Bob CollinsThere are likely two schools of thought on a South Dakota school’s decision to deny a degree to a senior who is six credits short of graduation. There is the ‘rules are rules’ caucus, and there is the ‘have a heart’ party. 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 Minnesota Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists has had its squabbles with KSTP TV over the years, but the group is standing foursquare with KSTP in the face of the University of Minnesota Board of Regents search for the anonymous leaker of information to the TV station. Read more →
Compromise is a word that sounds great in a philosophical discussion. But in real life, politics is often the art of hurting someone else to get what you want. Read more →
Photographers don’t need words to throw shade. Read more →
Let’s consider the goodness and decency that disappeared from the planet the other night when the bomb exploded at the concert in Manchester. Read more →
Thanks to the creeps among us, these are difficult times for adults who just want to do something for kids. Read more →
The Pipestone Area Schools class of 2017 visited the elementary students today before counting down the final seconds of high school. Read more →
Marty O’Connor’s story is a familiar one. He was left a quadriplegic when he fell down the stairs in 2012. Read more →
The school district says students can rip the page out or they’ll provide a sticker to go over the offensive quote.
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Enes Kanter is from Turkey, an American ally that has given a despot — Recep Tayyip Erdogan — free rein after a failed coup. Tens of thousands of political opponents and journalists have been jailed.
Read more →
A teacher in Mount Horeb, Wis., near Madison, is back in the classroom today after being removed for showing her students a film that some people claim showed ‘nude and graphic images.’
All of the images in the film, ‘Miss Representation’, came from prime-time television shows and music videos. Read more →
There’s a mistaken impression that today is the 50th anniversary of the first Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood on PBS. It’s not. That comes next February 19th (the first version of what would become Mr. Rogers Neighborhood actually was in 1953). But it’s never not a good day to hold on to the goodness of Fred Rogers. Read more →
In the race to alleviate the suffering of the largest taxpayers, politicians have pledged to protect the most vulnerable. It would have been political suicide to do otherwise. That is no longer the case; quite the opposite, actually.
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Researchers at the University of Georgia are painting a picture of a massive migration in the United States because of climate change.
Their study says nine states will lose population as people flee inland. Read more →
The National Transportation Safety Board says an airline pilot’s low experience flying helicopters probably contributed to a crash at Lino Lakes that killed two people last October.
Read more →