. >> tisha thompson with the nurz 4 i-team shows us a new tool that you can use to check out a cruise line before you ship out. >> our reporting partner pro publica has created something you are going to want to check out if you like to cruise. you can look up where problems happen on ships. for instance at least seven children have drowned in pools on well-known lines since 2012. about 20 people fall overboard every year. and inspections routinely find problems with life boats. sex assaults are the number one crime reported on cruise ships ahead of theft. there's a reason. you'll want to read why. if you have a particular ship or cruise line that you want to check out, type in their name or go through this list to see how often they've had a disease outbreak, a criminal investigation, and you can read in detail what the u.s. coast guard found during recent inspections. each cruise line is different. some do really well. others not so much. and you can see the responses and everything we just showed you by going to your laptop and typing in "cruise ships" on nbcwashington.com. tisha t

. >>> i'm tisha thompson at the live desk. we are just getting details about wizards star john wall being kicked off a flight in las vegas this week. this you're about to see is a picture from wall's twitter just a few days ago, showing him in vegas as they were headed back to d.c. on tuesday. someone from wall's group allegedly threatened another passenger. according to tmz sports. police were called and boarded the plane. the victim told them he didn't want to press charges, but the pilot reportedly asked the officers to remove wall and his fellow travelers from the plane. they were escorted off without any further incident. i'm tisha thompson at the live desk. >>> former reality show star is now officially charged for making threats against our metro system. dreadstone coleman just wrapped up a court appearance in d.c. about an hour ago. police say he made multiple threats against trains and buses in the last silver months, some of which actually prompted delays or evacuations. he faces up to 20 years in prison. we'll have

i-team's tisha thompson joins us with that angle of the story. >> we just got a look at how many smoke or fire incidents metro had over five years. think had the highest number in 2011 with 187. last year that number according to metro totalled 108. metro says they count every type of fire from cigarette butts in the trash can to bus fires but we wanted to compare it to new york's sway system the metropolitan transportation authority there told us it averages about 963 smoke incidents or fire incidents per year but that subway system is about eight times bigger than d.c. and when you take that into account the two systems average about the same number of incidents per mile of track. tisha thompson news 4 i-team. >> thank you. >>> closing arguments are set for wednesday for the boston marathon bombing trial. earlier today the jury that will decide dzhokhar tsarnaev's fate heard from a death penalty opponent. justice correspondent pete williams is in boston with the latest developments today. pete? >> reporter: jim, good afternoon. yes, it was dramatic testimony from sister helen, the ca

tisha thompson and the news4 i-team show you why local businesses say things have gotten worse rathertter since our original investigation into the department of liquor control. >> reporter: you're in the back of a well-known bethesda restaurant watching what many owners tell the news4 i-team has become a weekly chore. a county truck driver is trying to deliver box of gray goose, something mike jones says he never ordered. >> it's getting worse. >> reporter: jones invited us to the american taproom to show us why he thinks montgomery county's department of liquor control is hurting his business at a key time when warmer weather brings in more customers. >> one of the most frustrating processes i've ever been involved in and to the point where you're almost begging and pleading with officials to get something done. >> reporter: jones stocks dozens of wines and spirits in his bar. but he says the restaurant's main selling point, 20 taps featuring a rotating list of local craft beers. >> allagash white we didn't see far whole month, and final whi li when it did arrive because we asked fo

locations or to the bay or aiming for those big waves on the coast, you need to check out what tisha thompsone news4 i-team made for you so that you can know what's in the water. >> reporter: with her red bucket and her stick -- >> i've actually been out there. >> reporter: you might not notice cindy this summer. >> i'm checking the water. that's pretty good. >> reporter: until you hear her laugh. her laughter is infectious and she has a lot to be happy about. >> the best ever. >> reporter: every monday and tuesday this summer you will see cindy trying not to get wiped out by the waves in ocean city. she says it happens. >> a few times. >> reporter: but she's beach bound for a very serious job. for the last 26 years, she's been using the same broom handle to dip little bottles into the surf collecting bacteria samples to see if what's in the water could make you sick. the news4 i-team took the results of cindy and dozens of other scientists like been collecting over the last five years to make this map, showing you what they found and how often our local beaches have swimming advisories. mary

tisha thompson from the news4 i-team is in the newsroom with more on this. tisha?jim, we're told this is the first time all 50 states, d.c. and the federal trade commission has teamed together to crack down on charity fraud. fund-raisers may have called you asking to give money to cancer fund of america children's cancer fund of america, the breast cancer society or cancer support services. the ftc says they're all the creation of one family who promised donors their money would help cancer patients including children. >> defendants spent consumer co-nations on cars on vacations cruises college tuition, gym membership, jet-ski outings, sporting events and concert tickets and dating site memberships. >> so far, the family is not returning calls or e-mails, but two of its charities have settled with the government. the other two headed to court. we we. >>> a plan to ease the traffic on a 25-mile stretch of interstate 66 is taking shape. the proposal involves wiedz ss widening the highway to five lines each way with two of the lanes being toll lanes. it may be good ne

tisha thompson news 4 i-team. >> you can see all the stories that led to this liquor county purchases. head to the investigations page on the nbc washington app. >>> fairfax county's youngest police recruit is making a lot of people smile. this is cj fairfax county police department's newest canine recruit. what a face. 8-week-old bloodhound. right now she's in training with her handler and her blood relative cody. cody is working with officer thieland will retire in about a year. >> cj when fully trained, will be a man-tracking blood hound, take the scent of a person and track that person to the exclusion of anybody else. we give them a scent article from that person we want to track, whether it be a criminal missing person and they will track that person through a city environment. >> so cute by the way. cj is the nickname for calamity jane. nice point tlg. more on this new recruit in washington. >> right to that bush. she sniffed that out. >>> right around the corner, but getting where you need to be for memorial day could be much different than recent years. why the number of peop

tisha thompson from the news4 i-team read through the charging documents. she posted her report online. you can read it at nbcwashington.com. >>> a popular playground in a small charles county community turned into the site of a horrifying discovery today. as news4's derrick ward reports, some neighbors say they will never be able to go there again. >> reporter: this playground at wills memorial park in charles county was the scene of a childhood interrupted, the circumstances yet to be determined. it began when somebody noticed a mysterious woman pushing a child in a swing, usually no cause for alarm. but in this case something just wasn't right. >> a citizen called and said that they noticed a woman pushing a toddler in a swing for an unusually long period of time. >> reporter: how long? perhaps hours even before it was light out, as police came onto the scene, they made a horrible discovery. the child in the swing the 3-year-old boy, was not showing signs of life. police had to cut the swing down to perform cpr, but the child was dead. neighbors soon lea