Bob CollinsJonathan Abably, of Blaine, Minn., wrote his college entrance essay on work, money, and class. It was good enough to get printed in the New York Times. Read more →
MPR News Reflections and observations on the news
Archives for May 2017
Periodically through the various health care debates, someone inevitably talks about people getting free health care. Who are these people?
They’re not the people on Medicare, a new study says. Read more →
Ronnie, whose real name is Ronald Wickers, is one of those fans from yesteryear, which makes sense since he’s 75 now.
He is — as they say — a character, one of those fans who becomes part of the entertainment. Some folks get tired of an old man yelling ‘Cubs…. Woo!’ through the whole game. Read more →
Because it’s Friday and it’s probably a metaphor for something Read more →
This week, I’ve started heavier moderating of comments in an effort to rid the comments sections of disruptors who are not so much interested in an exchange of ideas on an intellectual basis (go ahead, call me elitist) as they are satisfying some personal needs to set fire to the space and watch it burn. Read more →
President Donald Trump had an interesting idea for solving the problem of inaccuracies from his White House communications team: have them stop talking.
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In the list of people in Minnesota who are suffering, can anyone top the smoker of premium cigars?
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The Bismarck Tribune says a calf was born on Gerald Skalsky’s farm with the defect. Now the question is whether it was genetic or caused by something else.
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Male privilege is the luxury of sitting at a hockey game, having to go to the bathroom, scooting up the stairs and into the men’s room to do what you’ve got to do, and getting back to your seat before the TV timeout is over.
Ask your female friend if that’s how it is for women at the games. Read more →
Rolf Christoffersen had no reason to think he’d ever get a message from his wife, Virginia, again. The former sailor in the Norwegian Navy is 96 now. His wife died six years ago this weekend. Read more →
Alyson Gounden Rock, a research fellow at Harvard’s Kennedy School, is a 40-something mom back in the workplace and ready to provide some motherly advice to working moms about to have their first Mother’s Day. Read more →
The New London-Spicer School District provides an alternative lesson plan when parents object to a book being discussed in class. The objecting students leave the room and study somewhere else. This week, two opponents of a Sherman Alexie book say that’s not good enough.
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Police officer Stephen Mader was talking a man out trying to get police to shoot him. He thought it was working. Then, another officer shot the man, and Mader was fired from his job. Read more →
We can only imagine what the faculty of Bethune-Cookman University was thinking when they stood up as the booing began during Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos’ speech at commencement today.
But perhaps they were asking themselves if they failed over the last four years or succeeded?
Read more →
Harvard researchers have confirmed what just about any parent of a child with mental health issues can tell you: Getting help is nearly impossible. Minneapolis was one of five cities in the researchers’ study. Read more →