Bob Collins
Times are apparently pretty good in Charlton, Mass., a small town in south central Massachusetts where a roving band of rappers is scaring kids. Read more →
MPR News Reflections and observations on the news
Crime and Justice
From a historical point of view, it has to be pointed out that it’s a poor representation of the lynching of African Americans because it wasn’t a lynching. It was an execution. That obviously doesn’t excuse the ugliness of the use of the photo, but a lynching is a murder without trial. Read more →
You might be inclined to conclude that electing — rather than appointing — a judge or justice doesn’t provide proper vetting, but then you have to look to the east and see what’s happening in Wisconsin’s race for the state Supreme Court.
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Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Christopher Dietzen has notified Gov. Dayton that he’ll leave the court at the end of August, a move that could shift the court to a somewhat more liberal leaning and put women in the majority. Read more →
Perhaps you’ve seen the Oscar-winning Spotlight by now, the story of how the Boston Globe and a culture of investigative reporting uncovered the pedophiles of the Catholic Church and the deferential attitude of other media that allowed it to flourish.
Today, the Boston Globe provided a little spotlight on the actual reporters and editors that did the work. Read more →
It’s so rare that sports reporters challenge the players they cover that when one does, it becomes pretty big news. Read more →
A new Minnesota man won’t be able to collect $17,000 in medical payments incurred in a car accident because his out-of-state insurance company isn’t allowed to write insurance in Minnesota. Read more →
Just as sure as spring follows winter, someone is going to ignore ‘thin ice’ signs on Lake Minnetonka and insist the law of physics can be violated. Read more →
The owner of a Georgia-based insurance firm is requiring all of his employees to get permits to carry concealed weapons and providing each of them with a handgun. Read more →
The Minnesota State Patrol released a video this afternoon that defies the axiom of ‘seeing is believing.’ Read more →
One of these days we’re simply going to have to get down to Kenyon to meet police chief Lee Sjolander, whose Facebook account is a must-read for anyone from these parts. Read more →
Under Minnesota tax law, if you spend more than 183 days in the state in a year and you have a home here, you’re a full-time resident of Minnesota, with all the tax implications that come with that rule.
Today, a divided Minnesota Supreme Court reversed a short-term victory to a wealthy Lake Minnetonka couple, who moved back to Minnesota in 2007 and were ordered to pay $650,789.38 in taxes as full-year residents under the law.
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U.S. Marshals are getting tough with student loan delinquents.
Fox26 in Houston reports armed marshals — there’s probably not another kind — have fanned out over the territory to bring the deadbeats to justice. Read more →
A former candidate for Minnesota Supreme Court has lost her appeal stemming from a 2013 drunk driving arrest that surprised Republican officials in the state two weeks after endorsing her judicial bid. Read more →
Days after a man killed one of his officers, the chief of the Fargo Police Department is asking the public to help the gunman’s family. Read more →