Bob CollinsThe future of public broadcasting considered.
MPR News Reflections and observations on the news
By Bob Collins
Bob Collins retired from Minnesota Public Radio in 2019 after 12 years of writing NewsCut and pointing out to complainants that posts weren’t news stories. A son of Massachusetts, he was a news editor 1992-1998, created the MPR News regional website in 1999, invented the popular Select A Candidate, started several blogs, and every day lamented that his Minnesota Fantasy Legislature project never caught on.
Update from Riverview Circle
The river is still up to the sandbags and still presents a threat, but residents are allowing themselves to relax and in some cases leaving home and going to work.
Monday flood meeting
The furniture has been taken off the counters at Todd and Donna Morse’s house. It’s true that anything can still go wro
Sunday has brought a sense of relief to Riverview Circle, but not a sense of victory. Not quite yet anyway, or at least not to the extent where people seem willing to jinx their improving fortunes.
Fargo flood meeting – 3/29
When you’re in the ‘maintenance’ portion of a flood, you have periods of relative calm punctuated by panic. Within the last few hours, we’ve had two such panic periods, both coming at the same time.
The river level is dropping and much of the attention in the neighborhood today is inside. Drains in basements are giving the Red a way in, but the neighbors are ready.
I’m back in Riverview Circle, riding in a pickup over very icy and rutty roads. I’m riding with Ed Dorsett of Moorhead, who goes to the same church as Todd and Donna Morse. We’re heading to the store to get some ShopVacs and a marine plug. The plug is for John Brummer’s boat, which he’s preparing, just in case.
The residents of Moorhead have taken everything nature can throw at them. They’re fighting back, of course, and apparently just getting warmed up.
Just as hopes were being raised behind the dikes, it all came apart for a Moorhead neighborhood on Friday.
Riverview Circle comes alive
John Brummer says a drain the city of Moorhead didn’t plug, is now threatening his neighborhood, and he’s getting angry about it.