Bob Collins
One month and two days after the historic civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Ala., Martin Luther King Jr., gave a speech at UCLA. But there was no audio recording of the 55-minute address; or so it was thought. Read more →
MPR News Reflections and observations on the news
Archives for January 2015
Contrary to what you may have heard, it’s tough being a New England Patriots fan, what with the constant claim by their detractors that the team cheats. It doesn’t help that the team cheats, either. Read more →
Mike and Rainy Lofald’s son, Joseph, was killed in April 2011 after a shift at the Minntac plant in Mountain Iron when the car in which he was riding went into the ditch. His colleague, James Duane Voltzke, was driving. And he was under the influence. Read more →
The greatest contribution to the nation has already been made. To promote its promotion, the White House has reassembled the surviving cast of the West Wing, which once counted Big Block of Cheese Day as one of its most popular episodes.
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This will make little difference, we suspect, in the ongoing debate on climate change. The drip, drip, drip of facts long ago ceased to matter in this debate. Read more →
If you had any kind of childhood at all , and you’re over the age of 50, you will — within the next three paragraphs — be thinking about the time your parents left you to your own devices to find your way back home.
You just didn’t know at the time that you were a ‘free range kid.’ Read more →
Bernard Verlhac was buried in France today. He was one of the cartoonists killed in last week’s attack in Paris.
His casket was simple but adorned, perhaps, the only way a casket for a cartoonist should be adorned Read more →
The Affordable Care Act appears to be doing what it was supposed to do, a new report says.
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Are Canadians upset that they won’t be able to shop at Target anymore? Hardly. Read more →
Target is going to write off billions of dollars with the retreat, but it’s not going to be bleeding red ink anymore, either. So what will it do with its money? Read more →
George Ewing, 84, has died, but a lot of people in poor countries are eating because he lived. Read more →
It’s not possible to find a sadder story today than the Star Tribune report on Kendrea Johnson, the 6-year-old girl who was found dead in her foster home in Brooklyn Park. Read more →
Minnesota has one of the least regressive tax structures in the country, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, which has released a study of individual state’s tax policies to determine whether middle- and lower-income residents are shouldering more of the burden.
For the record, Minnesota’s tax system isn’t fair. But neither is any other state’s, according to the research. Read more →
People don’t typically root for umpires, but an exception should be made for one because of today’s beautifully written story about baseball umpire John Hirschbeck.
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If you didn’t know history well, you might be tempted to think that as our country ages, the U.S. Constitution gets weaker, not stronger.
The country has gotten comfortable with the notion that freedom can only be won with a gun.
It’s not quite true and the death of Al Bendich reminds us of that. More often that not, it comes from a lawyer who’ll stand up to power. Read more →