WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2007
Wednesday Edition: Behind the Scenes -- Children Flying Alone
A Ft. Myers, Fla., TV station wanted to know how safe children are when they fly on an airplane alone. So the station enlisted the help of a parent who allowed an 8-year-old to fly on three different flights on three airlines. The airlines didn't know that the TV station was watching as airline employees wandered off and left the child alone.
The child wandered off to a bathroom unnoticed.
Take a look at the story, which includes statements from Delta and Continental airlines after they learned of the station's experiment.
I can't imagine allowing a small child to fly alone this week when airports are at their busiest. What happens to these kids when airlines cancel flights, delays occur or mechanical issues force plane changes? Are parents asking too much of the airlines?
Blogging in the Woods
My friend Mike Wendland (who will be teaching the
backpack journalism seminar with me at Poynter next April) has been reporting from the woods lately. Mike tells multimedia and technology stories for the
Detroit Free Press. He was a TV investigative reporter for many years before that.
Last week, 700,000 people headed for the woods in Michigan to start off the deer hunting season.
You have to see how Mike made a 1,000-mile trip across both Michigan peninsulas to cover the 2007 firearms deer hunting season.
He
went armed with a box full of e-mail invitation to visit deer hunting
camps across the state. He asked hunters to send him GPS coordinates of
their deer camps, and he dropped by to visit them.
Mike explains
a new piece of technology that hunter lovers call a "trail cam." Hunters use it to gather intelligence on where the deers are located. The camera snaps photos 24 hours a day of anything that walks in front of it.
These
stories are a marvelous mix of outdoors traditions that can be told
because Mike is a master of technology. The technology helps him to
tell stories that most newsrooms would drive right by.
Youthful Hunters in AccidentsThe Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel finds:
A Journal Sentinel analysis shows the percentage of accidents caused
by hunters 21 and younger in 2006 was the highest since 1999. And in
the past five years, those young hunters were more than twice as likely
to cause hunting accidents than all other hunters.
The analysis also finds that deer drives remain a dangerous method
of hunting, accounting for more than half of all deer-hunting accidents
since the 1999 season.
"Deer hunting comes with risks," said David Hrubecky, who hunts with
his 15-year-old son, Alex, in Manitowoc County. "I think, until kids
mature, they think they are immortal. A lot of times it's carelessness,
but when it comes to carrying a gun, you can't be careless."
A Wave of IRS-Related Scams
A new round of Internet scams are making their way to an inbox near you. The Internal Revenue Service says the e-mail:
...claims to come from the IRS and the Taxpayer Advocate Service (a
genuine and independent organization within the IRS whose employees
assist taxpayers with unresolved tax problems). The e-mail says that
the recipient is eligible for a tax refund and directs the recipient to
click on a link that leads to a fake IRS Web site.
Another scam is targeted at the victims of the California wildfires:
A new scam e-mail that appears to be a solicitation from the IRS
and the U.S. government for charitable contributions to victims of the
recent Southern California wildfires has been making the rounds. A link
in the e-mail, when clicked, sends the e-mail recipients to a Web site
that looks like the IRS Web site, but isn't. They are then directed to
click on a link that opens a donation form that asks for personal and
financial information. The scammers can use that information to gain
access to the e-mail recipients' financial accounts.
And then there is a third scam making the rounds:
Another
recent e-mail scam tells taxpayers that the IRS has
calculated their "fiscal activity" and that they are eligible to
receive a tax refund of a certain amount. Taxpayers receive a page of,
or are sent to, a Web site (titled "Get Your Tax Refund!") that copies
the appearance of the genuine "Where's My Refund?" interactive page on
the genuine IRS Web site. Like the real "Where's My Refund?" page,
taxpayers are asked to enter their SSNs and filing status. However,
the phony Web page asks taxpayers to enter their credit card account
numbers instead of the exact amount of refund as shown on their tax
return, as the real "Where's My Refund?" page does. Moreover, the IRS
does not send e-mails to taxpayers to advise them of refunds or to
request financial information.
Exposing the 'Miracle Machines'
The Seattle Times is running the results of
a remarkable investigation that looks at the world of fraud behind "miracle machines" whose inventors claim they can
cure AIDS and cancer, as well as reduce
cholesterol. Maybe the biggest miracle of all is that the
Times found
thousands of these machines -- and desperate people willing to pay
for them. Part of the reason these machines can be so attractive is
because of the people who endorse them.
And make no mistake, these "cures" can be dangerous.
As the Times reports:
- In Tulsa, Okla., a woman suffering from unexplained joint pain was
persuaded to avoid doctors and rely on an energy device for treatment.
Seven months later, her son took her to a hospital. She died within
hours from undiagnosed leukemia.
- In Los Angeles, a mother pulled her 5-month-old son out of
chemotherapy for cancer and took him to a clinic where a 260-pound
machine pulsed electromagnetic waves through his tiny body. The baby
died within months.
- In Seattle, a retiree with cancer emptied her bank account to buy
an energy machine. Shortly before she died, her husband, a retired
Microsoft manager, examined its software, finding that it appeared to
generate results randomly — "a complete fraud," he said.
We are always looking for your great ideas. Send Al a few sentences and hot links.
Editor's
Note: Al's Morning Meeting is a compendium of ideas, edited story
excerpts and other materials from a variety of Web sites, as well as
original concepts and analysis. When the information comes directly
from another source, it will be attributed and a link will be provided
whenever possible. The column is fact-checked, but depends on the
accuracy and integrity of the original sources cited. Errors and
inaccuracies found will be corrected.
Posted at 1:49:31 AM
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