Nearly a quarter million people are expected to show up in Duluth this weekend with the arrival of the tall ships, which have made their way from Cleveland in the last week. The tall ships festival is expected to generate almost $15 million dollars for the local economy, according to organizers. The ships have been Read more →
MPR News Reflections and observations on the news
Archives for July 2013
In gun debate, the line between campaign contribution and bribe is thin. Read more →
Even despite all the revelations about the occasional despicable act — forging mortgage documents, for example — it’s a rare day that banks are held accountable for their misdeeds.
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Breaking the government intentionally, is it hot in here, close encounters of the Marshall County kind, the search for the family of a Marine killed on Saipan in WWII, and why old buildings matter. Read more →
I’m not going to post the usual news conversation with Mary Lucia of The Current today. It’s irrelevant compared to the news she delivered during her No Apologies track today, and anyone who’s ever had a love on four legs can understand. Read more →
We are raised to believe that success in the world depends on our ability to work hard enough. But as the haves begin to put more distance between themselves and the have-nots, let’s take a moment to observe another truth: it comes down to dumb luck. Read more →
These are the faces behind NPR’s political voices. Don Gonyea, Scott Horsley and Brian Naylor are taking part in the Des Moines Register’s annual bike ride across Iowa — RAGBRAI. They said they wanted to see the Iowa they missed while covering the presidential caucuses in the 2012 campaign. You can follow their exploits on Read more →
The long reach of poverty, the last days of ‘Big Blue,’ the food-truck controversy, the wheelage tax speeds through Minnesota counties, and the car seat’s great leap forward. Read more →
A break in student-loan interest rates could be at hand, the freak show in London, Anthony Weiner’s problem, the toddler death in Wisconsin, how you fall out of a roller coaster, and the special education teacher. Read more →
Wendy DeGeest once planned a life as an elementary school teacher. Then she found the kids who really needed her and everything became clear. It was the 1980s and Pine City, Minn., needed a special education teacher. Growing up in a family that struggled with mental illness, DeGeest knew something about the wayward ways of Read more →
Where are all the tornadoes this year, what we’re supposed to do about white privilege, the good of video gaming, four simple words that could change how we think about mental health, and the last first dance. Read more →
Why aren’t same-sex couples inviting the governor to the wedding, another lawsuit alleging sexual abuse in the Boy Scouts, a big jailbreak in Baghdad, the death of Dennis Farina, and why skipping breakfast might kill you. Read more →
It’s a shame so much attention in Minnesota is being paid to a royal baby because it risks missing the passing of a true legend in the state. Rosalie Wahl, first woman on the Minnesota Supreme Court, died this morning. She was regarded as the “founding mother” of female attorneys in the state. She could’ve Read more →
That dot there? That’s us. NASA’s Cassini spacecraft took pictures of Earth from nearly 900 million miles away on Friday. It took a day to send them back. Cassini fans took the images, stretched and pasted them, adjusted the color. Guillermo Abramson, a physicist at Argentina’s Bariloche Atomic Center, came up with this striking image. Read more →