Does it have to get?

The local resistance movement that recently lost its battle to stop the closings of more neighborhood schools has inspired a full-fledged guerrilla attack on the status quo at the Des Moines Independent School District. Besides recruiting fresh candidates for upcoming school board elections and demanding audits of school building fund expenditures, the rebels are also mounting a "hearts and minds" information campaign spotlighting some horrifying school district failures. One analysis of DMISD test results, written by Bystander publisher Jonathan Narcisse, is being widely distributed, to the dread of the school district's spin-doctors. Narcisse pointed out that while the school district's Web site brags about high school graduation rates increasing, it's a deceitful claim because it ignores dropouts. Of 3,259 freshmen enrolled in 2000, only 1,449 graduated in 2004, and the largest percentage dropped out between ninth and 10th grade. Among ethnic groups, only Asian students graduated at better than a 50-percent rate. Narcisse exposed the fact that the test's results excluded some schools that, coincidentally, had bad test scores the previous year, but never any that had good records. He also showed that competency levels in all subjects dropped precipitously between sixth grade and eighth grade, "the gateway to opportunity of failure." Oh, the title of Narcisse's article was "How Bad Does It Have To Get For The Public To Care? Or Why Has Our Town's Major Media Not Reported These Results?"

Democratic chances of capturing the Iowa Senate keep getting better. It's all but certain that popular Ankeny Mayor Merle Johnson, a Democrat, will run for the Iowa Senate seat being vacated by Republican Jeff Lamberti. Johnson is finishing his second term as mayor, has lived in Ankeny for more than 50 years, has served on the school board and, for 14 years, on the planning and zoning commission. Meanwhile, some of Lamberti's friends and supporters continue to be dismayed by his decision to challenge Rep. Leonard Boswell. They think Boswell is unbeatable, and they think Lamberti would have had a real shot at the Republican gubernatorial nomination.

The "Iowa Feeds the World" event during the recent Governors' Conference left some local chefs and farmers hungry for understanding. The event was supposed to showcase the excellence of Iowa food. Gov. Tom Vilsack told us a year ago that he intended to do just that, and he named specific Iowa products he wanted to serve the governors. However, some of the producers of those products, and some of the chefs who normally use them, complained last week that they were shut out of the event. "Iowa did not feed the world," one of the event's chefs told us. "We had to use inferior products from out of state and even out of the country."

We've heard that Anita Walker, Iowa Cultural Affairs Director, is thinking about a run for governor - as a Democrat of course, which would be good for Mike Blouin, who would love to see another woman split up the pro-choice vote... And speaking of Blouin, a top Democratic operative told us to look for Blouin to get his old job back in a wired-in deal with Vilsack if he doesn't win the Democratic primary.

Who is Prairie Meadows' biggest charity case? The horse owners, top Polk County insiders insist. And now that they no longer have control of the board (with only one seat and nothing in the way of allies) look for the pickings to keep getting more and more slim. The horse people are incensed, so they are trying to get the Iowa Legislature to mandate what the racing season is, circumventing the board that wants to limit racing days. They tried a similar deal a year or so ago when they wanted a redefinition of how to calculate the percentage they get - it involved whether the percentage is calculated before or after the payment to the county for various expenses associated with the arena - and that didn't work. Now, they're at it again, and the complicating factor is that next year is an election year for the legislature, and the rural guys are under enormous pressure from their constituents, who like horses. Said our individual close to the situation: "We're being too generous as it is. We once 'needed' them to get Prairie Meadows built, but they have outlived their usefulness, and it's costing Polk County taxpayers and charitable organizations." Wagering on horseracing dipped significantly from 2004 to 2005, which should be enough to pare back the season in the near future.

Former Dowling High School, Iowa Hawkeye and NFL standout Ross Verba isn't acting like a player who will be in the NFL this year, according to The Las Vegas Review Journal. Verba recently paid the Cleveland Browns $465,000 to get out of his contract, saying he wants a new contract in the neighborhood of $37.5 million over five years. But being unemployed hasn't stopped him from having a good time. Last week, Verba won $500,000 in Vegas and spent every penny on a champagne-filled pool party, the Review Journal wrote. He held an impromptu bikini contest in which he didn't pick a winner, but instead gave seven girls $10,000 each.

And finally, even more reasons why we should be the daily and The Des Moines Register should be the weekly. Last weekend the Register finally caught up with us about how the Polk County Jail/Public Labor Agreement deal could shake out -- a month after we went to press with it; and, in what can only be called crack reporting, the daily waited until Polk County Auditor Michael Mauro's office issued a press release on the subject of limiting school polling places before finally doing on a story on that topic, which we uncovered six weeks ago. CV

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