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

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

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

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

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