Bob Collins
One Day in the Twin Cities Read more →
MPR News Reflections and observations on the news
Archives for April 2014
Near the end of the Vietnam War, most states lowered the drinking age to 18 on the theory that if young men can be pulled off the street and sent to war via the draft, they should be able to buy a drink.
The war ended, the draft ended, and the federal government started threatening to withhold highway funding to any state that didn’t raise the drinking age back to 21. Read more →
When the Wisconsin Republican Party holds its annual convention in a few weeks, delegates will be asked to vote on a resolution supporting Wisconsin’s right to secede from the union. Read more →
Does the danger pass when burglars are no longer capable of standing up and harming you? Or does it end when they’re dead?
The case had all the makings of a nationwide debate on the right of people to defend themselves in their own homes. It was tailor-made for the demagoguery that accompanies shootings like this. But for the most part, that hasn’t happened. Read more →
It isn’t really spring until the Madeline Island ferry makes its first run to Bayfield, Wis.
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By now, you’ve probably heard of this moment in yesterday’s Boston Marathon when a runner collapsed a few hundred yards shy of the finish line. Wouldn’t you know it? There was a little Minnesota Nice (the good kind) going on there. The guy in the yellow is Mike Johnson, 47, from Stillwater. “I saw that Read more →
Sorry, Minneapolis. You’re not in the top 10 of funniest U.S. cities.
The good news: You’re not in the top 10 of least funny cities, either. Read more →
The moment that the bombs went off in Boston in 2013 — 4 hours, 9 minutes, 43 seconds
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What’s the Boston Marathon all about? It’s almost as if the winners don’t matter. It’s about telling your spouse you’re pregnant. Sarah Norcott will reveal to her husband Jim sex of their baby when he finishes http://t.co/m9MYFpj92D @bostonglobe pic.twitter.com/sk9DN2g8sR — David Filipov (@davidfilipov) April 21, 2014 It’s about twerking… Damn you @diplo #BostonMarathon pic.twitter.com/WhuyHVOSSo — Read more →
When Carlos Gomez thought he hit a home run, he violated baseball’s unwritten code. Read more →
A United Methodist Church in Seattle can no longer host Boy Scout Troop 98, NBC News reports. The troop is led by a gay man.
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A couple of knuckleheads tinkled into a reservoir that serves as Portland’s water supply so officials last week announced they’re going to drain 38 million gallons of water. You can’t have human urine in the water supply.
What does this tell us? Read more →
School shootings haven’t become routine by any stretch, but they’ve slipped into the regular news cycle as any other news story. Read more →
It was a good run and we got some neat parades and bragging rights out of it, but democracy is dead in the United States, or so a study from Princeton and Northwestern universities tells us. Read more →