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The News-Press Wanted: Your help in our investigative reporting Originally posted on March 11, 2007 In observance of Sunshine Sunday, we’re launching initiatives to get you involved in our investigative and First Amendment journalism. Wanted: The News-Press Nine. We’re seeking nine retired professional residents to become volunteer members of the news-press.com and The New-Press investigative team. The News-Press Nine will help us fulfill our public-service watchdog mission. They will help us monitor public officials, dig for documents and respond to whistle-blower tips. We’re seeking folks who are champions of the First Amendment, deplore government waste and revel in research. Our panel members may work on our Web site, write blogs and help our professional reporters with research. Areas of expertise we are seeking include, but are not limited, to accounting, law, public service and education. We are asking for a one-year commitment from our panel members. Applicants should be proficient on computers. To apply please send a cover letter and resume to Betty Wells, metro editor/news-press.com, 2442 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Fort Myers, 33901, or via email to blwells@news-press.com by March 24. If you have questions please call 239-335-0354. How it works We’re inviting readers to research, analyze and suggest investigations based on public records and databases that we’ve gathered for you to review. On news-press.com, we’ve posted a few, such as the Bonita Springs city budget and the Lee County Medical Examiner’s annual report. Take a look at two new databases we’ve posted this weekend: lists of public records request made to the city of Cape Coral and the Lee County School District. On this site, you’ll also find databases about crime in your neighborhoods and traffic. We intend to keep adding public records and searchable databases to our Web site and invite you to share your observations by contributing to a news-press.com forum or e-mail investigative report Lee Wolverton at lwolverton@news-press.com. Some examples: Below are examples of databases we’ve acquired, compiled or constructed for use in this project. We’ll be putting lots more up here, but for now we invite you to pick through what’s here and report your findings live at http://www.news-press.net/phpBB2/index.php?c=18. Crime: Interactive database/map of reported offenses across Lee http://www.news-press.com/crime Traffic counts: An historical look at traffic volumes on Lee roads http://dbease.news-press.com/dbEase/cgi-bin/search.pl?tableName=TrafficCount s2006 Related: See a live feed of where the accidents are around the county right now at http://www.news-press.com/traffic. Class size: Lee County student-teacher ratios http://dbease.news-press.com/dbEase/cgi-bin/search.pl?tableName=ClassSize Related: Use this database to help you choose a school under the School Choice program: http://www.news-press.net/maps/schoolchoice.php Nursing homes: Health conditions http://www.news-press.net/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=90 Ag exemptions: Property tax breaks http://dbease.news-press.com/dbEase/cgi-bin/search.pl?tableName=AgExempt IRS checks: A list of people who have IRS refunds coming http://dbease.news-press.com/dbEase/cgi-bin/search.pl?tableName=IRSnames Real estate outlook: Property prices over the past five years http://dbease.news-press.com/dbEase/cgi-bin/search.pl?tableName=RealEstateOutlook Local public companies: Stock performance for local companies for 2006 and updated each month http://dbease.news-press.com/dbEase/cgi-bin/search.pl?tableName=PublicCompanies Tell Mel: Our reporter who investigates the everyday wrongs you point out http://www.news-press.com/tellmel Reproduced courtesy of The News-Press. |