Nothing brings out the good like a bad break. Shaina Briscoe, a volunteer at The Current, a grant administrator for the McKnight Foundation, and a pretty well-known person in the Minneapolis bike community, was badly hurt last Saturday when she collided with a car while racing in downtown Minneapolis. She’s been in a coma at Read more →
A situation in a community north of Boston on Saturday takes the pay-it-forward craze to a new level. Generally, it starts when someone at a drive-thru pays for the food of the person behind them in line. It’s a nice day-brightener. Consider this story from Amesbury, Mass., where 55 consecutive cars in line at the Read more →
Team Josh, Gettysburg at 150, a special session for the Internet tax, why don’t people like books anymore, and Lake Pepin with glorious weather. Read more →
Today’s signal that the apocalypse is not upon us comes from Melanie Mozingo, who describes what happened to her in the Corcoran neighborhood of Minneapolis after the trees came crashing down. She says the young man’s name is Blake and he’s about 8 or 9 years old.
We have a new entry in our ongoing list of people biking across country, running across country, kayaking across the country and — if you noted on 5×8 today — golfing across country. Nathan Mehlhoff left his parents house in Lakeville this afternoon and started walking to San Francisco. Why? To see what’s between here Read more →
You can go an entire lifetime without saving someone’s life. A young man named Delbert Willert of Lake Benton didn’t go more than a few years. An employee of the Hendricks Farmers Elevator fell into a grain bin this morning, according to Steve Hemmingsen, who writes the newsletter in town. Typically, if you fall into Read more →
Last month I mentioned the work of Joe “The Barber” Cymerys, who sets up shop in a Connecticut park every Wednesday to give free haircuts to homeless people. This week, however, Connecticut health officials and the cops shut him down. He didn’t have the proper permits, they said. “Twenty-five years I’ve been giving haircuts, and Read more →
Watching this video of the rescue of two people trapped in an SUV in floodwaters on the Iowa/Minnesota border last night reminds us that although there are a lot of things wrong with the world, people who’ll jump into floodwaters to save someone else aren’t among them. Here’s the video. (Sorry, can’t embed it with Read more →
It would be a shame if the story of Steve Knowlton’s run across America to raise awareness of Asperger’s and autism should include the word “fail,” because from all accounts, the guy is all guts. Mr. Knowlton, who hails from Prior Lake, had to abandon his run on Sunday in the hills of Utah, according Read more →
There are so many worthy candidates in the running for this week’s most memorable person recognition.
And now, an antidote to the stories of kids spending thousands and thousands of dollars on prom dresses.
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.
Bob Collins
Baseball and the struggle for redemption
Does anybody need a kidney?
The best prom story you’ll read this year