Investigative Story Proposal

TO: Professor Morris
FROM:  Justin Hawthorne - The Hawthorne Examiner
____________________________________________________________
RE:  Story Outline:  Cabell County's Federal Stimulus Money

Subject: Cabell County's extra stimulus money and how it is spent.

Scope:  I will research the Cabell County budget and find out how they ended up with the extra $5 million they are using to remodel the Big Sandy Superstore Arena and the $4 million that they are offering in low interest loans from federal stimulus money to Wayne County for a parking garage at Tri-State Airport.

Need: Because of increased concern about the economy and Gov. Joe Manchin's budget cuts, the public would be interested in knowing that Cabell County had so much extra in federal stimulus money that they are willing to loan it to the neighboring Wayne County for a parking garage at Tri-State Airport.  How these funds are spent could have an impact on everyone in the community.

Methods: This story can be documented by pulling together all of the budget and spending paperwork to find out where the extra money is coming from and how it is being spent.  I could also interview members of the Cabell County Commission, such as Scott Bias, who proposed the $4 million low interest loan to Wayne County and Tri-State Airport.

Sources:  As I explained above, I could interview members of the Cabell County Commission, as well as members of the Tri-State Airport Authority and the people that run and maintain the Big Sandy Superstore Arena.

Other sources that could be used would be the budget and other paperwork that shows exactly where all of the money is coming from and where it is going.

Presentation:  This would be a one-part investigative journalism piece.  I would use documents and images to trace how the Cabell County Commission came up with this extra money and if there is a better way to spend it that would benefit the community more.

Follow-up:  If there was a follow-up, it would be a good idea to see if the piece brought light to the spending of the commission and if it invoked change.  If it did, then I could write about where the money will be going instead of toward the airport parking garage and civic arena.