Census

I. State and local

1. What’s the population of Whitman County? 41,664
2. Percent white? 86.6%
3. Percent with bachelor’s degree? 44.0%
4. Median household income? $36,538
5. Persons below poverty? 26.7%

II. Drilling down into Census data: Housing

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.)
August 2009 - 7,170,166

3. Write a lede based on this information
- The amount of money spent on construction in the city of Pullman decreased by over 55 percent from 2007 to 2008 and showed no signs of recovery as of August 2009.

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.

1. How much did Whitman County farmers receive in Crop Insurance?  134,236,720
2. How much did Whitman County receive in grants? 122,982,596
3. Name three of the grants. 

-AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH-BASIC AND APPLIED RESEARCH GRANT

- PLANT AND ANIMAL DISEASE, PEST CONTROL AND ANIMAL CARE GRANT

-WILDLIFE SERVICES GRANT

IV. Health Care in Whitman County

 

1. Which two counties have the highest percent of uninsured people? San Juan and Whitman 

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

V. Population

 

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

 

2. 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? 1960

b. What’s the natural increase? 1,324

c. Explain the difference between “total change” and “natural change.” Total change is the exact number that the population increased from 2000-2007 while natural change does not include people moving away, migration, just people being born and dying. 

 

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

VI. Spokane City Council Agenda

 

1. What’s the number of the ordinance that would create a new alcohol-impact area? ORD C34475

2. What will the ordinance do? Write a lede based on the City Council’s approval of this ordinance.

- A Spokane ordinance will place restrictions on liquor licenses of those with off-premises sale licenses.