Bob Collins
It didn’t occur to me to wonder whatever happened to Johnny Whetzel. For months, the post sat there. Just waiting. Until a couple of weeks ago when I received a note from Amanda Kerns, of parts unknown. She’s Johnny’s daughter. Read more →
MPR News Reflections and observations on the news
This or That
Nancy YangWhenever I feel sad — and there is plenty to feel sad about right now — I look to the world’s most perfect creature. What would dog do? They would jump in leaves, that’s what. Read more →
Some guy tried to assassinate people this week. A woman played Cinderella to make a kid happy. Both remind us as individuals that we can be better.
Logically, what do we have to lose? Read more →
It turns out the hamburglar is a dog named Princess. Read more →
Western Wisconsin’s Hudson Star-Observer says it will no longer publish hate letters, “letters that threaten or that incite crimes including violence against anyone and for any reason. Period.” Read more →
Some stories define us more than others. The stories we embrace as uniquely America are obvious. Less so are the ones we’d rather not consider as readily. And then there are the ones that are a little bit of both. Read more →
During World War II, when the Nazis invaded Norway, Heinrich Himmler encouraged soldiers to get Norwegian women pregnant. He thought the Norwegians were perfect for creating the Aryan master race. Read more →
Find Tina, the long lost love of Fields Arthur, who was assigned to the Air Force in Osceola, went into Stillwater on Saturday nights to dance and met Tina Anderson, a 19-year-old phone company operator.
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Buckethead had the good fortune to have suffered the effects of curiosity during the Autumn Glory Festival in McHenry, Md late last week. Read more →
A dispute in Wisconsin started in 2016 when furniture executive Scott Mullins trimmed trees in his yard to get a better view of Lake Michigan. Then, uninvited, he went into the yard of Kathe Lake and cut — ‘pruned,’ he says — 150 more. Read more →
This is a good day to bring back one of my favorite posts of recent years, particularly since we heard from Bobby Marko late last week that the documentary of the trip — The Arrowhead Traverse — is completed and will premiere at the Fresh Coast Film Festival in Marquette, Michigan later this month. Read more →
Why would people not pick up the urns containing the ashes of their loved ones? Read more →
Rick Stein’s family raised the obituary/death notice bar with their obituary in a Delaware paper.
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Dave Lindgren, 53, and Michele Newman,55, were high school sweethearts when they were growing up in Loyal, Wis. But after they’d already broken up, Newman found out she was pregnant. They decided to put the baby up for adoption.
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In the category of uniquely Minnesotan, Alan Page playing his sousaphone on the route of the Twin Cities Marathon near Kenwood Park still stands above all others. Read more →