A Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper
We’re grateful that Charles Hernandez stepped forward to run for mayor of Storm Lake in the Nov. 4 election. Mayor Mike Porsch has decided on a well-earned retirement but nobody filed nomination papers to run in his stead. When Hernandez heard, he felt the call to gather write-ins.
“Storm Lake has given me so much,” he wrote on Facebook in announcing his candidacy.
Fans know him as hiphop artist Chubbz712Boss. He stages an annual benefit Back2School Block Party that raises funds for the schools. He says he is not “your typical candidate” and says he has made his mistakes. He says he just wants to help build community, as he does with music.
Porsch can be relieved. He said he would think about serving if nobody else did, but he hoped it wouldn’t come to that.
The mayor’s position is to preside at council meetings, help set the agenda and serve as an ambassador for the city. Hernandez is up to the task. He will bring a little flair to the council chambers and will reflect Storm Lake as it is. For the people who worry out loud about a Latino being our figurehead, have a margarita and relax. Hernandez simply wants to serve the community, even the hairy knuckle draggers. It is funny to see how a Latino seeking even a ceremonial position can excite a fetid imagination among the nattering nabobs.
His name must be written on the ballot precisely: Charles Hernandez.
Chubbz712Boss is for Saturday night. Get it right.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced a joint effort with the Justice Department to pursue anti-competitive practices in agriculture. There must be an echo, because we have heard this before. If Rollins makes good on her remarks Sept. 25 in Kansas City, it will be welcome relief for producers besieged by consolidated marketplace power.
In the past five years, seed expenses increased 18%, fuel jumped 32%, and fertilizer rose 37%, while interest expense was up 73%, she noted.
“The Antitrust Division of DOJ will work hand in hand with USDA — effective immediately — to take a hard look and scrutinize competitive conditions in the agricultural marketplace, including antitrust enforcement that promotes free market competition,” Rollins said.
A handful of companies dominate each of the ag silos, whether seed, chemicals or food processing. Farmers have been calling for action for decades, especially cattle producers. Rollins did not speak to anti-trust investigations involving livestock or meatpacking in Kansas City.
Rollins also used her speech to announce food purchases, direct assistance to farmers in distress and investments in export marketing. The administration is greasing the skids for the midterm elections in red states like Iowa with bailout money and anti-trust talk. We can hope it amounts to real action, but the history of consolidation suggests otherwise. The bailout money will be welcome.
Rollins also could do farmers a favor by pushing a farm bill through Congress at least two years late. Putting off passage gives Democrats a strong argument that the Republican Party is not suited to governing.
The arrest of Des Moines School Superintendent Ian Roberts by immigration agents is a strange story. He is a native of Guyana who came to New York more than 30 years ago, and worked his way through the ranks of public education. He had a minor gun charge from back in New York when he was hunting and improperly had a loaded weapon in his vehicle.
His immigration status was revoked in May 2024. ICE showed up, he fled in a school vehicle, and took a gun and knife with him. Soon after he gave up and was taken in to custody.
The ICE regional director questioned why the Des Moines School Board would employ Roberts.
Jackie Norris is president of the Des Moines School Board. She is running for the Democratic nomination for the US Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Joni Ernst, a Republican. The ICE director left little doubt that this will haunt Norris through her campaign.
The school board did all the background checks. The only thing to be found was the loaded gun in the backseat of the car while hunting incident, which Roberts explained to the satisfaction of the board. He was cleared by the state licensing board. Roberts had his picture taken with a smiling governor. The board was not aware that his immigration status had changed a year ago.
The Republicans will have a lot to say about that.
The arrest broke just after Norris announced her candidacy and was raising funds. She is involved in a difficult Democratic primary race with several strong candidates. How she handles the snatching of the superintendent as board president is important. She has been open and measured. How her primary opponents handle it also will be revelatory.
It will be a central issue of the Senate race if Norris wins the Democratic nomination. The message will be that Democrats are soft on criminal immigrants.
Storm Lake School District falls well behind the state average composite test scores in the major areas — language, math, science — in the latest report card from the Iowa Department of Education. This is hardly new. The gap is persistent. Up to 60% of students are English Language Learners. That is the sum of it.
Supt. Stacey Cole said there are promising signs. Math scores, for example, rose by 10%. She said that the district implemented a new curriculum with more support for teachers over the past year that shows promise.
The schools see a lot of new students at upper levels who need remedial support.
Language development and transience are major impediments to academic progress. Cole notes that Storm Lake compares favorably to other meatpacking towns that cope with the same issues.
The persistence of the performance gap suggests that we should devote more resources to these districts. Storm Lake does well with a charter school that funnels students to higher education while giving them more time to secure a high school diploma. Ours is a good lab for other innovations if the state would allow.
It all costs money. Storm Lake is among the most important economic hubs in Iowa because of meatpacking. The state should recognize it by giving the district the resources it needs. The same should be true with Denison, Marshalltown and Columbus Junction. They have special needs that are not being met. Just because students are immigrants doesn’t mean that they must be functionally illiterate.
The tax bill passed by Congress, big and beautiful though it may be, will make Iowa’s fiscal problems worse. The bill pushed and signed by President Trump will result in $435 million less revenue for the state. The state already is dipping into reserves to cover a $900 million deficit because of income tax cuts and allowing vouchers for private education.
It will be difficult for school districts like Storm Lake’s to get the help they need. Property taxes are rising to make up for the shift in revenue sources, and the legislature failed to do anything about it.
Gov. Reynolds acts as if there is no problem. There is a problem: Students in Storm Lake are having a hard time with math and English. We can’t afford the property taxes — farmers are losing money. It’s not a problem because Reynolds is quitting and won’t be around for the fiscal train wreck. She is papering over chronic deficits, but that cannot last forever.
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here