Work continues on future CUB vendors

Despite the Compton Union Building’s outward appearance of completion, it might be a while before everything inside the building is running smoothly, CUB Director Sean M. Greene said.

"There are a lot of little things that have frustrated individuals that we're still trying to address," Greene said.

While CUB staff members try to deal with repeated false fire alarms, not enough furniture, and even poor garbage can designs, construction is also continuing on the last of the vendors.

Pita Pit was set to be one of the original CUB vendors, but requested a termination of its lease in June. ASWSU President Brandon M. Scheller and GPSA representatives worked with a group of students to find a replacement and chose Subway to fill the empty slot.

"I think this really ended up working out better for the students," Scheller said. "It was unfortunate that Subway couldn't open when the CUB did, but in the long run I think students will be happier with Subway.”

Subway is still in the process of completing its design plans and getting them reviewed, Greene said. The business has incorporated several green features, such as special lighting, which has made the build-out "more unique" and more time-consuming to plan. Greene said he expects the opening date to be announced within two weeks and the build-out to be completed within six. 

"The build-out will be shorter than the design (phase)," he said.

Work also continues on the vendor projects overseen by the Markel family – Dupus Boomer's, Markel Coffeehouse, NRgize Lifestyle Cafe and Sea Swiper. Construction is still being finalized, but the Markels have begun hiring.

The original plan was to open Sea Swiper and the coffeehouse before Dupus Boomer's, but the family didn't want to try and serve food in the middle of a construction site, Greene said.

The opening dates for the business have not been finalized, but Mark A. Leonetti, general manager of the Markel concepts, said they are hoping for a day near Oct. 15. There will a "chain reaction" opening, he said, with Sea Swiper and the coffehouse opening about a day apart, and Dupus Boomer's following a few days later.

“Dupus Boomer’s is going to be a gorgeous restaurant,” Greene said.

As the last of the CUB vendors take shape, those already open have seen success during their weeks of operation. Panda Express is the clear favorite and gets twice the customers as Carlita's, which is overseen by WSU Dining Services, and Villa's Fresh Italian Kitchen, Greene said. Panda Express is bringing in $5,800 to $6,000 a day, he said.

The biggest complaint Greene and Scheller have heard from students is the long lines, but Greene said having the additional vendors open in coming weeks will help alleviate the problem.

The other problems are also already in the process of being addressed. A second furniture order has been placed, a new garbage can design is almost complete, and the complications in the alarm system should be worked out within three months, Greene said.

"I think the CUB has been operating better than anyone could have expected," Scheller said. "There have been a few bugs here and there, but I don’t think most students notice them.”

Greene said he is also anxious to get comments about the project from students. They are already responding to come concerns, such as adding more seating and TVs.

"We want to make our facility as welcoming as possible," he said.

J 305 story lead

A 20-year-old man died Monday evening after his car crashed into a utility pole along Broad Street in Moscow.

J 305 Story Pitches

1) A story about new businesses that have opened in Pullman. 

A WSU professor recently opened a European deli downtown which seems to be popular in the community. Additionally, a new antique shop opened at the end of spring semester. With such a small community, the story could focus on how difficult it is to open a business in Pullman, and in the current economic climate, how successful have they been. I could interview the owners as well as customers. The article would be intended for readers in the Palouse.

2) A story about how satisfied people are with the CUB. 

I would talk not only to students, but also to student groups housed in the CUB, such as ASWSU, to see how they feel about their new offices and the building. I would get an update on how long before the rest of the vendors open in the CUB and if there have been any problems. My main contact would be CUB Director Sean Greene.The article would be intended to for students and others on campus.

3) A story about reactions to the Martin Stadium renovations. 

With the second home game approaching, most on campus have had a chance to see the renovations in Martin Stadium. What is the reaction to the renovations? How long has it taken to get to this point and how much did it cost? What is left to accomplish in the Martin Stadium renovation? My contacts for the story would be Capital Planning & Development, Athletics, and also students. The intended audience would again be campus.

Climate Change story proposals

Story proposal 1: A story about how climate change is impacting the research of new crop strains, specifically wheat. 

I wrote a story on the topic for the Evergreen a couple years ago when I was freshman, but would like to revisit the issue and go more in depth. At the time I learned that a number of professors at WSU are working to develop new strains of wheat. But it can take up to 15 years to design a new strain and with the possibility of climate change occurring in that time, there's no guarantee that wheat developed today will best serve the farmers of tomorrow. 

The story would look at how researchers are coping with these uncertainties. How has their research been affected and to what extent? How big of a concern is climate change for their work? I'd interview WSU professors working on new wheat breeds. Many of them are also involved in federal agricultural programs so I would try to also expand the focus to areas outside the Palouse.

A lot of the documents for this story would hopefully come from the researchers, but I was able to find some journal articles that are already addressing the possible need for new strains of wheat. I was particularly taken by the article, "Climate Change: Can wheat beat the head." Another article from the Journal of experimental botany also looked promising, "The effects of climate change on development in wheat: analysis and modelling," but it ran in 1992 and the full text is not currently available from WSU libraries. I'm continuing to work on tracking it down.

Story proposal 2: A story looking into the trend of going green and examining the motivation behind the movement. The story would also attempt to do a cost-benefit analysis of sorts to see if these attempts to go green, actually make a difference.

Part of the story would focus on WSU. The university initiated a "Be Crimson, Go Green," campaign and is pushing recycling and using environmentally-friendly dinnerware in the dining centers. The new CUB building is also LEED certified. For the story to move forward, it would first have to be determined if climate change played any in role is pushing these changes forward.

If so, then what is the reaction to these changes? Have their been improvements? Are the programs making a difference? The story would then be expanded to looking at efforts made by WA state or other states in the Pacific Northwest to become more sustainable. How much does sustainability cost tax-payers and what is the public's role in this sustainability movement? 

I would interview the head of Dining Services and also the CUB Director to get a better sense of the motivation behind the changes. I would also talk to state officials and possibly environmental groups to learn their motivation and what worth they see in sustainability.

Articles for this topic were more difficult to find. I would place several public record requests to look at budgets before and after efforts at sustainability were implemented. I was also able to find an article which discussed consumer attitudes toward sustainability specifically in Washington - "Envisioning agricultural sustainability from field to plate: Comparing producer and consumer attitudes and practices toward 'environmentally friendly' food and farming in Washington State, USA." The article did have a greater focus on sustainable food production than trends in recycling and environmentally friendly buildings, but should still be of some use.

Field Trip - Cook Agronomy Farm

I am by no means a photographer. I am, however, a veteran cell phone user. Below are some pictures from our J 417 class trip to the Cook Agronomy Farm. The 140 acre parcel of land is owned by WSU and used to practice and study climate-friendly farming.

The crops, which include wheat, peas and alfalfa, are planted using a method called no-till farming or direct planting. It helps reduce the amount of carbon released into the air and prevents erosion. The process also helps carbon to build back up in the soil. More information on the farm can be found here.

There were also a few random facts discussed on the trip that I just thought were interesting:

1) The Palouse is the second most erosive area in the United States. Approximately 14 tons per acre per year are lost in the top soil. It works out to about an inch a decade. The Cook farm has already reduced the loss to 10 tons per acre per year.

2) The explosion of pioneer farming in the 1800s created a huge release of carbon. It was not until 1950 that the amount of carbon released through industrialization matched the amount released through agriculture.

3) Natural prairies lost 30 percent of their carbon in 30 years. This help explains the dust bowl in the 1930s. 

4) No-till farming is being used to help replace some of the carbon and to prevent more from escaping. The Conservation Reserve Program is a voluntary federal program created to reward farmers who seek to establish environmentally friendly farming practices, such as direct planting.

And now for photos:

This is the only thing signaling the farm's existence. This sign and tower, which also has a solar panel. It's the square thing on the tower.

The class listens attentively as we learn more about the process of direct planting. We were at one of 369 sample sites for testing the soil and gathering information.

This sample site was just off a dirt path in the middle of a recently harvested wheat field, which we drove and walked right through.

Jour 475 - Genre-specific blogs

As I was looking for a genre-specific blog, I was pleased to come across The Student Newspaper Survival Blog. The blog touts itself as a companion to The Student Newspaper Survival Guide. I think the site does a good job of illustrating how genre-specific blogs can be used as resources for gathering information about a specific topic.

This blog not only works to provide advice to college newspapers, but it also helps connects different college newspapers together. It gives examples of good things that have been accomplished by papers. It also provides information, almost in news story forms, about the state of student newspapers. Recently there was a post about a college newspaper that moved to be entirely online. The focus of genre-specific blogs is what makes them useful. They focus on gathering information and following one particular topic and can become an expert of sorts. The less successful ones try to do too much.

I think the newspaper survival blog hits the right balance by keeping track of the going-ons at different college newspapers in addition to giving general advice. It has become a tool that college newspapers can turn to. 

J 305 Compare & Contrast

The Olympian

I keep an eye on The Olympian's site because it's the paper from my home town area. It focuses much more on local news than the Washington Post. Since it is meant for a smaller audience, it's going to have smaller news stories than you would find in the Washington Post, things like car crashes and high school sports results. I actually wish that since the paper is in the state capital that it had a greater focus on politics and state government. I've always felt the paper didn't take advantage of its location enough in terms of what it chooses to cover. 

Fox News

This site definitely has an emphasis on national news. The headlines are typically catchier, I find, than some other news sites. Some of this can at times be contributed to sensationalism. This site also contains a greater collection of what I would describe as more obscure or odd stories in addition to the major nation stories. They're interesting, but not what traditionally would come to mind when you think of major or important news stories. The site is meant to reach a national audience, but is often accused of having a conservative bias.

The Washington Post

National and international news tends to lead on this Web site. The top stories are usually hard news. The site caters to a nationwide audience, though there is a bit more emphasis on the East Coast typically. This is my favorite news site. I think it does adhere to the Murrow standard of being fair and balanced. It often does investigative pieces and will do follow-up stories on breaking news with greater depth. It also always almost always has a few interesting multimedia projects and photo galleries in addition to the articles.