Bob Collins
The Wright Brothers flew for the first time 110 years ago today. Read more →
MPR News Reflections and observations on the news
Archives for December 2013
‘A story about what’s right when we spend too much time writing about what’s wrong’ (5×8 – 12/17/13)
The joy of a mentor, the end of programs to feed hungry seniors, in search of the right Christmas kettle, thoughts on football while waiting for baseball, and the bounty hunter at work. Read more →
An unreasonable search of your phone, the Methodist minister who believes in gay rights and won’t go quietly, The Diocese of Winona lists 14 priests accused of sexually abusing minors, the stupidest political tweet ever, and what Dick Nixon has to do with Minnesota weather. Read more →
At least for now, the mass collection of phone records is an unreasonable search under the Constitution, federal judge Richard Leon ruled today. He granted a preliminary injunction sought by two men — Larry Klayman and Charles Strange — saying they were likely to prevail in their constitutional challenge. But he stayed the injunction pending Read more →
Atlanta Braves executives are touring ballparks around the country, searching for ideas to incorporate into their new ballpark.
Today they hit the Twin Cities and got a Minnesota “howdy” from the Twins. Read more →
Whoever makes the final decision on who will next head NPR has a problem. The media landscape is changing and public radio, in particular, is in no position to think itself isolated from the market forces that are eating away at legacy media. But public radio is also a culture and the people in it don’t like any tinkering with the culture. Read more →
When facts don’t matter in public policy, NPR Morning Edition anchor feels the heat over timid Snowden comments, a ride on the Central Corridor light-rail line, Moorhead woman is repaid for honesty, and the mysterious TV ad from a Sioux Falls lawyer. Read more →
The Vikings break new ground, the U.S. House passes a gun ban, a judge who sentenced a rapist to 30 days in jail tries to keep his job, and a thoughtful conversation on how we relate to our families, spurred by the post earlier today about David Sedaris and the sister who took her own life. Read more →
It is, perhaps, comforting to know that some recent stories depicting the very worst that humans can be, have turned out to be fake.
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The image of David Sedaris, the author and humorist, is taking a significant hit this week as the result of his October New Yorker article about the suicide of his sister. Read more →
If you want to be a hockey star, you can’t be too hung up on little things like family. There are hockey factories, like Shattuck-St. Mary’s. But for the most part, kids have to play junior hockey in small towns across America and have to depend on other families for their families. Grantland today looks Read more →
Unless the U.S. Supreme Court intervenes, you will not be hearing political advertisements on public radio or TV anytime soon.
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Paying until it hurts in the ER, Goodbye to Jason Davis, when the privileged in Minneapolis get a taste of life in other neighborhoods, the bullying experiment, and the brains of hockey ignore the brains of hockey. Read more →
What does a dying comet look like? This. The comet ISON, previously declared dead as it circled the sun, then thought alive when pieces of it appeared to survive, is, in fact, dead, the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics announced today. Its demise was captured by the SOHO spacecraft. Astrophysicist Karl Battams, at the Comet ISON Read more →
When you mail a package, do you have any expectation of privacy about what’s inside? Read more →