Bob Collins
What’s behind the medical device provider tax, it’s OK to love the Metrodome, the 14 year old and the things she thinks she can do, when bullying was a story, and kite skiing in Minnesota.
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.
In Pittsburgh, a shoeshine man — Albert Lexie — has been working in a hospital for children and usually gets tipped a dollar or two. It adds up, especially since he donates the money — about $200,000 so far — to the families of sick kids.
The U.S. Postal Service announced today that later this year it will begin selling some ‘forever’ stamps that honor ‘the people who built America.’
It was a short lifespan for an extension of County Road H in Bayfield, Wisconsin yesterday. The Bayfield Ice Road, connecting Bayfield with Madeline Island, opened to light trucks and cars this week. But, today, according to the Madeline Island Ferry Line Facebook page, it was closed while officials look for another route across a portion of Lake Superior.
How does a sweet kid end up the killer on the 6 o’clock news, the wrong black history in Woodbury, a red light for traffic cameras, everything you want to know about the sequester, and learning standing up in Fargo.
For years, the Minnesota Timberwolves have required fans to pass through hand-held metal detectors. The team, in fact, was more security-conscious than any other sports team in town, dating back to well before 2001. Back then the threat was gang violence. Now it’s mass shooting. You opened up your jacket, they felt your pockets, they Read more →
Low pay beats no pay, should teachers be required to pass a test to teach, your biggest failure, privacy over accuracy in the note home from school, and the end is cosmically near.
The American Civil Liberties Union has filed suit against a town after an official was banned from all publicly-owned buildings after making a comment about guns.
The case of the inspiring athlete, prison and poverty, what can people agree on when it comes to guns, the people pay for the people’s stadium, and do children make you happy?
Some stories show we’re still capable of outrage, solace on the court in North Dakota, still padding toward Key West, when TV is a force for good, and the owls of Minnesota up close.
If last evening’s meteor in Siberia has you yearning to take a look at what happens when a meteorite hits earth, you can save yourself some time and just head up north in Minnesota.