Bob Collins
Sometimes, life is perfect. Take the case of Diane Bishop of Newfoundland, who was having a difficult time working because of the toll breast cancer was taking on her body. 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.
I probably would’ve picked up the newspaper on the driveway without thinking about it this morning after walking the BlogDog in the dark if I hadn’t been one of the people who threw one on people’s doorsteps in Woodbury for a decade in the ’90s. Read more →
Here’s a list of the stories, topics, and guests you’ll hear today on MPR News. Read more →
There’s about 24 inches of ice on Lake of the Woods, and why wouldn’t there be? The self-proclaimed “walleye capital of the world” is practically at the north pole.
Ice fishing? Perfectly safe. What could go wrong with 24 inches of ice?
This. Read more →
Lost in the Golden Globe Award’s focus of the protest against sexual harassment (which, in turn, was lost in the distraction of whether Oprah Winfrey should run for president) is the real-world’s intrusion into the work of art that won best picture: ‘Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.’ Read more →
The Star Tribune reports that Edina High School is the first school in the state to charge $100 to anyone who wants to stream any games online.
Read more →
The big storm on the East Coast has proven that once again. If the post-Armageddon demand for food doesn’t turn people into barbarians, the demand for a place to park will. Read more →
At Union Pointe Academy, in Florence, Ky., Principal Chad Caddell announced the school closing on Monday by sending students a video, using his inner Mariah Carey. Read more →
A medical examiner in La Crosse County says the number of suicides is up considerably from a year ago. Why? Read more →
Here’s today’s list of topics and guests you’ll hear today on MPR News. Read more →
In these parts, thin ice is an economic boost to some sectors. Take Anderson’s Towing & Recovery in Grantsburg, Wis. A driver who ignored the thin-ice warning on Big Wood Lake a few weeks ago provided some overtime work on Sunday because the cold snap came in after the incident, encasing the truck in a tomb. Read more →
The rural Wisconsin county that borders Minnesota makes a great lab rat for a divided America. Read more →
Please stand by while Baby Boomers completely lose it over NPR Weekend Edition Sunday host Lulu Garcia-Navarro’s interview with Michael Hobbes, who insists that millennials aren’t ‘entitled’, they just have it harder than anyone else.
Read more →
Her speech at last night’s Golden Globe Awards, however, was a reminder of the power of language to inspire and lift. No doubt the judgment of it will be based on the usual tribal fighting of the political class and its minions. Read more →
Here’s a list of guests and topics you’ll hear today on MPR News. Read more →