{ "id": "1996-march-check-out-recent-broadcast-projects", "slug": "1996-march-check-out-recent-broadcast-projects", "url": "https://dwillis.github.io/uplink/article/1996-march-check-out-recent-broadcast-projects.html", "year": 1996, "month": "March", "monthNum": 3, "headline": "Check out recent broadcast projects", "kicker": "Need inspiration?", "author_name": "Mary Flegas", "author_title": "", "affiliation": "Missouri School of Journalism", "summary": "This article highlights two investigative journalism projects by KSTP-TV using Computer-Assisted Reporting (CAR) techniques: one exposing unlicensed home remodelers defrauding Minnesota homeowners and the state's weak enforcement of penalties, and another investigating a firefighters union officer's abuse of sick leave and mismanagement of a museum trust fund.", "keywords": [ "investigation", "fraud", "enforcement" ], "topics": [ "Investigative Methods", "Data & Databases", "Journalism & Newsroom" ], "technologies": [ "FoxPro", "Excel", "CompuServe", "CDB Infotek", "Westlaw", "COBOL", "Nexis", "Internet" ], "full_text": "In \"Dreams Destroyed,\" a November 1995 story by KSTP-TV in St. Paul, Minn., reporter Joel Grover exposed how state-licensed remodelers swindled thousands of Minnesotans by tearing apart their homes during harsh winters and then threatening to leave if they weren't paid more than promised. This is among broadcast projects to air using CAR techniques. The following is a sampling of some of the most recent stories. The KSPT-TV investigative team, for instance, also found unlicensed contractors working illegally and ripping off homeowners. Minnesota law calls for punishing unlicensed contractors with 90 days in jail and with a $700 fine. The investigative team looked at whether this law was effective and found that it was seldom enforced. In only three of 63 cases in three years did the state push for criminal penalties. Instead, most received letters requesting them to stop their illegal contracting businesses. The data: The state of Minnesota's Department of Commerce maintains two large relational databases that are used to regulate a number of industries, including home remodeling. Unit 5 received the data in askii comma delimited files, which were loaded into FoxPro and Excel. The investigative team also reviewed lawsuits from federal and district courts, state and city licensing and enforcement records, complaints filed with the state and city agencies, secretary of state filings and Dun and Bradstreet business reports. The team retrieved some of these documents through Compuserv, CDB Infotek and Westlaw on-line services. In \"Big Burn,\" a May 1995 story by KSTP-TV in St. Paul, Minn., reporter Jay Kolls looked at whether the firefighters union was abusing its sick leave policy. Union officers were drinking at bars when they were supposed to be either working or sick. One particular union officer for the firefighters association, Gerald Brown, was targeted for his wrongdoings. The analysis indicated that Brown was out of the office 78 percent of the time at the taxpayers' expense and had used all of his available sick leave. KSTP also uncovered that a trust fund set up by a retired firefighter for a new firefighters' museum had been mismanaged, with $20,000 of the fund being spent on other items. Brown was a trustee to the fund. Reconciling the matter cost the fund another $18,000. Also, donations for the Welfare Association for Firefighters were skimmed. The Charities Review Council said the group must donate 70 percent of its money, but it had only donated 34 percent. As a result of the report, the attorney general's office and the mayor investigated. A building was found for the new museum. The data: The investigative team looked at 16 months of the city's union records, focusing on sick leave, vacation time and union time. The team compiled personnel records and time sheets from several fire stations into Excel and checked it against Minneapolis payroll records. The payroll records had to be converted from the original COBOL to FoxPro. In \"Cyberspace Casinos,\" a November 1995 story by WLS-TV News in Chicago, Ill., reporter Chuck Goudie looked into numerous gambling sites on the Internet and backtracked various Internet addresses to determine who was behind the gambling product. The multimillion-dollar gambling providers said they were getting around U.S. laws by setting up shop on Caribbean Islands, but WLS uncovered evidence that the top gambling service was putting people on-line through equipment in the United States. The data: The Internet was used to trace computer addresses, along with Lexis-Nexis. Cumulative reports from Attorney General's Offices in various states were examined to investigate the legality of such activities. In a February 1995 story by WJXT-TV in Jacksonville, Fla., reporter Paul Van Osdol revealed that nearly 400 Jacksonville area restaurants were considered unsanitary by state standards. Problems included roaches in kitchens and rats in storage rooms. The investigative team also found that inspectors rarely fined restaurants for health and safety violations, even after repeated citations. The data: WJXT obtained the restaurant inspection database for $65 from the state of Florida. In a February 1994 story by WCCO-TV in Minneapolis, Minn., reporter Kevyn Burger studied milk and juice in Minnesota schools. The station tested more than 1,000 containers and found companies shorting schools on their contracts, in one case by as much as 12 percent. State inspectors went into schools and confirmed underfilled cartons. As a result of the investigation, the dairies purchased new equipment, enforced stricter quality control and pledged to put the correct amount milk in the cartons. One company reimbursed the schools and donated 100,000 underfilled containers of juice to charity. State officials now say school beverages will be tested regularly. The data: The investigative team used the test procedures outlined in the National Bureau of Standards Handbook 133 (Third Edition) and NIST Handbook 133 (Supplement 4). These are the standards for testing procedures in the world of weights and measures. Federal weights and measures officials helped write the standards. The team used computers to organize the data and track the milk and juice lots to determine patterns. In a March 1994 story by WJXT-TV in Jacksonville, Fla., reporter Paul Van Osdol looked at whether school teachers in the public school system at Duval County had criminal records. Of the system's 6,000 educators, nearly 200 had a record. In many of these cases, the charges were significant - there were teachers who had been involved in shootings, stabbings and theft. In many of the cases, the Duval County School System knowingly allowed the offenders to keep teaching. Among the offenders who were still teaching was a driver's education teacher who had several DUI convictions, an elementary teacher who had been judged criminally insane, and a counselor who had several convictions for indecent exposure. Some teachers had lied about their occupation when they were arrested. The data: A search of records from the Duval County courthouse. The original plan was to build a database of these records to cross-check teachers' names with criminal records, but the city charged $3,000 for its criminal database. The records were checked manually. The electronic records did not match occasionally with the paper records.", "provenance": { "extracted_by": "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-6", "extracted_at": "2026-07-05", "verified": true }, "similar": [ { "slug": "1996-march-computer-assisted-reporting-turns-on-more-tv-journalists", "score": 0.164 }, { "slug": "2004-january-february-bits-and-bytes", "score": 0.158 }, { "slug": "2002-february-stories-2", "score": 0.155 }, { "slug": "1997-november-hunting-for-data", "score": 0.148 }, { "slug": "1998-october-jobs-and-online-car-projects-notices", "score": 0.147 } ], "html_url": "https://dwillis.github.io/uplink/article/1996-march-check-out-recent-broadcast-projects.html", "json_url": "https://dwillis.github.io/uplink/article/1996-march-check-out-recent-broadcast-projects.json" }