Investigating NEPA

PRESCRIPTION DRUG DEATHS This week, Action 16 Investigates looked at the problem of prescription drug overdose deaths, and I was honored to speak with local police, county coroners, and the mother of a man who died of an overdose death four years ago. This is a problem receiving little attention and that can be a deadly oversight. Our report revealed that prescription drug overdose deaths in Lackawanna, Luzerne, and Monroe Counties have skyrocketed in the last five years. Three times as many people die from prescription drugs as the street drug we parents worry about like heroin and cocaine. But those are the statistics. The human stories behind the numbers really tell the story. I had the pleasure of interviewing Carol Coolbaugh of West Pittston, who in her son’s memory, talks to D.A.R.E. program elementary school students to tell a precautionary tale about Erik Coolbaugh.                   ...

Pay Walls for the Papers My free rides are ending. The Scranton Times-Tribune, the Philadelphia Inquirer, and now the New York Times are no longer offering free, unlimited reading of their articles. I wonder how this will all work out. I get the reasoning. Journalists at all three papers need to be paid, and the better writers can command more money. Circulation for all three papers has steadily declined. And the sad truth is, news organizations have yet to figure out a way to make internet advertising as profitable as print or broadcast advertising. Some news organizations will tell you that making money from the internet is a matter of long term survival. I’d be disingenuous to oppose the so-called paywalls. These are my brothers and sisters who hopefully are able to stay employed and make a reasonable living if their employers can make the extra revenue streams work. I just wonder if they will. One problem: Most people are used to getting all content free on the internet ...

IN THE NEWS At WNEP-TV, our story on a company offering to get seniors property tax and rent rebates, was one of the more important warnings I’ve been a part of in three decades of television.  There are too many scams out there to mention, and we have to trust most viewers are smart enough to know they didn’t win a lottery they never entered, nor will they get help from a Nigerian Prince willing to share millions if they help him smuggle money out of the country. But the mailer from a group called the “Seniors Advisory Council” needed to be told, even though this business is legal.  Here’s how the sales pitch works.  Seniors are asked to pay $39 to the “council” for the group to fill out the form that gets them a rebate on their property tax or rent under a Pennsylvania tax break for those over 62.  Problem is, any social service agency, or state lawmaker’s office in the Keystone State can arrange for these people to get the form done FOR FREE !!!! The group neve...

     Sometimes we do stories, and problems are solved, people do the right thing.  Sometimes, we just simply ask questions, and fixes get made.  This week, Action 16 Investigates responded to a tip that more than 100 people living in a subsidized housing high-rise in Tamaqua were doing without air conditioning.  We had the story of 67-year-old Leo McGrath, who on his limited income bought two fans, and kept his window shades shut to keep out the afternoon sun. And it was still a sweltering 83-degrees inside.  Why no AC?  Because the unit broke down in November, it was supposed to be fixed by May, now it looks like a new unit will come on line in mid-July.  The current unit may be a lemon as it lasted just nine years and had a 20-year warrantee.  As we put together the story Friday, Johnson Controls, the company that bought the company that made the AC unit, and therefore had to honor the warrantee called to tell us a temporary fix w...

I am enjoying a quiet Sunday here in NEPA with family, and will be watching the Indy 500 and the 600 mile NASCAR race in Charlotte . But my heart is in St. Petersburg .   As many of my friends there will be beaching it and boating it, they won’t have the excitement and anticipation that comes with the first unofficial weekend of the summer.   This will feel more like Labor Day, with the wonder of how many more days on the water will be left until tarballs of oil, and dead marine life wash ashore.   The blame game is already underway, but BP, the Obama administration, the Bush administration, the lack of meaningful regulation, and our addiction to foreign oil have taken their rightful hits.   But the environmentalists have gotten away unscathed.   Blame the environmentalists?   Yes.   We need oil AND proper environmental protection.   But thanks to environmentalists we do not drill in the Alaskan wilderness, yet we deep water drill in th...

Welcome to Dave Bohman's blog: I will try to update this at least twice a week, and provide some insight into local TV news in Northeast Pennsylvania, giving some insight into the back stories of my investigative work and life in and out of the newsroom. Hope you all have a happy Memorial Day, and remember to thank a veteran. If you attend a ceremony where a vet of WWII, Korea, or Vietnam is being honored, pay close attention. Their special dedication and sacrifice made us what we are. Last year, I was in Bernalillo, New Mexico, where Veterans honored Daniel Trujillo, a man who was a prisoner of war in Korea for three years. I am happy my former employer KRQE-TV still has the story posted on-line. http://www.krqe.com/dpp/news/politics/politics_krqe_bernalillo_veteran_remembers_forgotten_war_200905251921 I am looking forward to Monday....hope I can do a veteran's story, and make it a little different and a lot more meaningful and relevant than the usual "parade/c...