news4's jim handly caught up with him to talk about how the show changed over the years. >> reporter:walked the halls for over 50 years. mac mcgary is an institution at nbc, the man armed with the envelopes filled with the questions he's posed to thousands of students over the years. >> but the oldest students on the show would now be in their late 60s. i remember them as 18. >> reporter: he's called out to famous faces and names to come on down over the decades. >> good evening, welcome to "it's academic." >> come on up here. >> we've had astronauts on the program, john glenn. we've had perry mason on the program. >> reporter: and hillary clinton, she was -- >> she was an alternate. >> reporter: the questions that mac and altman productions comes up have questions that can stump the students that we kont see or hear. >> sometimes you can hear a four-letter word that has to be excised. >> reporter: technology has changed the way students learn and communicate. and the questions always have to keep up with the times. >> the major difference is the information technology, it was not ava

i'm jim handly. >> i'm barbara harrison in for pat lawson muse.ollowing a tight race in iowa, the republican pack is off and running in new hampshire today. the iowa caucuses ended late last night with the narrowest margin of victory ever. romney won by eight votes over santorum. he nailed down an endorsement from john mccain. >> it's the end of the road for michele bachman. she came in sixth with 5% of the vote. she dropped out saying the people of iowa spoke with a clear voice. >> 2011 was a turn around year for auto makers. gm, chrysler and ford sauz gains. chrysler says their sales were up 26% last year. gm up 13% and ford up 11%. auto makers expect more modest gains in 2012. >>>al flat on wall street. couldn't capitalize on yesterday's strong set of the year. the nasdaq and s&p 500 remained unchanged. >>> the number of u.s. women having twins is increasing. a report showed twin birthrate rose 76% from 1980 through 2009. older moms who get fertility account for this. >> reporter: babies are being born two at a time now more than ever. one in 3

i'm jim handly. >> i'm doreen gentzler in for wendy rieger. mayor and other officials are calling on thomas to resign. tonight, our live team coverage expands from the wilson building to ward five. >> we begin live with tom sherwood. he is at the wilson building with details on the felony charges thomas is facing today. tom? >> reporter: jim, these charges were filed today. thomas will be in court tomorrow. this case really heated up last month. in early december, federal fbi and irs agents swarmed his house in northeast washington, hauling away luxury vehicles and other evidence as

. >> i'm jim handly. thomas began steal iing the mon a few months after he took office back b in '07. he faces three to four years in prison. tom sherwood has been breaking news on this story all week and was inside the courtroom when it all unfolded. he joins us live from the district court in northwest. tom? >> reporter: just before court, thomas resigned as ward 5 council seat. now, he's a convicted felon. harry thomas jr. walked out of federal court friday a convicted felon. he pled guilty to stealing $350,000 in city funds intended for youth sports and spending it on his lavish lifestyle and filing three years of false income tax returns. >> i want to apologize to those i let down including my constituents, the mayor, councilmembers and others who serve the city tirelessly. >> reporter: his friends and lawyers ushered him to a waiting car. he could get prison time up to three or four years. in court at high noon, thomas firmly said guilty as charged in the plea agreement reached. >> to my family, who

i'm jim handly. >> i'm in for wendy rieger.mping rule has been in effect since noon today. so far things have been peaceful with no major confrontations with police but that could change later tonight when the sun goes down and occupiers try to sleep there again. pat collins joins us live from mcpherson square with the latest. >> reporter: the park police say no sleeping, no bedding, no camping. so what do the protesters do? they put up a big top. watch the blue tarp turn into a tent. it went up right on cue, right at high noon, right when everybody expected the big showdown between the police and the protesters at mcpherson square.

good afternoon, everyone, i'm barbara harrison in for jim handly. >> i'm pat lawson muse. >>> giffords handed in the resignation today. she is leaving the public life to put her energies into recovering from that assassination attempt last year. as chris clackum reports, giffords doesn't plan to be gone from politics for good. >> reporter: proving she needs more recovery time, a shaky gabrielle giffords turned in her resignation letter to house speaker john brother-in-law after having colleague debbie wasserman schultz read it out loud. >> every day i am working hard. i will recover and i will return and we will work together again. >> reporter: before that, tributes flowed for the arizona democrat, who was more than one of 14 survivors in a shooting in tucson a year ago that left six others dead. >> though gaby may be leaving washington today, i know this won't be the last we see of her or mark. >> reporter: husband mark kelly and her mother were among those who gave giffords nearly as many ovations as the president received during the state of the union but in her case, everyone stoo

. >> i'm jim handly. first at 4 today, captain francesco schettino is back at home in naples today after a judge ordered him under house arrest. >> the captain was accused of abandoningship and criminal charge are he is expectedby his lawyers say he never left the passengers. >> reporter: this has been a frustrating day for rescuers on the island of giglio. they wanted to blow four holes in the costa "concordia" in order to reach parts of the vessel that so far have been blocked, but that all changed overnight when the vessel moved, ever so slightly, making unsafe for divers. they haven't been able to go on all day. late this afternoon, we did see helicopters flying overhead, dropping equipment. we understand that in the coming days, that will be used to pump off liquids. so really that tells us that we are now moving away from a rescue mission and turning into a salvage operation. hope fading for the 20-plus people that are still recorded as missing there has been some good news though, a german woman wh

i'm pat lawson muse. >> and i'm jim handly. more bodies were discovered inside the sunken cruise ship off the coast of italy. that brings the death toll now to 11. with nearly 20 still missing tonight. the ship's captain appeared in court today, he denies any wrongdoing. >> mitt romney is leading in south carolina, ahead of saturday's republican primary. and he has claimed a commanding double-digit lead among republicans in the latest national gallop poll. >>> with house lawmakers back to work today, demonstrators affiliated with the occupy wall street movement rallied outside the capital. they received video of protes r protesters. >> stocks ended the day higher after better than expected global economic news. the dow closed up 60. the s&p 500 gained 5 points after trading briefly above the 1300 level. >> now, to a health mystery, in upstate new york. >> at least a dozen teenaged girls have come down with a very strange illness. their parents want some answers. >> 17-year-old sara sanchez says she isn't the same teenager she w

at 4:30 i'm jim handly. >> the prime suspect of the 2005 disappearance of an alabama teen in aruba wastenced in the death of another young woman today. joran van der sloot was handed a 28-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to killing 21-year-old stephany flores. the two met at a casino in lima, peru back in may of 2010. >>> traffic on i-270 is back to normal after a tractor-trailer flipped over this morning. the accident happened at the shady drove exit here. several of the northbound lanes were blocked. police say the crash caused a minor oil and fuel spill. no one was hurt. >>> president obama is calling on congress to give him more power to streamline federal agencies in order to build a leaner, more effective government. he promised to start by compressing six major economic departments into one. parts of the plan have already met with opposition from party leaders on both sides of the aisle. >> down for the day but up for the week. the dow was off 48 points to end the week at 12,422. the nasdaq also off about 14 and the s&p 500 was down six points. >>> it was january 13th,

thank you very much, everybody. >> reporter: in washington, jim handly, news 4. >> mac mcgarry is oneary howard is taking over as host. mac will make his final appearance on "it's academic" tomorrow morning at 10:00 right here on nbc 4. think how many local high school students and their families he has interacted with over the years. >> many. love that show. >> you can't count them. >> does a great job. >>> well coming up tonight at 11:00 why a church in fairfax county has decided to give girl scout troops the boot and it has nothing to boo with the scouts themselves. also, the result of a federal investigation of chevy volts and whether or not there is a fire danger there. plus, the divorce settlement is reportedly in and we are learning just how much kobe bryant will be paying his soon-to-be ex tonight at 11:00. >> oh, my. one more check on the messy weather forecast. >> we could see some snow falling around here very soon. it's going to start picking up. then we'll have ice on top of that so it's freezing rain after 2:00 a.m. because of that university of northern virginia canceli

i'm jim handly. >> it's all those things. i'm pat lawson muse. >> you may have encountered slick and icy roads and a lot of fog during your morning commute but for the most part conditions weren't as bad today as we feared they'd be. the forecast for freezing rain overnight prompted federal agencies and many school systems to make some policy changes in order to avoid problems on the roads today. the federal government announced an 11:00 a.m. late arrival for employees and they were allowed to telework or use unscheduled leave. some schools in virginia opened two hours late. d.c. government and public schools opened on time this morning. what's on tap tonight and tomorrow? >> meteorologist chuck bell joins us live with the answers. >> hey there. yes indeed the day just never really did improve all that much. the low visibility and the wetness and the dampness outside just never budged at all. that cold air has been trapped right on top of us and warm air has actually been riding up over the top of it and it actually sealed ou

i'm barbara harrison in for jim handly. >> i'm pat lawson muse.ere's what's happening in the news at this hour. the republican presidential candidates are getting set for their final debate before the florida primary on tuesday. they face off tonight at the university of north florida in jacksonville. the latest polls suggest newt gingrich may be losing some of the momentum he gained with his win in south carolina. the race between gingrich and mitt romney is too close to call at this point. >> and president obama will be landing soon in colorado. mr. obama is half way through a three-day swing through five battleground states. in las vegas today he announced new plans to open nearly 38 million acres of the gulf of mexico for oil and gas exploration and development. >>> thousands of people at penn state joined in an emotional public farewell to legendary football coach joe paterno. paterno, the winningest coach in major college football, died on sunday of lung cancer at the age of 85. he was buried yesterday after a funeral procession that took hi

>> i'm aaron gilchrest in for jim handly. we begin with the challenge of finding survivors after the cruise ship capsized off the coast of italy. two americans are unaccounted for. >> the company that owns the ship made a public statement about what it believes caused the deadly accident. michelle kosinski reports from italy. >> reporter: the pictures emerging from the costa concordia speak -- scream for themselves. >> people were getting nervous. people were having chest pains. i was having chest pains. i was having anxiety because i don't know how to swim. >> reporter: panicked passengers, desperate for escape. >> trying to put people on the boats. no one was counting. we were screaming saying how many people are on here. then they released the life boats. people were still trying to get on. they were trying, almost falling. >> reporter: search-and-rescue crews today had a tough job. weather conditions were making the ship shift. its submerged side is a hundred feet under water and there is danger of it sliding farther down

i'm wendy rieger in for jim handly. >> i'm pat lawson muse.ning in the news at this hour. a day before the presidential primary in south carolina and once again there is some last-minute drama. not long ago mitt romney looked like a sure winner and he was hoping to wrap up the nomination with a decisive victory tomorrow. but an upset could be in the works. at least one closely watched poll in south carolina shows newt gingrich now has a five-point lead. >>> firefighters are working around the clock to hold back a raging wildfire in reno, nevada. the fire has forced thousands to evacuate their homes and has destroyed dozens of build iings. the fire started yesterday and spread quickly thanks to strong, gusty winlds. >> rescue work has resumed on the capsized costa concordia in italy. crews are only looking on parts of the ship that are above water and they say a decision will be made tomorrow about whether to resume under water searching. 21 people are still missing after the boat slammed into the rocks off the coast of giglio island last week.

good afternoon, everybody, i'm jim handly. >> i'm wendy rieger sitting in for pat lawson muse. president obama putting the final touches on his third state of the union address tonight. as steve handlesman reports with this, an election year, the president will also likely argue he is the one who can fix it. >> running for re-election, president obama is polishing a speech aimed at middle class voters, outraged over the growing income gap between them and the wealthy. >> we want an economy that's based on everyone doing their fair share, everybody playing by the same set of rules. >> the president wants a new rule for millionaires, a higher tax rate over 35%. would be obama opponent mitt romney paid about 15%, the lowest rate. he fired a shot from tampa. >> the president will do what he does best, he'll give a nice speech, a lot of is. >> reporter: i'm steve handlesman, news 4, capitol hill. >>> the state of the union could mess up your travel plans if you're trying to navigate around downtown d.c. tonight, be prepared for some major street closures, and it's not just the cars

news4 jim handly caught up with him to talk about how the show changed over the years and the most memorable moments. >> reporter: he has walked these halls over 50 years. mac mcgarry is an institution at nbc, the man armed with envelopes, filled with the questions he's posed to thousands of students over the years. >> the oldest students on the show would now be in their late 60s. i remember them as 18. >> reporter: he's called out famous faces and names to come on down over the decades. >> good evening. welcome to "it's academic. >> i'm mac mcgarry. thanks, parent and teachers, come on up here! >> we had astronauts on the program, john glenn and perry mason. >> reporter: hillary clinton, she was -- >> she was an alternate on "it's academic" from chicago. >> reporter: the questions that they come up with every week can stump students in ways we don't always get to see or hear. >> you can see the distress when they don't and sometimes you can hear a four-letter word that has to be excised. >> reporter: technology has changed the way students learn and communicate and the questions always hav

good evening, i'm jim handly. >> i'm doreen gentzler. if harry thomas jr.e history in the district. we have team coverage on this. pat collins has reaction but we begin with tom sherwood live outside the wilson building with details of the charges against thomas. tom? >> reporter:

. >> i'm pat lawson muse in for jim handly this afternoon. >> this comes after an afternoon of emotionalestimony. news 4's chris gordon has been in the courtroom from the start of today's sentencing and is live with the latest. >>> britney norwood was sentenced to spend the rest of her natural life in the maryland correctional system. judge robert greenburg saying to her, with all the lies you told after this murder it was just incredible. you are one hell of a liar, ma'am. those were his words. the judge's words. he says i have no doubt you are deeply troubled but i don't know why this happened. i cry. i cry for your

. >> i'm jim handly. we begin at 5:00 with the death of a woman right outside a prince george's county elementary school. a van belonging to the school apparently ran her over. it happened late this morning that samuel chase elementary on fisher road in temple hills. pat collins is live on the scene with details. pat? >> jim, sources tell news 4 police are looking into the possibility that the victim here was a woman from the neighborhood. they say when she was hit, she was using a cane. a fatality here in the parking lot of the samuel chase elementary school in temple hills. police say this prince george's county school utility van backed into a woman. they say she was pronounced dead at the scene. mark sanders was across the street at the time. he said he saw three workers trying to push the van but he said he didn't realize there was someone beneath it. >> how unfortunate. a sad accident. here's a laidy and now she is laying on the sidewalk over there deceased and here's three workers who certainly, or

. >> i'm jim handly.th the two veteran metro employees now accused of stealing money that riders paid for their metro fares. investigators tell us they took that money and tried their luck with lottery tickets. news 4's live near the metro yard in alexandria with details on how the two got caught. >> reporter: essentially investigators followed the money. when you put your money in a fare card machine ultimately it is supposed to end up in a facility like this in alexandria off eisenhower avenue where their revenue collections unit is. but it never ended up here according to federal prosecutors. now they say the two employees nickelled and dimed themselves into a federal case. they were trusted with the lifeblood of a transit system, its revenue, and the government says they pocketed it.

i'm jim handly. today we're talking about a program that's helping thousands of d.c. students to enroll in and graduate from college. it's called d.c. college access program. and with us today, tiffany ballard, d.c. high school adviser at cardoza high school. ms. rodriguez, president and ceo of the program and l.d. ross, vice president for programs at d.c. cap. welcome to "viewpoint" to you all. >> thank you so much. >> thank you. >> i want to go back to the beginning, because this is such a tremendous success story. back to '99. how did it all begin? >> really, it started with a group of businesses in d.c. mobile, lockheed martin, "washington post." the leaders of those companies came together and decided we need to do something big for the city. our kids aren't going to college, what can we do about that? so they mobilized their efforts and decided to concentrate on this. we started in 1999, in september. we opened centers in six public high schools, and those centers serve kids running from 9th grade to 12, where they get counseling, advice on how to prepare for co

i'm jim handly.ay we're focusing on affordable housing in our region, foreclosures, where to find help and the state of housing today. our guests this morning are lisa mcdougal, executive director of seed incorporated, frank prinsipi with the prince william county board of supervisors and marian siegel with housing counseling services. thank you for coming in. great to see you. >> thank you, jim. >> let's start for our viewers, if we can give them a big picture on where things stand on foreclosures in our region. are we still at that crisis level, or has the situation improved? where do we stand? >> jim, here in prince william county, where i represent, we've had about 12,000 foreclosures since 2008. we're seeing those foreclosure numbers go down as we're seeing the numbers go down in the region. i would say that we're past the crisis point, but we certainly have a lot of families who still need affordable housing and help in staying in their homes. >> you mentioned prince william and you also have p

handly wants to know if he can get into the baby race. >> that's what i'm doing. i'll do an eating demonstration. >> he thinks he is going to be the ringer. >> reporter: find a baby, jimcome on down here with your video camera. >> there we go. you got it. i'm in there. sign me up taking bets already. >> you can help keep tabs on all the happenings during the expo. just follow us on twitter at nbc health expo for photos, those baby pictures, prizes, and chats with our anchors and reporters. and when you get to the expo, you can tweet us using the hash tag nbc health expo. you can also get expo info by searching nbc washington on facebook. i'm heading down there tomorrow morning. you'll be there. >> at 2:00. pat an are cooking at 2:00. >> cool. >>> still ahead, they are the images that washington will never forget coming up we'll have part two of my report on air florida 30 years later. we'll hear from chester panzer who shot all of this video and thus enabling us to see the remarkable scene that unfolded down there. >>> and also ahead in sports tonight it's time for the great blaze as we head into that not so glamorous move in case you missed it. ♪ i'm feelin', feelin'