pepco has also stepped up to work with us. and we want everyday citizens, their hat want to help neighbors to be able to go to the website. every dollar goes to organizations that are help those in need. >> for those looking for this assistance, there's some channels to get access to that assistance. is that correct? >> here at the financial empowerment center her on the campus of prince george's community college, it was our first empowerment center that we opened three years ago. it's done phenomenal work with tailored solutions for families. any individual that needs support can come . they can go to any of the other four financial empowerment centers, prince william county, fairfax county and now in the district of columbia, as well. they can access the services and also from their home dial 211 and be able to access the services. our website has a plethora of services available to the community, as well. >> reporter: you're working with charities in the area to get the emergency fds to those in need, correct? >> we are. f

pepco just got here with a replacement power polean here.hey have it on that truck right now, appearing to begin to position it in place to replace the one that was broken there by that d.c. dump truck that came here overnight with this bed up and knocked over a traffic t, ligh knocked down the power lines. also snapped that power pole,s well. drivers who are coming into this area, driving every day, are seeing a major mess here and surprise this mornin traffic not moving in either direction. this area of 16th street and colesville road. we areri h this will go well into the morning commute and later. drivers should, right now, listen up. i know you have workarounds hereo. >> we do. working for you with the heternates this morning. headed into district, southbound on 16th street, your normal route. you want to turn at east-west highway, northbound 16th street, and get off atve easterne and work your way around it. southbound 270, still have that disabled vehicle. in reston, eastbound toll road, right lane blacked eblocked byd vehicle. 270, 4

. >> this includes local utility companies like pepco and verizon, offering referrals, services like bank and capital area food bank, offering food and supplies. >> center will open every day 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. they're not only ones, nbc4 is hear to assist you. pull up free nbc washington app online and srch for shutdown resources for ways to help your families in these difcult times. >>> metro could still become law. d.c. council will vote on possible overturning of the veto. bill passed overwhelmingly with critics saying the punishment for cheating fares including possible jail timeir is un mayor sided with metro, says it loses $25 mlion to $30 million every year from evaders.er rning the veto requires pport of 2/3 of the council. >>> instead of giving up, giving back in the name of dr. king. >> i can't explain it. when i come, people smile at me. i don't come withy problems. >>> it's cold tonight, winter >>> today the country reflected on the legacy ofth martin king. president trump and vice president pence made a brief trip t the memorial. >> saying dr. king was a bridge buil

. >> this includes the local you tilt companies like pepco and verizon. we'v gotervices like the diaper bank and local capital bank.ood we're going to be offering food and supplies. ry the center will open e day from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. if you need help, h nbc 4 ise to assist you. pull up the freeashington nbc app for resurss dicing this dit time. >>> we have breaking news right now. an american charged is in court today, paul whelan. >> cory is live at the desk. what can you tell us? >> his court hearing will held in moscow city court. if foundguilty, he faces up to 20 years in pron. if you remember, his family said he was there for a vacation an to attend a retired fellow marine's wedding. he's been held without bail in moscow. a u.s. represeative will attend portions of the hearing which is, again, scheduled to be held today. cory ith, thank you. >>> freshmanar camelas is the latest to enter the presidential race for 2020. her slogan i "for the people." her campaign will focus onre cing the high cost of living for the middle class and providing medi

. >> this includes the local utility company like pepco and verizon offering deferrals and things like that, the diaper bag and localpital area food bank. we're going to be offering some food and supplies. >> and we've alsoosted a list of additional resources for federal workers in the nbc washington app. just search "shutdown." eun, mollet? >>th ks, aimee. if you need help, nbc 4 is hre to assist you. all you have to do is search shut down resources to help your fhily during very difficult time. >> we have breaking news. the american charged with espionage in russia, pa whelan, is expected to be in court today. >> cory smith is at the live desk. >> this is going to be a pretrial hearing reporting that his court hear willing take place in moscow city court. if he's eventually found guilty of spying, he faces up to 20 years in prison. you may remember he was arrested in moscow back at the end of the year in december on suspicious of carrying out an act of espionage. his family ss he was only in marco rubio for a vacation to ftend allow retired machine's wedding..s now a embassy represen

pepco is on the scene. getting here for us, we noticed that 16th street highway, traffic was being diverted just north of the traffic circle here. and to the south, we are seeing cars get by at 16th and eastern avenue, going northbound. if you are traveling along 16th street, you are going to find troublepots at the line between d.c. and maryland here, at 16th street. e here expect this to through this morning rush, perhaps even longer. make your plans now before you leave home. back to you. >>> the government shutdown has some people sick of this weatr. just as the snow and ice is melting. ere are some slick spots in our area. d.c., maryland, and virginia. the gloomy weather doesn't help things when she tried to fill up her tank. >> mixed with the shutdown, it's affecting people, especially, you know, coming off of the holidays. not getting paid. it hurts people. >> the district's cold emergency plan is in effect right no if you know someone who needs aelter, go to our nbc washington app fist of resources

also we have great partners like verizon, where they're helping them with their bills, or pepco, thepany here in washington. so all the companies that can provide relief to federal workers can come here under one umbrella. we're only doing this in this city. later on today we'll be announcing the deployment of 30 more kitchens all across america, and for different states, including puerto rico. this will, if anything, get bigger. >> jose, we've known you for a while now. where do you get your resources to finance all of this? is this all from private contributions? >> this is a good question. if i had to wait to have the money to do this, i will be waiting for weeks. as federal workers are going hungry. so we are doing almost the same way we do in other places. we start doing it, then people find out about it, and then we have more donors, bigger donors, corporations, and donations of food, in kind donations. and at the end we hope between all of that we will be able to pay for the cost of this operation. but again, america cannot afford to have millions of americans going hungry. i

and there are a lot of companies out there, everything from the independently owned university like pepcoho serves us today in washington d.c., down to municipal and the cooperatives as well and then the department of energy actually has three power marketing utility administrations that cover two square miles where we take our federal hydro systems owned by the bureau of deck creclamations or army corps and with the transition lines and cover about 31 states. when you started your position last year, the first place you went was puerto rico. >> yes. >> can you give us sort of a rundown of how things are going there now. it took, more than-- well, more than 11 months for everybody to get their lights back on. how are they doing? >> they're continuing to work with a recovery plan and we're working with them through the office. through them, we've built a model for them. and we've taken the island and did a model like a utility would. and we're transitioning that model into a real-time model. we're bringing in measurements units, devices to sense the electrical phenomenon and we're installi