Bob CollinsA Los Angeles writer has been selected to write 125 in one week about the Mall of America and the people who shop there. Easy? Can you write one? 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.
Theresia Brandl, 105, doesn’t have many regrets. But she has one: She never finished high school. The local high school took care of that yesterday.
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Seidu Mohammed gave up a lot when he left Minneapolis, took a bus to Grand Forks, and walked to what he’d hoped would be the freedom he saw across the border in Canada on Christmas eve. Now, he’s been given permission to stay. Read more →
Alex Tizon, who wrote an essay about is family’s slave, lied to the reporter who had to write her obituary. Today, she apologized for what she didn’t know. Read more →
There are times when you think you’ve lost everything. Then there’s someone to hug you and maybe you realize you haven’t. Read more →
St. Paul skyways can be scary places at night and perhaps it’s time to consider closing them a little earlier.
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There’s nothing about being a kid that an adult can’t ruin.
A high school graduation in Arlington, Tenn., is the latest proof. Read more →
Can one superstar player change a city’s economy?
A Harvard researcher says he/she can, at least if his name is LeBron James Read more →
Over the objections of one justice, the Minnesota Supreme Court Wednesday upheld the life sentences given to the killer of three people at the Seward Market and Halal Meat on East Franklin Ave., in Minneapolis in 2010. Read more →
Delta Airlines is reading the names of all 80,000 employees in a Facebook broadcast it says will last 50 hours. Read more →
Look, if you’re going to go to the movies, watch the movie and put your phone down.
Is that too much to ask? Read more →
It’s difficult to imagine a more obvious slight than the one the NCAA tossed on the University of Minnesota women’s softball team, which went 16-3 against other teams invited to the NCAA tournament, won 25 in a row, and finished the season 54-3. For all of that, the tournament committee sent the Gophers in unseeded. Read more →
David Ortiz’ book came out today and Minnesota Twins fans who idolize former manager Tom Kelly may want to skip it.
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The Canadian Snowbirds of the Royal Canadian Air Force announced on Monday that they have canceled a portion of their airshow season because bad weather has forced them to cancel too many practices and it would otherwise be unsafe to perform. Read more →
It’s the finest piece of write you’ll read today, perhaps ever.
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