Bob Collins
Where is the line between youthful pranks and criminal behavior?
Let the Jordan, Minn., police department be your guide. 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.
The Weinstein story will pass. People will move on to new ways to have an old debate. The workplace for women will still be a horror show. Read more →
State and county officials in Minnesota and North Dakota have issued their reply to a Fargo Forum editorial calling for a more open process when discussing the $2.2 billion flood diversion project on the Red River. They kicked a reporter out of a meeting yesterday, the Fargo Forum reports. Read more →
The vision of high-paying jobs building airplanes was too tantalizing for public officials and now they’re paying the price.
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A divided Minnesota Supreme Court Wednesday upheld a waiter’s court victory over the restaurant owner who fired him because he wouldn’t share his tips with bussers. Read more →
The organizers of a plan to build a huge ice palace in St. Paul in a bid to get Super Bowl visitors to this side of town have thrown in the towel.
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If you can spare 3 1/2 minutes, there are worse ways to spend it than watching last evening’s PBS NewsHour segment on a group of swimming instructors in Lesbos, Greece who are teaching refugees another perspective of their enemy: water. Read more →
Mike Rippey sifted through the rubble of what’s left of his parents’ home yesterday, looking for something of value. But the value therein is already gone. Read more →
Is there a good reason why a boy shouldn’t be allowed to dance on the girl’s team? Maybe, if it denies a spot to Superior High School girls and they’re denied the athletic opportunities that boys have.
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The drone video of Santa Rosa, Cal., the town wiped out by wildfires this week, includes this bit of absurdity: the mail is still being delivered. Read more →
Hip hop will likely be in President Trump’s Twitter gunsight today after Eminem’s video was unveiled at the BET Hip Hop Awards last evening.
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For over a decade, Janecek and Lee and Diane Rosenthal have been neighbors and not at all friendly ones. Apparently the feud started when Rosenthal was cited by the city for renting out a third apartment in his house in 2011, which was zoned as a duplex. He blamed Janecek for blowing the whistle. Read more →
Aside from the obvious, what’s particularly upsetting about this Minnesota State Patrol video is that the pick-up driver didn’t bother slowing down, even when he was about to hit the kid crossing the street after being dropped off by a school bus (with flashing red lights).
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It’s all there in this Rockwellian picture of Aaron Judge’s catch of a potential two-run homer by Cleveland Indians star Francisco Lindor last evening.
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For 11 years, a digital camera sat at the bottom of Lake Superior until Two Harbors photographer Christian Dalbec found it when he was diving a couple of months ago.
What are the odds Dalbec could find the owner? Read more →