Bob Collins
Moving Saint Paul’s homeless, how public radio and TV cover news differently, a new hand for Harmony, Story Corps: the movie, and the day in Christmas videos. Read more →
MPR News Reflections and observations on the news
Five by 8
Getting The Yard right, Nienstedt’s defense crumbles, giving birth like a virgin, what it’s like to try to use the MNsure site, and the Yule Log video’s director’s cut. Read more →
The toxic mix of politics and health care, is the Nienstedt controversy for Catholics only, baseball parks in winter, the rights of white supremacists vs. the rights of people to try to shut them up, and why aren’t kids interested in driving? Read more →
‘A story about what’s right when we spend too much time writing about what’s wrong’ (5×8 – 12/17/13)
The joy of a mentor, the end of programs to feed hungry seniors, in search of the right Christmas kettle, thoughts on football while waiting for baseball, and the bounty hunter at work. Read more →
When facts don’t matter in public policy, NPR Morning Edition anchor feels the heat over timid Snowden comments, a ride on the Central Corridor light-rail line, Moorhead woman is repaid for honesty, and the mysterious TV ad from a Sioux Falls lawyer. Read more →
Paying until it hurts in the ER, Goodbye to Jason Davis, when the privileged in Minneapolis get a taste of life in other neighborhoods, the bullying experiment, and the brains of hockey ignore the brains of hockey. Read more →
After an accident, a cafe owner returns; who’s throwing away deer carcasses in Duluth, joy to the world of the dollar, the alcoholic people didn’t know, and Planet Money makes a T-shirt. Read more →
This will probably be one of the last posts until next week, but just wanted to point out that Saturday is the 6th birthday of NewsCut, which officially launched on Nov. 30, 2007. I had actually been writing it since that October (those posts are available online) while the bosses evaluated whether this idea really Read more →
The nose doesn’t lie in South St. Paul/Newport, Gavin’s belt to help battle a tumor, an old man with an older gun, teaching homeless kids, and the case against punting. Read more →
Why Minnesota works and Wisconsin doesn’t, the band of brothers who stick up for a first-grader, the woman behind the hockey microphone, the B-17 flyover in Green Bay, and why Dilbert’s creator wanted his father to die. Read more →
JFK: Maybe you can’t figure out history, why we should welcome winter, what you can do for your country, the toughest competition: girls, and the price of Bat Kid. Read more →
The reporters who buried Oswald, does Saint Paul need streetcars again, the monster in Lake Pepin, the lies we repeat about Thanksgiving shopping, and the Fox 9 reporter’s face plant. Read more →
Funeral panhandling, what’s happening at the Minneapolis Federal Reserve, it’s over for stadium opponents so on to Atlanta, when sex offenders almost walk, and the ‘joy sessions.’ Read more →
Why are we obsessed with the Kennedy assassination, risking lives to get a viral tornado video, Ian Leonard’s concussion, the harvest in Hendricks, and there’s an ‘i’ in Grinnell. Read more →
Vanishing icons, Dinkytown, and the low percentage of African Americans on campuses (5×8 – 11/15/13)
Return of the weatherball, who owns Dinkytown, some people start life on thirdbase, birth of the bull run, and your moment of Minnesota zen. Read more →