Add this verdict to the evidence that it’s nearly impossible to obtain a conviction of a police officer for killing an African-American in the United States. The law allows police to shoot if they’re afraid. It’s a lousy system. But the jury got it right, because that system wasn’t on trial. Read more →
MPR News Reflections and observations on the news
Archives for June 2017
Every now and again the Minnesota Supreme Court will take a tiny step forward, authorizing pilot programs to allow the cameras in, and every now and again they also give judges the power to say ‘no.’ Judges almost always say ‘no.’ Read more →
The Savannah Bananas slogan is ‘We Make Baseball Fun’ and ‘Fans First. Entertainment Always.’
You know how it is for some minor league teams that don’t consider a baseball game to be a church service, right? Read more →
Here’s an idea that probably won’t catch on at the Minnesota Legislature: If you’re going to use taxpayer funds to bail out a single resort on Lake Mille Lacs, how about naming it? Read more →
Greg Bell, of Sioux Falls now, was a meth dealer when he was busted and sent to federal prison for 11 years.
He survived prison, but he’s finding is biggest challenge has been getting back into the life of his now 12-year-old daughter. Read more →
We like to think Batman — Adam West — gave Gotham one last boost last night when he reminded us that there’s more to America than its warring factions.
Read more →
Every year around this time, Austin, Minn., gets some national attention because of a dirty pile of snow that refuses to die.
This year, while no different, seems more impressive because it didn’t seem like that snowy of a winter. Read more →
The University of Michigan has announced its offering free tuition to current or future in-state students from families making $65,000 a year or less. That’s about a $60,000 gift over four years. A somewhat similar idea in Minnesota never got out of the gate this year.
Read more →
The Graphics Interchange Format lets us express emotions so innate we just can’t put them into words online.
Read more →
Dennis Schreiber didn’t grow up wanting to be a teacher. He wasn’t drawn to it. He just thought he’d give it a try. There’s a lesson there somewhere. Read more →
The blimp belonged to the Air Sign Company, an aerial advertising company. Read more →
Yesterday, the auctioneer showed up in Arkansaw, Wisc., — near Durand in Pepin County — and by lunch, 62 cows at Patnode Lane Holsteins were gone. Weston and Jenni Patnode were out of business after four generations on the land. Read more →
There are times when we wish the news given to us was fake, but, sadly, today’s blockbuster from the Washington Post is not. Read more →
It’s not hard to figure out why the Minnesota Department of Transportation desecrated a cemetery when working on Minnesota Highway 23? MnDOT says in five years of planning for the replacement of the Mission Creek Bridge in Duluth, there was no part of the process that called for consulting with the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. Read more →
Marvin Wright, of Southwest Edgecombe High in Pinetops, N.C., showed why he’s the president of his graduating class when he told school administrators through his actions what they could do with the speech they told him to deliver instead of the one he wrote. Read more →