tom sherwood has more. >> reporter: 6,500 licensed cabs in the district.ome take credit cards, some don't. some know where they're going, some don't. even with the meter system, it's not always clear in the nation's capital what the fare is. that's about to change. >> this is a very major portion of the mayor's program for modernizing our taxi fleet here in the district of columbia. >> reporter: the city will enter a five-year, $35 million contract with a company called verifone. by the end of the year a new verifone will install in every cab, a meter, an emergency button, a credit card device, and a monitor screen for people to see public service announcement and brief advertising. to help pay for the system. nbc has the national contract with verifone, so riders will be able to see programming from nbc and nbc4. many drivers and passengers want the credit card option. >> we need that, because i got robbed last time, and, you know, we always carry cash, so we need like everybody else, we want a credit card system. >> reporter: passengers will pay a 50 cen

tom sherwood has the latest on this developing story. tom?tors already have said the gray campaign in 2010 deceived the voters, today's guilty plea add theed a lot more detail. 75-year-old public relations executive jeanne harris was in federal court pleading guilty 0 to her part in a massive scheme to funnel $650,000 into a shadow campaign to elect vincent gray mayor in 2010. prosecutors for the first time publicly detailed the scheme that included $127,000 in campaign materials, another $203,000 for field workers, and many other expenses that harris shared with someone identified in court only as co-conspirator one. sources tell news 4

. >>> i'm tom sherwood in the nation's capital, a real hometown parade.ave the story coming up. >>> have you ever felt like this before? taking it out on the phone company itself. one man has some frustrations. he is sharing them. ♪ ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] virtual wallet can help you be that person who's good with money. see what's free to spend. move money with a slide. save with a shake. feel good about your decisions. ♪ >>> in all that heat they're making beautiful noise. the marching band of broad run high school helped kick off the independence parade in downtown fairfax. it was a hot one for a parade, but main street was lined with spectators keeping themselves cool with hats, those hand fans and lots of ice cream, too. >>> and it's all fun and games in arlington today. there is a day-long celebration in the city's new long bridge park. the celebration lasts until 10:00 tonight. city officials tell us the park is a good vantage point to watch the district's fireworks show. >>> the nation's capital is known mainly for politics, but every july 4th the

tom sherwood is outside the court with more on this story. tom? >> reporter: doreen more than $650,000 off the books into the gray campaign. but now that scheme has unraveled. 75-year-old public relations executive jeanne harris left federal court tuesday after pleading guilty to her part in a massive scheme to funnel $650,000 into a shadow campaign to elect vincent gray mayor in 2010. prosecutors for the first time publicly detailed the scheme that included $127,000 in campaign materials, another $203,000 for field workers, and one of many other pennsylvanias harris shared as co-conspirator one. co-conspirator one is businessman jeffrey thompson who allegedly pro-vladed the shadow campaign funds and then tried to cover up the shadow payments when prosecutors began investigating in 2011. the guilty plea and court disclose can you're puts more legal pressure on thompson who has so far denied wrongdoing, but puts even more political pressure on gray as this scheme unfolds. in one important moment harris told the court neither she nor co-conspirator

tom sherwood is live on capitol hill with that story. tom? >> reporter: you know, thousands of people in the city are still without power, and trying to keep without damage. >> built in 1900. >> these were the steps to this capitol hill home, built in 1900. here 112 years, gone in a flash. >> that's the original ironwork. that's pretty sad. very sad, because very few if any do that kind of work. >> reporter: crews fanned out. power saws were giving out. >> i've been told that many of the chainsaws have worn out and we've had an emergency procurement. >> the mayor was briefed on the storm's damage to the city. more than 12,000 emergency calls. a city decision to open libraries and rec centers to help out about 41,000 homes still without power, including his own. mayor gray joined criticism of pepco. >> i think people been fed up with power outages. we need a game changer. we need an approach that's going to address how we stop this in the first place. >> while people to be up on water and supplies. >> i'm bringing it wo to work. >> reporter: w

tom sherwood joins us on the set. you've gotten new word?> we learned that mayor gray had a meeting with his staff, in which he told them he was innocent and bl not resign, and i'm quoting -- don't focus on this stuff. do your work. the mayor has called in the senior aides in his administration saying he's innocent. he has not said that publicly for months since this investigation began. for him to say, don't get distracted, he's trying to not get distracted. do you see predict more council members will come in. >> it's hard to predict what they will do, but i think what you see is a growing disquiet about the disruption, the sdrarks and the concerns that this was a major scandal with the prosecutors unveiled yesterday. i think you will see more pressure on the mayor. >> considering everything that's unfolding almost weekly, will they be able to focus? >> they were talking about changing dozens of allies in the city, trying to do some city work,ened every reporter was wanting to know, are you going to resigned? did you do anything wrong? wha

tom sherwood joins us with the latest. >> doreen, norton

>> i'm tom sherwood. the city of trees is now a city of stumps. how d.c. is responding to the storm. the story is coming up. >>> i'm darcy spencer live in laurel, maryland, where lots of folks are still without power, and here's why. ♪ ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] virtual wallet can help you be that person who's good with money. see what's free to spend. move money with a slide. save with a shake. feel good about your decisions. they're wearing out some of that equipment. tom sherwood is live on capitol hill, which has a lot of trees. what's the situation up there, tom? >> reporter: summer school is closed again tomorrow, some libraries and rec centers are still open for those without power. >> week diehl city traffic maneuver maneuvered, dozens all over town, at least some people were treating them like the four-way stops they should be. >> people are stopping, then proceeding. >> reporter: that's good news, because some places that's not happening. >> it's happening from here and day dams morgan. >> reporter: public works crews fanned out all over the city, cl

tom sherwood reports. >> reporter: when he was elected vince gray collected nearly $5 million.t from corporations but that could be ending. a citizens group called the committee to restore the public trust collecting signatures in a few months is trying to do what the d.c. council and any city campaign, transition. >> we have a perverted process, where we have allowed a few well-healed businesses to be able to bundle contributions. in march, certainly within the last few weeks, this is an awesome representation of grass-roots civic act investment. >> they say that corporate contributions tilt the public's perception. >> in ward 8, we are very excited about the initiative. as a matter of fact, four of the advisory neighborhood commissions in ward 8 unanimously voted to support initiative 70. >> reporter: ward 6 council member says a potential -- said some corporations are tired for being hit up for money, too. >> council members in the past have given a mark to different corporations to say i need this amount of money. >> reporter: it would take about two weeks to certify the pe

lot of mayors, his involvement, his showing up, he's been there. >> reporter: in the district, tom sherwood, news4. >>> still ahead on "news4 at 5," a little more than 24 hours away from the olympics opening ceremony and the torch just arrived at buckingham palace in front of the prince william and kate. we'll go live to london, coming up. >>> a tough month for metro. tonight the general manager responds to the problems on the tracks and the roads. >>> plus a trip to the beach ends with a trip >>> everyone is gearing up for tomorrow's opening ceremony. >> yes, indeed. the competition is already under way. phil rogers will be covering the olympics for us on "news4 at 5" the next two weeks. he's joining us live from london. how are you, phil? >> reporter: behind me here, the brand-new olympic stadium, where tomorrow night it will all begin. seven years after it was awarded the game, london is about to put on its big show. the third time the british capital has hosted the olympic games. the u.s. team officially welcomed today, one of more than 200 teams. >> there's nothing like it. >> just bei

tom sherwood reports. >>> 6,500 licensed cabs in the district, some take credit cards, some don't. some know where they're going, some don't. even with the meter system it's not always clear in the nation's capital what the fare is. that's about to change. >> this is a very major portion of the mayor's program for modernizing our taxi fleet here in the district of columbia. >>> mayor vincent gray announced that the city will intera five-year, $35 million contract with a come called verifone. after the end of the year they will install a credit card device, and a monitor screen for passengers to pay fares, see public service announcements, and see brief advertising and programming to help pay for the system. nbc has a national contract with verifone to provide content in taxis, so riders can see programming from nbc and news4. many drivers and passengers want the credit card option. we need that, because i god robbed last night, and, you know, we always carry cash, so we need like everybody else. we want credit card system. >> reporter: passengers will pay a 50 cent surcharge per tr

she's joined by tom sherwood. >> jim, mary cheh endorsed vinton gray.ou've got worried for a while, but -- . >> i'm very, very sad. i admired him greatly. i thought he was a man of integrity, leadership and i think he's a good man. >> but he's not been charged with anything. >> that's right. >> but this campaign and the court yesterday -- and you're a law professor i should tell people -- laid out an incredible scheme that harris admitted to that they funneled hundreds of thousands into the campaign. >> the dimensions of what was disclosed make it implausible to me he didn't know or engaged in willful blindness. he should have known, but even all of that aside, the fact is that the legitimacy of his election has been undercut. i have watched steadiless as the confidence of the people has been eroded. i said in my statement that i released today that i would ask him as a matter of public service to step aside. >> he's told us that he doesn't intend to step aside, even with the two council members saying so. the voteser were deceived. yesterday the u.s. a

tom sherwood has our report. >> reporter: hundreds of cab drivers demonstrated outside the city's johnsson government building on monday. opposing a plan to installed systems to track whether cabs ignore distant and poor parts of town, and whether they take longer routes to enflay cab fares. along with other provisions to accept credit cards and uniform cab receipts. >> we support improvement, we support the credit card system. we support the system, anything that will -- except the tracking device. that tracking device violates our privacy and the privacy of our customer. >> reporter: the cab fare collection system, which is still expected to easily pass the council on tuesday is only one of many issues in the last session before a long summer recess until september. council chairman phil mendelson said one major bill will allow the police to begin uses breath aleasesers again after a two-year absence. courts dismiss many cases after the tests proved unreliable. >> the program fell apart about two years ago. i think the executive was somewhat in denial. we're talking about 2010. about

tom sherwood has the story. >> reporter: whether it's snowstorms, or even an earthquake, whatever thecapitol region seems slow to respond to any damages. on the radio show on wamu radio with guest analyst jim vance of nbc 4, two local leaders said the region can't keep being surprised by imagine threats to the infrastructure here. >> look at the earthquake. that was completely unexpected, but that's what a terrorist attack would be, something completely unexpected. >> that's what got me at the earthquake. that then everybody -- everybody fled for the same essential exit. >> reporter: norton, a form are member of a security committee said she had the homeland security department set up a specific liaison to the region, but has had little contact. >> there's a person appointed to deal with this region. do you all get to interview him? >> you haven't heard from him? >> i haven't heard from him in so long, they probably have a new one by then. >> isaiah leggett greed the region is not prepared, but said evacuation is not the answer itches there's not adequate form of evacuation that would

tom sherwood has been there all of them. ♪ >> reporter: in the sweltering heat of this july 4th, a stretchmacarthur boulevard in palisades was for the 46th time turned into a warm, hometown patriotic parade with a mishmash of everything from kids and bikes to bagpipes. >> i think it's a great d.c. parade for the fourth of july. >> this is our day, liberty, freedom, country. >> reporter: 30-year resident karen plunket raised her family. >> it's a nice, old-fashioned community parade with neighbors, politicians, churches. ♪ >> it's great. >> reporter: kind of a small-town feel to it. >> very much so. but it's a great community, as you can see. we've been here the last five years. it's exciting every year. >> reporter: the diversity of d.c. played out with the music and dance from bolivia. ♪ the gay and lesbian different drummers band, an annual favor. the city's political leadership took to the streets. >> we still have people without power. several thousands still out. one of them, it would be me. >> reporter: no power. >> i don't have power yet. ♪ >> reporter: do you have the air on in the

tom sherwood reports. >> reporter: on thursday mayor inventory scene gray was being pursued by reporters "the washington post" poll showed 54% of d.c. citizens want him to resign because of scandal. gray insists he's doing his job and will leave the scandal to the courts. ♪ on the wamu politics hour friday d.c. council member david catania, the first to call last week for gray to resign said gray has lost his ability to lead even though he hasn't been formally charged. >> i think he knew. i think he knows he knows. i think many people know, it's reflected in the polls. he lost his legitimacy to govern in light of a compromised election. the citizens deserve a fair election. >> cat at says he believes gray was caught up in scandal that overtook the campaign. >> here we have what is an otherwise a very fine person. i served with vince gray. i know he has to wake up every day wondering what happened. i know he does love the city. if that's true top the drama, time to step down. >> reporter: some supporters of gray have complained that catania himself wants to run for mayor but friday catani

tom sherwood has this story. >> this is a side issue to the federal investigation of gray, but it is another headache for him. >> hiv infection -- >> reporter: mayor vincent gray monday opened the international aids conference in washington as protesters complained about the need for more housing for aids patients. reporters surrounded gray, but not just asking about aids housing. "the washington post" citing unnamed sources reported gray's 2010 campaign recruited voters off official lists of public housing residents to boost his vote totals, a potential violation of law. mayor gray unlike his silence on the federal probe aggressively reacted monday saying he knew of no such lists and didn't need it given his long career in housing issues. >> i can go through and name you leaders in virtually every public housing development in the city. i don't need a list to do that. i wouldn't need a list. i didn't even know a list existed. i wouldn't need a list because i know people. we trust each other. we work together. >> reporter: the post also noted that his son carlos has a management job

>> tom sherwood. news 4's derek ward was with the mayor as he went about business as usual despite the questions surrounding his campaign. derek will have more on that coming up at 5:30. a flight had to make an emergency landing at reagan national because of a problem with one of its flaps. this happened this morning aboard a jazz flight. that's a regional jet from ottawa. jazz is part of air canada. the faa says the flight landed without incident. >>> a suspicious device delayed travelers from new york to madrid, spain. the delta air lines flight returned to jfk airport last night two hours after takeoff because somebody discovered a device with wires in the lavatory. all 208 passengers were evacuated and the bomb squad determined the device wasn't dangerous and the passengers reboarded the plane and it took off early this morning and arrived at its destination this afternoon. >>> the fbi is on the hunt for a huge tiff father. he's accused of kidnapping his two children from prince georges county and

wendy. >> all right, tom sherwood, thanks, tom. >>> right now this northern virginia man is behind barsithout bond accused of stabbing his wife to death. it happened yesterday at their home on old triangle road. derrick wilson called police to report that his wife stabbed herself. the wife was taken to the hospital where she later died. investigators found out it was not a suicide and police say wilson stabbed her in the chest after an argument. wilson is charged with first-degree murder. >>> well, by a 2-1 margin virginia supports a tough illegal immigration law in the state that's slor to the one in arizona. that's according to a new quinnipiac poll. 64% of voters asked in a telephone survey say they approve of arizona's tough law and almost the same number want to see a similar law passed in the old dominion. 31% oppose arizona's law. >>> on another topic, that leadership uprising. earlier this month at the university of virginia. poll respondents agree with the reinstatement of president teresa sullivan and they like the way governor bob mcdonald handled that situation. >> this is a

tom sherwood reports. >> now serving e-542 at counter number 13. >> reporter: at the district dmv in southwest washington, modern technology and training in recent years has sharply reduced wait times and complaints. how was the service in there? >> the service good. i didn't have no problem. >> we had a little -- little hiccup but it was taken care of very, very quickly. >> if how were the employees? >> the employees fine. the employees fine. >> reporter: how is the city doing at other major agencies that deal with the public? mayor vincent gray tuesday announced initial results from six weeks of monitoring social media and the city's own grade d.c. website it used a private firm that normally focuses just on private business. >> obviously one of the things we are trying to do is continuously improve service. nobody has tried this before this is a new approach. >> reporter: all five city agencies involved, public works, motor vehicles, traffic, consumer affairs and recreation all showed average grades. tennessee other agencies will be added this fall. long-time director of the city'

tom sherwood has the report. >> reporter: monday, the mayor opened the international aids conference with protesters inches away from him and reporters asking about aids and the campaign scandal swirling around gray made it nearly impossible for the mayor to walk. >> back up some, please. yant can't even breathe. >> reporter: now those media scrums this one on the escalator monday, have police chief kathy lanier's office asking that the mayor's security team create more space around him. after a tuesday news conference promoting the website where citizens can grade city services like public works and the dmv, the mayor quickly left rather than hanging around to informally chat with reporters. the official reason from press secretary pedro rib bare yo was he is busy. >> left pretty quickly. >> he has a city to run. i'm not sure if you're aware of that. >> reporter: mayor's office confirmed the police chief was concern about the mayor's ability to travel unimpeded but says there is no attempt to isolate the mayor from reporters, just to have better control of the media chaos around him

jim. >> tom sherwood, thank you. >> veronica is here more about our weather. rain will be the bigger issue this time more so than the wind and lightning. >> exactly. we're watching this line off to the west. still i think for the evening if you're going out it's the big umbrella and golf size umbrella that you're going to need because we could see moderate and more heavy rain come our way this evening. of course we got quite a bit over the last 24 even 48 hours out there today on the cool dreary side of things. your temperatures today just in the 70s, making it one of the coolest days that we've had in more than a month. wow. after a high temperature of 101 on tuesday. here's a look at some of the rainfall totals over the last 24 hours. anywhere you see the dark green, the yellow, mainly d.c., areas to the north and east. anywhere from two to three to four inches of rain. take a look at the totals here. baltimore maryland, 3.25 inches of rain. ocean city over four inches of rain. annapolis maryland over half. gaithersburg, maryland, montgomery county, .78 inch

tom sherwooding thank you. >>> we have developing news. former commerce secretary john bryson will not face criminal charges in connection with two hit-and-run traffic accidents in southern california last month. bryson said he had suffered a seizure before the accident. on june 21st, he resigned from president obama's cabinet and today prosecutors in california announce they do not plan to file charges. they had no immediate comment. >>> when we come right back on news 4 at 5:00, many animals are also suffering in the aftermath of the storm. we'll show you sow howe some rescue animals are coping without power. >>> america's obesity problem continues to spread to our children. >> and doctors struggling to treat kids with type two diabetes. ♪ keep your eye on that grand old flag ♪ >> recognize that smashing face? >>> a hearty thank you to firefighters in colorado from the people of colorado springs. every night when exhausted crews return from battling the blaze in waldo canyon, they're greeted with cheers and signs. some parents bring thei

. >>> also in sports, the mets and nats play a >>> tom sherwood tweeted tonight. this nats game is wild. >> he got to stay until the end? >> i don't know. >> you had to leave before the end, obviously. >> this was an awesome game. if you were at the game you got your money's worth, extra innings, a couple of lead changes and the nationals win. ross detwiler put the nats in a good spot and the nats' bats came alive when they were needed the most. this is lucas gee lito. he was in the house to meet and greet the fans. top nine, tyler clipard on for the save but he has a blown save. bottom nine the nats down to their last out. and danny espinoza with runners on the corners. we're tied at three. this going to extra innings. top ten. mike gonzalez out of the pen. but josh thole finds the gap and daniel murphy scores and the mets take a 4-3 lead. bottom ten with a man on second. bryce harper turns on this one, sends it into right field. in comes solano and we're tied at 4. bases loaded for tyler moore. he had a home run earlier. doesn't need one here. the wild pitch and

tom sherwood, news4. >>> the family of joe paterno said that the football coach did not take part inover up for jerry sandusky. the family said he was a master deceiver. this comes ahead of a report from an fbi director who will release his findings on thursday. a jury convicted jerry sandusky of sexually abusing 10 boys. >>> a father and son are accused of sexually assaulting two underage girls. the girl was brought to a house last month. his your got the girls drunk and the men took turns assaulting them for hours. a woman claiming to be a relative of the suspect answered the door at the house where it happened. >> do you want to say something on behalf of your son and grandson? >> what do you want me to say? they're guilty? i will not say that. they've not been convicted of anything. come back in a month or so. >> reporter: all four men are being held without bond right now. >>> pepco is under fire for last week's response t week's response to to the storms. the utility asked a delay on a vote on a rate increase until next week. pepco requested a 4% increase adding $5.50 to the mo

tom sherwood reports. >> reporter: for once in recent days, he got out and wasn't immediately surroundedrters asking about scandal. he took part in a groundbreaking for a $20 million community of hope health center to be built off of south capitol street in ward 8, the city's poorest. it's expected to bring health care to thousands who now have to travel to get health care. >> we have -- this is fairly recent data -- 750 primary care physicians in the district of columbia. 35 of them practice east of the river. >> reporter: neighborhood citizens also desperately hope the health center will bring our retail jobs and opportunities compared to today. >> i drive near and far to work, exercise, get groceries, shop, get my stair styled, and receive medical care. even my dog has to travel to the veterinarian. >> reporter: for gray, with a history of health care and nonprofit experience, the upbeat event was a contrast to days like wednesday when reporters pressed after him to ask scandal questions. on this hot thursday, the media heat was off while citizens fanned themselves focused on the prom

our tom sherwood will have more at 5:00 and 6:00 tonight. >>> metro's board just wrapped up a meeting where safety was on the agenda. the board members were updated on the green line derailment last from i when three cars jumped the tract outside the west hyattsville station, no one was injured, but the track was damaged, and metro officials have already noted that investigators believed the prolonged heat wave caused a heat kemp in the track. it should -- so the trains would have to run at slower speeds. >>> turning to the weather, clouds rolling in tonight. will they bring rain? >> that would be nice, veronica is outside. what do you think? >> for right now, guys, for right now, we've got a lot of sun up there, and it's simply scrumptious out here. yummy conditions. even compared to yesterday, which we thought was great, today even better. the humidity is lower, temperatures are in fact cooler across the area. 87 degrees, right now clouds, there are some out there with the wind out of the east at 8 miles an hour. clouds will be on the increase, and we are talking about a bit of rain

news4's tom sherwood will have the latest coming up. >> the ntsb will try to determine what caused part of this -- firefighters evacuated the area earlier this morning. >> i ran outside to see what it was, and then i ran in the house to get my cussing, because they told us we needed to leave. >> two people who ran toward the scene before the detailed regards were were injured, but able to take themselves to the hospital. >>> a jetblue pilot had a brief psychotic disorder. by right-hand of insanity. by screaming about religion and terrorists. passengers wrestled the pilot to the floor. doctors testified that the disorder was due to a lack of sleep. he's at a texas facility for observation. >>> the house has voted to repeal the health care reform law. political analysts say the vote changes nothing, but does keep the issue alive. steve handlesman has our report. >> reporter: it's a vote on obama health care that will not change the law. >> we know this will pass the house and die in the senate. >> but republicans want to show their resolve to kill what they call obama care. >> this is mak

tom sherwood talks to mayor gray for his response to these dismal poll numbers. >>> and president obama, mitt romney and the supporters of both were in full attack mode today. the president was in florida and mitt romney was in massachusetts as they shrugged it out on the economy, health care and taxes and issues of personal trust. here's brian mooar. >> reporter: in florida, president obama was turning up the heat by reaching out to older and middle class voters in a critical battleground. >> it's wrong to ask sear yors to may more for medicaid just so billionaires can pay less in taxes. >> reporter: romney was highlighting the spike in unemployment claims, blaming the president. >> the job he's innocent of protecting is his own. the job that should be protected is men and women who want to get jobs and go back to work and have rising incomes again. >> reporter: as the candidates were hammering away at each other, their supporters were joining in. >> what is it in his tax returns that are so scary to mitt romney. >> democrats are pressuring romney to release more than two years of tax

tom sherwood has more. >> it seems after nearly every major storm or event, leaders say they need to do more planning. whether it's snowstorms or the rare swift moving thunderstorm, or even say an earthquake. whatever the event, the national capital region seems slow to respond to any damage to power outages, or the gridlock of traffic in every local jurisdiction. on the politics how on friday, with guest analyst jim vance of nbc 4, two local leaders said the region can't keep big surprised by major threats. >> look at the quaem. that's what a terrorist attack would be. norton, a former member of a security committee said they had set up a specific liaison, but has had little contact with that person. >> do you all get to interview him? >> you haven't heard from him? >> i haven't heard from him in so long, there's probably a new one by then. >> isaiah leggett said agreed, but says mass evacuations is not the -- >> there's no adequate form of evacuation to allow that to happen in an orderly way. there's no jurisdiction in this country that could do that? >> he says he supports shelter

. >> reporter: tom sherwood, news4. >>> news4 reported this week that the police chief's office has asked gray's security detail to create more space around him for safety, but not necessarily to keep reporters away from him. >>> a man was beaten after accusing someone of stealing his iphone on capitol hill, but now police say there's no evidence that phone was ever stolen. the victim's name is david mercer. he's a prominent democratic strategist. this shows him in a 7-eleven checking his pockets for his iphone. mercer appears to ask another man about the phone, and then follows him outside. police say the two got into a fight and mercer was taken to a hospital. d.c. police say there is no evidence that a theft ever occurred. they say they are still investigating. >>> a korean war veteran says he has some unfinished business. he would like to expand the current memorial to those who fought in korea. he has a deadline, one year from today. richard jordan shows us what changes could be on the way. >> we're coming down this afternoon with the ambassador. >> retired colonel william weber call

tom sherwood has more on the proposed changes and how soon before we could see them. >> jim, there are several big changes, and they will start showing up in just a few months. 6,a 00 licensed cabs in the district. some take credit carts, some don't. some know where they're going, some don't. even with the meter system, it's not alls clear what the fare is. that's about to change. >> this is a very major portion of the mayor's program for modernizing our taxi fleet here in the district of columbia. mayor gray announced thursday. the city will entered a five-year contract with a company called verifone. by the end of the year, they will installed in every cab, a new meter, emergency button, credit card device and monitor screen for passengers to pay fares, see public service announcement and see brief advertising and programming to help pay for the system. nbc has a national contract with verifone to provide content and -- many drivers and passengers want the credit card option. >> we need that. i got robbed last time, because we always carry cash, so we need like everybody, we want a c

at the district court, tom sherwood, news 4. >>> so, tom, what does mayor gray have to say, if anything, about this today? >> reporter: when this all started mayor gray said he had done nothing wrong and hoped an investigation would clear his name. several months ago his attorney said to him, don't say anything. so the mayor now whenever you ask him any questions about this widening scandal of his campaign he says, i have no comment. my lawyer says i have no comment. i have no comment. but this is a lot of political pressure and the mayor who will hold a news conference tomorrow, his weekly news conference and we'll be asking him questions tomorrow. >> and he and miss harris go far back, is that right, tom? >> reporter: jeanne harris is a longtime person in washington. she's been part of the political and social elite of the city going back to maybe the '70s and the '80s and she knows a lot of people and certainly the mayor knows her. they don't have a business relation sh relationship or anything like that and she supported his campaign but she is very well known in town and a lot of h

tom sherwood. thank you. >> president obama and mitt romney are both courting voters on the road. romney was in louisiana. obama was in o. he stopped in cincinnati for chili. he hammered on romney outsourcing jobs. >> we found there's a new study out by nonpartisan economists that says governor romney's economic plan would, in fact, create 8,000 jobs. there's only one problem. the jobs wouldn't be in america. >> things aren't going in the right direction. no wonder he wants to change the subject. >> mitt romney plans to visit ohio on wednesday while president obama will visit the swing state of florida later this week. >>> dna evidence became crucial in trial over many years place them at the scene of the crime and convicting them. but prince george's county police are facing the biggest backlog of dna evidence in the state of maryland, many wondering if it leaves problems for prosecutors. chris has the latest. >> good evening. police and prosecutors have to prioritize. the backlog means it can't all be analyzed. that present as real challenge to local law enforcement. prince geor

tom sherwood has more on the story. tom? >>> everyone knows there were thousands of public safety calls last weekend but only one to fill um a private pool. utd's just a modest row of duplex houses in northeast washington. and 324 55th street sits quietly among them. but the backyard is filled with four outdoor tables and lots of chairs and this, a 1,000-gallon swimming and wading pool big enough for at least ten adults. now news 4 has obtained an internal d.c. fire department document that shows the private pool was filled last saturday just hours after the big storm hit the region. [ sirens ] crews from engine company 30 about a half-mile away. firefighters said an engine had to make two trips to deliver 500 gallons each. all while public safety crews were scrambling to respond to emergency calls in the wake of the storm that has prompted thousands of calls for emergency and other help. >> it's a highly unusual request and highly unusual on a normal day much less given a state of emergency such as we had on saturday. >> re

tom sherwood joins us how with details. tom? >> jim, merit didn't plan that rally. it comes as this investigation keeps nagging at him. mayor gray was celebrating new traffic controls in a busy part of northeast washington. >> three, two, one! >> reporter: but even as he cut the ribbon, a reporter for "the new york times" soon cut to the campaign scandal which is becoming a national story. >> since we have a moment here, can i ask you about the federal investigation? >> reporter: the mayor bristled when he asked when he first knew of the shadow campaign at the heart of the federal investigation. >> sir, you know how many times i've been asked that question? >> reporter: gray didn't answer this time and repeated he has no plans to resign. organizers of wednesday's rally say they don't know whether mayor gray is guilty of anything or not. but they do know as of yet he hasn't been charged. >> whether they think he's guilty or innocent, they respect the process and respect him as a person. and because he has not been charged with anything at this point that people shoul

tom sherwood is joining us with more on this. tom? >> jim gray didn't plan the rally. he came as questions keep chasing him no matter what he's doing. >> reporter: mayor gray was celebrating new traffic controls in a busy part of northeast washington. >> three, two, one! >> reporter: but even as he cut the ribbon, a reporter for "the new york times" soon cut to the campaign scandal which is becoming a national story. >> since we have a moment here, can i ask you about the federal investigation? >> reporter: the mayor bristled when asked when he first knew of the $506,000 shadow campaign at the heart of the federal investigation. >> sir, you know how many times i've been asked that question? >> reporter: gray didn't answer this time and repeated he has no plans to resign. ward seven council member said she stands by the mayor. >> i do support the mayor and as far as it concerns me, he's been doing his job just great. >> reporter: organizers of wednesday's rally say they don't know whether mayor gray is guilty of anything or not. but they do know as of yet he hasn't been

. >> i'm tom sherwood.gger or better pool but it probably wasn't sealed up by the fire department during the storm. consumers today have a legitimate concern about the chicken they eat. they want to know more about how they were raised, what they were fed. we spend a lot of time on the feed because a chicken is what it eats. [ jim ] this seal verifies we feed my fresh all-natural chickens an all-vegetarian diet including corn, soybeans, and marigolds. we actually ask the usda to come check us. we have never fed steroids or hormones and never will. no blood meal, no meat and bone meal. yuck. no animal by-products. it means when you put my chicken on the table, you know where it came from. >>> it's the atlanta braves versus the chicago cubs. keep your eye on the ball, folks. foul ball into the stands, fans reach for it. whoa, the man holding the baby, he gets it and he does it without ever losing his grip on his child. even braves' shortstop took notice. now alfonso soriano has a baseball souvenir for his kid

tom sherwood has the latest. >> reporter: he slipped in the back door to attend a conference on aids avoiding reporters camped out front. >> why did you feel the need to walk in the back door rather than walking in the front door with everyone else? >> it was a convenient way to get in, tom. >> reporter: the new post polled shows 54% want mayor gray to resign. 37% say no, he shouldn't. asked if gray were honest or trust worthy, only 22% said yes an overwhelming 61% said no. what about the dismal poll numbers reporters ask in the wake of felony convictions, the mayor said a similar thing his attorney said in a statement earlier. >> to me i guess it is obviously colored by all of this stuff associated with the campaign. i haven't been charged of anything, convicted of anything. i think i would urge people to strongly ask them to allow this whole process to play out. this has been going on for a long time. >>> if you were charged with something at that point would you resign? >> that's a hypothetical. let's not deal in hypotheticals. >> the mayor tried to talk about the accomplishments

tom sherwood looks at the plan. >> reporter: the ambitious plan was unveiled in the more than 100-year-old train station, now almost overwhelmed with passengers and adjacent metro service. >> metro needs to expand, right there in the same space. >> reporter: the plans call for adding new palace forms and tracks that could double the number of trains providing a vie brandt hub in the heart of the nation's capital, but the $7 billion funding is not in place. >> it's part of the vision for moves the united states' northeast forward. >>> we're going to go live now to ash didburn, virginia. redskins are about to hold a news conference. training camp starts tomorrow. there he is, the star of the team, rg3. >> and i think everybody came back in great shape. as you can see from the run a bit. everybody is ready to compete. so i am, too. >> how about the nerves that maybe you didn't have at the other mini camps, otas, things lookic that? >> maybe i was more anxious, more nervous, but they've been through the offense and, you know, had a trial at it, got a taste of how fast the game is and what i ne

in the district, tom sherwood, news 4. >>> doug is back from vacation and brought a little improvement in the weather with him. no? >> today was great, doreen. today was fantastic. >> trying to look on the bright side. you always do. >> that's right. tomorrow looks great. every day from here through december 25th. we'll get snow on christmas. it's all going to be great except for tomorrow and thursday. other than that, looking pretty good. high today 90 degrees. it did not get as high as we were looking at over the past couple days. that was all because of the cloud cover. today was kind of nice. 90 degrees, partly to mostly cloudy skies for about everybody. temperatures above the average high of 88 degrees. as far as the rain goes, be eve seen a lot over the last couple days, still nearly seven inches below average. we still need to make up. stim over an inch below average for the month of july. 90 degrees the current temperature with the dew point of 99. winds out of the west at six miles per hour. temperatures at 90 at this 6:00 hour. the warmest we've been all day because we've fin

tom sherwood is here to tell us more about this today. >> jim, it was a simple message today. mayor gray hasn't been charged, it's unfair to call for him to resign. ♪ the mayor stood for the people ♪ we shall not be moved ♪ the mayor stood for the people ♪ >> civil rights song and prayer. >> may we stand with him as he marches to his moment of justice. >> a crowd of several dozen stood in front of the john wilson building wednesday to demand that mayor vincent gray not be hounded out of office. >> there has been a lot of drama and trauma with the resignation of two councilmembers, another councilmember. we don't need to continue to create an atmosphere of drama and trauma. we are just stifled that folks have chosen to come out and sglapd some denounced two councilmembers who are lawyers who have called on gray to resign, although no charges have been filed. >> same on you, mary jane, supposed to be a constitutional law professor. shame on you, david, with a prestigious local law firm. >>> federal prosecutors in court have laid out a $650,000 shadow campaign that helped elect g

tom sherwood joins us with the latest on the story. >> the attorney general says the mayor is doing a good job of sticking to his job. >> this week, jeannie harris admitted her part in the $50,000 off the book shadow campaign to elect gray in 2010. and the lawyer won't let him talk opinion friday on the politics hour on wamu radio, d.c. attorney general weighed in on the scandal impact saying it does affect the running of the government. >> i can't say that this is not a distraction and is not the subject of water cooler discussions. he said the mayor is doing a good job. i have seen him up close and personal in dealing with governmental affairs and my judgment, this is an honest man who is doing a very good job as the mayor. >> reporter: now with three felony guilty pleas and more expected, the campaign scandal is raising questions that are hanging over the mayor. did the mayor in any way approve of the off the books campaign? did the mayor orchestrate it in any way or did the mayor learn of the shadow campaign and take no action to stop it? >> we have to go forward. >> after wednesd

our tom sherwood will be there as the moderator for the panel discussion. thank you for coming in to tell us about what is going on tonight and we wish you good luck. >> thank you, barbara, for having us. >> very happy to have had you. >>> coming up in the next half hour of "new 4z midday" police are investigating a hate crime that left one man severely beaten in the hospital. we'll hear from the victim's boyfriend. >>> then the price to look fabulous can cause pain in women's feet. we'll show you what you can do to prevent high heel pain. >>> plus, storm 4 meteorologist tom kierein is coming back. he's tracking a storm. i'm barack obama and i approve this message. [romney singing]: oh beautiful, for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain, for purple mountains majesty, above the fruited plain, america, america, god shed his grace on thee, and crowned thy good, with brotherhood... >>> right now. we're working to learn more about what led to a train crash. it crashed into an suv in hyattsville this morning. >>> a fund-raising effort is under way for one of