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Harding High School senior overcomes the odds
At one point, senior William Rubio said he had 120 absences for one quarter in middle school. He’s now an honor roll student who is part of the JROTC.
ST PAUL, Minnesota — A subject like physics may not make sense to every student; but for Harding High School senior William Rubio, “It helps me visualize the world in a way I hadn’t thought about before. It’s an eye opener.”
It’s a mindset that has helped change the trajectory of the 17-year-old’s life.
“I guess when you’re so unsure in life — when you’re unfocused — life kind of beats you up… puts you against the wall. I was against that wall for a really long time. And I got sick of it,” Rubio said.
While Rubio is now a senior, he remembers how for one quarter in middle school he had 120 absences.
Looking back on that now, Rubio called it shocking. But at the time, he said, “It was rough. It was hard going to classes.”
Rubio grew up in subsidized housing in St. Paul and faced food insecurity.
“Sometimes we didn’t always have the most amount of food in the house and that worried me,” Rubio said. “My mom always tried though. My mom always tried her best to provide for us and I love her for that. But, nevertheless, it was challenging having that kind of upbringing where you would see a lot of people in life having the things that you wish you could have.”
While Rubio was growing up, his grandfather died. While still processing his grandfather’s death, his brother passed away.
“Enduring those losses at that time was very difficult,” he said.
Rubio recalled how isolated he felt in the eighth and ninth grade while distance learning due to the pandemic. But in the summer headed into his sophomore year, Rubio had an epiphany.
“I wanted to do something more in life and I wanted to have a kind of impact on society,” Rubio said.
Rubio joined the Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (JROTC). He got involved in sports, the National Honor Society, and is taking challenging coursework including International Baccalaureate physics and chemistry. He maintains a 4.0 GPA. On top of everything, Rubio volunteers at community events and P.T.O. meetings.
As his confidence grew, Rubio heard about the American Indian Studies program at Harding High School. He also has been studying Ojibwe for the past three years.
“It helped bridge the gap between the separation of myself, identity, and cultural association. It helped me maintain a purpose that was just bigger than improving myself but becoming something more to help my culture and learn about my people,” Rubio said.
While Rubio in middle school missed more than 100 days, so far this school year he has not missed a single day.
Looking at attendance numbers for Saint Paul Public Schools, in the 2022-23 school year, 38% of Harding students missed 20 or more days of school. That number improved to 31% last school year, and the number of students missing five days or less also improved from 22% to 29%. Districtwide, 70% of students had “consistent” attendance in the 2023-24 school year, a 5% improvement over 2022-23. In the two years prior, coming out of the pandemic, consistent attendance was only 56%
Last year, SPPS created a new position to address the absenteeism rate among American Indian students. For American Indian students districtwide, 50% of students missed 20 or more days in 2022-23 but it improved to 44% in the 2023-24 school year.
“I hope that I can continue to improve myself so that eventually, at some point, I can help my culture and help my people,” Rubio said.
Guidance Counselor Dan Kennedy works with the American Indian students at Harding.
“This to me is like food for the soul. When I learn about these stories and I learn about William, it invigorates me,” Kennedy said.
Kennedy was so impressed with Rubio that he has nominated him for St. Paul Optimist Club’s Youth Appreciation Award. The citywide scholarship competition will announce winners in the coming weeks.
As part of the nomination letter, Kennedy wrote, “William is on an impressive academic trajectory, set to earn both an “International Baccalaureate Career Program Diploma” and the distinguished “Distinction in American Indian Studies” award at his graduation ceremony.” The letter went on to say, “To fully understand William Rubio, you must know no matter how much the cards are stacked against him, no matter how difficult the challenge…his inner resolve and ability to have a positive attitude have allowed him to overcome every obstacle.”
Rubio said he’s grateful for all the school staff who helped support him. Even now, Rubio faces many challenges.
“I just lived with my mom. My biological father was never in the picture… My mom’s health had been deteriorating and really reached the culmination in the past year when doctors had diagnosed her with an illness. Her liver had been damaged and up to now they’ve been closely monitoring it and taking tests but it’s progressed to a point of lethality and it’s terminal,” Rubio said. “Every day… I have to think about that. She’s dying… So that’s a difficult thought that I have to process waking up every single day. But it’s something that I believe empowers me to help others and do better in life and find who I am and have that greatest sense of purpose.”
Rubio has enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserve. After graduation, he will go straight to boot camp in San Diego. From there, he plans on attending college in Minnesota. Whatever degree he pursues, Rubio said he wants to do something that helps people.
“You can decide to change. You can change your fate,” Rubio said. “You can do anything regardless of your circumstances.”
In the vice presidential debate, Ohio Senator JD Vance claimed Minnesota law doesn’t require doctors to save babies born during abortion procedures.
ST PAUL, Minn. — Governor Tim Walz signed several bills affirming abortion rights in 2023, and none of them allow doctors to deprive healthy babies of medical care.
But that’s the unfounded charge being lobbed at Walz and fellow Democrats now that he has become Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate.
In Tuesday night’s vice presidential debate, Ohio Senator JD Vance said to Walz, “As I read the Minnesota law that you signed into law, the statute that you signed into law, it says that a doctor who presides over an abortion, where the baby survives, the doctor is under no obligation to provide lifesaving care to a baby who survives a botched late-term abortion.”
Walz said it’s simply not true, but didn’t delve into the details of what the laws say.
Vance was apparently referencing a 2023 bill that amended a 2015 law known as the “Born Alive Infant Protection Act” that mandated doctors save the lives of babies born during an abortion procedure.
The DFL majority’s Omnibus Health Bill in 2023 amended the part of state law – Sec. 145.423 subdivision 1 — to remove references to babies born in abortions, but reinforced doctors’ responsibility to care for any infant born alive.
The amended law reads as follows:
- An infant who is born alive shall be fully recognized as a human person, and accorded immediate protection under the law. All reasonable measures consistent with good medical practice, including the compilation of appropriate medical records, shall be taken by the responsible medical personnel to care for the infant who is born alive.
The original language of the 2015 “Born-Alive Act” reads as follows:
- A born alive infant as a result of an abortion shall be fully recognized as a human person and be accorded immediate protection under the law. All reasonable measures consistent with good medical practice shall be taken by responsible medical personnel to preserve the life and health of the born alive infant.
Republicans contend that removing the words “to preserve the life” means that physicians are no longer required to save lives. Democrats say that’s not true and fails to recognize the reason late-term abortions are performed in the first place.
Democrats pushed for the change, asserting doctors are already obligated by law to save the lives of any person that can be saved. She also asserted the very existence of the law created the false impression that otherwise healthy babies could be allowed to die without care.
During debate of the bill, Rep. Tina Liebling, a Rochester Democrat, said the “born alive” law ignored the reality that doctors aren’t allowed to commit homicide.
“You don’t need that born alive law to protect infants against infanticide,” Rep. Liebling argued during the floor debate on the omnibus health bill in 2023.
“Infanticide is, in fact, illegal. Infanticide will remain illegal.”
She was responding to Republican lawmakers, including Rep. Peggy Scott of Andover, who reminded fellow legislators that premature babies as young as 21 weeks of gestational age had survived.
“You should not be allowed to snuff out a healthy baby.” Rep. Scott remarked during the health bill debate.
During his debate with Vice President Kamala Harris, former President Trump claimed that babies born alive in states without restrictions on abortions were being “executed” after birth. The ABC moderators instantly fact-checked Trump, noting that it’s against the law in all 50 states for a doctor to kill a living infant.
Late-term abortions are extremely rare
That narrative became part of a long-running TV ad by Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life, the state’s oldest and largest anti-abortion organization.
In the MCCL ad, a woman points to an online newspaper article on her phone and says to her friend, “It says right here the legislature passed that allows an unborn baby to be aborted at any time up to birth. Even healthy babies with healthy moms.”
It’s true that the PRO Act signed by Governor Walz has no restriction on gestational age, but that’s not a new development. The PRO Act codified the case law rules that were already in effect in Minnesota stemming from a 1995 Minnesota Supreme Court decision known as “Doe v. Gomez.”
The reality is that third-term abortions are extremely rare in Minnesota, according to the Minnesota Department of Health’s most recent Induced Abortions Report to the Minnesota Legislature, which covered the calendar year 2022. In that year, of 12,090 abortions performed in Minnesota only 1 happened in the third trimester.
The other reality, according to the Minnesota Medical Association, is that any abortion performed that late in pregnancy would involve an infant that wouldn’t be able to live very long after birth and a situation in which the mother’s health is threatened in some way.
These are not “botched” abortions resulting in healthy babies, as Sen. Vance contended.
Sen. Erin Maye Quade, an Apple Valley Democrat, said that in virtually every late-term abortion an induced delivery that recognizes the baby will have extreme abnormalities that prevent its survival.
“In those cases, the induction of childbirth is the method of abortion, it is the method of terminating a pregnancy. So, in those cases an infant being born alive is the goal. That’s the point. The parents hold and spend time with that child before it passes away,” Sen. Maye Quade explained.
“We changed the law to be appropriate so that all children access medical care that’s appropriate for them, and for some of these families the appropriate care is palliative care for their dying baby.”
Tippy Amundson credits her later-term abortion with making it possible for her to have children later. She learned during the 20-week checkup in her first pregnancy that her baby had stopped developing and wouldn’t survive outside the womb. She was also warned that continuing the pregnancy would result in a complication that could require removing her uterus.
“The only reason I have my three beautiful boys today is because I had an abortion. Without it, I might not have a uterus, and I might not have my family,” Amundson said during a reproductive rights press conference sponsored by the Harris-Walz campaign.
She wasn’t able to hold her aborted child but empathizes with parents who want that choice.
“The born alive statements that Trump keeps making are so hurtful to families like mine. What he does by saying those things in a very public way just rips out the souls of those mothers who want an opportunity to say goodbye to their baby.”
Conservative politicians have seized on the 2021 Born Alive Report, a subsection of the Health Department’s 2021 Induced Abortions Report. It describes five live births that occurred during abortions in Minnesota.
That report details the circumstances as follows:
- In one instance, fetal anomalies were reported resulting in death shortly after delivery. No measures taken to preserve life were reported and the infant did not survive.
- In two instances, comfort care measures were provided as planned and the infant did not survive.
- In two instances, the infant was pre-viable. No measures taken to preserve life were reported and the infant did not survive.
According to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, a “pre-viable infant” is one that isn’t developed enough to survive outside of the uterus. For example, the baby may have a beating heart but is born without fully developed lungs and wouldn’t be able to breathe on its own.
That 2021 report came out two years before lawmakers changed the “Born Alive Infant Protection Act.”
Sen. Maye Quade said it’s wrong to speculate those five late-term live births involved babies that would’ve survived, or that the changes made in 2023 would encourage needless late-term abortions in this state.
“These lies are exactly kinds of rhetoric that scare people but also put shame onto these families that are going through some of the worst things they have heard, so folks need to know that they are capitalizing on the worst moments of these families lives to perpetuate a lie and a myth to voters.”
The three members of the public swam to safety but the ranger was unaccounted for, according to the park service.
INTERNATIONAL FALLS, Minn. — The National Park Service is investigating the death of a law enforcement park ranger after the ranger responded to a call for assistance from a distressed vessel.
The ranger responded to the civilian vessel in distress on Namakan Lake in Voyageurs National Park, according to the park service.
While the ranger was towing the other vehicle, the park service boat capsized and forced the ranger and all three people who were being helped from the boat.
The three members of the public swam to safety but the ranger was unaccounted for, according to the park service.
“After a three-hour search, the ranger’s body was recovered from Namakan Lake at approximately 3:20 p.m.,” said the statement.
High winds and rough waters were reported at the time of the incident.
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
“We just started cooking and putting food out for folks,” Mary Vance said.
NEWLAND, N.C. — As the Newland community continues to clean up after Hurricane Helene wreaked havoc just over a week ago, residents and those coming in to help are looking for their next meal. Many businesses in the community are stepping up to serve.
“We’re part restaurant, part catastrophe relief,” Belle Morgan, co-owner of the Cranberry Street Cafe, said.
To say things have been chaotic may be an understatement.
“In the middle of Armageddon,” Morgan said, laughing. “Feels like it.”
Damage is easy to see on the outskirts of town. Morgan says many here may not have been prepared for this.
“I think a lot of people up here were just sideswiped with it,” she said. “Just absolutely flabbergasted.”
Power at their cafe was slow to come back on. When Morgan’s mother, Mary Vance, went to check on their business last week, she noticed they still had no power — but plenty of guests.
“They were using our Wi-Fi because we had good connectivity,” Vance said. “My son-in-law insisted on having good connectivity.”
“People need a lifeline,” she added.
That lifeline led to folks giving or asking the cafe to cook their food, at risk of spoiling with no power in their fridges at home. When the donations started piling up, Vance says they knew what needed to be done.
“We just started cooking and putting food out for folks,” she said.
“Right now, we’re just trying to help the folks who don’t have power, can’t cook,” Vance continued.
Meals are currently free at the Cranberry Street Cafe, hot and ready when you walk in — a piece of home in the middle of a nightmare.
“Growing up military, I didn’t really have a hometown of my own,” Morgan said. “Coming to Newland, this was the first place in my entire life that’s ever felt like home.”
Donations to the cafe can be made to their Cashapp. Their handle is the name of the cafe, Cranberry Street Cafe, all in one word.
