him, so i've always been a dad to him. he's got enough coaches and enough going on in his life. i just 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 iso i wanted actually play. the second reason is i didn't want my career path to be made because i'm mark turgeon's son. i wa to be will turgeon, the catholic university basketball

player. >> i looked atl as a great high-level division iii basketball player. the last name doesn't matter en you have those kind of epskills. >> rorter: the turgeons have ne always been ccted through their love of basketball, but that doesn't mean being a coach's kid i easy. >> you know, you get a lot of crap from fans on social media and fans in person. like your dad shouldn't be here, blah, blah, blah. thankfully i fell in love with the game tham,s to hi so our relationship has been very strong through sports, which i'm very thankl 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 tu geon, she says that a little choked up talking about his son's accomplishments. coach asked that we not sho that part of the interview and we are respecting his wishes, but clearly you can tell just how proud he is of his son, for good reason. now, as we mark teen cancer

awareness week, we want to introduce you to a cancer survivor who took her expience as motivation to make treatment easier for others who have the samechallenge. nikki was 17 years old when she was diagnosed with a re form of thyroid cancer, and then she found out there weren't enoughp t resources geared toward teenagers with the disease, 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 somebod doing this when you were in the hospital? >> i do. >> reporter: she's here to hand out a tee support bag. >> hi. here you go. >> thank you. >> yeah. i hope you enjoy it. we picked the items out. hopefully it can help m e the time here a little easier. >> reporter: she came up with the idea after spending so mh time herself in the hospital, battling a rare form of cancer. >> people would b sending me gifts and stuffed animals and coloring books.

while i appreciated that, it wasn't targeted towards me at 17. o >> reporter: shese are designed with teens in mind. >> you have a stress ball, adult coloring book, a journal, another thing to pass the time, sudoku book. >> reporter: eight years afters that fir organization, her organizati called bite me ncer has taken off. they now hand out bags toti ts at 115 hospitals in 45 states. >> it's pretty good to use the cards and the games. it was just good to pass the time. >> i just wanting to be able to relateo them and know that they're not in this alone. i've been there. i want them to be happy they get it. >> reporter: she's thankful for how the organization has grown, but t most meaningful moments 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.

like didn't believe that she actually had cancer. i just remember talking to her and she was telling me that i'm such this light for her. i was just like me? i'm inspiring to you? and her having to put up with all of that just really spoke to me, and i was like, okay, what i'm doing i making a difference. i've made a difference. >> and her passion for ming a difference, as you can see there, is very, very real. nikki told me that in tho moments like that, she feels like her battle with thyroid cancer was all worth it. bitee cancer initiated their first teen cancer awareness week in virginia back in 15. if you'd like to get involved or learn more about bite meca er's mission, check out the nbc washington app and search harris' heroes. when we come back, martin 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 peopk to give b and volunteer each year. news4's meagan fitzgerald talked with one local volunteer who exemplifies that spirit all year ng, helping others as she als from the incredible string of tragedies in her own life. >> reporter: for decades the united planning organization, ob upo, hn helping and saving lives. >> we serve the underserved population in washington, d.c. >> reporter: ianna is the director and volunteers here. she k firsthand the impact io her organizatn has on neighbors, who are struggling to survive. >> we provide child care, an early learning department, job placement, job training. >> reporter: but one particular volunt provides more than just food and resources. >> my name is wanda.

relate to. omeone pple can >> reporter: her name is wanda dudley, and she gives hope to people 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 2015. and my oldest son,e died in june of last year, 2018, from pneumon pneumonia. >> reporter: just last month, her youngest son, richard,as gunned down on elvins road in southeas >> it's the trial 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 anpl unnable joy. i can't explain it. when i come, people they smile at me and i don't come with my problems. >> reporter: her painnd depression disappears, while wanda is serving and helping to save the lives ohe . few will ever realize that they are the ones helping to save

hers. >> undercover they don't even know, you know, that i pull joy from them. >> reporter: in the district, i'm meagan fitzgerald, news >>wanda, you're the kind of person that makes this world work. thank you for what you that's all for "news4 ts week." i'm leon harris. we'll leave you now with more images from martin luther king day. thanks for joining us. have a great week. so you finally got fios, huh? yep, and wanna know what the best part about it is? nope. gaming with less lag? nope. watching movies in 4k? the best part about it is, right now, my mom is streaming classes... ...my dad is streaming games... and because the fiber-optic network gives you insane speed and capacity... ...they don't have to ask you to get offline. exactly. you owe me so big time. right now is your last chance to switch fios gigabit connection

and get a year of amazon prime on us. hurry, this offer ends january 30th. look, i never wanted to hebe the popular day.y. hey look, it's thursday! but in this place, it's just getting out of hand! hey thursday! popularity has always been friday's thing, and if friday finds out about this whole scene, trust me there's going to be drama! so, let's just keep all of this between us, hmm? thursday. friday! what's happening here? nothing. [ screaming ]

nbc sports, home of the olympicgames, the nhl, premier league, the indianapolis 500 and rimetime's number one show "sunday night football", only on nbc. >> it is a beautiful early saturday evening in heart of silicon valley, san jose, california. for the second time ever thesee fans wme the nhl's best players. the biggest names in the game like edmonton's 22-year-old superstarmc connovid share ey cup ge with sta champions including the penguins' sidney crosby on hockey's star-studded night.