SCHMID: LOOKING BACK FROM THE LEFT COAST - NOVEMBER 16, 2013
Is ND government spending essential or extravagant? In a little over a decade, the state’s budget has tripled from $4.7 billion to $13.7 billion. The state’s general fund spending during that period increased four times. Three areas (transportation, K-12 education and human services) are two-thirds of the budget. The governor says the increased spending is necessary mostly for needy areas in the Oil Patch. Despite the startling increases, Pew research says ND’s economy has grown faster than spending -- state government expenditures were about 12 percent of personal income in the early 1990s, but dropped to 11 percent in 2011.
“Though we’re ahead of the nation, I want our North Dakota students to be exceptional.” -- This statement by state school superintendent Kirsten Baesler in the Bismarck Tribune continues the grand delusion that ND schools and students excel. The National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) was released in November for fourth- and eighth-graders in math and reading. In all categories, white students in ND (the vast majority) do no better than average compared to white students elsewhere. In some cases, much worse. In reading, fourth grade white students in ND ranked #44 among states and eighth graders ranked #36.
In three of the four categories, the overall scores of ND students dropped in 2013 from the previous test in 2011. Superintendent Baesler is comparing ND’s overall scores to states with a large proportion of minority students. To illustrate the problem with her method, in a comparison of eighth-grade math scores (an area where ND is strong), there were a dozen states whose overall scores were below ND, but whose scores for white students exceeded those for white students in ND.
Some ND newspapers are digging deeper into the NAEP statistics and have grown cautious about the state's claims of excellence. The Tribune and Dickinson Press are still drinking the Cool-Aid.
Columnist Lloyd Omdahl began his ND political life in the Nonpartisan League which rolled into today’s Democratic party. Omdahl has a bleak view of his weakened party: “The only conclusion that can be drawn is that the North Dakota Democrats are hardly able to assume the duties of a minority party in a two-party system.” He believes the ND Democrats need to “accept the reality that they may be a minority party for a long time.” Since they lack power in the Legislature, Omdahl suggests the Democrats make greater use of the initiative and referendum process.
“She asked the court to have mercy on her son, whom she said she never knew to be irresponsible with fire.” -- The Bismarck Tribune reporting on the trial of Allen Thomas charged with burning the Lone Steer hotel in Steele. The defendant said he was innocent of all charges and his attorney represented that Thomas had no violent criminal history. To the contrary, the judge indicated the defendant had convictions for burglary and assault, plus a litany of DUIs and drug charges. The jury had little difficulty arriving at a guilty verdict and Judge Cynthia Feland sentenced Thomas to 46 years in prison. The family that owned the hotel also lived in it and appeared to have had no insurance. They lost their home as well as their business. The stress of the event contributed to the heart attack of one owner.
For the second time this year, a TV reporter was attacked at the Spirit Lake Reservation. A reporter for Grand Forks WDAZ-TV was attacked by tribal women who attempted to destroy his camera. Earlier this year, a reporter from a Fargo TV station was involved in a similar incident at Spirit Lake. The WDAZ reporter believes a faction that lost political power on the reservation is behind the attacks.
Ten years and millions of dollars after the murder of UND student Dru Sjodin, appeals of Alfonso Rodriguez’s death sentence continue. Rodriguez has confessed to the killing -- the appeals relate to increasingly obscure issues about his mental condition and state of mind. Medical experts have testified that Rodriguez was not insane or mentally retarded at the time of the crime.
“Estimates are that bogus training certificates or degrees went to nearly 600 Chinese students.” -- A Tribune editorial about the scandal at Dickinson State. The editorial noted that, as a result, enrollment at the university dropped from 2,500 students to 1,500. The Trib said there is good news -- an accreditation commission has removed DSU from its watch list. -- “but recovery will take time.”
The federal government has a new method of measuring poverty that gives greater weight to regional cost of living -- under the new policy, ND tied with Wyoming for the second lowest poverty rate (9 percent) in the nation. Iowa (8.5 percent) had the lowest. The national rate is 16 percent; California had the highest rate (24) followed by Washington D.C. (23).
The ND Public Service Commission has approved a 100-turbine, 21,000 acre, $350 million wind farm in Stutsman County north of Jamestown. The project will be part of 650 megawatts of wind-power under development in the state, which will add to 1,700 megawatts already in service.
We used to think of corn primarily as a food for humans and animals. Ethanol fuel is now the No. 1 use for corn in America. High corn prices have caused farmers to take land out of the conservation reserve program. In ND, acres in CRP fell 29 percent from to 2005 to 2012. Many believe the ethanol mandate is having negative environmental consequences.
That’s the way it was. The obituary of Kathryn Duchscherer (91) of Minnewaukan reminds us of rural life early in the last century. Kathryn attended rural school through the 8th grade, then she helped her parents with housework, herding cattle and sheep, shocking grain, haying and milking many cows. She had 10 siblings. She married when she was 18, had seven children and again milked many cows. But, like other ND women of her generation, she moved from a tough beginning to an interesting and varied life. Kathryn became the Deputy Treasurer of Benson County and she and her husband also operated a small business. Late in life, she was occupied by an expanding family which included 22 grandchildren and 36 great-grandchildren.
DAKTOIDS: New coal projects in ND may be coming to an end -- lignite coal is no longer competitive because of EPA requirements and plentiful natural gas . . . Insurance Commissioner Adam Hamm said 36,000 Nodaks (about 5 percent) will have their health insurance policies canceled . . . Ag related jobs in ND have increased 26 percent in the last decade -- an increase in value-added ag jobs has more than offset a decrease in farming jobs . . . Moorhead has its first female mayor -- Dell Rae Williams, a retired CPA from Minot.
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