Citizen journalist Nick Shirley told a CBS reporter to quit “yapping on selfie mode” and visit a day care center himself after the news outlet claimed there is no evidence of day care fraud in Minnesota.
Shirley released an investigative report in which he visited many day cares in Minnesota, which appeared to be largely inactive while they received millions of dollars in government funding. This enraged a host of public officials and citizens across the country, believing that many, particularly those in the Somali communities across the country, are abusing government funding.
CBS News conducted “its own analysis” clearing the day care centers of any fraud, outside of safety and cleanliness standards:
A recent video by conservative YouTuber Nick Shirley alleged nearly a dozen day care centers in Minnesota that are receiving public funds are not actually providing any service. After the video went viral, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem announced a “massive investigation on childcare and other rampant fraud” in the state. CBS News conducted its own analysis of nearly a dozen day care centers mentioned by Shirley: all but two have active licenses, according to state records, and all active locations were visited by state regulators within the last six months. CBS News’ review also found dozens of citations related to safety, cleanliness, equipment, and staff training, among other violations, but there was no recorded evidence of fraud.
“We visited those sites too, as did state inspectors many times over the last six months, and we found the facts on the ground tell a different story,” CBS reporter Jonah Kaplan said. “Those day cares, many of them were written up for safety violations, things like maybe busted equipment or staff training issues, but that’s not the same as being fraudulent, so it’s important to put all of this into context.”
Shirley fired back, “Why don’t you go to a day care yourself and you will see it first hand Or you can just keep yapping on selfie mode.”
The U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Department paused childcare payments to Minnesota in response to Shirley’s video.
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