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Pullman Budget Plan

http://dnews.com/local/article_b33d23d4-59b4-11e4-b1b1-0017a43b2370.html

Avista Power Out

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Completing the Meal (Policy Story)

Story:

Completing the Meal

            Patrons filled the Jackson Street parking lot. Children climbed the jungle gym. Music filled the town square. Two local vendors brought beer and wine to the farmers market for the second straight week.

            “Just being at the market is a great way for people to learn about my little hole in the wall,” said Lucas Rate, Owner and Brewer of Moscow Brewing Company. “We don’t get a lot of foot traffic at our location, back on Almon Street, so this is an amazing opportunity.”

            Rate and Jeremy Ritter, Owner of Camas Prairie Winery, became two of the first vendors to sell beer and wine at the Moscow Farmers Market.

            “There were several people congratulating us just for being out there,” Ritter said. “Before our first booth at the market, some people didn’t know there was a winery in Moscow; if nothing else, it’s a great way to advertise our product.”

            Moscow Art Director Kathleen Burns researched farmers markets in Idaho and found two in Boise that sell beer and wine regularly.

            “I looked at the best practices from Boise’s markets, and I started thinking about how we could implement beer and wine in Moscow,” Burns said.

            Erin Carroll, Moscow famers market commission chair, and the commission talked to market-goers to gauge interest in beer and wine.

            “We received 365 yeses and 13 no’s,” Carroll said. “You could say we were pretty excited to get that kind of feedback.” 

            Moscow City Council unanimously approved an ordinance allowing the sale of closed containers of beer and wine from local vendors at the final three farmers markets of the 2014 season as part of a pilot program. The ordinance also allows the vendors to sample out the product in small one to one and a half ounce cups.

            “Before the ordinance, the market had only food, and by adding beer and wine, we’ve completed the meal,” said Carroll.

            The pilot started during the three smallest markets of the season, so there may not be enough data to show city council if the pilot was a success, Carroll said.

            “If we don’t get enough feedback, we hope city council will approve another pilot program for next year’s season so we can get a better sample size,” Carroll said.

            Rate thinks Moscow is a great community, and he hopes the program returns full time in 2015.

            “Right now I’m a one man operation, so if the city brings the program back, I’m going to need more help brewing,” Rate said. “I had to scramble just to finish crafting beers for the last two markets.”

            There will be some things that still need to be ironed out, Ritter said, but he is positive and hopeful the program will return.

            “I’m excited for the future. I’d be willing and ready to fill some slots at the market if council makes the pilot a long term project,” Ritter said.

            The last farmers market of 2014 is Saturday, Oct. 25^th from 10 a.m. to one p.m. on Third Street in downtown Moscow.

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Outline: The city of Moscow approved a pilot program for the final three farmers markets of 2014 to allow beer and wine to be sold near the market for off-site consumption and small samples. If the pilot is a success, the city could choose to add beer and wine sales for good.

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Story pitch:

My story centers around the short (but expectedly successful) policy to allow beer and wine sold at the Moscow Farmer’s Market. The Moscow City Council approved the new policy last week. The Moscow Farmers Market Commission did a study during a few Farmers Markets to see how many people would be on board to buy beer or wine from local vendors. The last three markets (including two days ago, Sat. 11) will have samples and full craft beer/wine bottles for sale. The Moscow Farmers Market Commission Chair Erin Carroll said that she received 365 yeses and only 13 no’s when she asked them about their interest in buying beer and wine from the Farmers Market.

The story is relevant now because this could be the only three weeks the Farmers Market has wine and beer. However, IF this is successful then it would be the first time they’ve sold beer and win from local vendors, so it would be a great story to cover as the first ever. I’m interested to go to the market and see how successful things are, or are not.

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Interviews:

Moscow Art Director, Kathleen Burns: 208-883-7036

Owner Camas Prairie Winery, Jeremy Ritter: 208-882-0214

Owner, Brewer Moscow Brewing Company, Lucas Rate: 208-874-7340

Moscow Farmers Market Commission Chair, Erin Carroll: 509-335-8998

Video Interview:

Descriptive Lines for Story

Third Street filled with patrons. The playground was crammed with children. The town square jammed with music. The vendors brought beer and wine to Moscow’s farmers market for the first time.

Beat Related Stories

Pullman Budget
http://dnews.com/local/article_cba24614-4310-5ef6-9048-c28374f38a8d.html

Pullman Church Property
http://dnews.com/local/article_8c4c612d-7816-5bbe-835f-3a620abaac8e.html

Public Disclosure Commission

1. Click on “Search the Database.”
2. Click on Candidates.
3. Who raised the most money in 2012? How much? Robert M McKenna – $13,828,000.97
4. About how much money was raised in the race for the governor’s office? $26,618,855.28
5. Click on the "Legislative" tab.
6. Change the year to 2014.
1. Who has raised the most money in the 2014 Legislative race? Andrew R Hill - $822,427.10
2. Who has raised the most money in District 9? Joe Schmick - $116,582.30
3. Let's look at Susan Fagan's campaign funding. Click on "Details" next to her name.
1. How much has Delta Dental contributed to Fagan's campaign in 2014? $1,000
2. The Gun Owners' Action League? $0
3. Let's say you want to interview a supporter of Fagan. List one Pullman donor. (Last one was 2013) Motley Peg
4. At the top of the page, click on "Expenditures."
1. Why did Fagan's campaign pay $1,000 to ACN? Radio Program Time
2. How much has her campaign spent on candy?  $122.20
4. At the top of the page, click on "Committees." Organize the data by amount "Raised."
1. Which committee has raised the most money? WA Education ASSN Pac - $1,615,657.73
5. Click on "Search the Database" and let's look at "Lobbyists."
1. Which lobbyist has received the most "Compensation"?  Gordon Thomas Honeywell Gov. Affairs$1,223,670.56
2. Once you located that lobbyist, click on "Employers." List two employers who hired the lobbyist. Appriss Inc. Carmax Auto Superstores Inc.
3. We can also track spending on initiatives in Washington state. To do that, let's look here:http://www.pdc.wa.gov/public/ballotmap/ballotinitmap.aspx 
1. How much has been raised in support of 2014 initiatives? $16,049,595.22 How much in opposition? $545,510.46
2. How much has been raised for initiative 591? $1,23,030.86 In opposition? $0.00
1. How much of that money came from donors in Whitman County? $660.00 (for), $0.00 (against)
2. How much have donors from New York contributed in opposition to this initiative? $50 (for), $0.00 (against)
3.  What would the initiative do? Protects against adding stricter regulations on background checks on guns. It keeps the regulations at the National Standards.
4. Let's follow the money here:http://www.pdc.wa.gov/MvcQuerySystem/Committee/initiative_committees
5.  Find the top two donors to the "Washington Alliance for Gun Safety." 591 – Washington Arms Collectors, Gun Owners Action League… 594 – Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund, Hanauer Nicolas
6. You can see historical data on the most-expensive campaigns here:http://www.pdc.wa.gov/archive/home/historical/pdf/MostMoneyJournal.pdf Governor: Robert McKenna (2012) $13,828,001… Attorney General Rob McKenna (2008) $1,882,960… Initiatives (for) 1183 $20,115,326… Initiatives (against) 522 $32,711,222.31… State Senate John(Jack) Connelly Jr. (2012) $1,035,722…Single Race Senate (2013) 26^th District (Angel, Schlicher) $1,320,529…State House Cyrus Habib (2012) $340,771…Single Race House 43^rd District (2006) 48^th district (Dodson, Kelley, Knighton, Pederson, Pure, Street, Sherman)

Beat Stories

http://dnews.com/local/article_5fae96e2-6ebc-5e5b-becd-8c20fcdb07b8.html

http://dnews.com/local/article_cbea9ba2-8799-5d3e-a7c8-49d5b5fb98ad.html

Policy Pitch

My story centers around the short (but expectedly successful) policy to allow beer and wine sold at the Moscow Farmer’s Market. The Moscow City Council approved the new policy last week. The Moscow Farmers Market Commission did a study during a few Farmers Markets to see how many people would be on board to buy beer or wine from local vendors. The last three markets (including two days ago, Sat. 11) will have samples and full craft beer/wine bottles for sale. The Moscow Farmers Market Commission Chair Erin Carroll said that she received 365 yes's and only 13 no’s when she asked them about their interest in buying beer and wine from the Farmers Market.

The story is relevant now because this could be the only three weeks the Farmers Market has wine and beer. However, IF this is successful then it would be the first time they’ve sold beer and win from local vendors, so it would be a great story to cover as the first ever. I’m interested to go to the market and see how successful things are, or are not.

Possible Interviews:
Erin Carroll, (More from her)
Mayor Lambert
MOS from Farmers Market
One of the vendors

Enterprise Story, Pitch, Outline, Sources

Fields of Dream

            The city of Genesee is getting two ball fields after planning for nearly a decade. The Genesee recreation department, the Genesee school district and the city decided the current configuration wasn’t working, so they decided to make some improvements.

            The goal is to create the two ball fields and a parking lot for those fields hopefully before softball season in spring 2015, said Art Lindquist, Genesee recreation department commissioner. The softball fields will cost around $250,000, Lindquist said.

            “We’ve been raising money for years, and we finally have enough to build the fields, so we decided it’s time,” he said.

            The baseball and softball teams suffered because there was only one field to share between 14 teams. The high school girl’s softball team had to share the field with the high school boy’s baseball team, said Kelly Thompson, the Genesee high school girl’s head coach.

            “We practiced mostly in the grass of the baseball and football field,” Thompson said. “We barely got any time on the infield and sometimes our first time on the infield was in our games.”

            Games weren’t easy either, Thompson said. The team traveled to Lewiston for all of their games the last several years. Even with the adversity, the team managed to make five state tournaments, winning two and finishing in second place three times, in the five years with Thompson as their coach.

            “The city is so supportive that they’ve traveled to watch us in Lewiston,” she said. “If the fields are ready in the spring, I hope more people will attend because they won’t have to trek to Lewiston to watch us.”

            For Kelly Caldwell, Genesee high school principal, the championships aren’t why he supported the creation of the new ball fields.

            It is about equity, Caldwell said. The recreation department started working, and Caldwell knew creating softball and little league fields was the top priority.

            “Championships or not, we need to provide equity for our teams and our players,” he said. “I’m happy that they will finally be able to practice on their own field, and they can play home games at home, instead of Lewiston.”

            With 14 teams sharing a field, there was almost never time for teams to have the field alone, said Tammy Stout, Genesee activities association treasurer and youth baseball coach and youth softball coach.

            Just like the high school softball team, the little league teams almost never practiced fielding in the infield. The kids would get terrified of ground balls, Stout said.

            “With two fields, softball can have their own, and little league can have their own,” Stout said. “I think getting more practices will be the biggest benefit for the kids.”

            According to censusreporter.org, 34 percent of Genesee’s population is under the age of 20. The organized sports aren’t the only people who use the fields, so the new ball fields will be great for everyone, Lindquist said.

            In the long run, the recreation department wants to add more than just the two softball fields, Lindquist said.

            “Right now, the football field and baseball field share space,” he said. “We hope to build a standalone football field with a track wrapped around it, and we want to give baseball their own field too.”

            The goal is to add the football field and track combination and the standalone baseball field within the next ten years. The cost of the whole project, which includes the two fields currently being built, will be around $1 million, Lindquist said.

            “We’re working on finding grants and fundraising for the football and baseball fields, but for now they will have to wait,” he said. “We’re excited to have new fields for softball and little league because we want them playing here at home.”

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Outline: The city of Genesee is getting two new ball fields after having one baseball field for 14 teams to share. Three city groups have been planning and fundraising for a decade to build new fields. The end goal is to have a new football field, baseball field, a softball field and a little league field.

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Story Pitch:

Two Sentence Explanation: After years of waiting and asking for money, the Genesee Recreation Department is finally getting some adequate play fields. They are adding two softball fields, and in the future (hopefully) a standalone baseball field and a standalone football field.

Evidence: I wrote a story about this earlier in the Summer when they initially had the money approved for the play fields back in July. The softball fields are in the process of being built. They hope to add the football and baseball fields in the future.

Why Now: The city of Genesee has needed these fields for awhile, so this story is relevant no matter what part you cover. The reason for me is they want the fields ready and playable by the Spring when the softball team returns. The softball team (if I remember correctly) has won the State Championship in back-to-back years. Now they will finally have a field that is at their level of play.

Interviews: I’ve talked to Art Lindquist the Genesee Recreation Department Commissioner. Since my initial talk with him to check in, I haven’t been able to get him back. The reason that is important is I’m hoping to interview one of the coaches and a softball player about the new fields and what it will mean to them. I was hoping to get a name suggestion from Art, so when I called it wasn't a surprise for the coach and player. My fourth interview I’m not sure whom I’ll go after, but I’ll find someone.

Format: Print, 500-600 words       

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Sources:

Art Lindquist: 208-310-9046

Kelly Thompson: 208-413-4911

Kelly Caldwell: 208-285-1162

Tammy Stout: 208-305-4711; 208-285-1679

I didn't get a video of a source, which I talked to you about the likelihood of that happening. I'd be happy to discuss that matter further if you'd like.