Exercise

Trends and news profiles

This exercise is designed to help you track local government data through online search engines. We can use that data to find trends, interesting facts and, of course, story ideas (such as profiles).
We've discussed the need to interview "real people" to illustrate trends and data. But how do we identify those trends or data sets.
Let's look at some really simple online reporting tools that might help ... (I use this exercise in J305, but most of you haven't taken J305 from me, so I've tweaked it slightly for this course.)


I. State and local

a. Using the online resource www.census.gov, answer the following questions:

1. What’s the population of Whitman County? 41,664
2. Percent white? 85%
3. Percent with bachelor’s degree? 48.2%
4. Median household income? $54,205
5. Persons below poverty? 26.7%



II. Drilling down into Census data: Housing

a. Google/unclesam is a powerful tool that let’s us search all “.gov” Web sites. Go fto the search bar and type “Whitman County building permits.”

b. Click on the second link, “Whitman County QuickLinks.”

c. Under Business QuickLinks, click on “Building Permits.”

1. Find the annual construction costs for building permits for Pullman from 2004 to 2008. Report it for each individual year.

2004- $21,793,767

2005-$40,062,508

2006-$34,549,367

2007-$31,922,839

2008-$14,007,013

2. What’s the most current construction cost for 2009? (Obviously the annual report isn’t yet available so look for the most recent month.)

$7,170,166 YTD

$1,716,199 AUG

3. Write a lede based on this information.


III. Federal grants and insurance
Who needs government? Well, Whitman County certainly received some federal help last year. But we want to know how much.

a. Go back to the QuickLinks main page and click on something called “Consolidated Federal Funds Report.”

b. Under ‘Available Data,’ choose 2008 and Geography. Click ‘Submit.’

c. On the next page, choose ‘Washington’ and ‘Yes’ on County. We want ‘All Fund Types.’

d. On the next page, choose Whitman County.

1. How much did Whitman County farmers receive in Crop Insurance? $5,191,477
2. How much did Whitman County receive in grants? $122,982,596
3. Name three of the grants.

a) AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH-BASIC AND APPLIED RESEARCH

b) PLANT AND ANIMAL DISEASE, PEST CONTROL AND ANIMAL CARE

c) WILDLIFE SERVICES



IV. Health Care in Whitman County

a. Let’s take another big national issue: Health insurance. Return to the Quick Links page.

b. Under People Quick Links, locate “2005 Health Insurance Coverage.”

c. Choose Washington and then ‘Submit.’

1. Which two counties have the highest percent of uninsured people?

a) San Juan County

b) Whitman County

2. What’s the percentage in Whitman County? 29.2%


V. Population

Is Whitman County’s population growing? Let’s look at population trends.

1. Type “Whitman County population” into Google Uncle Sam. Which federal or state agency comes up first in the Google list?

www.ofm.wa.gov/databook/county/whit.asp The 2007 Data book

2. Click on the first listing, which takes us to the Office of Financial Management’s profile of the county.

3. On the profile page, click on “Population, Change, Marriages and Divorce.”

a. What’s the total population change in Whitman County from 2000 to 2007, according to OFM?
b. What’s the natural increase? 1,960 ppl
c. Explain the difference between “total change” and “natural change.”

Total change is the total, including births, deathe, and migration.

Natural Change is the difference between births and deaths.

4. Go back to the Google search results for ‘Whitman County population.”

5. Choose the second result, which should take you to Whitman County page.

6. Under General Information, click on “Whitman County Overview from the Choose Washington website.” (Should be Web site, right?)

7. Under “County Data,” click on Population.

a. Based on this projection, how many people will live in Whitman County in 2025? 46,786ppl

Whitman County Agenda

1. The Web site www.whitmancounty.org provides the agendas and minutes for the meeting of the county’s commissioners. Navigate to the commissioners’ page.


2. Open the current agenda.

a. According to the agenda, what meeting will be held on Thursday, Oct. 15, at 2 p.m.?
Palouse Basin Aquifer Committee meeting
3. Review the minutes from the Sept. 21, 2009, meeting. Find the H1N1 report.

a. How many confirmed cases in Whitman County?
b. How many doses of vaccine will be available in Washington state?
c. How many in Whitman County?
d. What is Dr. Moody’s suggestion on how to distribute?
e. Write a lede based on this information.