Study abroad on the rise despite tuition increase

The end of the spring semester at WSU marks the end of school and the beginning of summer. But for some students, opting to go to work to earn money for the next semester of increased tuition is not the first priority. With over 1,200 study abroad programs offered by the University, many students are looking to travel outside the US for their education.

Education Abroad Director Candace Chenoweth has seen a steady increase in numbers of students studying abroad since tuition increases.

“I think the students recognize that in this day in age it’s good to get a wider perspective of the world,” Chenoweth said.

In last decade, numbers of students studying abroad have gone up 157.4 percent at WSU, peaking in 2006 at 619 students studying outside the US.

Open Door 2009, a study abroad fact sheet from the Institution of International Education Network website showed figures resembling the climb at WSU. According to the latest report, Americans studying abroad rose 8.5 percent during the 2007-2008 academic year.

But how are those numbers increasing while tuition continues to climb? Chenowith said students are becoming interested in seeing themselves as global citizens more than ever, now, and the study abroad office is working harder than ever to help those students achieve that goal.

Chenowith listed off ways students can become globally oriented: Attending lectures covering international topics, interacting with international students and taking foreign language courses.
“So there’s a lot of ways students can do that—taking a foreign language, getting a global studies minor –whatever it is, but there really isn’t any replacement for being there,” she added.

She also attributed the steady increase in study abroad numbers to the narrowing gap between study abroad program costs and WSU tuition costs brought on by the 14 percent tuition increase set for the university in 2009.

An average of 575 students traveling outside of the US each year since the tuition increase, with numbers peaking in the 2006-2007 academic year.

She said many students determined to attend WSU are now seeing the $2,000 or $3,000 more that it may cost to study abroad over the rising tuition as being more feasible.

Chenowith said perspectives vary between potential study abroad students who each may have different socio-economic standing.

“We have students applying for every scholarship they can find, who are working extra jobs, who lived at home so they could save more money if they lived in Pullman, to take that money and use it for study abroad,” she said.

“We have other students for whom cost is not really an issue,” Chenowith said. “What we do find is that interest is stronger than ever,” she said.
Jimmy Drago, a freshman international business major at WSU, is a student looking to study in Spain during the 2011 summer.

Drago said he had not thought about cost but was determined to go.

“My parents are big supporters of it, so I think they really want me to do it,” Drago said. “They’ll probably support me financially,” he added.

Rylie Sedustine, a senior hospitality business management major, went on a five-week summer study abroad trip to Florence, Italy between her junior and senior years.

Sedustine said her interest in building educational experience abroad outweighed any hesitance from thinking about financing it.

“I funded my trip through study abroad scholarships and also using my rollover grants and scholarships that WSU gave me for previous semesters,” she said. “I also did a few fundraising events.”

“I didn’t mind spending a lot of money on study abroad because I knew it was an investment in myself and my future,” Sedustine added.

Chenowith said budgeting is an issue many students studying abroad face, but can be lessened by learning from students in the study abroad ambassador program who speak to students about their experiences on trips.

“You only have a certain amount of money in your bank account,” Chenowith said hypothetically. “How are you gonna make it? How are you gonna budget? I think that nowadays there is so much information available,” she said.

“There are two expensive things when you’re studying abroad: Drinking and traveling,” Chenowith said. “So if students cut down on the number of alcoholic beverages they consume, they’ll save money. And if they understand that they can travel locally rather than having to jet off to another place they’ll also be saving,” she added.

Chenowith expects numbers of students to continue increasing, as the WSU study abroad office is working to promote education outside the US through social media networks, like Facebook.com, and speaking to students at Alive! freshman orientation and Future Cougar days.

“Students, of course, are excited to have an adventure,” Chenowith said. “They tell us they want to meet people from around the world. They want to have fun, which are also valid,” she added.

“I think when they come back, they’ll tell you that the benefits were much deeper and more truly life altering, life changing than they expected it to be,” Chenowith said.


###

Torsten Kjellstrand

Torsten spoke to students and faculty about visual storytelling, highlighting the importance of possessing both technical skill with media technology and also an eye for building compositions. I found his presentation to be both informative and hands-on, showing that the skills and experience he has in photojournalism would be an important component to the experience future journalism students at WSU will have.

Questions for Eric Sorensen

1) How do you find out about stories like this?

2) How did you get into writing?

3) What got you interested in science writing?

4) Are there differences between science writing and non-science writing that are less-noticable from the outside?

5) Advice for graduating seniors looking for jobs?

Adapting to changing social media

Not much is needed to win a Nook eBook Reader from the Compton Union Building at WSU. The main requirements are simple enough: Log onto Facebook, add the CUB as one of your fanpages and leave a comment on it. Of course, only one of these digital book readers is to be awarded and the chances aren’t necessarily promising. But there still remains a draw for visitors of the page powerful enough to keep wall posts rolling in.

With new social media, advertisers are looking to develop new strategies of bringing attention to their product.

While the CUB may be doing just that, having a thriving base of commenting fans, many posts on the page’s wall feature content alluding to exclusive interest in winning prizes. From Monday, Apr. 19 to the evening of Wednesday, Apr. 21, 18 percent of the wallposts either mentioned an iPad or eNook, or were requesting to be chosen as the winner of the next competition.

These new strategies are not new–enticement to buy products, with the prospect of give-aways, has been common even to Internet Websites. Olive Garden’s Win a Culinary Tour of Italy, Travel Channel’s Trip a Month Sweepstakes, and T-Mobile’s El Llamado del Futbol Sweepstakes are all devout employers of this strategy. But now, this advertising method is being brought right into the social circles of the millions of Facebook members.

The future of Facebook

Facebook announced on Wednesday at the company’s annual F8 developer’s conference in San Francisco that changes to popular social networking site will incorporate a series of “social graphing” tools.

These tools are aimed at widening the sphere and reach of an individual’s content preferences. An example provided in the conference is creating more “Like” button tools on other site, like iMDB.com, which would, in the case of a user “liking” a piece of content such as a particular movie, automatically update the user’s Facebook favorite movies list. Individuals would be able to move their preferences, after accepting agreements to do so, between their preferred Websites they visit.

Phil McGuire, a network engineer for Seattle-based Spectrum Networks, said the move by Facebook is a step forward.

“It's very exciting to see the web being used in its intended form,” McGuire said. “Tim Berners Lee, often considered the Father of the Internet, has envisioned a linked open data web from day one. I think this would be a great step toward seeing that,” he said.

H&R Block strategy

Jason Falls, whose blog post on SocialMediaExplorer.com about H&R Block in 2008 refer to a similar theme, seemed to inadvertently forecast the current trend in social media advertising.

In Fall’s blog post, he noted the effective use of the tax company’s Twitter account to befriend him and engage in “human” dialogue. Falls continued, saying that:

“As it turns out, H&R Block not only gets the outreach portion of it, but has figured out a way to be 100-percent, totally marketing/advertising to people using social media tools and somehow pull it off. No, I wasn’t sure if it was possible, but I’ll be damned if I don’t like this campaign.”

Falls attributed the company’s ability to “pull it off” with using “honest/transparent, human, fun and engaging” strategy.

Criticism of CUB strategy

Some students believe the strategy used by the CUB’s fanpage admins is bringing in more visitors, but less valuable content.

“A lot of the comments mean nothing,” said Jared Johnson, a student employee of the CUB. “I don’t know if they’re getting the result they’re looking for,” Johnson said. “There is no guarantee that they [students] are looking at your content,” he added.

However, just like the H&R Block example, the admins of the Compton Union Building are also using a similar means of connecting with students outside of using the give-away method.

CUB strategy and the H&R Block method

Admins of the page frequently reply to the posts, even a few exclusively focused on winning the give-aways.

Replies are polite and “human,” ranging from answering questions about the Murrow Symposium that was hosted in the facility, to a simple “We had a good time too ;)” in reply to a comment that read “I had a good time chilling in you.”

Despite criticism, the CUB is building a base from which to gather more responses from students, both valuable and less so. In bigger terms, though, they are adapting to a time of constantly changing social networking.

Outline

1. Lede

2. Nutgraf - CUB advertising strategy in social networks

3. Changing landscapes of social networking - Facebook F8 conference

4. H&R Block success story

5. Criticism of CUB strategy

6. CUB fits H&R Block model?

7. End- CUB is trying to adapt to chaning social networking

Sources

Phil McGuire (found online)
Network engineer - Spectrum Networks
(425)443-9127

Jason Falls (found online)
Blogger - SocialMediaExplorer.com
jason@socialmediaexplorer.com

Jared Johnson
CUB student employee
(509)520-5864

math practice

1. $78,850

2. 87%

3. 20%

4a. 25%

4b. 33%

5.  10.7%

6. 

7. $280,000

8a. 20%

8b. 1%

9. 70 of 10,000 in Pullman v. and 20 in 10,000 in Spokane

10a. $790,600

10b. $207,000

11. margin of error

Response to the letter

Wickramatung's last letter offers words I think many preceding him in death in similar circumstances would have written had they thought of it. He showed that journalism, when done as he did, is a duty, and not necessarily just a job. I'm stunned at thinking about how ideals and ethics, if held to in earnest, will go down with you to the grave. I've already learned that if I was in it for the money, I wouldn't do it, but this also puts into perspective how far someone will go to live for what they say they believe in, and that challenges me to focus on being more intentional with my career goals.

Sustainability measures increase despite budget

Where a B- once crowned WSU’s sustainability report card only a year ago, a C has now replaced it. Dwight Hagihara, the manager of environmental services at WSU, said the results come partly from a report not being filed on student involvement by a student coordinator and also legal constraints dealing with shareholders.

Though flawed from having one section absent and another incomplete without an adequate shareholder base, the report still has some importance, Hagihara said. Found on the non-profit and nationally utilized college GreenReportCard.org website, WSU’s grade is explained based on survey results submitted primarily by Hagihara and concerning the University’s current sustainability measures during a year marked by concerns with budget issues.

Despite budget cuts in other WSU facets, however, the school’s Environmental Health and Safety department is looking ahead into 2010 to decreased energy costs and increased sustainability efforts.

As director of the EH&S, Hagihara knows the ins and outs of sustainability on campus.

In a conference room in the EH&S Department building on the edge of campus, Hagihara discussed with John Reed, the manager of environmental services, and Gene Patterson, the manager of public health/air and water quality, how even with cuts in the department’s budget, sustainable measures are still in place to save energy, water and money.

Hagihara said alternative building materials, energy and water saving measures and the implementation of recycled paper and paper reduction policies are contributing to a more sustainable campus culture, despite the possible misgivings of the online report card.

“A lot of these projects are preventing and eliminating waste,” he said. “We don’t like to waste energy, we don’t like to waster water. There is a tremendous push from the legislature and also from President Floyd to reduce paper use,” Hagihara added.

Reed said up-front costs for green alternatives are relatively small compared to the savings in money and energy generated through the current sustainable measures in place.

“Like energy conservation projects—they have a certain payback period, then after that, you’re essentially making money; saving money,” Reed said.

Water costs at WSU were cut by over 1,000,000 gallons in 2009 after equipment upgrades to two chiller plants and operational changes were made, according to the EHS annual report released at the end of last month.

Patterson noted that water usage was at its “second lowest since ’61,” a figure also ranking second lowest in nearly 50 states, according to a Feb. 2 WSU Today online article.

Money isn’t necessarily saved by the amount of water that is, though. In talking about saved water, Patterson noted that “cost wise, it’s cheap.”

“If you have to invest a whole lot of money to save this much water, it could be hard to justify,” Reed said. “Now what we did with this chiller plant, we’re saving all kind of energy money, and it’s just efficient in a lot of ways. So it’s cost effective, definitely,” he said.

Other sustainable measures on campus include the closure of Troy Hall, of which Reed said is going will likely remain “moth-balled” to save on energy until a solution for it’s use can be determined.

Hagihara said sustainability has three components the University focuses on.

“The one everybody thinks of is environmental,” Hagihara said. “There’s also economic and social. True sustainability should address those three issues,” he said. “It should be sustainable for the environment, for financially – economics, and for the social issues, so that no one group gets discriminated against. That’s the goal. There should be a balance,” he added.

Hagihara cited the WSU Dining Services purchasing of organic tortillas from a small Spokane company using wheat developed by WSU researchers as fitting the three-part sustainable model.

“The financial has got to be financially sustainable,” he said. “You don’t want to waste money. And nor do you want to have to benefit one group completely over another,” Hagihara added.

The Green Report Card did point out some shortcomings in the sustainability efforts.

“We’re bound by law on how our foundation and endowments are invested, Hagihara said. “That’s why we’re getting an F there,” he said of the shareholders section of the report. Hagihara said the University does not have the same freedoms universities have when it comes to shareholders and investments and legal issues need to be addressed in order to see change.

Even with the current sustainable measures on campus, the report card poses some problems to the University.

"It takes time and time is money," Hagihara said about filling out the reports and forms necessary to compile survey information for the report card.

Reed said another group asked for $700 as a donation for EH&S to prepare and submit reports, in a similar fashion to the Green Report Card.

“That’s how you get an A rating,” Patterson joked.

Reed said for other sustainability surveys, there isn’t an actual cost. “You don’t write out a check, but it’s time,” Reed said.

“If students are going out and reading the darned things, they’re going to make a decision about which university they’re going to go to--there is a marketing advantage,” Hagihara said.

“So like the Princeton Review has one, and we fill that one out for that reason,” Hagihara said. “But otherwise, as a manager of time and money, you have to ask yourself ‘what’s the cost benefit here?’ We’re responsible for state funds. You don’t want us to waste money, either. We’ll spend time with students,” Hagihara concluded.

# # #

Outline

1. Lede

2. Nutgraf - current budget v. sustainability

3. Sustainability measures

4. What is sustainability?

5. Back to the report card

Sources

John Reed
Manager of Environmental Services
johnreed@wsu.edu

Dwight Hagihara
Director of Environmental Health & Safety
hagihara@wsu.edu

Gene Patterson
Manager of Public Health/Air & Water Quality
gpatters@wsu.edu

Story pitch

The story I'd like to work on focuses on WSU's sustainability efforts during the current economic climate. This year WSU's sustainability grade on the sustainability college report card dropped.  What I'll talking about is how WSU is working through keeping sustainability efforts up despite working with their current budget... this includes meeting silver LEED certifications for building and renovation projects, dining hall food purchase standards, etc.  The question will be whether the university is able to continue choosing green and more costly options over cheap and more non-recyclable ones.

WSU scored a B- on the 2009 sustainability college report card and this year a C. What I will be looking at is what sustainability means for WSU; why the university dropped a letter grade on this report card, what the savings incurred based on sustainability measures are, focusing on state-mandated silver LEED building requirements, what other schools are doing and why these measures are so important. WSU has many examples of sustainable projects and policies, ranging from an orchard that produces an estimated $10,000 worth of crops for use in the dining centers, to a sustainability award winning in-plant publishing group. Despite this, WSUs report card shows a possible decline in sustainability progress. I’d like to dig into this one and find out why. To do so, I’ll need to talk to Dwight Hagihara, the Committee Interim Administrator, the ASWSU senate committee on environmental issues, and the CUB director.


Some possible sources to look at:

Survey results for the sustainability report card
WSU Environmental Management System Report
American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment
Silver-LEED minimum building requriements

Testing security

I would allow the reporter to test security if there was a reasonable suspicion that airport security was not adhering to TSA security standards, and, of course, there was no law saying one could not do that.  I would also check into possibly having a marshall accompany the reporter, if I knew that that wouldn't blow their cover.  People getting through security with box-cutters is newsworthy and it shows careless behaviors by security workers that puts others at risk.  I would 

Local festival director gears up for next event

PULLMAN - At the front desk in the Pullman Chamber of Commerce building, Mary MacDonald stands beside a couple who is considering moving to the city and explains to them what they can look forward to as residents. Talking to potential residents is not always one of her duties, however. MacDonald works as the director of the National Lentil Festival. With less than five months left until the event, MacDonald said planning for the 22nd Annual National Lentil Festival is already months underway.

“This is one of those festivals that lasts two days, but for me lasts more like ten months,” MacDonald said.

The Palouse native MacDonald has planned two previous festivals, both of which she said enter planning phases the October following the previous festival.

MacDonald’s planning efforts are not done alone. MacDonald heads a committee of 15 to 20 committee members each with specific responsibilities, including a cook-off chair, microbrewery chair and a Little Lentil King and Queen coordinator.

Previous to her appointment to the position, she said her serving on the US Dry Pea and Lentil Council in Moscow, paired with her experience as a fifth generation farmer and holder of leadership positions, helped prepare her for her current role.

Planning for MacDonald includes what she calls her near “three-inch-thick to-do list” and what she describes as “a lot of 18 hour days.”

For each of the two festivals she has organized, she said the most challenging aspects of the job come from recruiting enough volunteers, which she said often number an estimated 300 people.

MacDonald said the festival’s history shows how much it has changed.

The first festival was in 1989 and was originally held every two months until the festival committee decided a change was needed due to low turnouts, MacDonald said.

“It was great but really small and really mediocre,” MacDonald said. “Then we decided to put all our energy into one festival every year,” she said of the festival committee.

MacDonald said the idea of showcasing the lentil came from careful consideration of local agriculture and ultimately deciding on a crop not typically highlighted by a community.

“Nobody celebrates lentils because they don’t know what they are,” she said.

MacDonald said the uniqueness of creating a festival around lentils helped build more interest in it due to the curiosity it raises.

With an estimated 98 percent of lentils grown in the United States being produced in Whitman County, Pullman is living up to its reputation as the lentil capital of the country.

Pullman isn’t the only city showcasing crops as the iconic symbols of their community festivals, though.

Every year during the last full weekend in July, people flock to Gilroy, California for the annual Gilroy Garlic Festival. The City of Opelousas, Louisiana hosts the Yambilee Festival in honor of the local sweet potato crops. And in Fairborn, Ohio, crowds gather for corn shucking at the Sweet Corn Festival.

Events like these are part of an even larger industry, as the International Festivals & Events Association, or IFEA, notes on their website.

The IFEA website states that on a global scale, four to five million regular and re-occurring events and festivals are held each year, a number the site also claims contributes to a trillion dollar economic impact in US currency on the world market.

MacDonald, who attended IFEA’s 53rd annual international festival convention last year in Boise, Idaho, said festival organizers are constantly looking to find new ways of making their events better through improved sponsorship strategies, event ideas and also how to make festivals more environmentally sound.

As with other festival directors, developing a more “green” festival is something MacDonald said the Nation Lentil Festival Committee is working toward.

An estimated 20,000 to 25,000 people attend the National Lentil Festival each year, numbers MacDonald said were calculated based on average pounds of garbage generated per one attendee in the past.

With a push to become more recycle-oriented, the committee no longer uses the method of calculating attendees because of lower garbage generation, but instead looks to calculations made based on food consumption.

MacDonald said the overall benefits to the community are a high priority.

With a budget of about $50,000 granted by the City of Pullman on top of additional money brought in through sponsoring, the festival committee works to keep a sustainable event with low costs to participants paying for participation fees in the sports activities offered, MacDonald said.

MacDonald said most years the event breaks even in revenue, but sometimes is under and rarely slightly over the initial costs at the end of the event.

Despite these outcomes, community members remain confident in the overall benefits of the festival.

Monique Slipher, an employee at Bruised Books in Pullman, said she has worked during the festival in her 15 years of employment at different Main Street and nearby businesses and has seen a positive effect on the local economy.

“It draws a lot of people to town,” she said. “It’s probably the biggest thing in Pullman for the year,” she added.

Gunnar Nordquist, a WSU student who has attended the festival in previous years, said the festival provides an opportunity for the community to come together.

“It defines Pullman,” he added.

For now, MacDonald is continuing her campaign to build her sponsorship base and her festival organizing.

“For Pullman it’s a sense of pride,” she said. “Pullman is the home of WSU and the National Lentil Festival,” she added.

# # #

Sources

Mary MacDonald
National Lentil Festival Director
director@lentilfest.com

Gunnar Nordquist
WSU Student
gunnar_nordquist@yahoo.com

Monique Slipher
Employee, Bruised Books
mslipher@hotmail.com

Outline for lentil fest story

1. Lede

2. Mary MacDonald

3. History of Lentil Festival

4. The Festival "industry"

5. Current NLF status

6. Community reaction

7. Final MacDonald quote

On one hand, what would this photo really do to illustrate the situation at hand?  Is it worth running the risk of losing your job/offending millions of Americans (potentially)/or actually causing some sort of profound positive change?  On does the photo offer a crucial news value?  I don't believe that there is a significant news value to this photo.  I believe that it has a purpose, but not necessarily best served in a daily newspaper.  Americans know that American soldiers are dying.  Showing a graphic illustration should be reserved to highlight an unknown social injustice, in my opinion.  Rather, this photo may be better used in a political magazine of some sort, where audiences must go out of their way to pick one up.  Newspapers are more readily accessible.  I can't explain why this makes a difference, but I think it does.

Martha Mendoza

I was able to listen to Martha Mendoza speak in the Evergreen conference room a week or so ago. What really intrigued me about what she said was her experiences in doing investigative-type journalism. Tracking down people for stories and reaching out to great extents for the sake of news gathering is pretty intense to hear about first-hand. I benifited from hearing what her processes were for working on projects like the Korean War story. I thought it also interesting how she believes FOIA requests should acknowledged in the story. I suppose I had never thought of that before.

Libel practice

1. “Up until the day he died, he was a brilliant writer. But the drugs made him a thief, a pimp and a liar,” said friend Karen Smith, who was with Johnson at the time of his death.

Not Libel depending on the state.  You can't libel a dead person in most states. The source is trusted, also.  Smith was at Johnson's side upon his death.

2. “Megan Fox is a man!” Headline on Weekly World News Web site

It's satirical (hyperbole), Fox is a public figure, and WWNews is a parody paper.

3. “In my opinion, Kevin is a murdering rapist,” the prosecutor told the jury.

Not Libel.  This a quote from part of the trial. 

4. "In my opinion, he's a murdering rapist," the man said at the rally.

Libel.

Outline

Palouse Producers site

Explanation of the Brownfield site

IPG awarded to Palouse

What’s in the site exactly?

How did the site get contaminated?

How much will this clean-up cost?

Who will pay for it?

Ideas for development?

Who owns it now?

Contacts:

Michael Echanove – Interviewed via phone ¬
Mayor of Palouse
(509) 878-1811

Doug Willcox – Interviewed via phone
Brownfields Committee Chair
(509) 878-1836

Mike Bagott – Interviewed in-person
Bagott Motors (located next to Palouse Producers site)
(509) 878-1541

Joyce Beeson – Interviewed in-person
City Clerk/Treasurer
(509) 878-1811

John Sell – Contacted via phone
Current tenant of Palouse Producers site
(509) 878-1366

Palouse Brownfields Project underway

PALOUSE – Palouse is a town noted for its transformation from old and run-down, to clean and improved – a city the Washington State DOT awarded as the 2001 Best City Project winner for its main street enhancement efforts.  But one piece of Main Street property has yet to transform.

A sun-bleached sign touting the name “IMFAB” hangs above the entrance of the Old Palouse Producers building on Main Street across from the Post Office. Weeds grow through the cracked asphalt parking area in trails leading up to weathered and worn Caterpillar fork-lifts, one of them sporting a set of deflated tires and chipped yellow paint, flanking pallets of cinder-blocks that rest in front of the entrance to the old metal fabrication building.

Next door to the site is father-and-son-owned Bagott Motors.

Mike Bagott commented on the facility and its past.

“From a community perspective, even an empty lot would be better,” Bagott said.

The issue is the lack of site up-keep at the old Palouse Producers site, he said.

The site, like an estimated 450,000 others similar to it nationwide, is considered a brownfield site, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, and the City of Palouse is planning on changing that.

Brownfield sites are parcels of land assessed by the EPA as contaminated, hazardous or polluted. Old or abandoned gas and service stations, fertilizer distribution centers and bulk fuel stations from the 1950s often sit on these sites – in many cases in downtown areas and on main streets.

In response to the contaminated land, the EPA Brownfields Economic Redevelopment Initiative aims at strengthening local economies by helping communities clean-up and reuse brownfields sites. Projects typically include a study phase of the contamination or pollution at the site, a phase for devising a cleanup plan, a reuse plan, and finally implementation of clean-up and reuse.

“The point of the project is to address cleaning up these sites,” Palouse Brownfields Committee Chair Doug Willcox said. “The Brownfields projects are designed to restore these sites to contributing locations.”

To move the Brownfields project past the first stages, the state Department of Ecology awarded the City of Palouse with a $200,000 Integrated Planning Grant, or IPG. The city is using the IPG funds to devise a clean-up plan for contamination in the soil and ground water at the Palouse Producers site and a commercial reuse plan.

According to the May 2008 assessment of the site, researchers found petroleum, herbicide, pesticide, and manganese, which is found in unleaded gasoline, in the soil.

The Palouse Brownfield site’s history shows a pattern of uses free of any major contaminating presence until more recent years.

The May 2008 site assessment document for the project listed the earliest uses for the building in its nearly 120 years in use: a wagon wheel shop, butcher shop, general store, dentist office, stable and welding shop. In 1955, Conoco moved onto the site and constructed a service station with above ground service tanks to hold leaded gasoline.

According to the assessment, the contamination of the site only occurred sometime after 1977 when the owners at the time, Palouse Producers, operated a fertilizer distribution and bulk fuel facility.

Willcox said the contamination of the site came from mishandling the refueling of large delivery trucks while refueling from the large tanks in the mid ‘80s.

According to the assessment, the state Department of Ecology cited the Palouse Producers in 1985 for spills of petroleum and negligence leading to leaks into the Palouse River.

An active proponent of the Brownsfield project, Mayor Michael Echanove said no immediate threat to the health of the community is evident due to the sites contamination, despite the site’s close proximity to the Palouse River. Echanove said the cleanup still remains crucial to city improvement.

The May 2008 assessment listed costs involved with the actual cleanup of the site being an estimated $286,200 to be paid over five years in $54,000 installments, a price tag Echanove said some residents may be concerned with.

To cover those costs, Willcox said the city will look to acquire additional grant money from the DOE or EPA to help out.

The project has much of the town in support, Echanove said. “I wouldn’t say there is opposition.”

Currently, the Palouse Brownsfield Project is in the middle of the first step of the integrated planning process, Willcox said. Willcox said two approaches are being made -- one of them being the planning of the cleanup phase, and the other the planning of the economic development on the site.

In the City Hall office hangs an artist conception of possible commercial developments.

Echanove said one idea for future development of the site is a retail building featuring urban residences.

But for now, the facility remains stocked with metal fabrication supplies visible from the sidewalk and as a private storage building. Willcox said the current owner remains the Palouse Producers, a company that filed bankruptcy in 1986, and that possible acquisition of the site by the City would come later.

The current tenant John Sell declined to comment.

Meanwhile, many Palouse residence are looking forward to the future of the site.

Joyce Beeson, the City Clerk and Treasurer, said the project is a major source of pride in the community. “People are really proud of their little town now,” she added.

Notes from skype session with Michael Berens

1. Quantify the issue?

2. Potential change?

3. Good v. bad?

Outlined the story and fact-checked...no surprises to DSHS

No stealth reporting

Bullet-proof stories

look for advocates...

there are people who are deeply concerned about these issues...just as there are UFO experts out there who 'know their stuff' 

attornies

lawsuits

state ombudsman's office

Point of view journalism (investigative journalism)

not an advocate, but someone who sees something that needs to change

"he said, she said, now i'm gonna tell you who is lying."

He comes out with a thesis, present his case, then the reader is either going to believe him or not.

Newspapers don't want investigative reporters anymore:

almost a year on salary working on this story... forty or fifty people on this project...  Times didn't sell any advertisment based on this, it didn't make the paper any money... the job doesn't make sense economically.

People want that watchdog out there.

Questions for Michael Berens

How long did you work on this story?


How did you find out that this was going on?


What sort of feedback have you recieved from readers?


What was your plan in filing public records requests that you used? What did you look for first?


How did you get in-touch with those you interviewed/find out who to interview?

five questions for tuesday

Stories on my beat

Bull Trout story - Tri City Herald

Some farms still making big bucks - Walla Walla Union Bulletin

Two Stories on my beat that used public records

The Safe Baby Bottle Act

OLYMPIA—Seattle resident Katalin Marky stood before the House committee and explained she had unknowingly exposed her unborn child to Bisphenol-A -- a result she said came from drinking from her polycarbonate water bottle containing the chemical during her pregnancy.

Marky gave her testimony Wednesday afternoon in a hearing conducted by the House Environmental Health Committee for Substitute Senate Bill 6248, a bill banning the production of BPA in bottles, cups and bowls meant for child use under the age of three.

Bisphenol-A, or BPA, is a type of material used to harden plastic used since the 1930s. While the issue of whether BPA is safe or not continues to be researched, legislators are currently seeking its regulation. What is garnering the interest of politicians in this chemical is its usage.

In a telephone interview, bill sponsor Senator Keiser, D-Kent, said BPA is still used in baby bottles, sippy cups and cereal bowls – items linked directly to use by young children. Researchers remain concerned that BPA leaks into food and beverage when heated or used repeatedly.

Under the guidelines of SSB 6248, manufacturers of products using BPA will be required to notify retailers, recall their products, reimburse retailers and discontinue production of products containing BPA.

According to the bill, failure to meet those criteria will result in a $5,000 civil penalty for a first offense and $10,000 for repeat offenses. If the bill is passed, the bill will take effect July 1, 2011.

The public hearing began with opening remarks by Sen. Keiser.

“This is an incredibly important issue – it’s a developing issue,” she said.

Sen. Keiser said the bill is brought up as “a cautionary principle,” especially in regard to the safety of young children and infants.

Dr. Jim White, a toxicologist at the Washington State Department of Health, spoke in favor of the substitute bill.

White said current research shows an uncertainty to the safety of BPA, and that in research done on current, typical exposure to BPA, there is some concern for the health of infants and fetuses.

“One of the main principles of public health is that it’s best to prevent health problems before they occur,” White said.

According to White, Connecticut and Minnesota have also created initiatives banning or placing restrictions on BPA use, especially in baby bottles and sippy cups.

Carol Kraege, Toxics Policy Coordinator for Washington, also discussed the bill as a preemptive safety measure toward the BPA issue. “It’s prudent and appropriate to move away from it [BPA],” she said.

Jim Connelly of the Lodi Water Company, and representing the Northwest Bottled Water Association in Spokane, expressed several concerns to the substitute bill and an amendment proposed by Representative Matt Shea that adds “sports water bottles” to the list of banned products carrying BPA.

Connelly said he is concerned that consumers will no longer purchase large water containers, containers that are not being reheated or evenunder the same scrutiny as sports bottles, because of the use of “water” in the term “sports water bottles.”

Consumers are not going to believe that BPA issues are just based on the small water bottles and sales would ultimately decrease, Connelly said.

“It would ruin my business and I would close my doors,” Connelly added.

Whereas sports bottle companies are already making the switch to BPA-free products, Connelly said the three- and five-gallon water containers that are integral to his company are products water industry experts are yet unable to find viable container alternatives for.

Grant Nelson, Government Affairs Director for the Association of Washington Business, also disagreed with the water bottle terminology prescribed by the amendment.

Nelson said alternatives to using the terminology should be sought.

Representative Christine Rolfes, D-Bainbridge Island, posed a question to Nelson before he finished testifying: “Those thermoses that we pack our kids hot lunches in -- do they have BPA in them?”

“I have no idea,” Nelson replied. “I hope not.”

Story Outline

Narrative Lede: What’s happening?

Nutgraf: What is the bill doing?

What is BPA?

Favor:
Who?
Why?

Against:
Who?
Why not?

Ending quote

Sources for legislative story

Interviewed
Sen. Karen Keiser, D-Kent
(360) 786-7664

Statements made by:
Katalin Marky
Seattle resident/mother

Rep. Christine Rolfes, D-Bainbridge Island
(360) 786-7842

Sen. Karen Keiser, D-Kent
(360) 786-7664

Dr. Jim White
Toxicologist at the Washington State Department of Health
(360) 236-3192

Jim Connelly
Lodi Water Company, Northwest Bottled Water Association (Spokane)
jconnelly@lodispring.com

Carol Kraege
Toxics Policy Coordinator for Washington
(360) 407-6906

Things to learn from Mike Wallace

Wallace eases people into the interview

Wallace 'uneases' people in the interview

Wallace gets the emotion out: How did you feel?  What was going through your mind?

Wallace points his finger with authority - he's in control of the interview

Wallace asks open-ended questions - also uses statements to get responses

Wallace does his homework

Wallace gets away from his desk and does the interview face-to-face

Wallace annunciates claims against his interviewee

Wallace gets squinty when he brings up face-threatening words (i.e. steroids, claims, strength, how, why, etc.)

Wallace lowers his tone when he asks 'why didn't you'- and 'what'- type questions

Wallace uses all the questions to surround "did you take steroids?" as the main question

An idea

A totally BPA-free Washington in the near future?

SB6248-S: This bill would require manufacturers of products including BPA (Bisphenol A) to notify retailers of the provisions of the bill no more than 90 days before the restrictions(?), recall their products, and/or face penalties (?) under the Bill's provision if not adhered to. My thoughts: which companies are still manufacturing BPA products in Washington State that would cause the need for this bill, or is this a preventative action on the part of Olympia? If there are companies still producing water bottles, plastics, etc. with BPA in-state, what will this mean for retailers who carry their products? What about students on campus, also? Are some of their favorite, sentimental water bottles from the early throwback 2000s BPA-free?...

Hosting Senators: Keiser, Fairley, Rockefeller, Kohl-Welles, Kline, Ranker
The Bill will be under public hearing on Monday, Feb. 15 at 8:30 a.m. in the House Committee on Environmental Health.

Things to consider brought up in class: Look for how pervasive BPA is...How harmful is it?...What will this cost retailers/manufacturers?...What does BPA do to the environment/people/animals?

Jess Walter lecture

Lede: In the current economy, fine arts graduate degrees need to become more versatile to accommodate film and screen writing, author Jess Walter said Thursday evening during his lecture in the Communication Addition.

Quote 1: “In my mind, that [screen writing] should be taught right alongside how to write poetry or short stories,” Walter said.

Nut Graf: Walter, a former journalist and National Book Award author, spoke to an auditorium of students and faculty about his experiences in the creative writing and journalism fields.

Quote 2: “It’s never been a good industry. I guess that was the most important thing I got from it.” –Senior English major Evan Reyes commenting on Jess Walter’s lecture.

Public works looking into waste disposal issues

The solid waste management plan needs revamping due to an impending increase in waste-dumping costs, fuel prices, and the possible need for transfer-station improvements, said Mark Storey, director of Whitman County public works, in a Pullman City Council meeting Tuesday evening at City Hall.

Storey briefed the council on the current waste management situation and listed options under consideration for working to lower the estimated future tipping costs, or the cost per ton of waste that is disposed of.

In 1993, the initial tipping fee was $69 per ton, which remained unchanged until 2007 when the cost increased to $95 per ton, according to Storey’s presentation. The current price of waste-dumping is $99 per ton.

The needs for improvements or alterations in the solid waste disposal operation also pertain to the need for transfer-station improvements and transportation costs, Storey said. “Future increase in fuel prices are a concern,” he said.

Storey noted that much of Pullman’s waste is driven directly to Arlington or Portland, Oregon.

“Are we paying the right price?” Storey answered his own question: “Yes.”

Though driving containers to river ports for barge transportation would replace the long-haul, eight hour drive to Arlington, Storey said the fuel costs of truck transportation of waste would still remain cheaper than those alternatives.

In a list of items prioritized by importance, Storey presented options for meeting this issue head-on.

Public works is also considering the option of constructing two new cells at an existing landfill for dumping as the best alternative. Storey said further consideration of location is a must.

Storey said public works projects filling in these prospective cells would begin in 2013, after a period in 2012 when the county can back out of the current waste disposal contract that otherwise expires in 2017. The opening of new cells would remain open until 2046.

The location in consideration would conflict with the existing police firing range, Storey said.

Mayor Glenn Johnson commented on the importance of the range to police officers and sought clarification of the location issue.

Storey said the issue was one requiring a “separate discussion,” among the other options that are being considered.

The transfer station operations will continue to be feasible, Storey said, but will need major improvements by 2013 – improvements costing anywhere from $1 million to $2 million. Storey said this would need to be considered if other alternatives are not utilized.

To give a measure of how much waste Pullman produces, Storey gave a break-down of the situation. According to Storey’s presentation, approximately 25,000 to 27,000 tons are disposed of each year. He noted that around 2,700 tons of lumber mill and wood waste, or “hog fuel,” as it is called, was delivered to Potlatch last year.

In addition to using local landfills, Storey said Pullman also utilizes a limited purpose landfill which is filled with wastes like asbestos. Moderate-risk waste collection goes to Spokane, including paint and various chemicals.

Councilmember Francis Benjamin asked Storey about long-term liability with solid waste disposal.

Storey said whoever generates the waste maintains liability for it indefinitely. In the case of dumping at Arlington, Storey assured the council that Pullman’s waste is minimal compared to larger cities like Seattle and Portland.

# # #

Outline

1. Solid waste management the issue in lede

2. What happened in the meeting: presentation by dir. of Whitman co. public works

3. Presentation: What is the problem? Future increases in tipping rates

4. What are the options?

5. Questions/comment from Mayor Johnson

6. Presentation: What the city is doing right now:

7. Questions from Councilmember Benjamin

8. Answer by Storey

Mayor Glenn Johnson

(Link to email)

Mark Storey

(Link to email)

Councilmember Francis Benjamin

(Link to email)

Meeting practice

a. How many confirmed cases in Whitman County?

Doctors confirmed four cases of swine flu.

b. How many doses of vaccine will be available in Washington state?

Washington State is to receive 600,000 doses of the vaccine.

c. How many in Whitman County?

Whitman County is to receive 360 doses.

d. What is Dr. Moody’s suggestion on how to distribute?

Dr. Moody suggests waiting until enough cases are confirmed.

e. Write a lede based on this information.

Whitman County should halt vaccine delivery until enough cases of H1N1 are confirmed and drug doses available, Public Health Officer Dr. Timothy Moody said Monday.

A few notable ledes

"Tim Chapman has almost finished building the most macho house in the Florida Keys. With his bare hands, of course. With his larger-than-life personality contained inside and outside the walls. His house is a fortress. His house is ready for a fight." -Jeff Klinkenberg/St. Petersburg Times

The narrative lede that Klinkenberg uses in introducing Chapman, a veteran Miami Herald photographer, expresses much about the character of Chapman and uses descriptive language to help do that.

"When I was very young and the urge to be someplace else was on me, I was assured by mature people that maturity would cure this itch. When years described me as mature, the remedy prescribed was middle age. In middle age I was assured that greater age would calm my fever and now that I am fifty-eight perhaps senility will do the job. " -John Steinbeck, Travels With Charley

Steinbeck lists a succession of life-phases in the start of his book to show that part of his character remains undisturbed. This sets the tone for rest of the book, which shows the effectiveness of the beginning of Steinbeck's book.

Comma Splice Practice

1. “We just buy and sell real estate; it is what we do, but the market doesn’t dictate the price,” she said.

2. In 2007, while the average income in Washington was $55,628, the average income for Whitman County was $36,438.

3. Going green took on new meaning this year, when WSU Waste Management announced dramatic changes to the recycling program in an effort to save money across the university. The city plans to follow suit.

4. “Take a percentage out of athletics so a whole department doesn't have to be terminated,” Converse said.


5. Dan is using an emerging dairy trend. He installed an anaerobic digester two years ago.

Environment Beat Note

Environment Beat Note

WSU’s rich history and agricultural foundation stretch as far back into university history as possible, and continue on to this day. I would like to cover a beat focusing on issues within the parameters of environment and public policy, as relevant to WSU’s continuing and expanding agricultural presence. This would entail areas within environmental issues and public policy to include, but not be restricted to creek restoration, issues focusing on topsoil, commercial development in relation to habitat and water systems, aquifer topics and wildlife issues.

As a university founded on the principles befitting an agricultural institution, WSU is a place of research not only in standard academic disciplines, but also in environmental and agricultural areas working to benefit the collective knowledge of both the national economy and farming industry and in turn the wider global community. The local issues affect all people in Pullman, including students and residents who pay to consume water from the area and who also directly affect the environment.

Because of the crucial nature of research done on campus and of the environment which surrounds the research, a beat covering issues which correlate or are influencing this gathering of knowledge is critical. Policy makers shape the progress or the maintenance of advancements in this field by what legislation is put forth concerning these issues.

Talking to WSU faculty and experts on environmental issues gave me a good and yet general explanation as to what I should be searching for in developing ledes. Ultimately, my search for information resulted in references to more critical sources for which I am emailing. Dr. Carroll and his teaching apprentice gave me some insight into some of the issues that could be examined, including the timber wolf presence in the area, aquifer issues, the water usage at Palouse Ridge Golf Course and the creek restoration on the Bill Chipman Palouse Trail.

Potential Story Ideas

1) Topsoil removal in the Palouse – This is an issue with years of research put into examining it. Uncovering some of the more current findings on this issue is important, especially when looking at this with a fresh angle which could be found through further personal investigation and use of my sources.

2) Wolf hunting – The hunting limit of five wolves in the Palouse-Hells Canyon Zone is still an issue. I’d like to explore this more with the help of several sources I was referred to: Dr. Sayler and Dr. Hardesty. I have yet to make contact with them, but this is something I was pointed out to by Dr. Carroll as a current issue.

3) Wal Mart – With any large commercial construction project, environmental issues are linked to them. I would like to explore what this means for city water direction and usage, habitat concerns, and anything else that may be implicated in this. I have already researched some of the City of Pullman documents relating to Wal Mart and the beginning of construction.


Relevant Articles

1) Topsoil removal - Seattle PI

2) Wolf hunting - Idaho Reporter

3) Smaller Walmart, smaller footprint - Spokesman Review

Potential Sources

Dr. Matt Carroll (interviewed)
Professor – Department of Natural Resource Sciences
(509) 335-2235
carroll@wsu.edu

Travis Paveglio (interviewed)
TA working with Dr. Carroll
509-335-1556 (university listed number)
travispaveglio@wsu.edu

Dr. Rod Sayler
Assoc. Professor – Wildlife Ecology, Restoration Ecology, & Conservation Science
(509) 335-6167
rdsayler@wsu.edu

Dr. Linda H. Hardesty
Associate Professor – Department of Natural Resource Sciences
(509) 335-6632
lhardest@wsu.edu

Tom Lamar
Moscow City Council member – Executive Director of the Palouse-Clearwater Environmental Institute
tlamar@ci.moscow.id.us

Gary Macfarlane
Activist/Ecosystem Defense Director – Friends of the Clearwater
media@friendsoftheclearwater.org

Passive sentence revision

Rewriting passive sentences

1. Police in riot gear fired rubber coated bullets into the crowd.

2. Kim Murphy recieved the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for her coverage of the Soviet Union’s struggle to cope with terrorism.

3. The Democrats’ new demands slammed shut any ray of hope to reach a budget compromise.

4. The editor demonstrated courage by her fight against censorship.

5. The officer reported the car crash at 1:30 a.m. Monday morning.

6. The earthquake destroyed the tiny island.

7. Legislators passed a new law designed to fight crime.

8. The party abandoned the candidate.

AP warm-up

1. The California governor will announce his Cabinet appointments next week at the Capitol.

2. A top adviser to the senator promised the bill would have its intended effect.

3. Upon walking farther into the woods, the state police officer found the doctor lying under a tree.

4. As head coach, Tom Johnson’s salary increased from $1.5 million to $3 million from 2006 to 2008.

5. Mark Workman, public works director for the city of Pullman, said the source of the discharge had not been identified. However, the city will continue to investigate the problem, he said.

Beats I'm interested in

I'm interested in covering environmental policy or policy dealing with social issues. I don't know the correct term for the latter beat, but I would like to check out policy and issues surrounding welfare and social work type issues. Below are a few examples of stories relating to environmental issues:


Stimulus funding for WSU Tri-Cities biofuel research

Snowpacks are below average in Washington

Digging for hazardous waste at Hanford