Bob CollinsResults from the Minnesota State Patrol’s crackdown on distracted drivers suggest maybe it shouldn’t be a short-term crackdown. The Twitterverse, however, is pushing back. Read more →
MPR News Reflections and observations on the news
Archives for April 2015
If you go to a Twins game, you’ll have to pass through metal detectors. Major League Baseball this year has expanded its security procedures that it tried out late last season.
Is there a big problem at ballgames? No, security expert Bruce Schneier argues in the Washington Post today, it’s just part of the theater to make you feel safer from a threat that isn’t that big to begin with. Read more →
From the ‘Department of We Can’t Have Nice Things’ comes word that the longest trestle bridge still standing in Minnesota has burned, thanks to the work of an arsonist.
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Perhaps one way to curb xenophobia is to stop giving it a megaphone. Read more →
Theoretically, the Twins stadium tax would expire as soon as the stadium was paid for. But the theory ignores the physics of politics: Taxes don’t expire, even though the tax is taking in more money than expected and the stadium will be paid off early. Read more →
You may soon have another reason to try to live to age 84. You’ll get to shoot a doe. Read more →
Live video of SpaceX’s attempt to land a used rocket on a barge in the ocean. Read more →
Nope, still not tired of seeing returning soldiers surprising their families in odd settings. Read more →
It’s only a matter of time now before the Federal Aviation Administration gives news organizations full authority to fly quadcopters. Read more →
The Maryland parents who got into trouble in January for allowing their children to walk the streets alone were worried this weekend when the 10-year-old and 6-year-old didn’t come home from the park.
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For 22 years, the Owatonna Arts Center has hosted the Festival of the Arts, but no more — at least not for a year.
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The theory comes from Como Park High School hockey coach Mike Searles, who says it’s been a struggle finding ice time for his kids, especially since the rink at the state fairgrounds closed. Read more →
American forces entered the camp on 11 April 1945, bringing an end to the ordeal of 21,000 prisoners being held there by Nazi troops. Read more →
Today’s clue: Its name in Ojibwe is ‘Ne-zhingwaakokaag’.
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There’s probably a lesson in the fact that the one World’s Fair people are able to name is the one that wasn’t sanctioned by the international body that awards world’s fairs — New York in 1964 and 1965. Read more →