lisa fletcher has more lisa: how likely is it that we're gonna get to mars?n grant: we're going to get to mars. i think it's really a matter of having the right tools to carry humans and the desire to back that up. lisa: john grant is one of the foremost experts on mars. a geologist by training, grant is one of the operators of the two rovers currently on the red planet -- "opportunity," which landed in 2004, and "curiosity," there since 2012. where are we today when it comes to space exploration? john grant: we're really on, i think, the threshold of understanding whether or not there's life anywhere in our solar system besides here on the earth. lisa: it's that desire to, yes, -- that fueled the space aspirations of the nation in 1961, when president john f. kennedy told america it would lead in the world by leading in space. pres. kennedy: i believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth. lisa: more than half a century later, president trump has set hi

lisa fletcher is live in rockville to explain how we can help you. lisa?his is the place where it happens where the viewers call in and they have consumer issues, whether they're wrong, have a bad product or not getting what they pay for. this is where you call. shirley started the call for action in our region 41 years ago. she is the president nationally. you are always looking for volunteers that you train. why should people come volunteer here. >> i can't imagine a more fun way to spend your day. we only ask for one day a week. our hours are really -- people who have small children for example, hours from 10:00 to 3:00. middle of the day. you will be interested. let me tell you a case we worked on. we just got back $16,000 for a homeowner because we are persevering, we purr sigh the problem. we don't >> so they called in and they had something wrong with the deck and you solved it. >> they had a deck and a wall built on the house. the wall was leaning. that is not something that you want to happen with the wall. so we got the wall replaced to the tune

lisa fletcher, gnaws news. nancy: lisa tells us the rule to been a the 19 chemicals -- banning the 19 chemicals does not include the hand sanitizers or wipes or any antibacterial products that are used in healthcare settings. >> an amazing flood rescue caught on camera. will we see the remnants of the tropical storm cindy here? jonathan: new details just released in court about the man behind the wheel of a truck that ran over two people in adams morgans and what passengers said happened moments before the scratch. nancy: how the father and daughter won people in the virginia lottery. that's coming up soon. >> remember this? this is the scene from adams morgan when a driver plowed in d.d.o.t. worker as well. ja in the last hour the man behind the wheel appeared before a judge. now we get new details about what happened that night. jonathan: stephen tschida just left court. what happened inside there? stephen: well, for the first time we are learning that the man charged with running down the police officers bran

at the "live desk" i'm lisa fletcher, abc7 news. michelle: thank you, lisa. developing right now an all-out manhunt for the two prisonersers who the police say shot and killed two guards. it happened while they were transported in georgia this morning. the inmates are believed to have carjacked someone in a green honda civic using the guns from the safe officers they are accused of murdererring. >> they need to surrender before we find them. >> i saw two brutally murdered officers. that's what i saw. i have their blood on my shoes. michelle: you can hear the emotion in his voice. at least 30 other inmates on the bus saw the same thing. police are talking to them also trying to find any leads to help track down the two prisoners. alison: still to come at 4:00, gone in seconds. we will show you the force of the tornado tears through. horace: 703-236-9220. here in the "7 on your side" help center. insurance agents here to answer your questions. >> plus, just how the baby decided to come into this world that has neighbors pausing to help. alison: and now here is

lisa: i'm lisa fletcher. welcome back.e're at the "7 on your side" call for action call center. if you have a consumer issue that needs to be solved, this is the place to call. 301-652-help. the folks here can definitely help you. they have been doing this for years. they know who to call to get things done. speaking of getting things done you have been getting it done for 41 years. why do you love it? why do the rest of the volunteers love it here? >> because we're able to solve problem for people. sometimes people g solve it. we have a girl who cosigned a lease. she didn't live in the building but she cosigned the lease with her friend and she is being chased after for $7,000 in back rent because she cosigned the loan. we are able to tell people through the medium like you that don't things like that. if you do get a cosign you probably have to pay for it if you cosigned something. we are able to help. we are able to provide education. that is also a significant part of what we do. lisa: if you can't solve the problem yo

our senior investigative reporter lisa fletcher has been working that all day with her sources and she joins us now. what have you uncovered? lisa: as you know and is common in the situations, friends and associates say he was a nice guy. they are surprised by today's turn of events. but there seems to have been a lot happening in hodgkinson's personal life and he seemed deeply agitated on social media over the state of american politics. james hodgkinson lived on a large piece of property in belleville, illinois. he ran a home inspection business for more than a decade. but dissolved the company j.t.h. services at the end of last year. a neighbor told us he left his wife and they hadn't seen him for some time. hodgkinson reportedly living in alexandria for the last two months. the "washington post" reported he may have been living out of his gym bag and spending most of his time at the ymca adjacent to the park where the shooting occurred. he was outspoken on social media about his dislike for trump administration and belonged to multi-online anti-republican groups. march 22 he posted

lisa fletcher, abc7 news.ichelle: you said you would be interested in going the -- jonathan: they had the nfl, pizza, dunkin' donuts. otherwise it's a scratch. scratch. talk about a blast from the past. portland woman discovered an undeveloped role of film that captured the moment that mounted st. helen erupted in 1980. she has an unusual hobby of checking the old film camera for undeveloped rolls of film and that helped reveal images from the it dates back to the 1930's, the camera does. >> it's funny to think someone shot images of mount st. helen's erupting, such an iconic experience and then left the film in the camera and forgot to get it developed for 37 years. jonathan: wild. what a cool hobby, too. the camera contained the photo of a family that she hopes maybe somebody will be able to recognize. that is why we are leaving it up. do you recognize anybody there, from 1980? maybe she can touch base with them and get back them the undeveloped role of film. she clearly developed it now. michelle: so many f

lisa fletcher, abc7 news. >> thanks. that interpretation is key here. it's too soon to draw any conclusions. the live team coverage continues here at the white house and the capital. jonathan: thanks very much. there is a lot to digest. if you watch the hearings you know that. there is a tame overroasters covering every angle and -- we have a team of reporters covering every angle and scott thuman will take us through the hearing moment by moment to break down the highlights. brad bell will take to us a county where a majority voted for president trump to see the reaction. and the big tv event for some that got sidetracked in the offices today. they were watching the hearings. michelle: all right. of course, we're out here until 6:30. continuing over coverage. at 6:30, mauer with -- david muir will continue the cove now back to the studio. >> we have following breaking news out of montgomery village. skytrak7 above a two-car crash. the roads are blocked off. this is on apple ridge road and watkins mill road. that is something to keep an eye out for in m

i'm joined by our senior investigative reporter lisa fletcher. you have been digging into the background of this suspected shooter in this case. you know when you look at the evil from today, and hear from the neighbors who say he was a nice guy, it's really tough to make sense of this. lisa: it is. it's often the case in these sort of shootings. we hear from people that live nearby or close to him saying he was a nice guy. we found some things happening in his personal life that along with his deeply troubled state about u.s. politics, may have had serious impact on him. 66-year-old james hodgkinson ran a home inspection business for more than a decade. but dissolved the company j.t.h. services at the end of last year. a neighbor told us hodgkinson left his wife and they hadn't seen him for some time. hodgkinson's reportedly living in alexandria for the last two months. hodgkinson was outspoken on social media about a his dislike for the trump administration. on march 22, he posted, "trump trump has destroyed our democracy. time to destroy trump

lisa fletcher has been working on that and joins us live. presumably of, the gunshot wounds when police returned fire. from belleville, illinois and only home inspection business called jth services for his business line that license expired in november of last year and was not renewed. his facebook page shows he was not a fan of donald trump, in one post he says donald trump is a traitor and has destroyed our democracy, time to destroy trump and company. he fortify his position against donald trump and promoted the investigation of the president and his support of bernie sanders. we are uncovering more about the shooter. as we find it, we will bring it to you. >> thank you. let me talk about the capitol police. these two officers were with steve scalise minority whip. they were out in the parking lot, in an suv, the immediately engaged the shooter once the shooting started. they have pistol and this guy had a long rifle so they brady disadvantage. -- so they were at a disadvantage. congressman say one of the officers was hit in the ankle an

lisa fletcher is on your side with the alert. what is causing the dogs to get sick?> it looks like the tech group manufacturing facilities were using a chemical for cleaning the food processing equipment. that is part of the manufacturing. they have reported a bad odor and illnesses. it's healthy side brand good and fit and good and fun. american beef hide. gy jestese -- digestes. for more information go to wjla.com. they pop up at many places including the big box stores so check and see if you bought them for your dog. the company is working to get them off the shelves. alison: thank you. coming up next at 5:00, the former attorney general is out with the list on how uber can improve. the word that appears 42 times the new way to get from rockville to wheaton and what was approved to give s creating jobs foreaner, reliour veterans... helping those in need save money on their energy bills. it takes 16,000 dominion energy employees doing the job. and now, dominion energy is investing $15 billion to build and upgrade our electric and natural gas infrastructure... crea

nancy: lisa fletcher has been following the recalls. she as news of pushing back. lisa: they filed a $5 million lawsuit. the pets were sickened and one died after eating premium pet food usd 0 gannic and promoted to have human grade meat. it was anything but. the 86-page dog food against the dog and cat food alleges that the company knew the foods were neither usda inspected or fit for the u.s. consumption despite that some products were adorned with the usda logo. we found in the own court documents it accepted 42,000 pound of meat from the supplier inevitable hand inedible means it is not for the human consumption. in an investigation the f.d.a. found it was not only not beef, but horse meat that contained the euthanizum drug pentabarbothal. it sells a million cans of the dog food a year under its own brand name it produces against the grain product and privately labeled for other brand including party animal. both against the grain and party animal were recalled this year for contamination. party animal also filed suit against them. and update to a story we broug

scott: you know lisa fletcher has been all over the takoma recall.the item has been involved in making sure the consume now a national push we can get behind. that is asking the drivers to step up and be responsible. older cars being recalled is the biggest issue. only 44% are getting fixed. the national campaign is launched. the national safety council and chrysler want you to grab the vin number and go online to see if you have a recall. >> ewant them to understand that the recall fixes are free of charge. >> go to wjla.com. to use the link. we set up to check out recalls for yourca. grab your vin number. you will need it. you can find it on the left of the windshield. 17-character number. it's also on the insurance card or the car registration. scott taylor, abc7 news. michelle: thank you. a record number of americans are expected to hit the road july fourth weekend. a.a.a. predicting 44.2 million people will get out of town traveling 50 miles. nearly 3% boost from last year's record independence day travel. the increases are expected across the b

live in the newsroom, lisa fletcher, abc7 news. nancy: thank you. alexandria police chief says the first responders arrived at the ball field in three minutes of the first 911 call. two of the people shot were taken to the medstar washington hospital center and that is where sam ford joins sam: the condition of steve scalise is critical, according to latest report at medstar. they said he was shot in the hip. the hospital said another shooting victim brought here is in good condition. it could be, could be a special agent crystal griner shot in the ankle according to a statement from the u.s. capitol police in the battle with the shooter. the statement said another special agent david bailey treated and released from the hospital for minor injury. there is no confirmation griner is the second person here but definitely congressman scalise is here and in critical condition. the f.b.i. said another member of congress suffered minor injury. but they did not say the jonathan: thank you. back live at simpson field in alexandria. the f.b.i. directors were

lisa? >> reporter: harvey fletcher enlisted as soon as he turned 17. he entered into a program called split option which allowed him to complete basic training and finish his senior year on time. when he was ready to walk across the stage at his graduation ceremony in his uniform, he was told to cover up. >> my favorite part? i'd have to say the u.s. >> reporter: harvey fletcher is no ordinary private first class and army reservist. he finished basic training at 17 and tonight is his high school graduation party. unfortunately, he missed his graduation ceremony yesterday at liberty high school. [ cheers and applause ] he missed the excitement, the energy, the camaraderie, because of this. >> he basically told me this is a graduation ceremony, you're not allowed to wear that uniform. you're supposed to wear a cap and gown. >> reprter: school administrators even told harley he could borrow a cap and gown. he refused to cover up his uniform and left. >> i just was in disbelief. to see my husband devastated and my son devastated, being told that he couldn'