Bob CollinsToday would be Norman Borlaug’s 105th birthday. He is known by some fans as the greatest human who ever lived. Read more →
MPR News Reflections and observations on the news
Education
A few weeks ago, the state was debating whether we’re too quick to keep our kids sheltered from the elements. You know, not like we were kids, what with our survival skills and all.
What about the kids of Clearwater County, west of Bemidji? Read more →
Tanitoluwa Adewumi and his family won’t be homeless much longer now that the New York Times has publicized his achievement: At 8, he’s just won his division in the New York State chess championship. Read more →
Dr. McGreggor Crowley, who once was on the selection battleground at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, speaks a truth that many people don’t want to acknowledge in the wake of the scandal this week that the rich and famous are buying their kids’ way into elite schools: you don’t have to be rich and famous to be overinvested in the college selection process. Read more →
3.14. It’s “Pi Day”. Perhaps you’ve heard. We look forward to this day so much because Vi Hart hates Pi Day, and annually rails about it with a video.
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Even the University of Minnesota Student Association can’t escape controversy.
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The flaw in the survey is that people define what is stressful and while soldiers and firefighters would pass muster by any standard — potentially dying on the job seems like a reasonable benchmark — and maybe airline pilots can claim stress from the perception of danger, there’s no explaining why broadcasters and news reporters (No. 7 on the list) make the list other than being notorious complainers. Read more →
Dmitri Moua, 16, just wanted to dance but it took him making a federal case out of it to get him to try out for a girls competitive high school dance team in Roseville. There are no boys teams and the Minnesota State High School League dictates the rules and said “no” to Moua and Zachary Greenwald, a dancer in Hopkins. Read more →
Wayne Hayer, a student at Morehouse College, couldn’t find child care for his daughter last week and he’s prepping for finals this week. So he apologized when he showed up for Nathan Alexander’s algebra class.
Alexander noticed Hayer having difficulty taking notes and watching his daughter, so he stepped in. Read more →
Its good news for the WASPs, the four chaplains, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Hillary Clinton — all of whom were originally on the list of people to be removed from the curriculum. But John Hancock, Nathan Hale, Stonewall Jackson, and Estee Lauder are, uh, history. Read more →
Bullies are made, not born. That’s a fact that Gillette tried to point out last month with its infamous ad about toxic masculinity. If that offended your sensibilities, you’re not going to like a PSA that was released today on the occasion of Canada’s Anti-Bullying Day. It hits like a sledgehammer. Read more →
For some reason, we keep expecting Americans to become more engaged in their responsibility as citizens. We scratch our heads and try to figure out why they don’t vote and why elections end up as more theater than a sobering discussion of issues. Read more →
A student in California is protesting her high school’s refusal to allow her to wear her MAGA hat. The news here, of course, is that the high school kids may actually be motivated by her complaint to read and study the U.S. Constitution. Read more →
If the school principal can ride a bike to school, calling it off isn’t a good decision.
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You have to give it to the kids in Milaca. They don’t let a little — or a lot — of snow stop them from getting to class. Read more →