Bob CollinsThere’s nothing particularly surprising about President Donald Trump’s rejection of a White House statement praising the late Sen. John McCain on Saturday. What’s surprising is people expected something different. Read more →
MPR News Reflections and observations on the news
Archives for August 2018
Here are the stories, topics, and guests you’ll hear today on MPR News. Read more →
A nagging disappointment for me at the death of Sen. John McCain is I barely remember the only encounter I had with him. It was 1980 or so; I was a 24-year old reporter for a great little radio station in a competitive small market who scored some time with him at a Republican fundraiser in the Berkshires of Massachusetts. Read more →
Brittany Lawrence has probably heard your complaints that the only thing on social media are pictures of people showing what they’re eating. That’s wrong. There are pictures of budding Internet sensations: in this case, Wanda Petersen, 86, showing what she’s eating. Read more →
The way the economy of agriculture is now, a sure sign that you’re going to have a tough time in the dairy business is you have a name for all of your cows.
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We want to feel good about feel-good stories, but sometimes they leave a bad taste.
Today’s exhibit: The story of Johnny Bobbitt, the homeless man — and Marine veteran — in Philadelphia who last November gave a woman the last $20 he had, so she could buy gas for her stalled car. Read more →
Linda Kwong tried to take her own life in 2012, but she lived to talk about it publicly, something that almost never happens; we’re not that advanced yet in our willingness to talk about such things. Read more →
Mr. Bendo has been standing outside a muffler shop in Sioux Falls for years. The people of Sioux Falls have grown to like the guy who’s been standing over them since 1963. Read more →
Steve Hiniker, of Madison, Wis., lost his wallet. Last May he stopped in to buy some power bars while bicycling in the Czech Republic. He accidentally left it in a small store in Litomerice, about 40 miles from Prague Read more →
Here are the stories, topics, and guests you’ll hear today on MPR News. Read more →
The pilot of a vintage military airplane that crashed today at Anoka Blaine Airport reported his plane was apparently on fire just before it crashed at the end of a runway. Read more →
In 1986, Joe Murphy was the first overall pick in the NHL draft, selected by the Detroit Red Wings after a career at Michigan State. It was the first time an NCAA collegiate player had been taken No. 1.
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The killing of Molly Tibbetts, the Iowa college student who was abducted when she went out for a run, is a scary story, and not because of the liklihood we’ll be the victim of a similar crime.
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Those of us in the news business tend to think the audience is preoccupied with the big stories we deem worth covering. Here’s the reality: most people aren’t. Read more →
People who didn’t have a complete formal education are often quicker to realize the value of one than those who did. Read more →