Bob Collins
Really, since Paul Wellstone and Jesse Ventura (both iconic ads produced by the same ad agency), when’s the last time there was a memorable political ad around here that you’d want to drop what you’re doing to watch?
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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.
At the South Dakota Boys Class A Basketball Tournament in Rapid City, S.D., on Friday night, Steven Wilson had the honor of singing the National Anthem. And those in attendance had the honor of hearing it.
He sang in the Lakota language.
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The cat that did as much as any feline to usher in the era of cat videos on YouTube has expired. Read more →
Spending an afternoon with a 100-year-old person is an invitation to examine how we square the daily reality that life alternates trying to kill us and trying to soothe us. Read more →
Here are the topics and guests you’ll hear today on MPR News. Read more →
A woman in Milwaukee has hit for nearly $500,000 in the 65 times she’s bought more than $600 worth of lottery tickets. A man in Cuddahy has won 33 times for almost $80,000. Eleven people who have cashed 20 or more winning tickets of at least $600. Several of them are connected to the stores that sold the tickets, according to the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism. Read more →
‘This is a change we hope was inadvertent, and we’re going to lobby hard to get it corrected,’ the chief legal officer of Major League Baseball tells the New York Times. Read more →
Most of the players in minor league baseball, especially on teams in independent leagues such as the Saint Paul Saints, aren’t going anywhere.
But that’s not the way most of the public sees them, which is why there won’t be much notice today when/if Congress puts the screws to them by denying them minimum wage protections.
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There’s nothing quite like tournament time in Minnesota and some of the best moments occur away from the games. It happens on the highways into town as was the case Saturday in Brainerd.
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If you survive civil war in Iraq, we like to think that Rochester, Minn., won’t be a dangerous place. So, Ahmed Muafaq Abdulhu Al Naddf’s killing last week is particularly distressing. Read more →
Last week’s signing of a franchise quarterback has Minnesota Vikings fans dreaming of Super Bowls.
What do you suppose Jackie Wallace, who played in two of them, is dreaming about these days? Read more →
It’s a sure bet that everyone has an opinion on why students of color are more likely to be suspended from school than their white counterparts, and the loudest voices will likely carry the day when the federal government decides whether to roll back guidelines that sought to take race out of the reasons for the suspensions. Read more →
Here are the topics and guests you’ll hear today on MPR News. Read more →
A 14-year-old girl in southern Minnesota sent a boy an explicit picture of herself. He showed it to friends, so authorities tried to prosecute her under the Minnesota child pornography law even though she was the victim. Read more →
These are tough times for the newspaper industry, tougher times for people who make their living as ink-stained wretches, and it’s no picnic for readers either when the newspaper owners talk to us as if we’re stupid on those occasions when they talk to their customers at all. Read more →