it was the vincent gray campaign. >> here they are, former deputy treasurer for the vincent gray campaign, he pled guilty to steering money for a friend's mayoral candidate, brown, trying to cover up those payments. howard brooks lied to the fbi about payments he and others made to brown in the campaign. then there's vernon hawkins, close friend to the mayor, a field operations manager, also made false statements to investigators. he didn't reveal that he helped somebody get out of town during the investigation. then there's jeanne clark harris. she pled guilty to making straw contributions to the campaign using funds reportedly supplied by one jeffrey thompson, a prominent dc businessman and city contractor. thompson, still at the center of the campaign investigation, and has not been charged. >> but these are people you knew, that you've known for years, i mean, that have pled guilty to felonies now. help us understand how that could happen. have you talked to them? how could it have gone on and you not know about it? that's one of the questions we were asking. >> nobody knew about it,

the weekend may bring a slight warm-up. >> vincent gray is getting a closer look at the streetcar project. d.c. bureau chief sam ford joins us to explain this race to the mayor. talked to mayor gray about the new streetcars, which he says should begin in service in the next couple of months. >> workers were testing the streetcar today for the first time with vincent gray aboard. >> there are places where you could buy clothes. with theis hope restaurants and bars opening, this will encourage people to come here. >> it adds a dimension to our city. this have gonee with some resentment. residents are asking where is progress.ect -- >> the best thing -- the best way you win is by getting things done. >> more leaders voted for councilwoman bowser. polls inere straw 2010. we did when the first one. >> with the federal probe continuing, he expresses confidence he can win. projects like this are just the beginning. >> what we're trying to do is support our sustainability plan. eventually this will be a fairly well-run system. a streetcar cannot go around anything, how reliable is it in city traf

i can't apologize for what other people did, but it was the vincent gray campaign. ells us he does not want to leave office under a cloud. he's going to officially announce his campaign on saturday and will continue to maintain that when he talks to the crowd. he says there have been a few missteps but no corruption since he took office. coming up on wusa9 at 5:00 a.m., you'll hear more of our exclusive interview with mayor vincent gray. >>> new this morning at 4:30, police in brandywine, maryland are trying to figure out what led to an overnight fatal shooting. officers responded to a call around 1:30 last night. when they arrived on the scene in the 18700 block of croom road, they found a man suffering from a gunshot wound. he was later pronounced dead. right now they're working to establish a suspect in the case. >>> a sad morning for a family in gaithersburg after a 4-year- old boy dies in a fire that engulfed a portion of a gaithersburg apartment complex. two men were also burned in the fire. one of them is suffering life threatening injuries from this. two othe

attorney for the district is preparing to move on a major figure in that probe of mayor vincent gray's

for businessman jeffrey thompson, the reported figure who funded an off the books campaign for vincent grayfor mayor in 2010. >> in 2010 the mayoral campaign was compromised by back room deals, secret payments and a flood of unreported cash. >> reporter: four staffers have taken felony pleas. mayor gray in an exclusive with wusa9 this month apologized for their actions for the first time and again denied knowledge of the $650,000 shadow campaign. how could it have gone on and you not know about it? >> nobody knew about it, bruce. i've talked to people in my campaign. >> reporter: can you talk about jeff thompson? the role and all this money he put into the shadow campaign on behalf of your candidacy, how did that happen? >> i don't know. i asked a lot of -- just like i'm doing now, bruce. i'm asking people to support

cold temperatures are sticking around and some 5000 people do not have gas to keep going.omes vincent gray wants to invest $150 million for a new stadium and the team would spend at least that much to spend a new stadium in southwest. residents oppose the idea believe the city should spend that money elsewhere. we are following developing news out of alexandria. has sent atght fire least one person to the hospital. we have a crew on the scene. we will get a report. sceneefighters are on the of a blaze that sent one person and several animals to the hospital. >> trying to get back to normal after an unthinkable tragedy. what is in store today at the columbia mall. largestf the country's corruption trial getting under way. good morning, washington. >> live from the abc 7 broadcast center, this is "good morning washington," on your side. captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- good monday morning, washington. >> happy to have our familiar face back with us today. heads up for frederick county virginia parents and schools. virgiderick county,

mayor vincent mayor gray's job today. saying he will not be let off the hook for the cheating and the legalities that took place in the mayor's 2010 campaign. the mayor made that apology yesterday during an exclusive interview with our bruce johnson. today some of their challengers weighed in on the campaign and the controversy. >> i didn't do anything. you know at the same time i want to apologize to people about the campaign. >> and it is an apology yesterday. mayor vincent gray is hoping to put the irregularities, the legalities of the 2010 campaign behind him. >> you look at the commitment to education and we just got test scores that said we have the most improvement of any state. >> four of his campaign staffers are now awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to campaign-related felonies, which mayor gray said he knew nothing about. >> nobody knew about it, bruce. i mean i've talked to people in my campaign. my campaign manager, you know, who was there. >> reporter: prosecutors have never accused the mayor of wron

. >> vincent gray joint civil right leaders in a wreath laying at the king memorial. election in two counties will tilt the balance of power for all of virginia. >> new terror concerns ahead of the live bigs and russia that puts u.s. warships on alert. >> a violent >> antigovernment protests have turned violent in ukraine. thousands took to the streets in opposition to allow public protests. police faced off with people throwing molotov cocktails. >> in sochi, russia, safety concerns are growing. security forces and u.s. counterterrorism forces believe the several female terrorists may already be in the area. on sunday, a video surfaced showing the two men responsible for last month's suicide bombings in russia. the men promised more attacks during the games. the state department issued a travel alert for americans and the pentagon will have ships and aircraft on standby. >> the balance of power in virginia changes on a special election. >> doug hill tells us what to expect with the winter storm headed our way. >> the wizards and the 76ers played. the redskins get ano

vincent gray is not getting a lot of public support. he wants to help finance a new soccer stadium for d.c. united. the city would invest $150 million in the team and they would spend at least that much to build a new stadium. showswashington post poll nearly 60% of residents oppose the idea and believe the city should spend that money elsewhere. speaking of money, gas prices are falling again. one survey shows the price of cents overdown 3.5 the past few weeks. in the district, gas is averaging $3.55. virginia has the cheapest in the region once again. prepares hisma second term agenda in tuesday's state of the union address. coming up, what his advisers say he will do. plus, getting the flu shot. who would actually volunteer? >> you are watching abc 7 news at 11:00, on your side. >> a maryland lawmaker wants to make sure that slow driversta s in their lane, the right lane, that is. state delegate patrick hogan is sponsoring a bill called the road rage reduction act of 2014. it would order the state highway administration to post signs

dc mayor vincent gray joins the men's choir for the ceremony. the president and ceo of the memorial foundation was also scheduled to speak at event. the mayor went to the west education campus in northwest dc to take part in a service project with former bullets and caps players and some fans. they painted murals, organized the lie prayer, and painted some new benches while they were there. we'll have more on these events and all the events across the area coming up tonight at 5:00. >>> the olympics, they are designed to bring it nation's together through sports. but as the winter games in sochi draw closer, we are starting to see more and more distance instead between the united states and russia. and that is causing some serious concerns when it comes to security. danielle nottingham has more. >> reporter: the olympic torch is making its first appearance in southern russia. the flame entering the city of volgograd where terrorists attacked with twin suicide bombings last month. in an internet video, an islamic group from southern russia claime

he is not here yet but i know mayor bentsen will be here, vincent gray from d.c. and we will acknowledge him when he comes in. what we want today is twofold. we want to acknowledge the vision and direction of the committee, the task force, as we advance throughout this year. i want to thank those mayors and their staff members who joined us on a conference call in november to establish the four focus areas or killers if you will of the task force for the upcoming year. and we want to discuss a plan of action that we want to pursue for this task force. one of the things we really discussed as the task force on the conference call was this should be a working task force. this will not be about presentations. we walked out of here wondering what is next. the idea is to walk out with a plan of action as a task force where all of us get an opportunity to participate and you will understand what i mean as we trevor's through this meeting. what i want to do is spend five minute laying out for you what was discussed over that conference call, what we agreed upon would be

mayor vincent gray helped pay tribute to dr. martin luther king, jr. today. a wreath was placed at the mlk monument at the tidal basin. demonstrationed in washington led by stevie wonder helped bring about the martin luther king federal holiday back in 1986. >>> it's been almost two months since postal carrier tyson barnett was shot and killed while walking his prince george's county route and today with martin luther king, jr. day as a back drop his family and friends are marching again calling for changes in the postal service. hank silfverberg brings us the story. >> reporter: some of the members of mr. barnett's family and members of the postal workers union came to the mlk memorial to rally. they don't believe postal workers should still be delivering when it's dark and they're now walking down to l'enfant plaza where the postal service is located to push their point that postal workers should not be out after dark. like many postal carriers, 26- year-old tyson barnett of upper marlboro was finishing his route after dark saturday november 23rd when he wa

s mayor vincent gray. thanks for taking a minute to chat. we know you've got a hypothermia hotline. what other special efforts is the city making to keep folks warm? >> we're doing everything we can to identify people who are on the street. we know we have some homeless people who may have mental health problems, some who have substance abuse problems and may not take the kinds of precautions they should. one, we'll have our vans out looking for people to help bring them in. we're going to keep our libraries and rec centers and senior wellness centers open so that people will be able to go to those in addition to the shelters. >> mr. mayor, do you have an idea of the numbers in term of the need here, what the number of homeless people looks like next to the number of beds available? >> we have enough beds to accommodate everybody. there could be more, of course, in the event, for example, if we had a power outage and people had to leave their homes. we will have enough space to accommodate everybody, but on a given night we have literally hundreds of people who are individuals who g

d.c.,mayor vincent gray didn't talk about specific numbers when he talked about the city's budget today. he is comfortable with where we are right now. let's go to deborah, she is at dupont circle. >> reporter: okay, guys. i guess you're here at our live shot at dupont circle. we are walking down the street right here talking to some people and i just want to show you what's going on behind us. it looks calm, i want to get out of the way. this is going to be a big snowball fight. yes, a big snowball fight later on. let's show you what's going on right now. you can see the roads, they are wet. but no snow on them, obviously, an area where you have a lot of cars and buses and people coming by so you can see that these roads are certainly passable. we have spoken to several police officers around here. park police, tell us that people have to basically drive slowly through here because a lot of people are hitting that area right there where, you know, you can see the median. looks like you guys have some other stuff to go to. we'll leave it here. i'll be back with more. for now, we are liv

evans is one of four council members running against the incumbent mayor vincent gray and there are at least two other challenges in the democratic race. >>> loudoun and fairfax county plan to hold a special election tuesday, january 31st to fill the 33rd district senate seat which had belonged to attorney general elect mark herring. there are three candidates now for the seat, jennifer wednesday ton -- jennifer wexton and two others. >>> the deputy secretary of housing and urban development will become now secretary of commerce and trade. >>> news flash, americans, you started this new year with a pretty negative view of our government. a new poll from the associated press is showing just how negative that view is. 70% of people asked say they've got no confidence that the government can make any progress on the important problems and issues facing our country. half say the entire system of democracy needs either a whole lot of changes or maybe a complete overhaul. check this out. the first session of the 100 their tonight congress will go down in history as -- 113th congress will go

. >>> one of mayor vincent gray's initiative is seeing pushback against the proposal of a new soccer stadium for the d.c. united. costs aren't finalized. leaders plan to sell an office building for at least $150 million, using the proceeds to pay for the land development. the team would then match that money and possibly invest more. the total cost as it stands now is less than 1/4 of what nat' park cost. >>> if you're looking for a new job in the city, at 10:00 the department of employment services near the minnesota avenue metro station will host a job fair to staff up the newly developed street car program. it's hiring people with good technical skills to be maintenance techs and friendly attendants and street car operators. if you can't attend, you can still apply for a job through the midtown employment group. >>> 4:34. today montgomery county will try to work out a new snag in a design plan for the purple line station in bethesda. the county has been working for months to convince the owners of the apex building on wisconsin avenue to demolish the building so a station can be b

mayor vincent gray joined the men's choir from people's community baptist church for the ceremony. ill a special day for -- >>> a special day for some students celebrating martin luther king, jr. >> listen into the washington wizards discussion about king's life and dream. >> reporter: south lake high school basketball players imani holland and paige barlow are good friends. >> we're buddies for life. >> reporter: as the two prepared for a panel discussion about martin luther king, jr.'s dream, people flocked to his memorial reading his words, studying his face, hoping his dream for equality was more of a reality. for paige and amani it is. >> without him we would be like still segregated. since we live in such a diverse like community now, it wouldn't be like that today. >> they didn't want people to be like interracial and so that's surprising like today that would never be acceptable in our like communities. >> reporter: and sitting on the panel in front of these student athletes were people of different races and backgrounds sharing their dreams including washington wizard al h

we will hear from our very own vice chair, the district of columbia mayor vincent gray. this guy is often -- this guy is awesome. mayor gray has a lot of opportunities, early childhood education to all children five and under den as just mentioned, he is a leader getting dozens of people in the rule to work on different issues. washington, d.c. is a model for the rest of the united states. mayor gray, it is great to have you here again. much, mayor very schmidt. let me say also what a delight it is to work with you. and especially to be able to work with a football team that wins. [laughter] again, it's been a delight to work with you on this committee. one of the things that we recognize, frankly, early on -- and we have adopted, embraced a very aggressive education reform thes in the city -- one of things that we recognized, i recognize in particular, was that there's no way that our goals can be fully achieved or achieved to the extent that we would hope they would be achieved without recognizing that education has to start before children typically enter school. why p

mayor vincent gray has spoken to the family and says he is outraged about what happened. 77-year-old med drick mills collapsed across the street from a fire station on rhode island avenue on saturday. his daughter says she and other witnesses begged for help. and firefighters told them it was against procedure to respond. mills died of a heart attack. >> i would prefer a person to break a procedure, and if you can't break a procedure, then you're in the wrong profession when you're dealing with life and death situations. >> i was absolutely furious when i saw it. the investigation is under way. >> investigators are also trying to find out whether dispatchers sent an ambulance to rhode island avenue northwest instead of rhode island avenue northeast. >>> president obama hit the road today going to prince gorges county to push for a higher minimum wage. he spoke at the costco store in lanham to support his state of the union pledge. workers at the warehouse shopping chain average twice the minimum wage in their earnings. theresident is also taking action where he can. he will issue an

mayor vincent gray welcomed the news, but says we have a long way to go. >> in tonight's travel alert, block an intersection or roll through a stop sign and be prepared to pay the price. that's the warning now from d.c. police. cameras will start targeting vehicles that block intersections starting saturday. you can expect a $50 fine. fail to yield to pedestrians. >>> a water main break turned one of our areas busiest roadways into a slippery mess. the southbound lanes of wisconsin avenue near nih and bethesda have been shut down for much of the day. that water main break happened this morning on wisconsin near woodmont avenue. repairs are being made right now. >> a new campaign is underway to bring down the cost of college textbooks. a survey released at the university of maryland finds 65% of students opting out of buying expensive textbooks and nearly half of them say the high cost can dictate whether they take a class. there's a new push for open textbooks, which are open by faculty and free for students to view and down load online. >> written with resources, grants given by the

jeffrey thompson, the reported figure who funded an off the books campaign for vincent gray for mayor in 2010. >> in 2010 the mayoral campaign was compromised by back room deals, secret payments and a flood of unreported cash. >> reporter: four staffers have taken felony pleas. mayor gray in an exclusive with wusa9 this month apologized for their actions for the first time and again denied knowledge of the $650,000 shadow campaign. how could it have gone on and you not know about it? >> nobody knew about it, bruce. i've talked to people in my campaign. >> reporter: can you talk about jeff thompson? the role and all this money he put into the shadow campaign on behalf of your candidacy, how did that happen? >> i don't know. i asked a lot of -- just like i'm doing now, bruce. i'm asking people to support my campaign. when i nationally asked him because he's known to be a prolific fundraiser and -- initially asked him because he's known to be a prolific fundraiser and supporter, he said he couldn't support my campaign was the initial response. at a later stage he said he would and let me

. >>> mayor vincent gray is refusing to answer any questions about his apology for his troubled 2010 campaign. the mayor was upset today when news4's tom sherwood pressed him for more details during an event at a library. >> i'm just going to have to dog you all day. >> don't use language like that, okay? >> he has already said what he has to say. >> mr. mayor, you haven't talked to me. >> don't block my way. >> i am blocking your way, mr. mayor. i don't understand why you're being so difficult. >> yesterday the mayor told a reporter he apologizes for his last campaign, but wouldn't discuss details. four campaign aides have pleaded guilty to felonies connected to gray's 2010 effort. >>> new jersey governor chris christie will not have public appearances tomorrow after spending nearly two hours today defending himself. he has fired his chief of staff, bridget anne kelly, the one who ordered lanes closed at the george washington bridge in september. e-mails released yesterday showed it was an attempt to create traffic backups and problems for ft. lee's mayor. four members of the christ

mayor vincent gray declared a cold weather emergency. the warming buses will be available until about 7:00 this morning. after that, people without homes can go to a shelter to get out of the cold. >>> if you are using a space heater to stay warm during these frigid temperatures, make sure to follow some guidelines to keep you and your family safe. only put heaters on hard, nonflammable surfaces. keep them away from cloth that can easily ignite like curtains, tablecloths, or furniture. keep children and pets away from space heaters. always turn the heaters off before you go to sleep. >>> a live view of the roads in montgomery county. a mix of snow and slush here. we have crews spread across the region this morning. another check on conditions in your area next. >>> plus, the warning from emergency officials to children tempted to play near lakes, in ponds in our area. >>> current temperatures, single digits to around 12 downtown. >>> welcome back. a live look at the capitol. may be a bit quieter on capitol hill. federal worker will be co

the mayor, vincent gray, announced the district's 2013 financial report.the district's rainy day fund. now, this report also showed that d.c. has a $321 million surplus for fiscal year 2013. the extra money will go toward a number of different programs including housing efforts and health benefits for d.c. retirees. that's the latest from the live desk, barbara. back to you. >> thank you. >>> amanda knox's ex-boyfriend is a free man. raffaele sollecito and knox were convicted yesterday for a second time. officers found him at a hotel near italy's board where austria. police briefly took sollecito into custody. he was forced to turn few his passport. his lawyer said he was there to visit his girlfriend. >>> amanda knox is speaking out about the verdict. she says she will not return to italy to face murder charges. >> i will never go willingly back to the place where i -- mm. i'm going to fight this until the very end. >> knox says the court's decision is unfair, considering she has already been cleared. meanwhile, we're hearing from meredith kercher's famil

. >> reporter: and while vincent gray and three members of the county council running for his job really had what she had to s say. >> and everyone coming here since 1937 has pass ed this building. >> it is going to turn the neighborhood into a beautiful gateway site. >> we love our home, and love where we are, and we hope that someone will hear us, and get us to where we need to be. >> in the district, tom sherwood, news4. >>> entire town cut off by an avalanc avalanche, and that is not the only danger for people blocked off by a 100-foot of snow. >> and now this extremely cold weather is also an arctic blast. >> and it may be hitting our area. liz crenshaw will be here to tell the us >>> and it is a bad combination, low temperatures and old pipes. it is leading to breaking pipes. >> and the ride home tonight is going to be tough around woodmont as there is a broken main. and kristin wright joining us to tell us about what to do about t the additional breaks. >> well, it is not the best timing in wisconsin avenue and rush hour, but the good news, the northbound lanes leaving d.c. are no

vincent gray is helping to break ground there. these drawings of what the development will look like when it's finished, including homes, shops and restaurants. >>> right now, president obama is planning a trip to prince george's county. coming up, the popular store he will visit and the message he's trying to spread. >>> plus, how much money do you make and >>> we're going to show you a woman that you can look out for when you're watching the state of the union address tonight, vice admiral michelle howard, one of the first lady's guests there tonight in the gallery. howard lives here in the district. she will become the navy's first female four-star admiral. she'll also be the first african-american woman to achieve the four-star rank in military history. look for her tonight. >>> the mayor of the town at the heart of the new jersey traffic scandal will also be at the state of the union. ft. lee mayor will be a new jersey congressman's guest tonight. he accused christie's administration of causing traffic problems in ft. lee bec

mayor vincent gray says someone will be held accountable after a man died right across the street from a fire station. >> who in the world is going to punish somebody for having violated protocol, but you saved somebody's life in the process? i'm not buying that. >> 77-year-old medrick mills collapsed on rhode island avenue in northeast. his daughter called 911 and begged firefighters across the street for help. instead, she was told it was against procedure for them to respond. the fire department launched an investigation. some question if 911 dispatchers sent an ambulance to the wrong address. >>> a brand-new study shows a road many of you travel every day is also one of the most dangerous in maryland. it's the beltway between georgia avenue and rockville pike in montgomery county. news4's darcy spencer joins us live in silver spring with more on a new study. darcy? >> reporter: good morning, barbara. you know, if you drive this section of the beltway, this comes as no surprise. there's a lot of crashes. take a look here. this is part of the beltway that we're talking about, and hig

i know vincent gray will be here from d.c. and we will of knowledge when he comes in. do today is to twofold. we want to acknowledge direction of the committee, the task force, as we advance throughout this year. i want to thank those mayors and their staff members who joined us on a conference call back in november to establish the focus force for theask upcoming year. we want to discuss a plan of action that we want to pursue for the task force. one of the things we discussed as a task force on the conference call was the should be a working task force. this will not be about presentation and we welcome it if you're wondering what is next. we will walk out of here with a plan of action were all of us will get an opportunity to participate. you will understand what i mean as we traverse through this. for areas of execution for this coming year. and then move into the action areas. i want this to be a dialogue. we will go about the process of engaging all of us in a dialogue . i will last you first and foremost to sign in. your name should be listed. if you are -- if t

. >> and the district the unemployment rate is at the lowest level since 2008, and mayor vincent gray announced that unemployment fell half a percentage rate in november when the jobless rate was 6.7%, but the national rate for december is 6.4%. >>> in a few hours, president obama will deliver his fifth state of the union address to the american people. >> and instead of focusing on the lofty goals, he will announce a series of smaller proposals and many who will not need congressional approval, and chris is live on capitol hill with the proposals. >> yes, jim. these are for the officials from prince george's county and these are not big themes, because the president is trying to be realistic the about what to accomplish in the election year, and trying to krcreate more economic empowerment zones and extending job training and things to do without having to go through congress and so let's take a look tat the big themes that you can look and listen for in just a few hours from now right here on news4 when the president starts to speak. first off, he is going to have defend obama care

>> washington's mayor, vincent gray, has called for a full investigation and said this situation wasense. here's what gray told one of our reporters earlier today about this investigation. >> i've taken a lot of time. i've talked to his daughter. but i think given the fact that there's an investigation going on, let's give that an opportunity to play out. and it's being done as rapidly as we possibly can because we want to get to -- >> a big concern to you or -- >> it's a huge concern. >> it's a huge concern. cnn has reached out to the city's firefighters union for comment. we have not heard back yet. "the washington post" however is reporting that the president of that union has apologized to mills' daughter. i want to bring back in joey jackson and mark o'mara on this story. look, i always want to give the benefit of the doubt in any story where we don't have the complete set of facts. this is very, very troublesome. very troublesome. what possibly could be a defense here of these firefighters? >> i really hope that there's less to it than there seems. i can't imagine firefighters,

mayor vincent gray is refusing to answer reporters' questions. >> he's already said what he's got to say. the mayor used his police escort to push aside reporters today as he left a reich braer event. yesterday mayor gray told one reporter that he apologizes about the 2010 campaign, but wouldn't discuss details. four campaign aides have pleaded to felonies connected to the 2010 effort. gray said he couldn't apologize for what other people did. a federal criminal probe is continuing now. coming up on "news4 at 5", tom sherwood will take an impact on all of this at the mayor's reelection bid that kicks off this weekend. >>> firefighters wearing helmet cams rush to free a man trapped in a car, stuck on railroad tracks with a train headed their way. >>> plus mission to mars. why over 1,000 people are competing to go to the red planet and not return. >>> a . >>> on a worker in philadelphia was injured seriously. when framing collapsed. they put him on a stretcher and slowly lowered him on a ladder. the work is now hospitalized with injuries to his lower body. >>> and cameras were rolling

mayor vincent gray was among those in attendance at a wreath laying at the mlk memorial today. gray was joined by the men's choir from the people's community baptist church for the ceremony. mayor gray was also at the west education campus in northwest. 50 fans of the capitol's mystics and the wizards helped take part in a day of service. former bullets player bob dandridge and capitol hall of famer rod langley joined in and together the group painted murals, organized the library, painted and assembled benches. >> what dr. king stood for, the values he stood for, the principles he stood for, are being reflected in what you all are doing, what so many people are doing across this city, across the nation today. that is giving back. it gets no better than giving back. >> vice president joe biden delivered the keynote address at the national action network's annual king day breakfast. his speech focused on fighting injustice and voting rights. >> that's what all of you are all about as you fight for economic justice, racial and gender equality and trying to stem the tide of new at

graya gray -- vincent apologized to the family. >> i do not know what to say. i did the best i could speaking with them. the first thing i did was apologize for what appeared to be dereliction, in this case. forecil mills had worked the district government 47 years before his death on saturday. >> hours after delivering the state of the union, president obama is on the road to pitch his ideas about reducing the income gap. his first stop was in prince george's county. scott thuman is outside of the capital tonight. scott. mentioned, itu has become a tradition for the president the day after the state of the union to hit the and expand on some key points from his speech. today it was all about boosting hourly pay and new ways to save. those plans are not without critics. well outside this costco, cries for higher minimum wage, inside promises to push for a three dollar hike. >> i am choosing this to be a year of action. because too many americans are working harder than ever just to less get ahead. >> it helps when there is more money in the pockets of workers.

. >> many wonder if they're closer to making a decision about vincent gray. thanks so much. that's reporters notebook. i'm pat lawson muse. stay with us. news 4 today continues. >>> a day at the mall turns tragic. a lot of questions this morning about the deadly shooting at columbia mall. howard county police say a gunman shot and killed two before he turned the gun on himself. police have identified him but have not released his name. police tell us it took less than two minutes for the officers to get to the scene. the mall will stay closed today. we'll get the latest during a news conference at 9:30. we'll carry that live here on news 4 today. >> good morning everyone. i'm richard jordan. >> i'm angie goff. this is what we know about the victims gunned down at the columbia mall. they worked at the skate store zumiez. one of theic haves is 25-year-old tyler johnson. he lived in the area. the other victim is 21 year-old brianna benlolo. she worked as the zostore manag. her grandfather says she had a 2-year-old son and this was her first job since giving birth. >> a statemen