Bob Collins
The issue nobody will campaign on, what does Saint Paul have against Burlington Coat Factory, a fantasy world with real cash, the overpaid Minnesota athletes, and ballet at the World Trade Center. Read more →
MPR News Reflections and observations on the news
Archives for September 2013
Pope Francis shakes up the Catholic Church. Child poverty in Minnesota is stuck at 15 percent. It’s like old times for Minnesota employment, except it’s not really. The U.S. can’t possibly keep up with the proper security checks for all the people it gives clearances to, the AP says. Can a comedian be a judge, too? No, a court says. And a couple is kicked out of Applebee’s because their kids were making a racket and running around. So why is Applebee’s apologizing? Read more →
Remember this? It’s a jetpack that debuted in 2008 at the big airshow in Oshkosh, which I wrote about at the time, and was so intrigued by it that I spent the company’s cash and called inventor Glen Martin in New Zealand for the late Future Tense program. It was a really great interview. You Read more →
It’s not exactly yesterday’s flight of an eagle, but this aerial view of Minnehaha Falls is still pretty neat. It was taken using a consumer drone. The same kind that filmed this beauty earlier this summer: These things certainly aren’t going away. In fact, they’re becoming fairly ubiquitous. The day may not be far off Read more →
Many politicians bring family members into their political ads but most strike out. Carl Sciortino, a Democratic state representatives running for Congress in Massachusetts, isn’t one of them. Sciortino’s ad with his father is about as hot as an ad gets right now. Sciotino is also gay, but that didn’t come up in the ad. Read more →
The world of health insurance under Obamacare is certainly going to vary from state to state. That much is clear on the border of Minnesota and Wisconsin. Read more →
A Missouri woman ends a 14-year search for the daughter of a soldier killed in World War II, who left behind a letter and a Purple Heart medal. Read more →
In an interview simultaneously released by more than a dozen Jesuit journals, Pope Francis today called for less focus on gays and abortion in the Catholic Church and more attention to the needs of the poor. Read more →
The changing face of Minnesota, why airline fees are a good deal, sentenced to life for drunk driving, 20 under 40 in the Northland, and the Hopkins kid who knows what’s right. Read more →
Did an official tell a SWAT team to “stand down” at the beginning of the mass shooting in Washington? Wall Street parties while the Fed issues depressing news on the economy. Electronic gaming didn’t raise a dime toward the new Vikings stadium. And can you be bumped off a jury for being gay? Read more →
In deciding rate increases, regulators can consider how badly people are hurting, court says. Read more →
Checking “find the coolest thing anyone will see today” off the to-do list. How was this done? Nobody seems to really know. Obviously, it was some sort of camera but Go Pro would seem to be a little large to get an eagle to participate. The author of the video isn’t saying — yet — Read more →
There may be another casualty after the latest mass murder: the focus on the need for mental health care.
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How a warm welcome in Rochester changed a Bosnian refugees life. What will our economic lives be like in 2038? Last call for drive-in theaters. The unwinnable war against synthetic drugs. And is the end near for childhood beauty pageants? Read more →
How did the shooter in Washington get his guns? Jerry Kill says that’ll be enough epilepsy talk, thank you. Wisconsin squeezes some teeth out of the lemon law. An electrical fire caused the big fire in Winona, and the one on the boardwalk in New Jersey, too. And the mothers and fathers who watch their children and can’t make it better. Read more →