Monday, December 21, 2009
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
After a great weekend in Casper, Wyoming judging the Miss Wyoming USA pageant I am now headed to New York for the next hearing of suspected terrorist Najibullah Zazi.
Though his name is hard to pronounce, everyone on the plane knows who he is. After seeing our TV camera and asking what we are covering, one man loudly yelled "guilty" as he walked down the aisle of the plane.
That seems to be the consensus among people who stop to chat with me. It is not the consus from viewers who email. Many people point out that defendants are inocent until proven guilty.
Follow me on Twitter: jacelarson
Though his name is hard to pronounce, everyone on the plane knows who he is. After seeing our TV camera and asking what we are covering, one man loudly yelled "guilty" as he walked down the aisle of the plane.
That seems to be the consensus among people who stop to chat with me. It is not the consus from viewers who email. Many people point out that defendants are inocent until proven guilty.
Follow me on Twitter: jacelarson
Monday, September 21, 2009
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Woman arrested after claiming cop raped her
And on this one... police claim they have video to show her story is completely made up.
Follow me on Twitter: jacelarson
Follow me on Twitter: jacelarson
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Beyond the Basics
Watch our story Sunday night on 9NEWS after the Bronco game or check it out Sunday on 9NEWS.com.
Journalists, especially those of us on TV, like to talk. There’s no denying it.
This week we’ve been talking a lot about my story, “Beyond the Basics.”
Our newsroom is divided.
Many people applaud us for looking closely at what some families buy with their food stamp money. Others are outraged or upset, saying recipients can buy what they want with their own money.
We’ve had countless debates in 9Wants to Know and the entire newsroom discussing whether to run our story. And if we did run it, what examples should we include in it. In the end we’ve decided to let you make the decision on what is acceptable spending. Our jobs aren’t to censor. If I give you as much information as possible, you can draw your own conclusion. You don’t need me filtering your news.
We are not choosing a side.
Should families on food stamps be able to buy crab legs or $45 dollar birthday cakes? (A local grocery store checker told me she watched both happen recently.)
But what if that $45 cake or crab legs are for an extra special occasion? What if that family saved for weeks to be able to afford it?
Would you be mad if people used cash assistance (another program to help families buy non-food items) to buy cigarettes? It’s happening and we have the receipts to prove it.
Taxpayer money funds both programs. That means you are essentially paying for everything that’s purchased.
What do you think?
Follow me on Twitter: jacelarson
Journalists, especially those of us on TV, like to talk. There’s no denying it.
This week we’ve been talking a lot about my story, “Beyond the Basics.”
Our newsroom is divided.
Many people applaud us for looking closely at what some families buy with their food stamp money. Others are outraged or upset, saying recipients can buy what they want with their own money.
We’ve had countless debates in 9Wants to Know and the entire newsroom discussing whether to run our story. And if we did run it, what examples should we include in it. In the end we’ve decided to let you make the decision on what is acceptable spending. Our jobs aren’t to censor. If I give you as much information as possible, you can draw your own conclusion. You don’t need me filtering your news.
We are not choosing a side.
Should families on food stamps be able to buy crab legs or $45 dollar birthday cakes? (A local grocery store checker told me she watched both happen recently.)
But what if that $45 cake or crab legs are for an extra special occasion? What if that family saved for weeks to be able to afford it?
Would you be mad if people used cash assistance (another program to help families buy non-food items) to buy cigarettes? It’s happening and we have the receipts to prove it.
Taxpayer money funds both programs. That means you are essentially paying for everything that’s purchased.
What do you think?
Follow me on Twitter: jacelarson
Friday, August 28, 2009
An hour with the Shaggy Bandit
I’ll admit, I was a little surprised when the man who claims he’s the Shaggy Bandit agreed to talk to me about his suspected 17 bank robberies or attempted robberies.
We talked for an hour in a very small visitor’s cubical at the Denver City Jail. He sat behind thick glass and we spoke over a telephone.
Michael Kincade was kind. He smiled. He looked me right in the eye. He didn’t come across cocky.
He seemed very average. He has long hair and wore a shirt with a camouflage print.
He came across as a man who realized the magnitude of what he claims he’s done.
Kincade said he’s sorry and told me he didn’t want to hurt anybody.
"I have standards. It might not seem like it much," he said. "I didn't see myself hurting anyone."
Follow me on Twitter: jacelarson
We talked for an hour in a very small visitor’s cubical at the Denver City Jail. He sat behind thick glass and we spoke over a telephone.
Michael Kincade was kind. He smiled. He looked me right in the eye. He didn’t come across cocky.
He seemed very average. He has long hair and wore a shirt with a camouflage print.
He came across as a man who realized the magnitude of what he claims he’s done.
Kincade said he’s sorry and told me he didn’t want to hurt anybody.
"I have standards. It might not seem like it much," he said. "I didn't see myself hurting anyone."
Follow me on Twitter: jacelarson
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Your taxdollars
Check this... U.S. Government keeps paying a landlord who rents to low income/Section 8 tenants even though landlord is not paying his own mortgage! What is this landlord doing with YOUR taxdollars?
Sound wrong? You're not alone. I first aired this story at 9 p.m. on tonight's news. I didn't even get my microphone taken off and people were calling, outraged. Nicole from Aurora even called to say the exact thing happened to her!
Read the story by clicking here.
And if you want to see something else that made a whole bunch of people angry, take a look at another foreclosure story I did recently. We titled it "Everything Must Go."
Click here to read that story.
Follow me on Twitter: jacelarson
Sound wrong? You're not alone. I first aired this story at 9 p.m. on tonight's news. I didn't even get my microphone taken off and people were calling, outraged. Nicole from Aurora even called to say the exact thing happened to her!
Read the story by clicking here.
And if you want to see something else that made a whole bunch of people angry, take a look at another foreclosure story I did recently. We titled it "Everything Must Go."
Click here to read that story.
Follow me on Twitter: jacelarson
Friday, August 21, 2009
It's happened yet again
So yet another nurse is fired from a hospital for supposedly stealing drugs. This time at Denver Health Medical Center.
It's Interesting to see how different hospitals handle the situations. Denver Health Medical Center and Swedish Medical Center have clearly been open with their information. They have been upfront in addressing the arrests and issue.
Not all hospitals have chosen to take that approach.
Follow me on Twitter: jacelarson
It's Interesting to see how different hospitals handle the situations. Denver Health Medical Center and Swedish Medical Center have clearly been open with their information. They have been upfront in addressing the arrests and issue.
Not all hospitals have chosen to take that approach.
Follow me on Twitter: jacelarson
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Meeting ponzi schemer Shawn Merriman
From the cul-de-sac in front of his Arapahoe County house, I couldn’t miss the U-haul parked near the garage. His 3,115 square foot million dollar house sit about 50 feet back from the street.
I called out hello. No one answered back. I peeked around the back of the U-haul, nothing. Nothing after a knock at the front door.
“Was he hiding from me? Most likely,” I thought. “I’ll gave it one more try.”
I walked back to the U-haul offering more loud, friendly hellos.
All of a sudden there was Shawn Merriman.
It’s always a bit odd when you cover someone for months having never met them and then meet face to face.
Shawn is shorter than I expected but was very pleasant.
He didn’t yell at me to leave, he didn’t walk away.
We chatted for a few minutes and I offered him a chance to tell his side of the story. He declined.
I asked if he was moving. I probably should have asked WHERE he was moving. (People don’t really pack up their stuff just for the fun of it.) He didn’t want to tell me.
Maybe it was because he knew what I didn’t yet know… his next home would not be exciting.
Wednesday a federal judge ordered him held in jail while he faces a charge of mail fraud. Click here to read the story.
Should he have to go to jail while he waits for his charges to be worked out? Vote in the poll to the right.
Follow me on Twitter: jacelarson
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Wild, and I mean wild, accusations
A co-worker described tonight’s story as what might be the creepiest story ever! It involves an old man, a young boy, a remote cabin and a surgical knife!!!
(Read the story here.)
When Anna Hewson and I first heard the name John Taylor, it didn’t mean much. Now it’s synonymous with some of the wildest allegations either of us have ever heard.
Early in the year police sources urged me to look into the case of a man recently charged with molesting kids.
“There’s more to the case,” several people told us.
After weeks of repeated phone calls, days of digging through court files and hours double checking facts, we figured it out.
Police don’t just think Taylor molested two boys as he’s charged in Denver District Court, police believe he abused and then chemically cremated a third victim.
We knew the allegations at first, but when an anonymous letter arrived at 9NEWS containing a search warrant sealed by the courts, 9 Wants to Know learned the WHOLE story.
The allegations involve a remote cabin in Clear Creek County.
You’ll see, in the story, we packed our camera equipment more than a mile up a steep trail to investigate the cabin. .
What you won’t see is that the first day we hiked to the WRONG place. Wrong trail, wrong cabin and wrong information.
We had to do a retake the next day.
The area is picturesque but in February, the weather was cold.
Yes I said February -- We’ve been investigating for six months.
The details we uncovered in our story shows why it took so long.
We’re proud of it even though we understand it might be hard for some to watch. We’re proud because without a source urging us to dig deeper in what seemed to be a routine crime story, you might never know what happened to 16-year-old Ian Richardson. It’s our hope that now his family might take a small amount of comfort in at least knowing what may have happened to their son, brother or cousin.
No one deserves to die the way police believe Ian did.
I have to give a lot of credit to our fantastic producer/editor Anna Hewson and both executive producers, Nicole and Tiffani.
We told an important story tonight.
Even though Ian disappeared 17 years ago, no one should be forgotten.
(Read the story here.)
When Anna Hewson and I first heard the name John Taylor, it didn’t mean much. Now it’s synonymous with some of the wildest allegations either of us have ever heard.
Early in the year police sources urged me to look into the case of a man recently charged with molesting kids.
“There’s more to the case,” several people told us.
After weeks of repeated phone calls, days of digging through court files and hours double checking facts, we figured it out.
Police don’t just think Taylor molested two boys as he’s charged in Denver District Court, police believe he abused and then chemically cremated a third victim.
We knew the allegations at first, but when an anonymous letter arrived at 9NEWS containing a search warrant sealed by the courts, 9 Wants to Know learned the WHOLE story.
The allegations involve a remote cabin in Clear Creek County.
You’ll see, in the story, we packed our camera equipment more than a mile up a steep trail to investigate the cabin. .
What you won’t see is that the first day we hiked to the WRONG place. Wrong trail, wrong cabin and wrong information.
We had to do a retake the next day.
The area is picturesque but in February, the weather was cold.
Yes I said February -- We’ve been investigating for six months.
The details we uncovered in our story shows why it took so long.
We’re proud of it even though we understand it might be hard for some to watch. We’re proud because without a source urging us to dig deeper in what seemed to be a routine crime story, you might never know what happened to 16-year-old Ian Richardson. It’s our hope that now his family might take a small amount of comfort in at least knowing what may have happened to their son, brother or cousin.
No one deserves to die the way police believe Ian did.
I have to give a lot of credit to our fantastic producer/editor Anna Hewson and both executive producers, Nicole and Tiffani.
We told an important story tonight.
Even though Ian disappeared 17 years ago, no one should be forgotten.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
9Wants to Know
Hey check out what a great job our promotions guys, Drew and Andy, did on our new 9Wants to Know promo.
Nurses arrested
More than 80 responses to the story we broke about yet another nurse fired for allegedly stealing drugs from a hospital.
And, as the last time when I reported on this story (see previous blog entry,) many of you say this gives nurses a bad name. And you want to point out that there are thousands of hard working, good nurses out there.
In fact the Department of Regulator Agencies, which regulates nurse licenses, notes that there at 99,575 RNs, LPNs and certified nurse aids in Colorado and 261 were disciplined last fiscal year, (July 1, 2008 to June 30, 2009.) The licensing board received 584 complaints.
In the comment section of our story at 9NEWS.com, Jdenver wrote, “
My wife is a great nurse in a challenging unit at DGH, she has never used any drugs. She does her job because she has compassion for the population that they work with and wants to provide them good care. It is her way of giving back to the community. How many of you would clean feces off of a homeless guy or hold his hand while he died alone in an ICU? I laugh when people say they are compassionate or that they would do anything for their religion, go work a day in an ICU. This is not an easy job folks and there are good nurses out there.
And some of you had words for St. Anthony Central.
TruthfulGuy wrote, “St. A's needs to get their act together. Medical staff arrested.
Thanks for the comments!
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Caption this!
Some very nice girls were putting on a funny show as I filled up with gasoline Tuesday afternoon.After a few minutes, I took their picture to see what captions my Twitter friends could create for the photo.
@wynterose: "rainbow children gone bad"
@sarah_lee: "You can take the girl out of the short bus, but you can't take the short bus out of the girl."
I want to hear some more captions, just click on the picture. (And this is all in fun.)
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Lots of news today!
From Former President Bill Clinton helping get two journalists released from North Korea and a new radio station called “The Pole” marks its fifth day on the air, it's a busy day. The Pole – as in a stripper pole -- supposedly plays “stripper hits from the 80s, 90s and today.”
Monday, August 3, 2009
Implosion gone wrong
Someone is without a job this morning, I'm guessing.
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Turf wars
I must have put it up just on the turf boundary of two different hummingbird gangs. One bird will come drink and within seconds it is bombarded by another one. Playing? Possibly, but I doubt it.
The look like they are attacking each other.
Whatever the case is, it is a great day at the cabin to relax and watch nature.
Sent from my mobile device.
Friday, July 31, 2009
Needle in haystack, running on fumes
For the first time in my life, I knew more than the FBI. They invited me to spend several hours with highly trained agents from the Evidence Response Team.
Yesterday, a select few buried a fake skeleton. Today everyone else had to locate and exhume it. I was one of only a few people who knew its actual location.
Lucky me.
I learned a lot. First of all, agents don’t JUST drive around in dark SUV’s. They are funny, personable people. The camera scares them just as much as the rest of us.
After about 30-minutes of searching, agents found the fake skeleton which was buried wearing a Spiderman mask.
Humor is important when you spend much of your time digging up real people.
I got to watch them carefully dig around the bones to make sure no evidence got lost.
They work meticulously. Once they’ve removed the bones, they still dig down about a foot in case any evidence ended up buried under the body.
E
xcavating a real body would take about six hours, this one took just more than an hour. Good training for them and a good look at how it’s done for the rest of us.
What I didn’t tell the agents is that I arrived there nearly out of gas. I stood a good chance of not making it out of the “search site” on my own. (Blame Anna Hewson who ALWAYS leaves her car without gas.) I think I would have rather pushed our 9NEWS SUV up a mountain than have to call the FBI and ask for gasoline. Luckily no call was necessary.
After safely making it back to Denver, I stopped by Posh Salon for a haircut. We have a promo shoot next Tuesday and I was instructed to cut my hair.
Now it’s 10 minutes until the 4:00 show – which I’m appearing on to report this story.
Have a good weekend.
Yesterday, a select few buried a fake skeleton. Today everyone else had to locate and exhume it. I was one of only a few people who knew its actual location.
Lucky me.I learned a lot. First of all, agents don’t JUST drive around in dark SUV’s. They are funny, personable people. The camera scares them just as much as the rest of us.
After about 30-minutes of searching, agents found the fake skeleton which was buried wearing a Spiderman mask.
Humor is important when you spend much of your time digging up real people.I got to watch them carefully dig around the bones to make sure no evidence got lost.
They work meticulously. Once they’ve removed the bones, they still dig down about a foot in case any evidence ended up buried under the body.
E
xcavating a real body would take about six hours, this one took just more than an hour. Good training for them and a good look at how it’s done for the rest of us.What I didn’t tell the agents is that I arrived there nearly out of gas. I stood a good chance of not making it out of the “search site” on my own. (Blame Anna Hewson who ALWAYS leaves her car without gas.) I think I would have rather pushed our 9NEWS SUV up a mountain than have to call the FBI and ask for gasoline. Luckily no call was necessary.
After safely making it back to Denver, I stopped by Posh Salon for a haircut. We have a promo shoot next Tuesday and I was instructed to cut my hair.
Now it’s 10 minutes until the 4:00 show – which I’m appearing on to report this story.
Have a good weekend.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Tales from the tipline
“I will have to talk to my son”
You might want to read today’s “Tales from the Tipline” to any teenager who drives!
Wednesday we received a tipline call from a mom complaining about how her son received a ticket from a Sheridan Police officer for driving a car with a broken tail light.
The car was hers.
The tail light was broken during the big Monday night storm from a couple of weeks ago. So you can imagine this mom’s outrage when her son came home with a ticket!
So 9Wants to Know made a call to the officer who issued the ticket.
It turns out the boy was actually speeding. The officer tells 9News he issued the teen a ticket for the broken tail light to preserve the points on the boy’s license.
All mom had to say when we called to let her know what happened, “I will have to talk to my son”.
I’ll bet they had quite a talk.
By Nicole Vap, 9Wants to Know Executive Producer
Thanks to 9News Intern Matt Sewick for contributing to this blog.
Anyone can call the tipline with tips at 303-871-1799.
You might want to read today’s “Tales from the Tipline” to any teenager who drives!
Wednesday we received a tipline call from a mom complaining about how her son received a ticket from a Sheridan Police officer for driving a car with a broken tail light.
The car was hers.
The tail light was broken during the big Monday night storm from a couple of weeks ago. So you can imagine this mom’s outrage when her son came home with a ticket!
So 9Wants to Know made a call to the officer who issued the ticket.
It turns out the boy was actually speeding. The officer tells 9News he issued the teen a ticket for the broken tail light to preserve the points on the boy’s license.
All mom had to say when we called to let her know what happened, “I will have to talk to my son”.
I’ll bet they had quite a talk.
By Nicole Vap, 9Wants to Know Executive Producer
Thanks to 9News Intern Matt Sewick for contributing to this blog.
Anyone can call the tipline with tips at 303-871-1799.
Meeting Nurse Jillian Fischer
It’s an unseasonable cool day in Denver yet when the rain broke this morning, I had the opportunity to meet the woman fired from two hospitals for allegedly stealing drugs.When she first walked out of court and saw our cameras, she quickly turned around and walked right back in. Who wouldn’t?
After speaking with her attorney quietly in the back of courtroom 12T in Denver, she walked out, in front of our cameras, holding her attorney’s arm.
She stared straight ahead. She was dressed in a suit.
Even though former St. Anthony Central & Swedish nurse Jillian Fischer didn’t have to appear before a judge, she was there to sign paperwork for drug court.
If she gets treatment successfully, drug court could help her avoid jail or prison time.
Fischer walked out of the building before I asked if she’d like to talk.
Approaching someone after court should be done carefully and compassionately.
I always think, how would I like to be treated? I rarely feel comfortable sticking a mic in someone’s face without first asking if it’s okay. Everyone, no matter who you are, deserves respect.
Fischer shook my hand but let her attorney, Leonard Chesler, do the talking.
“She’s remorseful,” he told me. “She’s getting appropriate treatment.”
What I found interesting is the look on Fischer’s face. When you see the video tonight on the news, I’d be interested to hear what you think.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
A message from nurses
So I spent time with several nurses today. One thing noticeable as you pass the front door of the hospital and onto the patient floors... most nurses love their jobs and they love patients.
Some I spoke with today were unhappy, others downright angry that one of their peers would steal drugs from patients.
They work hard at their jobs and they have a message: most nurses are great, caring people
Of course, they were responding to details we uncovered about nurse Jillian Fischer who allegedly stole drugs from Swedish Medical Center, was fired and then hired by St. Anthony Central Hospital where she allegedly did the same thing.
Vote in the poll on the right.
On tap for tomorrow... if the stars align, we're going to be bringing back some video you won't see any where else. That's all I can say... and when we show it to you, you'll understand why.
Some I spoke with today were unhappy, others downright angry that one of their peers would steal drugs from patients.
They work hard at their jobs and they have a message: most nurses are great, caring people
Of course, they were responding to details we uncovered about nurse Jillian Fischer who allegedly stole drugs from Swedish Medical Center, was fired and then hired by St. Anthony Central Hospital where she allegedly did the same thing.
Vote in the poll on the right.
On tap for tomorrow... if the stars align, we're going to be bringing back some video you won't see any where else. That's all I can say... and when we show it to you, you'll understand why.
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