Hot dish 091624
PLUS: Chicago pol campaigns in Minneapolis
September 16, 2024 at 2:04PM
By Josie Albertson-Grove
Good Monday morning. Reporters Mara Klecker and Jeff Meitrodt took us all back to school over the weekend with their series on what has happened in the three decades since Minnesota started authorizing charter schools and seismically shifted the education landscape across the country.
There could well be more to the story, if the Department of Education decides to release thousands of records the team requested, dealing with complaints and oversight of charter schools.
If you haven’t read the series yet, it’s very worth your time! Part One delves into the way many charter schools are failing to make good on the promise of achievement through innovation; Part Two shows what happens to students when charter schools close with little warning; and Part Three looks at what another state (Rhode Island, who knew?) that has both tighter regulations and better results in its charter schools. Also check out video journalist Amanda Anderson’s profile of two charter schools.
Charter schools education-reform issues have not been front-and-center this election cycle so far, which now that I think of it is kind of surprising. Between charters, the expansion of private school vouchers in other states and the knock-down floor debates I watched during the legislative session over implementation of a phonics-centric reading curriculum, there seems to be plenty to argue about, especially in legislative races.
GARCIA: Part of me wonders why national Democratic campaigns feel the need to bring surrogates to Minneapolis and St. Paul, but I guess they’re not taking the cities for granted. To wit: U.S. Rep. Chuy Garcia of Illinois was at the Mexican Independence Day celebration outside Mercado Central on Bloomington Avenue in Minneapolis for the Harris-Walz campaign, along with advocacy group Unidos MN Action.
Garcia is probably most famous for his campaigns for Chicago mayor, with runs to the left of Rahm Emmanuel and then Lori Lightfoot making him something of a cause célèbre for progressives several years ago. Now in Congress, Garcia is a member of the Progressive Caucus.
Garcia’s visit came as the campaign mounted an “aggressive push” to reach Latino voters in swing states, including $3 million in Spanish-language radio ads across the country and sent surrogates out to events “from baseball games to independence day events, to boxing matches” to talk about the campaign and bring up Project 2025 again.
It could be that south Minneapolis isn’t the absolute Democratic bastion I assumed it was: as I was walking up the block to the festival, I saw the first lawn sign I have seen in real life for Dalia Al-Aqidi, the Republican running for Congress against Rep. Ilhan Omar.
RIDESHARE: Uber and Lyft aren’t threatening to leave at the moment but what happened to the other companies that promised to fill the void if they did?
Some are still set on expanding, and one, called MOOV, got a small state grant from the Department of Employment and Economic Development last week.
It’s not much: MOOV is splitting $583,000 with 20 other start-ups. But it could mean a lot for MOOV. The company had been trying to raise capital with online crowdfunding, but so far has come up with less than $750.
WISCONSIN: Over the weekend, Gov. Tim Walz made his fourth campaign appearance in Wisconsin, which is about as many gubernatorial-duties appearances as he has made in Minnesota since being named to Vice President Kamala Harris’ ticket last month.
Walz was in “coach mode” during the rally in Superior, reported Christa Lawler, telling supporters to go “all gas, no brakes” in the weeks remaining before the election.
Lawler went way beyond the vibes at the rally and looked at the voting history of Superior. The city, connected by three bridges to Duluth, is pretty solidly Democratic, said Mayor Jim Paine. But visits like Walz’s can make a difference in turning out voters. And, Lawler pointed out, turnout in Superior and other northern counties helped flip the state for Joe Biden in 2020 — not just running up the numbers in Milwaukee and Madison.
Walz told his supporters to get to work turning out the vote.
“Sleep when you’re dead,” Walz said. “Let’s give it all.”
The Diet Mountain Dew must be flowing on Walz Force One.
PLANE LIFE: Regular readers of this newsletter know Walz Force One is a Rochelle Olson coinage, and over the weekend, she wrote about what it’s like to be part of that circus.
There’s no TSA, but the fantasy of glamor on a chartered plane ends right about there, she writes.
“[F]ree will won’t exist for you in the next 36 hours. You won’t know where you’re going or how long you will be there. You are a captive of the campaign machine.”
WHERE’S WALZ:
No official business on the public calendar Monday, since Gov. Tim Walz will be traveling for the campaign.
After spending Sunday in St. Paul on “internal meetings,” Walz is flying to Macon, Ga. this morning.
10:00 a.m.: Walz will give brief remarks at a political event in Macon.
12:45 p.m.: Walz will fly into Atlanta for unspecified afternoon political events.
4:30 p.m.: Walz lands in Asheville, N.C. for a campaign rally.
READING LIST
- One of the many less-talked-about results of the 2023 legislative session: schools have to report results of lead testing to the state.
- Bloomington got ranked-choice voting with a ballot question a few years ago, but will the city keep it? Voters decide this fall, again. A similar ranked-choice repeal ballot question was defeated in Minnetonka in 2023.
- New prevailing-wage law means removing buckthorn is about to pay a lot more.
- From the Washington Post: a retired Minneapolis police officer who testified for Derek Chauvin’s defense (and who once pulled a gun on George Floyd during a traffic stop) is the star of a new ad from a pro-Trump group. The former officer, Scott Creighton, is shown scowling outside the Third Precinct with a gun on his hip.
- Another reporter-behind-the-scenes take: Music critic Jon Bream recalls a six-hour grilling by the producer of a new Prince documentary.
Keep us posted at hotdish@startribune.com.
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