Bob CollinsIt’s awfully hard to look up to our leaders when they look like little children. My apologies to any children who were just offended by a comparison to the Grant (Washington County) City Council, which might be suitably embarrassed by what the Pioneer Press says happened at a meeting last week. But Perhaps not.
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MPR News Reflections and observations on the news
Politics
It’s a bit hard to read the tea leaves this week on the subject of taxes, the new third-rail of politics in Minnesota and elsewhere. Read more →
Gov. Mark Dayton is promising to remake the face of Minnesota state government, saying it’s too white. Read more →
Occassionally, we get fleeting ‘West Wing-style’ glimpses of what is possible, even if they’re usually mere rhetorical flourishes.
Today provided one of those moments when the U.S. House of Representatives elected a new speaker of the house.
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Chair Trey Gowdy opened with a blistering attack on Clinton and Democrats, which suggests if nothing else, the hearing will provide plenty of rhetorical entertainment.
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How hard do the old-timers work to make Millennials look like jerks? Really hard. Read more →
A single-parent, nursing student writes in a commentary today that the Strib ignored a huge side of the debate: hers. Read more →
The Texas kid who started a national furor when he took a clock he made to school and got detained for suspicion of making a bomb is getting his trip to Washington at the invitation of the president. But Ahmed Mohamed,14, won’t be getting any time with President Obama after all. Read more →
If it becomes law, it’ll be over the strident objection of the Star Tribune, which ran a lengthy editorial today against the city’s involvement in private business. That’s a notable adversary, considering the generally left-leaning principles of the editorial board. Read more →
Lincoln Chafee probably isn’t going to become president of the United States and Lincoln Chafee probably knows that. Read more →
The owner of a film production company in Seattle wanted to shame school administrators and politicians after he saw a story that parents at a school were trying to raise $90,000 to save a first-grade teacher’s job. Read more →
The Timberwolves and Lynx announced today that the Target Center renovation will be delayed again. Times are too good in the construction business so costs have been going up. Read more →
The Rochester City Council last night was supposed to debate whether a family could keep Emil, the domesticated fox.
The debate is moot. Emil is dead. Read more →
There have been so many “thoughts and prayers” extended after tragedies that the words no longer have any meaning, the New York Times’ Mark Leibovich says in the Magazine’s dive into politicians’ (and others’) attempts to get their name out there in the midst of tragedy. Read more →
DFL Chair Ken Martin provided a little how-to in alienating an entire city with his reaction to Jason Lewis’ announcement that he’s entering the race for Minnesota’s 2nd Congressional District, even though he lives in the 4th Congressional District. In this case, Woodbury. Read more →