MPR News Reflections and observations on the news

By Bob Collins

bcollins@mpr.org • @newscut

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.

This week at the security checkpoint

Bob Collins December 9, 2011, 3:51 PM Dec 9, 2011

3

Again this week, there are an unusual number of people flying around with inert hand grenades in their luggage.

How to advertise bad beer

Bob Collins December 9, 2011, 2:27 PM Dec 9, 2011

7

Comedian Will Ferrell may have hit on the biggest publicity stunt in the history of publicity.

When bullies understand

Bob Collins December 9, 2011, 1:38 PM Dec 9, 2011

1

The potential of the Internet was fulfilled this week.

Skating on thick ice

Bob Collins December 9, 2011, 1:23 PM Dec 9, 2011

1

It’s Friday in Minnesota, the traditional time for the lunch hour skate by the best, brightest, and coldest MPR has to offer, and the occasional NewsCut reader who stops by.

Surveys and trivia

The art of parallel parking

Bob Collins December 9, 2011, 11:14 AM Dec 9, 2011

9

Really! It’s not that hard.

The private lives of TV newspeople

Bob Collins December 9, 2011, 10:56 AM Dec 9, 2011

2

When is something not news? When most of the nation is laughing at your anchorperson for doing a newscast, apparently, under the influence of…. something.

The disappearing drive-in (5×8 – 12/9/11)

Bob Collins December 9, 2011, 7:25 AM Dec 9, 2011

7

Disappearing Americana, abortion and mental health, the art of giving back, burning Swede Hollow, and making sense of flying.

Fracking pollutes, EPA discovers

Bob Collins December 8, 2011, 2:33 PM Dec 8, 2011

11

In one corner: damage to water and the environment. In the other corner: jobs.

Twins as window shoppers

Bob Collins December 8, 2011, 11:52 AM Dec 8, 2011

10

The Twins watched as other teams added big stars at the winter meetings.

Unmasking a Klingon ship

Bob Collins December 8, 2011, 10:51 AM Dec 8, 2011

8

Did a coronal mass ejection ‘uncloak’ a Klingon bird of prey ship?

The mystery of the Mankato anchorwoman (5×8 – 12/8/11)

Bob Collins December 8, 2011, 7:19 AM Dec 8, 2011

2

Drunk or not, reddit saves a life, Sartell’s good soldier, unleashing Muppet power, and change for a dollar.

People doing good

A county attorney’s office ‘ties one on’

Bob Collins December 7, 2011, 3:14 PM Dec 7, 2011

4

It’s amazing how you can change a life with a cheap tie.

The cost of Iraq

Bob Collins December 7, 2011, 12:56 PM Dec 7, 2011

2

The remaining soldiers in Iraq try not to be known as the last person to die in the war.

Col. Potter’s war

Bob Collins December 7, 2011, 11:00 AM Dec 7, 2011

5

Sherman Potter gave anti-war sentiment a popular cultural voice at a time of nasty public demonstrations against the war.

How a weak anti-bullying bill became law

Bob Collins December 7, 2011, 10:57 AM Dec 7, 2011

On the day the Minnesota Senate passed the bill, it spent ore time debating renaming a stretch of highway in Duluth after Walter Mondale.