A 12 year old girl has been charged with a felony for pinching her grandmother. The Argus Leader reports the girl, unidentified of course, is facing a charge of abuse of an elderly woman. The girl’s mother is the one that turned her in after she saw the 75-year old woman, presumably her own mother, Read more →
MPR News Reflections and observations on the news
Crime and Justice
You’re a police officer executing a search warrant. Instead of knocking on a door, you break it down. Two dogs inside start barking. What do you do? Read more →
We are not challenged anywhere near enough by journalists to remember that there are more victims of this violence than the ones who die. There’s the person who has to look into the eyes of a dying kid, too. Read more →

When you have a copyright, child abuse is like Kryptonite.
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It’s a big win for retailers who were afraid that if the Supreme Court had upheld the Court of Appeals approval of a consumer fraud suit they would be required to reveal their profit margins. Read more →
In Rochester, sitting with a sign that says you need money? That’s protected speech. But blocking someone’s path or touching someone to ask for money isn’t.
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People lost their homes. Taxpayers lost millions covering the loans. U.S. Bank lost some petty cash and didn’t admit it did anything wrong. That’s the problem.
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MPR’s Department of What Were They Thinking sends along today’s head scratcher. In Leawood, Kansas, authorities have told Spencer Collins, 9, his Little Free Library has to go. “Reading is one of my favorite things to do,” he tells a local TV station. “We built it on Mother’s Day as a present for my mom Read more →
How far should the news media go to protect the Wisconsin 12-year-olds who were charged with stabbing a friend near Milwaukee last week to satisfy a fictional character in an online meme? Read more →
Two years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that mandatory life sentences without parole for children is unconstitutional.
Today, a man who was sentenced to two life terms with the possibility of release in one of the most shocking murders in recent Saint Paul history, lost his bid at the Minnesota Supreme Court after contending his two-life-term sentence as a 15 year old is cruel and unusual punishment, too.
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The Minnesota Court of Appeals today ruled that an organization created by the Minnesota Legislature isn’t subject to data rules designed to allow access to some public records. Read more →

No matter what happens the rest of the way, Tracy Adams can well be considered one great mother. Read more →
We’re in the middle of a run of neighbors-feuding-with-neighbors stories here in the land of Minnesota Nice. Read more →
This week the Minnesota Court of Appeals reversed a district court ruling that prevented a 27-year-old man from marrying a woman, because he has a mental illness. His parents don’t believe he fully understands what marriage is. Read more →