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.

Five at 8 – 1/12/10: The Legacy amendment reconsidered

Bob Collins January 12, 2010, 7:13 AM Jan 12, 2010

8

Were voters misled into voting for an amendment to increase the sales tax for outdoors and arts?

Tracking the Proposition 8 trial

Bob Collins January 11, 2010, 4:03 PM Jan 11, 2010

3

Links to find live coverage of the trial over gay marriage.

Surveys and trivia

Skiplanes on Lake Calhoun

Bob Collins January 11, 2010, 3:00 PM Jan 11, 2010

19

A couple of pilots got in trouble for landing on a Minneapolis lake.

Scratch another ‘hero’

Bob Collins January 11, 2010, 2:04 PM Jan 11, 2010

1

A baseball player who long avoided the question of performance-enhancing drugs, admits he was on the ‘juice.’

A second take on a government bailout

Bob Collins January 11, 2010, 1:42 PM Jan 11, 2010

The opening of the Detroit Auto Show put some members of the Tea Party in a bad spot today.

Are soldiers who kill themselves casualties of war?

Bob Collins January 11, 2010, 11:27 AM Jan 11, 2010

5

Considering the U.S. policy of not sending presidential letters of condolence to families of military suicides.

Five at 8 – 1/11/10: Politics by the book

Bob Collins January 11, 2010, 7:06 AM Jan 11, 2010

3

A new book reveals how shallow campaign coverage is.

Transplant patient’s handicap van stolen in St. Paul

Bob Collins January 10, 2010, 8:06 PM Jan 10, 2010

This has been a week to conclude that there’s something wrong with us.

Is there a double standard in the Reid reaction?

Bob Collins January 10, 2010, 10:11 AM Jan 10, 2010

7

Would apparent racist comments by a Republican be treated differently than those from a Democratic Senate majority leader?

Earthquake video

Bob Collins January 9, 2010, 9:38 PM Jan 9, 2010

If an earthquake hits California, chances are someone has it on video.

An affirmative action deception?

Bob Collins January 9, 2010, 9:24 AM Jan 9, 2010

2

A rule to increase the number of African American coaches in the NFL has trivialized some of them in the process.

Weekend vs. job: Who wins?

Bob Collins January 9, 2010, 8:50 AM Jan 9, 2010

Would you trade less pay for longer weekends?

Fresh Eye on the Radio: Seward memorial fund created

Bob Collins January 8, 2010, 4:57 PM Jan 8, 2010

The fund is intended to help the immediate families of three people killed at Seward Market and Halal Meat on Wednesday.

NPR’s Tea Party cartoon

Bob Collins January 8, 2010, 3:14 PM Jan 8, 2010

7

NPR’s ombudsman answers critics who say an anti-conservative cartoon goes too far.

The art of negotiation

Bob Collins January 8, 2010, 1:27 PM Jan 8, 2010

2

The leaders of the Minnesota Legislature and Gov. Tim Pawlenty are doing something they rarely did in last year’s stalemate at the Capitol: talking to each other.