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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.

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

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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