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.
It’s not that I don’t honor the unimaginable courage — and acknowledge the unimaginable fear — of those who stormed the beaches, it’s just the feeling that it’s far easier for the nation to recognize the events of World War II than it is to acknowledge Vietnam. Read more →
The Ogden (Utah) Raptors have apparently had second thoughts about its ‘Hourglass Appreciation Night’, a promotion that offended everyone but the knucklehead who conceived it. Read more →
The Duluth News Tribune reports that someone posted a Snapchat message encouraging people to violate the school’s dress code. The crackdown targeted mostly girls whose shorts or dresses didn’t reach mid-thigh or whose bra straps were exposed. Read more →
Mili Hernandez is 8 years old, loves soccer, has short hair and looks like a boy, so she and her team were kicked out of a girls soccer tournament in Nebraska on Sunday.
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Can the media exercise restraint when keeping in mind that whatever is embarrassing to the Wetterlings, it had nothing to do with why their son is dead? Read more →
Christine Archibald died in her fiance’s arms in last week’s attack on London Bridge and because of that, some niceness is spreading.
The 30-year-old social worker moved from Calgary to Europe to be with her fiance.
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In La Crosse on Saturday, Abbey Zastrow finished last in the 400-meter dash and the 200-meter dash at the WIAA Division 2 girls state track and field meet at UW-La Crosse. She blew a hamstring with 50 meters to go in the 400 and had to walk to the finish line. Read more →
The United States secretary of defense said all the usual things after the latest terrorism in London, tough talk to show the world that we’re tough against the onslaught of occasional evil. Read more →
Republicans are pretty good at winning elections, so the strategy they reportedly have settled on for the 2018 congressional elections requires this assumption: You hate reporters more than politicians. Read more →
On a weekend in which images of human evil raced around the world in seconds, it’s this image that won the day.
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A science teacher’s experience in coal country is illuminating the problem science teachers are facing in 2017: many kids don’t want to learn science they don’t agree with. Read more →
It’s impossible to grow up in New England and not know the cautionary tale that is Jimmy Piersall’s life. He was a baseball player of enormous talent who suffered from great expectations and mental illness. Read more →
You’ve probably heard that Minnesota Public Radio is celebrating 50 years, an impressive feat in local broadcasting. But 100 is twice as impressive, and to the east of us, Wisconsin Public Radio is celebrating too. Read more →
Rodney Smith Jr., an Alabama A&M student, thinks the path to a better life for people is behind a lawnmower. He started Raising Men Lawn Care Service in Huntsville, Al., which uses kids age 7 to 17 to mow the lawns of people who can’t. Read more →
Take some data from Google, add a map, and voila! You’re in the news.
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Bob Collins