Bob Collins
Once they reach the adult stage, mayflies have about 24 hours to mate and lay eggs. No pressure there, eh, mayflies?
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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.
The Pioneer Press’ well-documented story of a failed — so far — bus stop raises an important question for a region that often struggles to find its mass transit footing: Can you develop support by running so few buses? Read more →
There were outbursts, meltdowns, tantrums, in elementary school. Clinical trials, pullouts, educational aides, due process. All in full view of his peers, his friends. To quote a great parenting book I’ve recently read: ‘it’s so hard to be his friend.’ Read more →
Last week, I was in my office listening to my piano volunteer. All of sudden, singing and laughing is added to the mix. I walk out and see for the first time, wheelchair dancing. She is a 97 year old, self-professed dancing queen being whirled around by her daughter. Read more →
On a cool November day in the frozen tundra that is Iowa, my life changed forever. Why, you ask? Because one of my best friends, Devin Hall, brought me to my first…[wait for it] CrossFit class. Hello, Beautiful People! My name is Wayne Glass. I use He / Him / His pronouns and we are here today to chat about gender expression, mental health, and how these are interwoven within my CrossFit journey! Read more →
Now, why would a handful of kind and generous MPR folks send wooden spoons to a couple of sustaining members? Well that’s a long story full of failed cooking experiments, inflammatory tweets, and inside jokes. Read more →
The news has been overwhelming lately. I work in an industry that requires that I stay informed about what’s happening in the world, and as with many of us, some days I reach (or exceed) the limit. Fortunately, by the end of the week, I know that every Saturday morning I’ll spend a couple of hours with this sweet mare. Read more →
Wherever you go you hear the term, Minnesota Nice with clarifications ranging from: it’s not really ‘nice’ at all; it’s passive aggressiveness, it’s sarcasm meaning, ‘I am smiling at you and saying welcome to MN but geez, I wish you’d stayed where you were;’ to its genuinely pleasant and polite, it’s just who we are…. pleasant. Read more →
Reader Steven Bailey has provided this contribution to today’s Theft of the Blog theme (details in this post).
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Given that it’s Friday, today you’re writing NewsCut. It’s your blog. Write what you want. The only guideline is whatever you contribute today, it can’t leave us feeling hopeless, anxious, or angry.
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In the last few days, a number of people in the comments section of NewsCut have suggested that the Boy Scouts should have issued a response to President Trump’s speech at the Boy Scout Jamboree this week.
Today, it did. Read more →
Poor Sherry Tupa, of Champlin, Minn., was only doing what lots of fans of aging rockers do on Sunday: holding an album up from the artist’s best days. Read more →
The woman who was filmed in a tirade against three Somali women in a Fargo parking lot is going to be fired from her accounting job, the Fargo Forum reports. Read more →
Surely on a list of the most interesting people who ever landed in flyover country, Ila Borders must rank pretty high. She was one of the first women on a professional baseball team (women played in the Negro Leagues) when she signed with the St. Paul Saints in ’97.
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Golf’s decline is illustrated this week with word that two urban golf courses are on death’s doorstep. The Minneapolis Parks Board will vote next month on a plan that to close the Hiawatha golf course because of continuing costs of pumping groundwater will likely curtail 18-hole golf at Hiawatha Golf Course. And the Pioneer Press Read more →