Bob Collins
Money practically declared this the year of the suburbs, as city housing prices are skyrocketing. You know who does suburbs like nobody’s business? Minnesota. 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.
For people like me who grew up hating everything about the Vietnam War, the politicians who gave it to us, the hard hats who insisted ‘America, love it or leave it,’ the opening of Ken Burns long-awaited documentary, The Vietnam War, came out hard. Read more →
It’s always a risk talking about the possibility of a coming recession because they’re such emotional things.
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Your social media history is forever. Read more →
Bob Collins and John Wannamaker of MPR News discuss a few of the posts on NewsCut this week. Read more →
Frank Giaccio, from Falls Church, Va., may be an 11 year old whose lawn-mowing career is peaking.
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When last we heard about Miles Weske, the flight paramedic had lost his job with the air ambulance company for whom he was working when the helicopter crashed in Alexandria one year ago Sunday. His goal was to get back in the air. That’s not going to happen. Read more →
We laughed last spring when a baseball statistics prediction program predicted 77 wins for your Minnesota Twins. The front office had done virtually nothing to change the worst team in the American League. Last night, thanks to a walk-off home run by Byron Buxton, the Twins won their 77th game of the season. Read more →
I wasn’t prepared to lose my breath, however, when I made a dash to the Post Office through the skyway this afternoon. I had read in one of the papers that there’d be an installation of stories from people who also had chosen to come here from somewhere else.
But I didn’t expect it would be so downright beautiful. Read more →
We’re big fans of PBS NewsHour’s ‘Brief But Spectacular’ series, more so today because it provides a nod to a public radio god. Read more →
It’s simple, really. If you’re offended by a business playing Christian music, don’t walk through the front door of the Dairy Queen in Kewaskum, Wis.
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Former Vice President Walter Mondale knows the law. He also knows the Senate. And he’s firmly on the side of Sen. Al Franken in opposition to Minnesota Supreme Court Justice David Stras’ appointment to the Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. Read more →
Fenway Park in Boston and discussions about race in America seem to go hand in hand, which might well explain why three people — all of them white — unfurled a banner over the park’s fabled ‘Green Monster’ last night. Read more →
Charles Pierce’s Sports Illustrated defense of Jemele Hill, the ESPN anchor who posted on her Twitter account that President Trump is a white supremacist surrounded by white supremacists, is a takedown of the news industry that is about as blistering as it gets. Read more →
The judicial showdown between Minnesota Sen. Al Franken and Minnesota Supreme Court Justice David Stras is worthy of a vigorous debate over the role of senators who are responsible for vetting the nomination of candidates to the federal bench.
A conservative interest group chose a silly assessment instead. Read more →