By Bob Collins

So now we know. Sonia Morphew Pitt, the emerency manager for MnDOT, who didn’t have the good sense to come back to Minnesota (if for nothing else, the appearance of doing her job), was running a con on the state, according to documents released with her firing today. Pitt took off for various places without Read more →

On Thursday, the National Transportation Safety Board issued its “most wanted” improvements in the transportation system. Usually, runway incursions at airports, are high on the list and this year is no exception. Perhaps the most famous incursion was in Tenerife, when two 747s collided on the runway, killing 583 people. In the latest report, the Read more →

This week’s school levy votes around Minnesota have reignited a debate that’s been going nowhere for years: why aren’t our schools better and why is it costing us so much not to be? The post-levy rhetoric has offered few solutions, and plenty of accusations. Perhaps the answer lies in Boston, where today a report on Read more →

I consider myself a relatively earth-friendly sort. I drive 55 mph. I don’t pour my used motor oil down the storm drain… anymore. I shut the TVs off in the newsroom when I leave. I try to do my part, without deluding myself into attributing more impact to my actions than reality suggests. So it’s Read more →

Is a Willmar school teacher abusing her special education kids or not? The state Department of Education is going to have to decide that after five different investigations of special education teacher Lisa Vander Heiden. According to a complaint filed with the department, and reported in the West Central Tribune, the teacher abused an elementary Read more →

When the Legislature and governor started throwing people off MinnesotaCare a few years ago, opponents claimed the action would turn Minnesota into another Mississippi. But it’s tough to beat Mississippi in the “race for worst” when you’re competing against… Mississippi. That state kept its ranking as least healthy state in the nation. And Minnesota? It Read more →

The story this morning of the death of a young diabetic man while in Ramsey County jail, despite the fact his mother delivered insulin to jail authorities, has a somewhat familiar ring. Maria Inamagua was an Ecuadoran immigrant who was nabbed in Minneapolis by immigration authorities. She reported severe headaches to her jailers, who gave Read more →

A worried father — he had just given his son one of the Totino’s or Jeno’s frozen pizza that is being recalled — sends a note that he is “freaking out” because he doesn’t know what to do. Does he wait until his son gets sick? Or is there something he can do now? Good Read more →

That PC — or laptop or iPhone or whatever — you’re reading this on, can be traced back to the space program. But NASA didn’t stop there. It has funded research that has paid off again, working with the University of California Berkley to develop a device to help you avoid the headache you get Read more →

A couple of days ago — I was away — MPR’s Tim Post ran a story about the problems newspapers face with allowing users to attach comments to news stories. Apparently, the concern in newsrooms is, people can attach some stupid comments. This led to a discussion in our own newsroom today about whether user Read more →

I’ve watched Saving Private Ryan, it seems, hundreds of times and people who were there — D-Day — say it was a realistic portrayal of events. Knowing that, I don’t know how anyone can keep from asking themselves, “what would I have done?” The American Spectator today — and let’s leave aside the politics of Read more →

MPR reporter Lorna Benson profiles Dr. Grace Buwule today (“Uganda doctor takes home diabetes strategies honed in Minnesota“). Buwule takes what he learns in Minnesota, with the hope of making a difference in combating the disease in Uganda. University of Minnesota diabetes doctor Toni Moran knows first hand the challenges Buwule faces. Moran spent a Read more →