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.
Sixty-nine years ago today, 157,000 men participated in the landing on Normandy, known as D-Day. More than 6,000 died in the invasion. At the Memorial Day Concert in 2007, actor Charles Durning told his story of being one of the first soldiers on Omaha Beach. The scene he described was anything but glorious. It was Read more →
Maybe it’s time to stop inviting sports teams to the White House to celebrate their accomplishments. Nobody really cares about the visit, it’s a 10-second story if it does make news, and it’s starting to become a soapbox for some of the players. Former Minnesota Viking Matt Birk is the latest sports star to turn Read more →
There’s nothing like a good meme. And this didn’t take long. That theme has also been turned into a video.
Tracking down leaks? Everyone’s doing it. Read more →
Was the Patriot Act worth it, the signs we’re moving past racism, the people who need organs to live, the language that divides us, and Boston Marathon coverage payback. Read more →
A tuition freeze at the U of M, another lawsuit over the unionization of child-care workers, the bear facts of the attack, forget about bringing knives on planes, the old-lady Powerball winner, and what do you mean you didn’t know you were pregnant? Read more →
University of Minnesota Duluth is one of the most expensive colleges in the country, according to a recent analysis cited by the UMD Statesman. Between 2010 and 2012, the U.S. Department of Education’s College Affordability and Transparency Center ranked UMD within the top twenty most expensive four-year public institutions in the nation for net cost. Read more →
The Department of Natural Resources says an Aitkin County woman is OK after being involved in something that almost never happens in Minnesota — an attack by a black bear. According to the DNR: …the incident on Monday began when the woman let her dog outside after checking to make sure the bears, which had Read more →
It was 45 years ago today that Sirhan Sirhan shot and killed Robert F. Kennedy after a celebration over Kennedy’s win in the California presidential primary. Read more →
The last walk, the business of bad news, the flag burners of Willmar, what black men and women want, and bob Dylan’s honneur. Read more →
Did the IRS want to know the content of prayers? An insanity plea in the Colorado theater shooting case. The widest tornado ever. Why are blacks more likely to be arrested for marijuana? Wisconsin rejects expanding Medicaid. And the not-yet-finished Crazy Horse monument turns 65.
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Be forewarned, politicians: It’s a lousy springboard to anything else, history says. Read more →
It’s getting increasingly hard for an old man, such as myself, to listen to the latest status reports on the state of the climate on terra firma and not think, “what do you want me to do about it?”, because there appears to be nothing I can do about it. The idea that the countries Read more →
It would be a shame if the story of Steve Knowlton’s run across America to raise awareness of Asperger’s and autism should include the word “fail,” because from all accounts, the guy is all guts. Mr. Knowlton, who hails from Prior Lake, had to abandon his run on Sunday in the hills of Utah, according Read more →
Bob Collins