60 Minutes

Inside the Boston Bombing Investigation

/ Matthew Clemente / Leave a comment

Inside the Boston Bombing Investigation

Yesterday, linked to a This American Life story about an Orlando FBI shooting loosely linked to the Boston Marathon Bombing.  Today, we take you inside the investigation of the investigation of the Boston Bombing.

60 Minutes went “the inside story of the Boston Marathon bombing manhunt.” Here is how the story began:

The two explosions that tore through the Boston Marathon nearly a year ago were like a starting gun on a second race against time. Unknown terrorists were on the loose and they had more bombs. Now, for the first time, you’re going to hear the inside story from the federal investigators who ran the manhunt. They led a taskforce of more than 1,000 federal agents, state police and Boston cops.

Tonight, they will speak of the disturbing evidence that cracked the case and of a debate among the investigators that ultimately led to the dragnet’s violent end. The afternoon of April 15th, the FBI’s man in charge of Boston got a text, “two large explosions near the finish line.” For Special Agent Rick DesLauriers, the marathon became a sprint to catch the killers before they struck again. . . .

 

 

Saving Money by Providing Free Homes for Homeless?

/ Matthew Clemente / Leave a comment

Saving Money by Providing Free Homes for Homeless?

This past Sunday, 60 Minutes ran an interesting story about municipalities that are providing free homes to the homeless in order to save money.  

Reported by Anderson Cooper here is how the story began: 

Giving apartments to homeless people who’ve been on the streets for years before they’ve received treatment for drug or alcohol problems or mental illness may not sound like a wise idea. But that’s what’s being done in cities across America in an approach that targets those who’ve been homeless the longest and are believed to be at greatest risk of dying, especially with all of this cold weather.

They’re people who once might have been viewed as unreachable.  But cities and counties affiliated with a movement known as the 100,000 Homes Campaign have so far managed to get 80,000 of them off the streets. Local governments and non-profit groups do most of the work. The money comes mostly from existing federal programs and private donations, and there’s evidence that this approach saves taxpayers money. 

 

Filling the Skills Gap: Matching Jobs with the Jobless Through Innovative Internships

/ Matthew Clemente / Leave a comment

Filling the Skills Gap: Matching Jobs with the Jobless Through Innovative Internships

Last Sunday, 60 Minutes ran a story about an innovative jobs program, “Year Up.”  Year Up is an intensive year long job training program that matches poor urban youth with Fortune 500 companies, teaching them the specific skills necessary for the thousands of jobs that remain unfilled.  

Here is how the story began:

It may surprise you to learn that even in this time of stubbornly high unemployment there are hundreds of thousands of good jobs available that companies are finding hard to fill.

But one Wall Street veteran believes he’s found an overlooked source of talent that could be the answer. 

He started something called Year Up — a year-long jobs training boot camp for some of the country’s most disadvantaged young people. And so far thousands of graduates are now working at companies like J.P. Morgan, American Express and Facebook. The result is that many of the country’s most powerful CEOs are finding that they can do well by also doing good. 

Our Broken Mental Health System and How Hurts Our Youth

/ Matthew Clemente / Leave a comment

Our Broken Mental Health System and How Hurts Our Youth

60 Minutes began Sunday night with a segment on the mental health system in the US and how it is failing our youth.  I listened to the 60 Minutes podcast and did not see the video of the segment.  Even still, it is very powerful and recommend all readers to check it out.

Here is how the story began:

Last November 19th, Virginia State Senator Creigh Deeds was slashed and stabbed repeatedly by his own son. Gus Deeds was 24 years old and had been struggling with mental illness. He and his father had been in an emergency room just hours before the attack but didn’t get the help that they needed. The story of what went wrong with his medical care exposes a problem in the way that America handles mental health. It’s a failure that came to the fore with the murders at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

The vast majority of mental patients are not violent. But this is a story about the fraction who are a danger to themselves or others. Parents of mentally ill children in crisis often find, as Sen. Deeds did, that they have nowhere to go. Creigh Deeds bears the scars of this failure on his face, his body and his soul.

60 Minutes: A-Rod, PEDs and Suspension

/ Matthew Clemente / Leave a comment

60 Minutes: A-Rod, PEDs and Suspension

It is incredible to think that one person could embody all that is wrong with baseball, yet Alex Rodriguez manages to pull it off.  A-Rod is the epitome of the overpaid, doped up player who cares more about his ego than the fans.  Sunday, on 60 Minutes, Scott Pelley discussed Major League Baseball’s case against A-Rod, including an interview with his chief accuser, Anthony Bosch. 

Here is how the story began: 

Yesterday, Alex Rodriguez, considered one of the best baseball players of all time, was hit with the longest doping suspension in history. After a contentious private hearing, Major League Baseball’s arbitration judge took the Yankee third baseman out of the game all of next season. This, despite the fact that there is no positive drug test for Rodriguez. After the decision, Rodriguez repeated that he has never taken performance-enhancing drugs in the years that he’s played for New York.

Tonight, you are going to hear details of the evidence for the first time — much of it from Anthony Bosch, who ran a secret doping practice for pro athletes. It was last summer, after Bosch was exposed, that Rodriguez and 13 others, all Bosch’s clients, were suspended. All accepted their penalties except Rodriguez who appealed. In Rodriguez’s appeal hearing, Tony Bosch testified for five days, behind closed doors. Tonight, he speaks publicly for the first time.