Put yourself on the marijuana beat

Covering Marijuana as Business

Trish Regan of CNBC offers a business look at California’s marijuana industry as part of a segment called Marijuana Inc. Inside America’s Pot Industry. The segment notes that “What Kansas is to wheat, Mendocino County is to marijuana.”

Trish covers the industry from the growers’ and sellers’ perspectives while also focusing on the criminal aspect.

Today’s Tip: There’s a good story behind most every business, even the “nontraditional” ones.

Trish’s segment is more than 40 minutes and provides a thorough overview of the California industry. The challenge is usually finding the people, which social networking sites make easier to do.

Racquel Rutledge took a similar look at people scamming the state out of childcare funds with her series called "Cashing in On Kids" for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Her series illustrated the process parents and providers followed to bilk the state out of thousands of dollars.