Bob Collins
Jose Antonio Abreu, who took the kids from Venezuela’s shanty towns and taught them how to be world-class musicians, changed kids’ lives. He died on Saturday. Read more →
MPR News Reflections and observations on the news
By Bob Collins
Bob Collins retired from Minnesota Public Radio in 2019 after 12 years of writing NewsCut and pointing out to complainants that posts weren’t news stories. A son of Massachusetts, he was a news editor 1992-1998, created the MPR News regional website in 1999, invented the popular Select A Candidate, started several blogs, and every day lamented that his Minnesota Fantasy Legislature project never caught on.
Facebook is denying that it has kept track of your text messages and phone calls without your knowledge if you use an Android phone.
Oh, they’ve done that, mind you. But Facebook says it told you. Read more →
Who could possibly have guessed that Mike Hughes’ attempt to prove the earth is flat by launching himself in a steam-powered rocket would end this way? Read more →
Some anglers think muskies destroy the walleye population so the bills would give counties veto power over lakes where the DNR stocks muskies and puts a moratorium on plans to expand lakes with muskie.
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Here are the guests and topics you’ll hear today on MPR News. Read more →
So savage — even by today’s standards — was Zell Miller’s attack on Democrats that even the White House distanced itself from it. Miller and his wife were removed from the list of dignitaries scheduled to sit in the president’s box when Bush gave his acceptance speech a few nights later at the 2004 Republican National Convention. Read more →
There are angels who walk among us and they are mostly unrecognized until they pick up a paintbrush in a hospital and turn a necessary mask that scares kids with cancer into a Star Wars character who could be the difference between living and dying.
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Sex ads sites are shutting down en masse after Congress this week passed the Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act, which makes website liable for hosting content that could lead to trafficking.
There’s a limit to free speech and this is but the latest example.
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The people of Ely have just about had it with the out-of-town maple syrup gangs. Read more →
Fargo Oak Grove junior guard Tommy Conmy packed bottles of sparkling cider to celebrate after his team’s North Dakota Class B, Region 1 boys basketball title game. It was a good plan; the school has won six of the last nine championships.
His team lost; so he gave it to his rivals. Read more →
A Wisconsin teacher has figured out a way to get kids to learn math. He’s teaching a class on math in auto racing. Read more →
Here are the topics and guests you’ll hear on MPR News today. Read more →
Mary Weikum has created the Lunch Tray Project to help families who make too much money to qualify for free and/or reduced lunches at school. Read more →
Take it from someone who knows. Some people don’t test well.
So we’re reluctant to make fun of the 17-year-old Monticello girl who accidentally put the car in drive instead of reverse during her driving test yesterday, according to the Buffalo, Minn., police department. Read more →
Oh for cute! A little two-bedroom bungalow. A typical starter home that should come pretty cheap.
It won’t. Read more →