November 2005
November 30, 2005
Cars still kill
Went back to my old high school today and spoke about politics and the important policy issue for teenagers today. Cars kill. Over half the deaths of 14-19 year olds are the result of car accidents.
Coleman Conference
Backed by city Dems and other notable polls, Senate Minority Leader Maida Colman kicked off her campaign Tuesday at the swanky Missouri Athletic Club.
During her speech, during questions and in a brief interview afterwards, Coleman focused on what she saw as her strengths and her vision of the race ahead.
Coleman is certainly aware of the question on many poll-watchers' lips, "What is she doing?" In reference, of course, to the often referred to facts that she is an african-american woman from St. Louis with a history of financial issues and no experience in the area of auditing or accounting and little by way of campaign finances so far.
Despite her position as Senate Minority Leader, she is not a well-known name around the state so fundraising and voter education will be a major drain on her time (not that it isn't always). Being up against another woman who has a CPA, a J.D., the unofficial nod from McCaskill, and just loaned herself $500,000, does not put Coleman in the best position.
She did appear ready for a challenge. Noting that she has two fundraisers this week alone, she took a little jab at her opponent, Susan Montee's, full bank account saying, "I don't have the personal wealth to be a self-funded candidate."
Note: Sorry this entry is up so late (and it's a long one, click below for more), I was busy finishing an article for the next edition of the ACC due out next Tuesday! Matthew
Continue reading "Coleman Conference"November 29, 2005
Blunt's numbers raise
Survey USA: Approval rating up to 34%, but disapproval also up a point to 62%.
Wahby Blasts Bauer, Sues
Democrats Say Tom Bauer Isn’t One of Them
Central Committee Sues to Prevent Bauer’s use of “Democrat,” Party Logo
St. Louis, MO November 29, 2005 – Incensed by Tom Bauer’s illegal use of the term “Democrat” and the donkey symbol on his campaign literature, The Democratic Central Committee today sued to prevent Bauer from using the donkey and the term Independent Democrat on his campaign material.
“There is only one Democratic candidate in this election….and it isn’t Tom Bauer,” said Central Committee Chairman Brian Wahby. “The Democrats in the 24th Ward voted overwhelmingly for Bill Waterhouse to be their candidate for the aldermanic seat after Bauer was recalled by the voters. Bauer filed as a non partisan candidate and is prohibited by law from calling himself a Democrat or an Independent Democrat in his election efforts.”
“Tom Bauer is being deceptive, misleading and deliberately trying to confuse the voters,” Wahby said. “We will not tolerate his actions any longer. He is an embarrassment to the people of St. Louis.”
In special elections the City Charter provides that only one person can stand as the Democratic candidate. That candidate is selected by the City Democratic Central Committee. One person can stand as the Republican candidate and others that file as Nonpartisan must accurately represent themselves.
November 28, 2005
Coleman's conference
Maida Coleman holding a press conference
Tomorrow, Noon
Missouri Athletic Club
The Meaning of Jane Bogetto
My latest in last week's Business Journal.
November 27, 2005
Immigration in 06?
Is immigration being positioned as a wedge issue in 06? Starting to hear about it more now on the national level.
From a recent Talent email:
Talent Sponsors Comprehensive Border Security Bill
I share the concerns of many Missourians that the United States requires an effective border management system that protects us from terrorist attacks, illegal immigration, illegal drugs and other contraband. A lot of people view border security as an immigration issue. It’s not. It’s a national security issue. This bill represents a comprehensive approach to secure America’s borders and our people with additional manpower, new barriers and high-tech surveillance equipment. This bill is long over due and proposes real solutions for America’s border security.
Mannies talks to Young Republicans
Jo Mannies will speak at the St. Louis Area Young Republicans monthly meeting on Thursday, December 8, 2005 at 7:30 PM in the Executive North Ballroom of the Howard Johnson Inn by the airport, 4530 N. Lindbergh Blvd.
Blouin for Guv
Amy Blouin's (MO Budget Project) dad is running for Governor of Iowa.
Mike Blouin
Iowa Democratic Gubernatorial Candidate
Host Committee:
Former Lt. Governor Joe Maxwell
State Senator Joan Bray
State Senator Patrick Dougherty
State Representative Jeanette Mott Oxford
St. Louis Board of Alderman President Jim Shrewsbury
Special Guest:
Congressman Russ Carnahan
Friday, December 2, 2005
5:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
Hosted at the home of Pat & Michelle Connaghan, in the Historic Shaw Neighborhood, 3823 Flora Place—St. Louis
Individual Tickets $150
Couples: $250
Darnetta's Defense
The State of the St. Louis Public Schools
Leaders in the St. Louis Public School district live with many public realities. But sometimes public reality still shields the truth.
The latest report from the state of Missouri-the Annual Progress Review-highlights the district's "reality" but doesn't necessarily show us the truth. The report finds severe deficiencies in outcomes that measure the performance of middle-schools and high-schools. The district is failing when the attendance rate; drop-out rate; graduation rate and participation in ACT college placement tests are measured.
As a board we do not reject this analysis-we wholeheartedly agree. The failure after 6th grade in the St. Louis Public Schools is both heartbreaking and infuriating. And, it's why we ran for school board.
Evidence of the truth is hidden in the numbers provided by the state. Our most recent problem (though by no means our only problem) is that by and large the 11th graders in 2004-2005 did not take the ACT test. It was in this category that the district lost points.
This deficiency is being addressed. At the request of the Board, Superintendent Creg Williams has implemented an ACT Preparation Program in the district which will improve participation and eventually improve scores.
However, the bigger question is why aren't our high-school students taking the ACT test? Why are they dropping out of school? Why do they engage in unruly behavior?
Pundits will offer many excuses ranging from general poverty to a lack of parental involvement. Without question these can be factors. But let's go back to the state's numbers. When today's 12th graders were in middle school in 2001, only 12.6% of them were performing at grade level or above. These children are now in high-school, faced with the academic demands that high-school presents, and they don't have the skills. Most adults know what happens when children are placed into a situation in which they cannot succeed. They act up. They drop out. And, they don't take the ACT test because they surely do not see college in their future.
That's our district's hidden truth-the academic condition of SLPS middle-school and high school students. They are not equipped to succeed in high-school. And it is not the children's failure. It's the adults. The school district has failed them throughout their entire academic career.
I joined the St. Louis Public School Board on April 22, 2003 and was elected its President. The district had a $90 million operating deficit, crumbling buildings and academic performance scores that were among the worst in the entire nation.
In 30 months time we have put the fiscal house in order; negotiated a new contract with our teachers that will put their salaries on par with some of the best suburban districts in St. Louis; extended the school day to give our children more time-on-task; consolidated schools so that our efforts at building maintenance can be directed towards fewer buildings; implemented a standardized curriculum throughout our elementary, middle and high-schools; purchased more than $4 million in new text-books this year alone; dramatically increased the number of certified teachers in the district and delivered more than 190,000 hours of teacher training. Our state MAP scores, released in August, showed dramatic improvement at the elementary school level and gave us the first evidence that these reforms are going to work.
Despite this whirlwind of activity, we must do more. At our request, Creg Williams will be proposing some dramatic changes to our high-schools in the coming weeks.
We selected Dr. Williams as our new superintendent, in part, because of his past success at the high school level. We need to intervene with our middle-school and high-school students or they'll never have the opportunity to live up to their potential.
We cannot quit on these children. They aren't statistics. They are real people-individuals-that deserve a chance to succeed in school and in life.
Darnetta Clinkscale
President, St. Louis Public School Board
November 21, 2005
Dems look to 93rd
Democrats think after winning the 94th that they can take the 93rd as well.
Jane Bogetto's winning campaign team is taking their Momentum and moving right into Genevieve Frank's campaign in the 93rd House District ( open seat formerly held by Jodi Stefanick (R) ). We believe Jane's stunning victory is the beginning of a trend. Please come be a part of turning the tide next weekend.
There’s a Special Election for the 93rd House seat on February 7, 2006.
So please join in her
Kick-off Canvass
(pizza & drinks beforehand)
When: Sunday, December 4 at 12:30 p.m.
Where: Meet at Gale & Patti Osgood's Home
MCU Forum
Thursday, December 1, 2005
7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
St. Louis Pavilion Downtown
One Broadway; St. Louis, MO 63102
Metropolitan Congregations United (MCU)
Community Forum to focus on job creation
All are invited
For more information: 314-367-2484
Welcome Back
Hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving holiday.
I'm going to go through the "in" box now and post whatever bits of excitement I find. But tomorrow will be a "real" work day, so I probably won't be back in the blogging saddle until Tuesday.
After putting out one ACC in October and one in November, we're doing two in December! Next issue: December 6.
November 23, 2005
Boyd recall signatures turned in.
22nd ward latest to join recallmania.
Spampinato Exits
November 22, 2005
9th street parking problems
Via Fired Up, poorly poured concrete.
November 21, 2005
Mayoral Press Conference Announces
resignation of Vince Schoemehl today from School Board. Slay's appointing Jim Buford to take his spot. Buford and Darnetta Clinkscale will run for School Board in the spring elections.
Derio kick-off Dec 14
more details to come.
November 19, 2005
4th Senate District
In case there was any doubt, Gambaro and El-Amin both have committees now.
November 18, 2005
Gibbons for AG
Just go to Combest this morning
It's all happening over there.
A week after zapping Williams for hiring ex-cons, Wagman zings Coleman for filing for bankruptcy. Who's next?
Plus he has the dueling press releases from the Jetton - Lager feud. Republicans unraveling, anyone?
November 17, 2005
Mayor endorses Coleman
Couple of additions
Put up last month's ACC in the Back Issues.
And there are new photos in the Photo Gallery.
Price Tag for Super Bowl
November 16, 2005
Coattails
From Susan Page of USA Today
Fewer than one in 10 adults say they would prefer a congressional candidate who is a Republican and who agrees with Bush on most major issues, according to a USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll taken Friday through Sunday. Even among Republicans, seven of 10 are most likely to back a candidate who has had at least some disagreements with the president.The notion that the President hurt GOP candidates in last weeks elections seems to have pretty significant evidence now.
In Missouri it is difficult to say conclusively after only one election that Governor Blunt's policies pushed cooled moderate support for Missouri Republicans, though it seems quite possible. His 25% approval rate (Survey USA Oct 14-16) among self-identified moderates (42% of their sample) would seem to lend credence to this theory.
Unless things change, Governor Blunt and the President aren't likely to get many invitations from Missouri Republicans facing close races next year.
November 15, 2005
Coleman in.
Committee established yesterday.
Board of Elections
November 14, 2005
Derio in.
The new issue of the Arch City Chronicle - which comes out tomorrow - will report that Derio Gambaro has been telling elected officials in south St. Louis that he is "100% in" the race for the 4th District of the State Senate.
Moderates or the Base?
Crane Durham, of 97.1 FM, made a puzzling comment on last week's Donnybrook. Durham said, in essence, the key to victory is energizing your political base, not reaching out to the "moderate" voters.
Durham simply could have mean that an effective GOTV machine is crucial (and it is), but given the give-and-take with fellow raconteur Alvin Reid of the St. Louis American, he seemed to imply that the base was the essential ingredient.
Given Republican success at the polls in recent years and their very visible focus on courting and turning out their conservative base, it isn't surprising that moderate voters' influence is overlooked. Those voters have pulled the Republican lever for reasons less easy to define or control (security was the major issue last fall, of course). Yet the margin provided by the base may be erased in the suburbs if the party mishandles issues like education.
The Democratic victory in the 94th may have been less a sign of a Democratic resurgence than suburban voters not reacting to hot-button conservative issues. Some Dems expressed surprise at the conservative tone in Moira Byrd's campaign compared to those of her late husband's, while the Bogetto campaign stressed opposition to controversial decisions made by Governor Blunt and pushed on issues like health care.
That certain blocks had locked up the electoral influence in this country was a common theme in some worried circles last year. This will likely remain true in rural and urban areas (see, Smith in 150th MO House and Goodman in 29th MO Senate districts). However, if the "moderate middle" is becoming more volatile after 5 years, than it may move the political dialogue towards persuading voters that one-or-the-other party is the better choice, rather than merely outflanking them.
Democrat pollster Ruy Teixiera takes a look at the national scene in a New York Times op-ed.
Matthew
November 13, 2005
Bond in Newsweek
Sen. Kit Bond, a member of the Senate select committee on intelligence, is quoted in a Newsweek piece out this week examining the use of torture in intelligence gathering.
Details are hard to come by, but Sen. Kit Bond, a member of the Senate intelligence committee, told NEWSWEEK that "enhanced interrogation techniques" worked with at least one high-level Qaeda operative, 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, to thwart a plot. Bond would not say which one…As a member of the intelligence committee, Sen. Bond is party to a great deal of classified reports and briefings regarding not only the techniques used to gather intelligence, but also the use and usefulness of the information.
The piece is a companion to the cover story written by Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), "Torture's Terrible Toll", criticizing the use of torture or one of its more friendly synonyms, "torture-light" or "enhanced interrogation techniques".
While the practitioners may not be modern-day Torquemadas, the use of the word torture is accurate, though potentially prejudicial. Some of the techniques used (e.g. "waterboarding") have historically been referred to as torture, though they are less severe than other potential methods.
November 11, 2005
Latest Rasmussen Report
Accreditation Arc
Via email from Bill Purdy:
Accreditation Performance points 1999-2005
66 points required for full accreditation
1999 – 23 points Dr. Cleveland Hammonds, Jr.
2000 – 32 points
2001 – 48 points
2002 – 55 points
2003 – 64 points Last year for Dr. Cleveland Hammonds, Jr.and four board members: Brewster, Davis, McKinney & Purdy (Haas, Moore, Hilgemann remain)
2004 – 48 points Slay Board arrives, Schoemehl, Clinkscale, Archibald & Jackson William Roberti
2005 – 39 points Slay Board continues Floyd Crews, Pam Hughes, Creg Williams
The school district currently has 39 points which equals = Unaccredited
November 10, 2005
Bauer...
News Flash: Haas in
In his recent letter to media, Bill Haas confirmed that he will be running for school board again in spring, 2006.
November 09, 2005
Jubilant Dems
Jane Bogetto's campaign manager nearly blew his voice out at 9:01 p.m. yelling, "We have a new state representative!" The volunteers and staff smiled in shock and surprise as word of the margin (1286 officially) got around.
Despite the sepulchuric "It's His Seat" t-shirts sported by a few members of the Byrd GOTV effort, the voters in Kirkwood said decisively that it's Bogetto's seat for now.
"It's going to be a new day, I am so excited…Thank you again," said Bogetto, thanking the assembled volunteers and supporters, "We'll have to do this again next November!"Bogetto agreed that her success in this traditionally Republican seat is partly due to a rejection of Blunt and the Republican Party.
"I think they said, 'enough is enough.'…This sends a huge message"The former Kirkwood School Board member's landslide victory in a seat that has never been held by a Democrat has been dismissed by Governor Blunt and the Republican Party. Yet despite efforts by Republicans to paint her as a radical lefty, she walloped the candidate that stuck almost exclusively to the Republican talking points and backed the republican Governor.
Some of the Dems in attendance noted that they felt the late Rep. Richard Byrd was somewhat moderate, someone they could work with and that the current campaign was more conservative than they expected. Byrd won the seat only a year ago with 54% of the vote.
Bogetto felt that the point at which she was put over the top was when the Byrd campaign, "went so very negative." She said that in a small district like the 94th, people "get to know you" and going negative can backfire.
The Democrat website, Fired Up! Missouri noted efforts by Byrd campaign supporters to portray Bogetto as an anti-"family values" candidate, including anonymous "robo calls".
A major factor for Bogetto may have been the one hundred plus volunteers calling and knocking on doors. Though territories don't always overlap, the Bogetto volunteers were surprised they saw only a few from the Byrd campaign, the ones wearing the "It's His Seat" t-shirts.
Kansas: Science "Ok"....
...for others.
What are the odds that Rep. Davis (R-O'Fallon) will have another intelligent design bill on the calendar the first week of next year's House session?
Update: Perhaps Kansas will soon find itself alone in its perplexing fight against the role of reason. Descartes, Galileo, Einstein, Sir. Richard Dawkins, my college logic professor and Mr. Wizard could pick a few points with the folks in Kansas.
Update #2: Davis already planning to submit a new bill. From the Nov 12th Post-Dispatch: "Davis said she was ready for a long campaign to promote intelligent design. She said she had already retooled her textbook bill to file next month."
Matthew
Bond issue passes
easily. (6-7% turnout?)
and of course, Bogetto won. How about that?
November 08, 2005
Griffin Wise Roseberry
Congrats to Brooke, formerly an attorney with the City's problem property unit, and James, an architect with Trivers, on the birth of their new baby boy Griffin Wise Roseberry, born October 31 weighing 7 pounds and 11 ounces.
VOTE
Don't forget.
November 07, 2005
Smith Campaign kickoff
This Thursday, 5:30 to 7pm, at the Royale, 3132 S. Kingshighway.
That Zogby poll
Shows McCaskill and Talent tied. Comment that Cook Report thinks Ag issues will be big seems strange.
November 06, 2005
Combest pushes GOP to give more attention to StL
November 05, 2005
"Deadline Schmedline"
With a heavy heart and a full clip of wit, the Post-Dispatch newsroom staff roasted and toasted some of its longest-serving, and most beloved writers and editors at Maggie O'Brien's Friday night.
Departing and current Post employees honored the over 700 years of collective experience represented by the departing newsroom staff in a series of touching and uproariously funny tributes.
The roast of Jim Hanselman and his "135 year" career at the Post may be one for the books.
The sudden departure Friday afternoon of editor-in-chief Ellen Soeteber who, as one Postie quipped, "got us back on track," was taken in stride. Soeteber took the reins following the departure of Cole Campbell and his Public Journalism tangent. Speculation as to her ultimate reasons for leaving, however, bobbed up throughout the evening.
Soeteber's departure, which was partly motivated by disputes over finances and newspaper resources, likely confirmed the concerns of some readers and staff that revenue tops journalism under the new leadership.
Columnist Kevin Horrigan emceed the farewell and ended with a reference to the climactic scene in Apollo 13. As the space capsule plunged into the atmosphere, the astronauts did not know if their heat shield would function. Facing the unknown the astronauts strapped in and actor Tom Hanks' character, Jim Lovell, said to his colleagues, "Gentlemen, it's been a pleasure flying with you."
"It's been a privilege flying with you," said Horrigan, expressing the thoughts of the employees remaining at the Post and acknowledging their own trepidation.
Continue reading ""Deadline Schmedline""November 04, 2005
Egger's answer
Dear colleagues,
This afternoon, two very important announcements were made, with mixed
emotions.
Ellen Soeteber announced her resignation as editor of the
Post--Dispatch; and I appointed Arnie Robbins to replace her as editor.
Ellen and Arnie have done a great job working together as a team leading
our newsroom, so it is not easy to see the tenure of this team come to
an end.
As only the sixth editor of the Post-Dispatch in our 127-year history,
Ellen made major contributions to our newspaper and to St. Louis. She
inspired the people she worked with and, perhaps most important, was
passionate about, as she eloquently put it, "changing our focus to
serving readers' needs more than our own, and in looking more to the
future than the past."
During her tenure, she also spearheaded numerous investigative projects,
innovative news and feature sections (such as "Business Friday,"
"NewsWatch," "Let's Eat," and "Healthy &Fit,") and the recent strategic
repositioning and redesign of our newspaper.
Ellen is a great journalist and a great person, and we are a far better
company because of her time at the helm. We will all miss her. Her
last day with us will be November 30th.
Arnie is the perfect choice to follow Ellen as editor.
Approaching his ninth year in a leadership role in our newsroom, Arnie
is a well-regarded team player who brings experience, energy and strong
working knowledge of our market to the job. He also brings a sense of
continuity that will help build on the improvements we have seen in the
past five years.
This is an exciting and challenging time in our business, and I am
thrilled about having someone of Arnie's caliber to call upon to keep us
moving forward.
Please join me in thanking Ellen for all that she has given us, which
was always her very best, and wishing her and her husband, Dick, great
happiness in their future.
At the same time, let's congratulate Arnie as he assumes his exciting
new role as editor of the
Post-Dispatch.
Thanks,
Terry
Soeteber's resignation
Dear colleagues,
For those of you who were unable to be in the downtown newsroom this
afternoon, here's a copy of the announcement I made to staff. I'll be
around till the end of the month and hope to get to see each of you during
that time.
My best wishes to you all, ellen
I am sorry to announce to you today that I am resigning from the
Post-Dispatch.
I do so with sadness – because I am quite fond of you all, because I
enjoy working with you and I respect you, and because our news operation
clearly remains on a strong and upward course.
I am confident that you will continue to build an ever-better
Post-Dispatch.
But it is simply time for me to move on.
I believe I have contributed meaningfully to this newspaper. But
it’s time to pass its leadership along to someone else to steer it to the
next levels.
It is true that I was unable to come to terms with management on the
conditions that would have encouraged me to stay here. These included some
personal financial considerations, as well as some issues involving
newspaper resources.
But I don’t want to dwell on those aspects, as they were not the only
factors in this decision.
It’s just time to go. Sometimes, things are as simple as that and as
complicated as that.
There’s one thing I do want to note: I’ve been in high-stress,
all-consuming jobs for 18 straight years – four years as metro editor in
Chicago, three as deputy editorial page editor at the Tribune, 6 ½ years as
managing editor in South Florida, and nearly five years as your editor
here.
So, I’m ready for a break, and for some time to think and regroup.
I feel a sense of melancholy about leaving – but I have no regrets
about my service here. I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished.
Together, we have transformed the Post-Dispatch in a myriad of ways,
and the most important are these two: our focus on serving readers’ needs
more than our own, and in looking to the future more than we look to the
past.
I am confident that the recent repositioning of the Post-Dispatch
gives you a strong base and a great opportunity to maintain this forward
movement, to be creative and enterprising and muckraking, and to create
journalism of high quality, impact, and meaning.
I expect to be leaving on Nov. 30. After New Year’s, I expect to go
back to Florida to rebuild my garden – which Katrina and Wilma combined to
ravage -- and then decide what to do in the next stage of my life.
Dick and I plan to keep our St. Louis condo, and I hope I’m welcome
to visit here occasionally. This will enable me to remain a Post-Dispatch
reader and to keep track of your ongoing progress and good work.
It has been an honor to work with you all.
Oracle: Quake coverage harder to find
Tuesday's ballot
Bond issue for $13 million to lasso $100 million (not $100) in federal money.
Campaign has kept deliberately low profile. Astute observers I've surveyed think turn-out will be 8-15%! However they do believe some important constituent groups will show up - city employees, firefighters and policemen - all of whom they expect to favor the issue.
The issue requires 2/3 approval for passage.
In the 94th, Democrats who assumed it couldn't be won 6 months ago, are starting to believe. The combinations of scandal, sinking Republican polls and fired up Democrats looks like a "perfect storm."
Maybe Zogby will have better luck
with TV than he did last year.
Taste of the South Side
DeSales Community Housing Corporation’s, “Taste of the South Side”.
The event will take place tonight from 5:30 to 8:00 at the Mad Art Gallery at 12th and Lynch in Soulard. Parking is available at the Anheuser Busch Tour Center lot. There will be plenty of food and drink and some great stuff for bid at a silent auction. Its always a fun time.
Tickets are $25 each and can be purchased at the door or in advance at 2759 Russell. Call 776-5444 if you need more info.
November 03, 2005
24th ward - GOP candidate
Sharon Barnes is the Republican nominee for the Dec 13 special election for 24th ward alderman.
Congratulations to Kevin Gunn
on the birth of his second child, Nathan Carroll Gunn. Nathan arrived at 6:01 p.m. on November 2, 2005 and weighed 7 lbs. 5 oz.
Coleman in, finally?
An email tipster says that Senator Coleman has hired a Chicago-based fund raiser. Says that Coleman, who is out of country now, will announce soon after her return.
We'll see.
Maggie moves up
Maggie Lampe has been promoted to Director of Management Assistance Program at Grand Oak Hill Community Corporation.
November 02, 2005
Another recall in the works?
Our premier 5th ward source reports that residents there received a letter in their mailbox from April Ford Griffin informing residents that a recall effort has been started against her for purely "personal and spiteful" reasons. The letter went out of its away to state (underlined and in bold) that she has buried the hatchet with Rep. Rodney Hubbard and fully supports his efforts. Among the projects listed that April was lauding as a sign of her success was Carr Square Phase II. Carr Square TMC has long wanted to build additional affordable ownership units on some of the vacant land around the complex, but the project has gone no where over the past couple years.
The scuttlebutt is the recall is being launched by opponents of the Cochran HOPE VI plan, currently underway by the Housing Authority. Former Cochran tenant leader (and current St. Charles resident) Berthea Gilkey lead a protest against the project a couple weeks ago at the project's groundbreaking.
Over at the Fix, Jake reports on Florida's efforts to curb the recall fever.
Garden Variety Error...
A sharp eyed reader noticed this morning that the dropout rate figures on the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education website is significantly different than the "miraculous" numbers SLS Watch reported and we passed along in the post below last night. The numbers currently show the rate for 2005 as 15.7% and the 5-year average as 10.3%.
A representative from the Missouri School Improvement Program, which handles the Annual Performance Report, confirmed that the original figures were in error. They did not include all of the data when the numbers were calculated. They made the change after someone brought the error to their attention.
Matthew
Day of the Dead Beats
Via Brett Underwood of KDHX's "The No Show" and Taproom, who has added order to the process for several years running.
"The annual celebration of Beat poetry, Day of the Dead Beats, happens at Joe’s Café (6014 Kingsbury, just west of Des Peres) on Wednesday, November 2nd at 8 p.m. The event is free and open to those interested in the poetry, writing and spirit of The Beat Generation.
The live readings by local writers, actors, musicians and personalities performing the works of dead Beats Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs, Charles Bukowski, Peter Orlovsky, Bob Kaufmann, Dianne DiPrima, Anne Waldman, Gregory Corso and Herbert Huncke and two of the still-living writers of the Beat Generation Gary Snyder and Lawrence Ferlenghetti will be documented by Double Helix Television (http://www.kdhxtv.org) and KDHX (http://www.kdhx.org) for future broadcast. A DVD of Day of the Dead Beats 2004 can be purchased through http://www.kdhxtv.org
The event, started by Paul Thiel and others in 1997 following the death of Allen Ginsberg and William S. Burroughs, has continued every year since. Its title is, of course, a play on words incorporating the Mexican holiday, Day of the Dead or Dia de Los Muertos, in the title and is a sort of remembrance of those who are gone but not forgotten."
Continue reading "Day of the Dead Beats"Present and Accounted For
Saint Louis Schools Watch (subscription only) is reporting some rather surprising numbers from the 2005 District Summary of Annual Performance (grades 3 through 12).
If, as the old saying goes, 90% of success is showing up, the students of the St. Louis School District should be going places soon.
According to the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, St. Louis Public Schools reported that the dropout rate plummeted from 9.4% in the 2003-2004 school year to only 2.1% in 2004-2005.Though the dropout number is surprising enough to raise some questions, other numbers are not as positive nor as out of the norm.
…
The sharply lower dropout rate is quite a story, but school district administrators have not called attention to it nor explained how they did it. It has at least one school board member asking: "Do you believe in miracles?"
The number of graduates entering college is the lowest in 5 years (43.8%). Add in job placement (including military) from vocational training and the number is still its lowest in 5 years (46%).
The overall report is a mixed bag, but in math it appears that all the tested grade levels have made some progress, or at least not lost much ground, in the past 5 years. The communication arts are more problematic with only the third grader showing consistent improvement.
Update: A reader brought a disparity to our attention. The original figures for the dropout rate on the Missouri School Improvement Program website were in error. A representative from the MSIP, which handles the Anual Performance Report, confirmed the figures were changed after the problem was brought to their attention. The accurate dropout figure is 15.7% for 2005 and 10.3% for the 5-year average.
November 01, 2005
Another primary avoided
Johnson steps aside for McKenna.
Independent Voice
Via Romenesko, the alt-weeklies are not so alt anymore.
Free Bill McClellan
Four columns a week is just too much. It forces mediocrity. And too often, the readers are stuck with meaningless crap. We deserve better!
Easy solution: Hire another columnist. Two columns a week; and make them good.
Right a Wrong. Submit any tips or story ideas by using our anonymous email form. Confidentiality is guaranteed.