investigatorior lisa fletcher made some surprising discoveries. : you would not know it when you listen to her, but poet taylor has asthma. her job and well-being depend on her ability to control it. >> asthma is a serious diagnosis. the wrong medication can lead to an asthma attack. lisa: but like millions of tug-of-war between insurance providers and drugmakers. big insurance companies threaten offake popular medications of their coverage list unless drugmakers reduce their price. it is a million-dollar game of chicken, and the drugmakers do not often flinch. >> i get a call from my pharmacy and they are like, nope, your insurance does not cover it. i'm like, yes, they do. i know they do. they said, not anymore. lisa: she was forced to switch to another inhaler that she and her doctor agreed is not work as well for her asthma. basically you are a paul on in the game of trying to force pharmaceutical companies to lower their cost. pawn in the game. how does that feel? and clear,s loud don't care about you, we care about the money we make off you.

i'm lisa fletcher. tonight we are talking about serious childhood food allergies. i'm enjoyed by the chief of allergy and imnologies. we are going to focus on a 14-year-old boy that lost his life after eating peanut butter cookie. how common are the allergies? >> they are increasingly common in children. it u.s. >> so we will be here in the "7 on your side" help center. 6:15 taking your questions for the doctor live on facebook live. go to wjla on facebook and we'll take your questions. join us at 11:00 for the exclusive and the story on this topic. back to you. >> growing calls of a recall of a popular minivan. kimberly suiters is looking into the complaint. >> imagine this. you are driving along. all of a sudden the engine shuts off. drivers of the chrysler pacifica says it is happening to them. look at the other things. 50 different drivers complain the minivans turned off without warning and they shut down the engine suddenly with just stopped. one driver said thankful that the dangerous incident did not occur while in the heavy traffic or on an interstate. ano

lisa fletcher explains. lisa: if you reach for a fire extinguisher, you expect this to happen. but this isn't always the case. fires double in size every 60 seconds. if the first line of defense, fire extinguisher is malfunctioning, it can get out of control fast. here are the red flags. >> the main things to check are damage, outside of the extinguish is or beat up. the gauge is what to look for. if it's fully pressured fine but if not get a new one. something else to compromise the extinguisher, corrosion. likely if it's kept in a damp area like a garage or a basement. >> the corrosion areas are here. you worry around the neck. >> most extinguishers have a life of five to 15 years. he recommends making a habit to inspect your extinguisher when you test the fire alarms and says it is a good idea to keep one on every floor of your house. lisa fletcher, abc7 news. larry: a warning tonight from "7 on your side." discount makeup you are buying at a bargain, watch out. kimberly suiters goes undercover to expose counterfeit coz methoddics warning of the dangers of the beauty market

lisa fletcher, abc7 news.arry: for the second time a california grandmother will give birth to her daughter's child. she was a surrogate for her daughter's first baby since she and her husband were unable to conceive due to medical reasons. now willing to do it again so little gus will have a sibling. >> it's not a concern to me. i have done it once. pregnancy was fantastic. i felt good. >> the grandmother's first birth made national news including a feature in "people" maggie. >> amazing. alison: we have a lunchbox weather for you today. this one is brian van de graaff. so we know he is basically a kid himself. >> absolutely! for sure. we understand. we get it. he headed on out there to the ridge crest elementary school. this is in hyattsville, maryland. that looking at is robbie, the one filming. excellent photography. photo journalist for the future. hanging out and having a good time. there is the tornado machine. question tonight coes andreas. >> i'm lopez. why aren't there a lot of storms in maryland? hu

lisa fletcher, abc7 news. michelle: around the region, baltimore schools facing allegation of misconduct from spending to grade changes. chris papst has a series of investigations by the sister station wbff in baltimore. chris, what is your team looking at right now? chris: well, michelle, in baltimore we are seeing similar things to what you are seeing right now in washington, d.c. we have spoken to teachers, parents, students and even school administrators inside district headquarters at north avenue in baltimore who say that the students are simply being given grades. they are pushed through the system without earning it. and a teacher even tell us they have given diplomas to graduating seniors who can't even read the diploma. now in the investigation we have done over the past few months, there are things that are happening. city schools have launched internal investigations in schools on allegation of the grade changing. they issued guidelines and issued the mandatory training for people who input the gra

lisa fletcher scoured our area and discovered some drastic differences.s her easy message to finding the cheapest prices for prescriptions at no extra cost tonight on abc 7 >> you are watching abc seven news at noon on your side. adrianna: down to a consumer alert for you. if you want a new iphone, thanksgiving weekend may be the time to buy. walmart is offering $300 in the form of a gift card to anyone purchasing and iphone x as well as the 8 and 8 plus and 7 and 7 plus. there is a catch. you need to sign a two-year lease deal. target is offering a gift card on the phone on the 8 model. best buy is offering a $200 gift card. both of those also require service with verizon, at&t, or sprint. good news for food shoppers ahead of the holiday. opens has cut prices of its turkeys. $3.49 per pound and not antibiotic turkeys for $2.49 per pound. amazon trimeris will save an additional $.50 per pound on both birds, and there are also new discounts on products like chicken breasts, shrimp, canned pumpkin, and specialty potatoes. walmart is also slashing prices. wi

senior investigative reporter lisa fletcher at the "live desk." lisa, are authorities getting more of a handle who the killer is? lisa: they are, larry. but new york city police say the investigation is still in the infantsy. even as they learn more, much won't be releasable. terrorism experts have insight about the man who ran down the cyclist and his radical radicalization. sayfullo saipov came to the united states through a visa lottery program. an uncertain mode of entry for someone coming with intent to harm the u.s. according to experts. former f.b.i. profiler brad garrett says it is likely saipov didn't become radicalized until after entering the united states. >> life maybe didn't work out like he thought it would. and he ends up getting radicalized fo did he have pamphlets or material? did he read people online? did he watch things online? these things are quite possible. that is what they do to justify the behavior. lisa: in fact, investigators revealed today that saipov had been planning the attack for weeks and he followed online isis i

senior investigative reporter lisa fletcher has a family's story, a common ailment we all need to takeas pounding on the front door. i opened the door and he was already swollen around his lips and they were turning blue. lisa: 14-year-old tanner ran home, struggling to breathe. try toab the inhaler and do it for him and powder came out of his m her phone. >> i said it will be ok and called 911. i turned around and he fell to the ground. efforts to save tanner were heroic, but nothing could change the amount of time he had gone without oxygen. >> it never triggered in my mind anaphylactic. you just run scenarios through your head, and i don't know, i cannot think. lisa: after retracing his final moments, they realized he had unknowingly eaten a peanut butter cookie. allergic toely inj peanuts and tree nuts. it is a scenario that strikes fear into the hearts of every parent with a severely allergic child. >> there is a lot of anxiety, particularly around to gauge always in their site. allergy andchief of immunology at children's national hospital. theiry do not always have epinephrine i

our lisa fletcher shows us why some think these flights are just a "plane waste." >> these were the dayspeople said, "autocars -- not practical." lisa: that was america i >> airplanes aren't an occasional sight anymore. they are common. lisa: it's why congress passed the airline deregulation act in 1978. >> airport expansion must be considered. longer runways, future parking space, and more hangars. lisa: the law allowed airlines the freedom to decide which markets to serve and what prices to charge. but lawmakers worried that smaller, rural towns might be forgotten as airlines moved to larger more lucrative markets. so they approved the essential air services program, or eas, as part of the deregulation act. rep. tom mcclintock: it's the least essential program in the entire federal government. lisa: for nine years, california republican tom mcclintock has been fighting to eliminate eas. rep. mcclintock: rural life has great advantages. it also has some disadvantages. but it is not the job of choose to live elsewhere, to level out the differences. it shells out up to $1000 per ticket in

lisa fletcher has a family's story that is a tragic reminder to us all in the "7 on your side" healthrt. lisa: 14-year-old tanner sorenson could barely breeze. >> he was standing on the front door. he was already swollen. >> he accidently ate a cookie that contained nuts, something he was severely allergic. >> i told him it would be okay. i called 911. i turned around he had collapsed to the ground. >> tanner typically carried an enpy pen in his backpack -- epipen in his backpack but on this day he didn't have it with him. >> a recent study suggests half of the teen or adults don't have the injector o every six minutes for a food allergy. >> a lot of patients tell us the school or the camp or the child friends don't get it. it's important we get a message out there that this is serious. lisa: tonight you can learn what you can do if your child has a food allergy or not when it comes to keeping the kids out of the crisis. coming up in about 30 minutes the doctor in that piece will join me live here in the help center. from 5:00 to 6:15, we will be on fiction live. he will answer all th

lisa fletcher with a preview of one family's story that is a tragic reminder to all of us. >> 14-year-old taylor sorenson could rarely breathe. >> he was pounding on the front door. i opened the door. he was already swollen. >> he had accidentally eaten a cookie that contained nuts, something to which he was severely allergic. >> i told him it would be ok. i called 911. as i turned around, he had collapsed. >> tanner typically carried and of the pen in his backpack, but on this day, he was only a few houses down the street and did not have it with him. >> a recent studies of with food allergies do not always have their epinephrine auto injector on them. >> eight -- a child lands in the yard every six minutes from a food allergy. >> it is important we get the message out there, that this is serious, and is potentially life-threatening. >> tonight at 11:00, you will hear all of taylor sorenson's story. where youth programs are falling short. and what you can do, whether your child has a food allergy or not, when it comes to keeping kids out of crisis. tonight at 11:00, you will hear all of