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NewsCut

MPR News Reflections and observations on the news

By Bob Collins

Bob Collins
bcollins@mpr.org • @newscut

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.

Weather

Let’s nuke ‘bomb cyclone’

Bob CollinsBob Collins January 4, 2018, 8:40 AM Jan 4, 2018
24 Comments

The man who helped coin the phrase doesn’t like it anymore. Read more →

Arts & Culture

The war on cable TV news channels

Bob CollinsBob Collins January 4, 2018, 7:03 AM Jan 4, 2018
37 Comments

The battleground for the tribal fighting that’s consuming America is the TV and America’s businesses are increasingly joining the fighting by picking which TV channel they show their waiting customers: Fox, MSNBC, or CNN. Lifetime Fitness wants out of the battle. Read more →

What’s on MPR News today? 1/4/18

Bob CollinsBob Collins January 4, 2018, 6:00 AM Jan 4, 2018
0 Comments

Here’s a list of guests and topics you’ll hear today on MPR News. Read more →

This or That

St. Louis Park’s most famous veteran dies at 97

Bob CollinsBob Collins January 3, 2018, 3:04 PM Jan 3, 2018
3 Comments

Around 1955 or so, Warren ‘Bud’ Bushway put up the American flag on a spiffy new pole outside his home in St. Louis Park.

For 59 years, he raised and lowered the flag each day on Cedar Lake Road. Read more →

Politics

1,000 Words: A seat at the table

Bob CollinsBob Collins January 3, 2018, 1:54 PM Jan 3, 2018
12 Comments

The first days of January are an inspiring time when new political leaders take their shot at changing the world. In Cincinnati today, Tamaya Dennard took the oath of office for the City Council. Read more →

Crime and Justice

An addicted daughter, a helpless parent and 2 deaths in Minneapolis

Bob CollinsBob Collins January 3, 2018, 1:05 PM Jan 3, 2018
9 Comments

There is no more helpless feeling in the world than being the parent of an adult child.

We raise them, we let them go. Sometimes they fly and sometimes they crash and die. Our human instinct, however, does not allow us to take such an intellectual approach to the realities of life. They’re our children, after all. Read more →

This or That

On 747’s trip to the boneyard, two Minnesotans marry

Bob CollinsBob Collins January 3, 2018, 10:40 AM Jan 3, 2018
3 Comments

The last Delta/Northwest 747 jet to fly into Minneapolis St. Paul International Airport to great fanfare last month made its last flight today, a trip from Atlanta to a boneyard in Arizona where it will be stripped and left to become dust in the desert. Read more →

Weather

With subzero temps, Minnesotans return to their outdoor rink roots

Bob CollinsBob Collins January 3, 2018, 9:27 AM Jan 3, 2018
4 Comments

Fact: There is nothing better in a Minnesota winter than an outdoor ice rink. Read more →

Politics

How Minnesota government kept its Amazon bid secret

Bob CollinsBob Collins January 3, 2018, 7:14 AM Jan 3, 2018
25 Comments

Minnesota has a well-deserved reputation for transparent government but it’s not beyond being sneaky and keeping its citizens in the dark when it comes to spending their money for private business. Read more →

People are jerks

Tired of waiting to get off plane, man jumps on wing

Bob CollinsBob Collins January 3, 2018, 6:32 AM Jan 3, 2018
11 Comments

We made it three days into the new year before we got our first ‘stupid airline passenger tricks’ entry. Read more →

What’s on MPR News today? 1/3/18

Bob CollinsBob Collins January 3, 2018, 6:00 AM Jan 3, 2018
1 Comment

Here’s a list of topics and guests you’ll hear today on MPR News. Read more →

This or That

Fathers protesting unequal treatment at work

Bob CollinsBob Collins January 2, 2018, 3:37 PM Jan 2, 2018
6 Comments

Fatherhood has changed a lot on recent decades as men take on more of an upbringing role in the home. In the workplace? Not so much, the Boston Globe reports. It says a ‘wave’ of lawsuits has highlighted unequal treatment in the workplace. Fathers can’t get a break when they have to reconcile the needs of their employers with the needs of their children. Read more →

Politics

A billboard of fake news

Bob CollinsBob Collins January 2, 2018, 1:19 PM Jan 2, 2018
17 Comments

A photo of a billboard purported to be sponsored by a Republican group appears to actually be the work of a Democrat. Read more →

Weather

Cold weather will have little impact on next summer’s insects

Bob CollinsBob Collins January 2, 2018, 12:23 PM Jan 2, 2018
3 Comments

During the recent cold snap, it has been somewhat comforting to believe that although we are uncomfortable, the cold weather will head off a repeat of last summer’s invasion of Japanese beetles.

Alas, it’s a lie. Read more →

Economy

Amazon buying Target? Not likely in 2018

Bob CollinsBob Collins January 2, 2018, 10:40 AM Jan 2, 2018
25 Comments

Check back in 364 days for a full evaluation of all the predictions for 2018 but — spoiler alert — most of them will be wrong.

Probably included on that list is Loup Ventures’ Gene Munster, an analyst who predicts Amazon will buy Minneapolis-based Target this year.
Read more →

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