Derecho storm, now details how it could have been avoided and a Police Officer sworn to protect and serve is accused of sexually abusing an underage girl, new details about this case. Thanks for joining us tonight. Im shawn yancy. Im brian bolter. We begin with the flu virus running rampant. Hospitals nationwide are swamped with people with flu symptoms. The states in red is where the cdc is reporting widespread of the nasty virus. Now crowds are flocking to get flu shots and that is creating supply shortages. Fox 5s Audrey Barnes has more. This early onset of the flu is causing a run on the flu vaccine in the d. C. Area. Some doctors offices and local pharmacies have run out. The shortage has Healthcare Providers scrambling to restock and people afraid of the flu scrambling to get protection wherever they can. The doctors at metropolitan pediatrics in rockville started seeing cases of the flu in october and they just keep coming. Weve had probably 20 or 25 cases the past two weeks. Reporter now theyre out of flu vaccine. We ordered about 12 or 1,300 doses expecting it was going to be a rough year since last year was so mild and we ran out just about a week ago. Reporter and theyre not alone. This early onset of the flu has caused a run on the vaccine at d. C. Area doctors offices and pharmacies including the pediatric veriage on massachusetts avenue. The Office Village on massachusetts avenue. The Office Manager said they wont have any until monday. Thats why little nima and his mom ended up inside the cvs pharmacy inside of tenleytown. We called his pediatrician and they ran out of the vaccine. Reporter the cvs pharmacy itself is out of the vaccine, but the clinic tucked inside the store still has come available, good news for preschool teacher paul gregare. This was the fourth stop for rosalie duland. We waited in line there and they said were out. We went back to my neighborhood and they said oh, were out. We wont have them until 2 00 tomorrow. So we came here. Reporter with virginia, d. C. And maryland reporting unusually high levels of the flu already the vaccine shortage could get worse and get this. More than 128 million doses of vaccine have been distributed nationwide already. Thats 95 of what manufacturers provided this year. I just sort of figured get it now while im here. Just be patient and wait because it will be worth it. Reporter since the flu season hasnt even peaked yet doctors say its worth the hunt for a shot. The recommendation is officially to still get the vaccine if you have had the flu so youre protected against the other two strains in case they crop up this year. The vaccine shortages at some pharmacies like cvs and giant are scattered. Some may be out only a day or two while they wait for deliveries, so keep checking. Urgent care clinics are a Good Alternative and the emergency room is your last resort. We posted a link to a flu vaccine finder on www. Myfoxdc. Com. Click web links. That will come in handy, audrey. Thank you. We are following a developing story out of anne arundel tonight. Four pedestrians in the hospital after a car hit them, sky fox over the scene at quarterfield route and the route 100 east on ramp, two adults, two juveniles. At least two sustained life threatening injuries. The vehicle that hit them stayed on the scene. Tonight police are trying to figure out how it happened. Another big story, the fallout from Emergency Services disruptured. More than 1 Million People in virginia unable to reach 911 during the derecho, now the fcc verizon phone outage could have been avoided. Fox 5s maureen umeh with the story. The system failure was called preventible and unacceptable. Today the fcc announced plans to launch a rule making to help strengthen the reliability of 911 communications. The damage during last junes degrees derecho was mass junes derecho was massive. 77 Emergency Call Centers serving more than 3. 6 million customers in six state lost phone connections including information on call locations. Virginia was one of the states hit particularly hard with most of its 911 centers experiencing partial or complete outages for several days. What happened during the derecho must never happen again. It was horrible. And the federal Communications Commission agrees with Fairfax County board supervisor sharon boliva, one of the first lawmakers to speak out about the outage. Thursday the fcc issued a staff report on the 911 failure saying the problems could have been avoided if the Communications Providers that routes calls to call centers had fully itch meanted industry best practices and implemented industry best practices and called the disruption unacceptable and said the bureau would do whatever was necessary to ensure the reliability of 911. Its recommendations include maintaining adequate Central Office backup power, having Reliable NetworkMonitoring Systems and conducting periodic audits of 911 circuits. Boliva says shes seen some progress hoping theres more to help avoid any possible 911 failures. I think that theyve made a lot of progress. First of all, in coming back and giving some assurances as to what technical changes theyve made. One of the most important things that theyve realized is that theyve really let us down. Verizon has taken several steps to improvement. They say the next step is reviewing the fccs report and recommendations. Were 10 days into january. You wouldnt know it if you stepped outside. How long will this winter warm up stick around . Turn thing over to fox 5s sue palka in northwest. Should we break out the shorts here . Reporter ill bet youll break out the shorts. I have a feeling a lot of people might be tempted when they see the weekend temperatures in just a bit well show you on the news at 10 00, but yes, were talking about a january thaw. Its pretty typical every season to have at least a spell in january thats bove inarmal. Were getting ours now and believe me normal. Were getting ours now and believe me, for those of you who dont like this warm stuff, weve got something for you, too. 57 degrees was the high here, atlanta 68 degrees, tampa 84 degrees today and new orleans 70. Check out temperatures right now. Its 46 in the district and thats significant because that 10 00 temperature is 3 degrees warmer than our average high for the day would be. We dont even see many places in the 30s, frederick down to 37, one of the colder spots it. Doesnt look like its going to be that spots. It doesnt look like its going to be that cold tonight. Well have some clouds coming into the picture to help keep temperatures near 40. Heading into the weekend is when the warm stuff comes. You can see both the air masses. One of reasons well warm up so much is because weve got a really big push of cold air that will seesaw down through the west and that will make the other half of the seesaw go up on the east coast. Mild conditions, warm temperatures and what are we talking about . How about 15 to 30 degrees above normal. Thats for the weekend. In the short term for tomorrow when you head out, make sure you grab one of these and put it in the car. Looks like well have a few showers the second half of the day. Well talk more about that, how much we can expect and how you how warm we think it will get over the weekend and yes, when winter returns to d. C. With the sevenday in a little bit. Hopefully its a long way off. Well see you. Thanks. Now a news alert in maryland, police are searching for this man, clayton mullenhoff. Were told he escaped from washington venice hospital in Montgomery County last night. He suffers from paronoia and is suicidal and has a history of violence and is known to carry weapons and has extensive rtial arts training. Police say do not approach him. He seems to be more defensive to people who are in authority who want to take him into custody. I would tell citizens still not approach him. I did put his picture out there and just maybe call our department and let us know where youve seen him and let them go find him. Police believe mullenhoff may have left the area already. They say he likes to take long walks and bus rides. They since notified all surrounding police departments. Again if you see him, give police a call. Now a story you saw first on fox 5, a d. C. Police officer accused of sexually assaulting an 11yearold girl in his church choir was arraigned today in superior court. Wendel apartmenter pleaded guilty. Fox 5s karen gray houston has the story. Reporter defense attorney Harold Martin on the left had no comment for reporters as he left court. We believe the gentleman on his right is a relative of Wendel Palmer at the family run Temple Church of christ apostolic where the alleged sex abuse occurred. Its shocking. Reporter that was the reaction from neighbors when we stopped by Wendel Palmers house on reed circle in ft. Washington. Christmas decorations including a manger scene are still up and what appear to be church vans parked in the driveway. None of the street residents we spoke to wanted to be named. Because he seemed like such a nice guy, but i had no idea. I mean you never know who is living next to you. Great surprise, a shock. Its unthinkable. Reporter according to a court affidavit, the sex abuse of an unidentified minor began at this church when she was in her 6th grade year and continued from when she was 11 to 13. Palmer was the Church Choir Director who allegedly sexually assaulted the girl in the pastors office between rehearsal breaks when he sent other youth choir members to the store. Wow, wow. I mean thats disheartening. Thats alarming to hear. Reporter and hes a d. C. Police officer. Yeah. And that on top of it. If you cant trust the police are here to protect and serve, so if you cant trust your law enforcement, who can you trust . Reporter your youth choir director. Or the priest or the minister or whomever. Its pretty sad. Reporter the judge ordered palmer held pending preliminary hearing tuesday and granted a motion to keep him segregated from the rest of the jail population. The alleged victim make the charges against palmer is 19 years old now. She went to the police in march after her mother called the child and Family Services agency hotline. At d. C. Superior court, karen gray houston, fox 5 news. Pro gun groups including the nra made their case to Vice President joe biden today as the Obama Administration aims to curb gun violence. Well tell you how todays meeting played out. Also ahead tonight. Reporter this may look like a doctors office, but its actually one of the d. C. s new medical marijuana dispensaries. Im beth parker. Ill take you on a tour coming up. Later on the news edge, the real star of argo, meet the maryland man who is not only responsible for the american Success Story but may wind up with an oscar, also. a news alert from colorado where a judge ruled this evening there is sufficient evidence to warrant a trial for suspected Movie Theater gunman james holmes. The preliminary hearing was held this week to determine whether the case should go to trial. Holmes is accused of murdering 12 people, wounding 70 others in july. Hes scheduled to be formerly charged tomorrow. His lawyers asked for the arraignment to be delayed. A 16yearold California Student is in custody after he brought a shot gun and 20 rounds of ammunition to school this morning in Taft Union High school in taft, california. The gunman shot one student and missed another. The victim is in critical but stable condition. A teacher distracted the teen gunman and got more than two dozen students out a backdoor. A campus supervisor talked the gunman into surrendering. Vice President Joe Biden said he will be ready to make his recommendations to curb gun violence to the president next week. Today he met with representatives from the gun lobby. Yesterday he met with supporters of gun control. He says consensus is building on some gun control measures. Foxs Craig Boswell has the latest. You all know this is a complicated issue. Reporter Vice President joe biden says hell have a list of proposals to help reduce gun violence ready for president obama by tuesday. A surprising recurrence of suggestions that we have universal background checks. Reporter the Vice President says hes focused on the types of weapons that can be owned. Also among the suggestions from the task force is a ban on high capacity gun clips and closing the gun show loophole. The Administration Says its looking for legislative proposals and may try executive action. The truth is that through executive action its very tough for the white house to make that much of a difference. Theyre not going to ban the sale of certain ammunition or weapons. Theyre not going to close the gun show loopholes. Reporter gun show promotes are say attendance is up dramatically. The loophole allows unlicensed sellers to sell weapons without a background check. President obama asked for the background check after the mass shooting of 20 students and six educators in newtown, connecticut, last month. Biden met with the nra. The Group Opposes gun control efforts. Vice president buy den will meet with representatives of the biden will meet with the representatives of the Video Game Association friday. The nra released a statement saying, we are disappointed with how little this meeting when to do with keeping our children safe and how much it had to do with an agenda to attack the second amountment. President obama named jack lew for budget secretary. Some republicans are skeptical say the lew was less than honest about president obamas budget and its effects on the nations debt. The district is joining 18 states that have approved medical marijuana. In march those identified by the department of health will be able to buy up to 2 ounces of pot a month. Heres fox 5s beth parker with our first glimpse into one of the dispensaries. Reporter it looks like a typical high end office, but youll notice a lot of cameras around here, serious security. Its got the same kind of level security as in a bank. Reporter thats because this is capital city care, one of d. C. s first medical marijuana dispensaries. Es. You essentially just walked in the front door. This is the initial receptionist counter. Reporter david guard is the general manager who will oversee the upcoming opening. Theres no marijuana here yet, but guard says theyre already ready. Im thrilled because ive seen it happen. Ive seen ms patients ingest this. Ive seen cancer, aids, hiv patients. I know it works. Here you are. This is where well have not one, but two salesperson nell. Reporter there will be shelves lined with six to eight varieties of marijuana. It will look a lot greener. Reporter theirs will be grown under these lights at a cultivation center. Patients must have a recommendation from a doctor and approval from the d. C. Department of health. Theyre doing the right thing. Theyre being very careful. Theyre not trying to draw the ire of anyone. These are severely ill people that really require this medicine. Reporter people with cancer, aids, hiv, glaucoma and ms can be eligible. They put the dispensary on north capitol street because its a route people know, theres bus service and they also like the fact that the u. S. Capitol is right down the street. Its very important to us that people associate us with the capitol of the country because we really do think that we can make a huge change. We want to be what medical marijuana can and should be. We want to be a shining example of that and Great Community steward. Reporter guard had a graduate School Friend diagnosed with brain cancer. Then it became extremely personal. Reporter he says hes seen what medical marijuana can do. Its life changing. Reporter in washington, beth parker, fox 5 news. That dispensary expects to start selling in march. It will also provide free counseling to those who request it. Shakeup in the inauguration lineup, why a minister is dropping out days before the ceremony. Plus d. C. Leaders are putting the pressure on the president. Council member mary cheh joins me next to talk about her meeting at the white house tomorrow. um, hello. These ugly stains are ruining my good looks and style. And good luck using that cleaner. Excuse me, miss . Hes right. Those are tough hard water stains, and that cleaners not gonna cut it. Truth is, 85 of us have hard water and many dont even know it. You need limeaway. Limeaway is specially formulated to conquer hard water stains. Its 4 times more effective at removing lime scale than the leading bathroom cleaner. See the limeaway difference or your money back. It was president obamas first choice to lead the benediction at the president s second inauguration, but the reverend louie zilo from atlanta has withdrawn his name. He came under fire for comments he made about gay members 15 years ago. A spokesperson for the inaugural Committee Says members were not aware of the comments. Members of the d. C. Council are going to the white house tomorrow hoping to get the president to agree to put the taxation without representation license plates on his limo and other official vehicles. Council member mary cheh will be part of the mission and joins us live tonight. Thanks so much for being here. Certainly. Originally we were told this would happen in such a dramatic fashion, 13 members of the d. C. Council marching to the white house to deliver the plates, even if it meant just tossing them over the white house fence, but now were hearing its been watered down and is just you and Council Chair phil mendelson. What happened . It wasnt exactly