Bob Collins Shoshana and Ari Simones of Phoenix were on vacation when someone spray-painted a swastika and the word “Jew” outside their home. Their neighbors covered it with paper but when they got home, the couple took it down and let everyone see what we’re becoming.
Read more →
MPR News Reflections and observations on the news
Crime and Justice
Presuming that most people aren’t big supporters of drunk drivers, one might think being less lenient on DUI offenders (1 in 7 Minnesota drivers has a DUI conviction) would be a slam dunk for state politicians.
So why is it relatively easy for people to still be driving after 9 arrests? Read more →
David Desper, of Pennsylvania, would have gotten to wherever he was going about 10 seconds later had he let Bianca Robinson merge as two highway lanes became one. Instead, he shot her in the head and will likely be right on time for prison. Read more →
From time to time in this space we take special note of the people who stop to help others. But sometimes, it’s better just to keep on walking or driving. Read more →
You punch out of work early because the weather isn’t good, and you break your hip when you fall on an icy sidewalk at a garage your employer owns four blocks from where you were working. Are you entitled to workers compensation benefits? Read more →
Four New Jersey Democrats are pushing a bill in that state that would require schools to teach kids how to interact with the police. Read more →
If you don’t mind a good beating, by all means stop to help a lost child in Lakeland, Florida. Read more →
Every time there is a major event in the Twin Cities — the Republican National Convention, for example — we are told that it will also be accompanied by a large increase in prostitution. It’s that way in other cities, too, particularly when the Super Bowl comes to town, as it will in Minneapolis next winter. Read more →
Only Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor sided with a state law
— similarly to one in 39 states — that explicitly bars state funds from going directly or indirectly to any religious sect or denomination. Read more →
Appearing on Weekend Edition Sunday, James said white people “need to police their own imaginations.”
Read more →
A spokesperson for the U.S. Park Police says the story of kids being handcuffed for selling water on the National Mall has gotten blown way out of proportion.
The images spread across the Internet today after Tim Krepp posted photographs on Twitter of what he said was an undercover operation against people selling water.
Read more →
Workplace shooting stories in America follow a predictable arc. The shooting, the profile of the killer, the debate over guns, a few fundraisers, and then we move on to the next killing without looking back. Read more →
Where does one person’s right to free speech end and another’s begin? Read more →
Tracy Mumford
Last Friday, a Ramsey County jury found police officer Jeronimo Yanez not guilty in the shooting death of Philando Castile during a traffic stop on July 6, 2016. The car Castile was driving — a 1997 white Oldsmobile — became a central piece of evidence. It was towed away that night by authorities, processed by Read more →
Anybody who’s ever bought lumber knows that a 2×4 isn’t a 2×4, a 1×6 isn’t a 1×6, and a 4×4 isn’t a 4×4.
A lot of lawyers have never bought lumber, however. Read more →