Bob Collins
On Mark Weber. Going to an NFL game? Leave everything home.Postcard from a lynching. Prison the Sesame Street way. And the debut of the flying bike. Read more →
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.
All the things you’ll be paying sales tax on soon, the Colorado wildfires, how terrorists respond to the spying leaks, the wandering toddler of Pine County, the anti-abortion bills in Wisconsin, and a lawsuit over the most famous song in the English language.
Read more →
When Wisconsin’s biggest event — the air show in Oshkosh — takes place next month, the FAA will be providing air traffic controllers at what becomes the world’s busiest airport, and the organization that sponsors the event is hopping mad about it. The Experimental Aircraft Association announced today it’s agreed to pay $450,000 in expenses Read more →
Quick update on Daniel Alvarez, the Florida man who spent 9 months kayaking from Minnesota’s Northwest Angle to Key West, got there and decided to kayak back to Minnesota. Today, he announced he’s done with saltwater. He reached New York City. He couldn’t very well paddle back up the Mississippi River (against the current and Read more →
Here’s the “money shot” from the storms that moved through the Midwest yesterday. Scott Olson at Getty Images grabbed the moment the lightning hit the former Sears tower. I’ve left it in its original size for your viewing pleasure. What are the odds of getting the shot? Apparently pretty good.
Unless something goes wrong in the next few days, Ryan Chalmers will realize his goal of traveling across the country. It took him only 71 days. Did I mention he’s pushing a racing wheelchair? This morning, he crossed the Delaware River from Philadelphia into New Jersey. He should arrive in Central Park on Saturday.
Watching this video of the rescue of two people trapped in an SUV in floodwaters on the Iowa/Minnesota border last night reminds us that although there are a lot of things wrong with the world, people who’ll jump into floodwaters to save someone else aren’t among them. Here’s the video. (Sorry, can’t embed it with Read more →
In a lot of metro school districts, the last days of school often include a trip to Valleyfair or a day playing outside, what with the grades already being in and all. Out in Hendricks, Minnesota, though, the kids learn right up until the end. Each year there’s a field trip to the Lincoln County Read more →
The inability to plan a future, time is up for old white people, want to buy a hot coleus, the angry Lego, andthe boys of Wasioja. Read more →
The NSA says spying disrupted attacks, Snowden talks, the 10-year old gets a lung transplant, an ultrasound bill advances in Wisconsin, and a new candidate for Bachmann’s seat. Read more →
How can someone leave a kid in a car seat for hours in a closed-up mini-van? Read more →
Walter Smith, 91, of Racine, Wisconsin almost made it. The World War II veteran was diagnosed with colon cancer four years ago and this week he was on the list of veterans to be honored with an “honor flight,” in which World War II vets are flown to the World War II Memorial in Washington Read more →
What do the end of the military draft, voting online, and paying extra to go to the head of the line at Universal Studios have in common? WBUR’s Cognoscenti blog says they’re all examples of the declining shared experience in America. The common American experience is disappearing. The single most important loss was President Richard Read more →
It was like old times at the Wisconsin State Capitol in Madison today when senators abruptly cut off debate and passed a bill requiring ultrasounds for women seeking an abortion. The Senate had debated the bill yesterday but resumed this morning. “It became popular in the ’60s,” Sen. Mary Lazich (R-New Berlin) said. “It became Read more →
Not many projects get underway around Saint Paul without cleaning up the contaminated soil under it. Read more →