Earlier this month FOX News Channel called us to travel to Buffalo NY to film a story about Prime Minister Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed…believe it or not he is a New York State resident and resides in Western NY with his family. Last October he was appointed as Prime Minister and travels between Buffalo and Somalia regularly. He hopes to bring peace and stability back to Somalia. Who knew?

Click here to view the story.

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ABC 20/20 booked us to work in Syracuse today on a story about “distracted driving”. Chris Cuomo and producer Andrew Paparella flew into Syracuse to meet up with Sgt Joel Cordone of the Syracuse Police Department. Jr Kraus traveled from Rochester to mix the audio. We equipped the car with 4 Go-pro HD cameras.

The rest of us (camera, audio , and producer) squeezed “tightly” into the back of the unmarked cruiser.

It didnt take long to spot drivers using a cell phone while driving (talking on the phone, texting, surfing the web, and updating Facebook) . Sgt Cordone has “an eagles eye” for finding and pulling over anyone using a cell phone while driving. Under NY state law an officer can issue the driver a ticket and 2 points for holding any device that can transmit or receive data while driving in the car.

I learned a few things today: What’s the top excuse for talking on the cell phone? “I was talking to my mother”. Whats the best thing to do if you get pulled over? Sgt Cordone advises that “Honesty is the best policy” …he’s heard every excuse…and lying to an officer is a really bad idea.

Overall? Get a hands-free device and dont text while driving.

ABC invited many of the people who were pulled over today an opportunity to test their driving skills while using a cell phone at Virginia Tech Center for Automotive Safety Research, VA.

The feature will air sometime next month.

ABC News called us last week to work with David Muir on a segment for a week long series on products that are actually made in America. A family in Texas agreed to allow ABC to inspect and remove every item in their house that was not made in the United States. The result? Basically everything they owned was hauled away. Just about everything that went away was soon replaced with an American counterpart…except the coffee pot, light bulb, and…yup…the flat screen. Lucky for them, the only American appliance maker was Viking! (Good trade there)

Some of their possessions were replaced with quality American made Harden Furniture (McConnellsville, NY) We had the pleasure of spending the day with CEO Greg Harden filming the making of their furniture from cutting the tree down ( in 7 degree weather), sawing the boards, cutting, assembling, staining, varnishing, and packaging for shipment. This company also just sent a custom table to the White House to sit in the Roosevelt room!

This was one of the best series I have worked on. Watch the videos here and see for yourself. You just may be rethinking how you buy in the future! Great job ABC!

ABC hired us to work with John Berman to film a segment for an in depth look into child prodigies. We worked with young 3 year old (Keith O’Delle jr) Keith has a growing reputation as a pool prodigy..at the age of 2. He has been shooting videos posted on YouTube, has his own website (www.poolprodigy.com) and is the youngest member of the American Pool Association.

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I was happy to hear this week that my story for NBC Today show with correspondent Jill Rappaport was nominated for a Genesis award for the second year in a row! The Genesis Awards are awarded annually to individuals in the major news and entertainment media for producing outstanding works which raise public awareness of animal issues.

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