Investigating the Bank

Banks hold money, but they also have to make some to operate. That’s why overdraft fees and user fees exist.

When I worked for a bank in Ceredo, West Virginia, I felt the company actively defrauded customers they called “valuable.” The company mailed $10 checks to their “valued customers” for being good clients. Unbeknownst to the customer, when the check was cashed it was considered a signed contract agreeing to enroll in an account that charged them $5 per month.

On the very bottom of the check, a sliver of perforated paper read in tiny letters what cashing the check meant. Many customers who received the check were elderly and for whatever reason did not heed the warning.

I think a good investigation of this would be to talk to the FDIC to see what their point of view on grey area of false advertising is.

Investigating this story would also require speaking to someone at the United Bank company to see why they thought it was okay to rip off their customers in this way, especially elderly customers with bad vision and trusting personalities. It would also be very important to speak with a customer affected and pull their bank documents showing the transactions.

I think this would be an ethical question – the small words on the check were obviously supposed to be ignored.

It's going to be a bumpy ride.

Huntington Mayor Kim Wolfe says he governs his city on a set of priorities: keeping his people, their property and their ideas safe from harm. That's why he says street conditions in his city have taken a backseat – so the safety of those riding on them does not have to.

In a March 22 vote, Huntington City Council members agreed to cut $867,000 from the city's budget. Funds were cut from every department, including those meant to protect and serve.

$200,000 was cut from the Police Department, $165,000 from the Personnel Department and $120,000 from the Fire Department.

"There's no sense in making your streets smoother if they're not safe," Wolfe said.

An officer of the peace himself, one of Wolfe's campaign promises was to enhance protective services offered to residents like police and fire. This fiscal year, the economy got in the way. With all of the budget cuts, he said his goal was to protect those men and women who protect Huntington as much as possible.

"We can't print money and spend it like they do in Washington," Wolfe said. "The piece of the pie has to come from somewhere. We had to start cutting it up."

Some of that cutting came from the Streets Department.

Whether taking the road less traveled or Fifth Avenue, in Huntington either is probably a bit bumpy. The harsh winter was no friend to pavement and because of budget deficits those potholes may stay in place a little longer.

“Especially after this past winter, Huntington’s streets are really bad,” Marshall University commuter Ryan Vance said.

For Huntington's fiscal year 2010-2011, the budget estimate released on Feb. 12 listed $2.14 million in expenditures for the Streets Department. The number City Council members agreed on: $2.1 million. That means nearly $40,000 was taken away.

According to Wolfe, if repairs were made to every street in the city that needed them, the price tag would total $20 million. That’s half of the total amount of Huntington’s budget.

“That’s a tough situation because we have absolutely no money and now we’re cutting the budget police funds,” Vance said. “I don’t know that that potholes should be their biggest concern but I think they should do something because they’re becoming dangerous.”

Wolfe said streets would be repaired on a squeaky-wheel-gets-the-grease basis. He says city officials are keeping record of the most complained about streets – those will be the first to be patched up.

The Future of Investigative Journalism

Backpack, citizen, and multimedia journalists are just three of the many reasons investigative journalism has nearly become extinct. Cutbacks and other loss of resources have forced newsrooms to downsize and in most cases, true investigative journalism is the sacrifice.

Kevin Cullen works for the Boston Globe and won a Pulitzer in 2003 for the work he did breaking the story of the Catholic Church sex abuse scandal. The Harvard University Gazette reports he joined a panel of other journalists on campus back in August of 2006 to discuss the future of investigative journalism. According to him, that future is bleak.

"Investigative reporting is a high and lofty title for people who get the time and resources to get the story," Cullen said on the panel. "I'm one of the luckiest people in American journalism because increasingly that luxury is taken away from us." He’s lucky, because he is allowed to continue a form of public enlightenment that has virtually vanished.

Print newsrooms from the New York Times to the Herald-Dispatch have endured cutback after cutback. However, they seem to be the only form of media that can still generate investigative work.

"The only place we see it [investigative journalism] is in the print media and I don't know if we'll see it five or 10 years down the road," Cullen said, "and that scares the hell out of me." This is probably because for print stories, phone or E-mail interviews are usually sufficient. In television, interviews have to be done on camera, often creating the difficult task of physically getting to the interview location – or persuading the interviewee to be on camera. Often times, the phone or E-mail interview is easier for the person who is being interviewed, and when that person is very far away it would be impossible otherwise.

Cutbacks in television newsrooms seem to be a lot worse than in print. Reporters are now forced to become one-man-bands, shooting and editing their own stories, or face the loss of their job. In many cases, that same one-man-band is also responsible for putting their stories on the web and doing multiple versions of the story for different newscasts. With so many things to be done and fewer resources everyday for which to do them, taking two or three days off at a time to put together a well thought out, investigative piece has become impossible.

Aside from the rare chance that local television reporters are given time to complete comprehensive, investigative stores, I see from personal experience in television newsrooms they often rely on their network. Local affiliates of national news organizations have access to works of the network, and in most cases the network has the manpower to produce quasi-investigative pieces.

A new trend the world of journalism is seeing is privately run investigative units. For example, Joe Bergantino has made being an investigative journalist his life. He said when he saw the downfall of his life’s passion, beginning with television news, he developed his own way to do the work he loves.

With a lot of hard work and a lot of begging for funding, Bergantino and Maggie Mulvihill founded the New England Center for Investigative Reporting at Boston University. The Center is a new, rare breed of investigative journalism that may truly be the future for the craft.

On the Center’s Web site this principal is stated: “NECIR-BU intends to distribute its projects to the broadest possible audience with a coordinated, multimedia, multi-platform distribution using a variety of storytelling styles afforded by new technologies.” That is exactly what the team is doing. While the way the Center’s journalists get their work out to the people may seem a little unconventional – it is the future.

Bergantino and Mulivhill have formed unique partnerships with their local media. Once a story is completed, it is generated in many different mediums. Bergantino reports on camera for television stories, then shares his story with a local television station, which invites him on set. On air, the station says he is a part of their “i-Team”. The story may then be used by other affiliates of that station across the country if desired. Mulivhill transforms the piece into a print story and it is then offered to a local newspaper, which runs the piece.

In years past, news organizations would not have used stories completed outside their walls but now it is not seen as taboo – especially when the organization used, like the New England Center for Investigative Reporting is so highly accredited.

At the 2010 West Virginia Broadcaster’s Association convention, Bergantino offered advice to local news organizations hoping to continue investigative journalism at their station. He said there is always a way to advance a hard news story into something that qualifies as investigative. The problem though, is finding time and manpower from a station that relies on day of stories.

Huntington's Sinking (Budget) Ship

Budget cuts and furloughs are not what most city employees hope to deal with, but in Huntington it’s the bleak reality.

At his February 13 State of the City Address, Mayor Kim Wolfe proposed a 10 percent budget cut for all city expenditures. He also proposed unpaid, forced time off for all city employees, excluding himself and members of the Council.



Mayor Wolfe said he plans to cut Huntington’s estimated $44 million dollar list of expenditures down to $40 million.



16 percent of the city’s expected revenue is supposed to come from the municipal service fee, but in Huntington many residents aren’t paying up. Mayor Wolfe printed names of those residents who haven’t paid their bill in the newspaper. After his State of the City address, he said he wouldn’t stop there.

Mayor Wolfe said he would put liens on properties and turn names over to collection agencies.

Huntington’s largest expenditures, the police and fire departments, make up 48 percent of the outgoing budget – or $20.9 million. In an effort to save money there, Mayor Wolfe proposed cutting all civilian positions, meaning police officers and fire fighters would be forced to pull double duty – on the front line and behind the secretary’s desk.

Huntington Police Chief Skip Holbrook says he’s not happy about taking skilled officers off the street. He called it a “swift kick to the gut,” but said he will support the mayor’s decision.

Mayor Wolfe said these cuts are a “worst case scenario.”

City Council members, beginning February 27, will make final decisions on the budget for fiscal year 2011 following four weeks of special budget meetings.

Kim Wolfe's State of the City

At his 2010 State of the City Address, Huntington Mayor Kim Wolfe gave a grim outlook for the future of city workers. He put furloughs and pink slips on the table.

In an effort to cut the budget, Mayor Wolfe proposed laying off civilian positions at the police department. He says he is trying to avoid laying off trained police officers, but this move would still keep them from doing their job – something Police Chief Skip Holbrook says he is not happy about.

"This was a swift kick in the gut to know there's a potential we'll have to reduce front line staff to keep the police department running – just at an efficient rate," Holbrook said.

If the mayor's plan is passed by City Council, as many as eight officers could be pulled off the street and put behind desks. Laying off civilian workers, like secretaries, would mean police officers would have to pull double duty – picking up where the clerical staff left off.

It's a controversial move, especially after the most recent round of bar shootings this past weekend.

Three people were shot at random after a fight broke out on a dance floor at a Huntington nightclub. While that was news, it wasn't new news. Back in November 2009, one man was shot and killed and other were injured at a bar just a few blocks away. Same story, different bar back in 2008, when a former Marshall University football player was shot and killed at another nightclub shooting.

"The biggest issue is always protecting citizens," Mayor Wolfe said after his speech. "Part of the government is protecting citizens."

Chief Holbrook may not think taking officers off the street is a good idea, but he says he supports the mayor's decision.

The same proposal has been made for members of Huntington's Fire Department.

The unpaid, 20-day forced time off Mayor Wolfe proposed would affect all City employees, except himself and Council. He says that would save the city more than $1 million.

Mayor Wolfe says he's keeping his glass half full, though, and that these proposals are "worst case scenarios." Final budgeting decision will be made after four weeks of speical meetings, starting February 27.

Presidential Campaign Funds by MU and WVU Employees

In the 2008 Presidential Election, employees from both Marshall University and West Virginia University favored Barack Obama, according to campaign contribution records.

Federal Election Commission records say overall, West Virginians donated about $2.3 million dollars in the 2008 Presidential Election. More than $34,000 of that came from people who claimed to be employees of Marshall and WVU. Sixty individuals from both universities donated funds to the campaigns of Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Ron Paul and John McCain.

WVU biologist Andrew Cockburn, an

Obama donor, says he pitched in because it needed to be done.

“I thought we needed a change,” Cockburn said. He says he wasn’t happy with what the Republican Party was doing and felt he

needed to help make a difference.

Cockburn donated $500 to then Illinois Senator Barack Obama’s campaign. He said if Hillary Clinton had been the Democratic Party’s choice – he would have given to her campaign, too.

Donating time and money is a way Cockburn says he is able to get his hands in national politics. “I’ve been donating to campaigns fairly regularly over the last 20 years or so,” he said. “This one, I cared about more than most.

Cockburn says he thinks people in Morgantown really care about presidential politics. “We have a lot of professors here that are really involved in politics.”

Fifty other mountaineer professors also donated. WVU employees donated more than $30,000 to the campaigns of Obama, Clinton, Paul and McCain. About 60% of that money – $17,616 – was given to Obama’s Campaign.

At Marshall University, nine employees claimed to have donated about $3,700 to the 2008 campaign. The most of that money – $2,448 – was given to Obama.

In West Virginia, the Democratic Party raked in the most cash, nearly $1.7 million, and the highest funds were for Obama at $942,263. The GOP brought in $644,242, and the republican with the most donations was McCain with $294,730.

Investigative Proposal

TO: Professor Burnis Morris

FROM: Hanna Francis

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RE: Story Outline: Huntington Weed & Seed Investigation

Subject: Huntington Weed & Seed program has/has not affected criminal activity.

Scope: I will research Huntington crime data by district, before and after the Weed & Seed initiative. Huntington’s Weed & Seed program has been named third in the country, it is my goal to find out if it is worthy of that acclaim.

Need: The city’s money is going into this program, so it is necessary to ascertain if that money is being used in a way that benefits residents.

Methods: I will obtain crime data from the Huntington Police Department from before the Weed & Seed program was initiated and now, after it has been in place. I will break that information down by district.

Sources: Members of City Council and Huntington police officers would be the best sources for this investigation. Residents of the most crime stricken districts would also be valuable informants.

Presentation: This would be a good story for television, because we have file video of former crime activity and of Weed & Seed meetings. It would also be good for a newspaper.

Follow up: If it was discovered that the program hasn’t changed criminal activity much, it would be interesting to find out why tax dollars are still funding it. If it turns out the program has changed activity, it would be valuable to explain how. Other cities would be interested to know how Huntington’s actions have worked.