News Video
Many years back, I picked up a video camera for one reason or another. Shortly after, I teamed up with a friend to begin a production company. We shot weddings mostly and made very little money.
Skip ahead a few years and video became as integral to my work as photography. I’ve shot shark dives in the Bahamas, road trips across the country, shoot-outs and SWAT raids in New Jersey and a lot in between. What’s listed below is “News” video, although my other page, “Great American Roadtrip” contains other, less ‘professional’ — though highly entertaining — work.
Matthew Akins started the police surveillance group Citizens for Justice over a year ago – the result of his own frustrations dealing with a few local police officers. In the year that has passed since its formation, the organization has attracted the attention of citizens who feel they’re not getting a fair shake from the Columbia Police Department. It’s also attracting the attention of a police force unaccustomed to being on the other side of surveillance.
—Read the story here.
FDA Behind-the-Scenes
(These were shot mainly by Kyle Bruggeman for part of the News21 investigation into food safety)
In 2010, the FDA physically examined only 2.06 percent of all food-related imports, and current estimates forecast even lower numbers for 2011 and 2012 – 1.59 and 1.47 percent, respectively.
This July, News21 reporters went behind-the-scenes of FDA’s largest operating district, Los Angeles, in an attempt to better understand a world hidden to the majority of American consumers, where one slip-up by an already overwhelmed agency can result in serious harm or death to those they are trying to protect.
—Read the result of the investigation into the FDA here.
PREDICT is a computer program that automatically checks the information for every FDA-regulated import, looking for clues to determine the risk of a particular shipment or commodity. It’s set up to draw from elements like a manufacturer’s history with the agency, lab test results and even current weather patterns, all in attempt to direct investigators towards the riskiest commodities and shipments. It is the agency’s best hope in dealing with what’s coming.
At a warehouse in East Los Angeles, FDA inspectors Arnold Shih and Dennis Hong watched as workers emptied out 50 boxes of preserved bean curd from China into a grinding machine. The monstrously loud mechanism worked its way through 1,800 bottles, resulting in a stream of chunky yellow ooze that seeped out of the back end into a grimy container to await disposal. The improperly heat-sealed bottles of curds could have invited the growth of harmful bacteria, so the FDA ordered it destroyed.
Since 1991, a close-knit group of retirees have built 75 percent of the Habitat for Humanity homes in Columbia, Missouri. They have no plans for stopping any time soon.
—Read the story here.
Two cyclists from New York are heading across the country in search of good music. They recently stopped in Columbia — their halfway point.
Hoboken Residents take to the streets, protesting a 47% tax hike. RNN Reports.
After Sarah Palin took heat for a $150,000 wardrobe- we wanted to know how far that cash could go?
