BY DAN VALENTI

PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY

(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY JULY 22, 2026) — THE PLANET, in a fit of generosity prompted by our honeybees in Essex, send this FREE tip to the assignment editor to the Boring Broadsheet, the rag that in a former life presented itself as the respected Berkshire Eagle: Investigate the connection between alleged drug dealer LaMar Cook and Lavante Wiggins, aka the Dancin’ Dean at Pittsfield High School.

THE PLANET has reason to suspect that Cook and Wiggins, uh, knew each other well, when both DEI flops were living large on taxpayer dollars.

Gov. Healey and LaMar Cook

Cook, as you know by now, was Gov. Maura Healey’s selection as her Western Mass. representative. He made $130,227 plus bennies. This hire shows perfectly well what the governor and the rest of official Boston thinks of these here parts. The feds nabbed Cook on a charge of cocaine dealing, as they say the mastermind saw fit to have 18 pounds of snow delivered to Healey’s personal office in Springfield!

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That’s when Cook’s DEI creds showed up for the loon Democrats.

• Healey’s people dismissed Cook from office with a $31,439 payout.
• Then a “friendly” judge reduced his bail of $75,000 to $25,000, chump change.
• The state chipped in with an EBT card to go along with his SNAP benefits.
• Then in a miraculous coincidence, Healy’s mom wins $1 million on a lottery ticket.
• Cook is now living near Disney World. You can’t make this stuff up.

Who says crime doesn’t pay? Maybe Alfred Hitchcock but not LaMar Cook or LaVante Wiggins.

In this 2016 photo, Lavante Wiggins and friend give the camera the finger. Note wad of cash the Dancin’ Dean is holding.

The Bitchfield School System hired Wiggy as PHS dean of students, even though he lacked a college degree and possessed nothing but an expired dancing certificate. Didn’t Earn It, in spades, just like Cook.

Now the Dancin’ Dean, who made close to 100 grand for his four-years in office, is trying to cop a plea on his federal charge of cocaine distribution. Seems Wiggy wants to change his “not guilty” plea and avoid a trial. Terms are being discussed. The next scheduled hearing is slated for Aug. 7.

The strategy to avoid a trial, scuttlebutt says, has the backing of certain city officials and former office holders. Easy to see why. If the Dancin’ Dean goes before a jury, under oath, a whole lotta secrets will spill out about the scandal-ridden Bitchfield School Department. That presumably includes sochol supt. Queen Latifah Higgins.

The Queen’s been on the job for going on two years. She has not only refused to release the PHS corruption report, she has avoided every hot button issue facing her troubled unit. Another DEI hire? She’s done nothing that convinces THE PLANET otherwise.

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To refresh your memory, there was this about the Queen. To our knowledge, no one in official Pittsfield has said a word about it:

The state’s assistant secretary for Native American education is claiming she was unfairly forced out of the New Mexico Public Education Department earlier this month.In a two-page letter sent this week to the state’s tribal elders and obtained by New Mexico In Depth, Latifah Phillips said she “was approached with a termination letter with no explanation or any known documented reasoning, and then presented with the opportunity to resign.” (To read the full text of Phillips’ letter, click here.)Phillips chose to be fired. She described her decision as “a small act of protest to the unfairness of this action.”A spokeswoman for the Public Education Department did not respond to requests for comment on Phillips’ firing. Attempts to speak to Phillips about her letter were unsuccessful, too.The department’s website still lists Phillips as the assistant secretary for Native American education. It also lists her as a member of the Tohono O’odham nation.Phillips came to the PED with a packed resume, including chief of staff for the Santa Fe Public Schools district.She also has taught in Texas and has earned two masters degrees in education, one from the University of Texas, Pan American, and another from Teachers College at Columbia University.Before coming to New Mexico, she worked at the Philadelphia School District in an administrative post.

It is unclear what led to Phillips’ termination, but it comes at a time when the education department’s relationship with the state’s Native American communities is deteriorating.

A ruling is expected soon on a lawsuit that contends the state education department isn’t meeting its constitutional obligation to provide a sufficient education for all children. The suit’s plaintiffs have cited education outcomes for low-income, Native American and English language learners

And in December 2017 tribal leaders harshly criticized Education Secretary Christopher Ruszkowski for listing Manifest Destiny among the nation’s “fundamental principles of this country” during a speech to charter schools.

New Mexico is home to 23 federally recognized tribes and Native Americans make up roughly 10 percent of the population. Manifest Destiny is viewed through a lens of conquest and a resulting cascade of federal and state laws, regulations and education policies, including the forced removal of generations of indigenous youth to boarding schools.

In her letter, Phillips cited the Manifest Destiny comments — without naming Ruszkowski — as an example of the state’s failure to include indigenous cultures in the education process.

PMB is exclusive publisher of Dan Valenti titles.

Gov. Susana Martinez also came under criticism earlier this month by Native American lawmakers because she vetoed funding for several Native American projects in the state’s $6 billion budget.

In the letter, Phillips cited the “countless documents resulting from federal and state commissioned studies (that) highlight the glaring failures of our systems and institutions.”

While New Mexico has come a long way “in articulating an Indian education policy guiding the enactment of the Indian Education Act and defining the aspirations for our children, we have fallen short and have a very long way to go,” Phillips wrote

“But I have come to a clarifying realization that what is obvious to you, the continuation of a long history of injustice and inequity, is not always easily understood by others,” she continued in her letter. “This is many times the fundamental challenge of those who understand — through their lived experiences — and generate an outcry in these unfortunate situations. These types of actions create an environment where many dedicated and hardworking Tribal members become subjected to working under difficult circumstances.”

The Pittsfield school committee selected Phillips over three other finalists for the superintendent job. Phillips is black. The other three candidates were white.

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Oh, and you may have missed it.

Last month, a judge in Berkshire County Superior Court OKd a bank’s request to repo the Dancin’s 2023 Maserati. He had missed payments for 17 months in a row, still owing north of $86,000.

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“Mediocrity sees diversity. Genius sees unity” — Sir Donald Turpentine, Knight of the Bath.

“OPEN THE WINDOW, AUNT MILLIE.”

LOVE TO ALL.

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