Bob Collins
The American news media doesn’t cover war on the front line much anymore. But when it did, Anne Morrissy Merick fought her own country for the right to be there. 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.
As politicians try to pull the shades down on their business, a showdown may be brewing over the reach of the state’s open meeting law, which is intended to give citizens a good look at what their representatives are doing. Read more →
Late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel was back on the air last night, defending last week’s plea for health care coverage, after his newborn son was able to get treatment for a heart problem.
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If you buy season tickets to your favorite NFL team, but sell them all, should you still be allowed to buy them again? Read more →
What’s in a brand? The difference in how you hear something, at least where a violin is concerned. Read more →
The ‘cops rescuing ducklings’ season is officially underway with yesterday’s rescue of a squadron from a storm sewer in St. Louis Park, where the police department reported the details on its Facebook page. Read more →
Sometimes the dramatic moment captured by news photographers isn’t really the actual moment. Read more →
The Minnesota Court of Appeals today reinstated a hunter’s lawsuit against the owner of property on which he was hunting, whom he says is responsible for his falling from a tree while trying to climb into a deer stand in Pine County.
The hunter’s father owns the property. Read more →
Not surprisingly, last week’s multiple posts about the racists who attend games at Boston’s Fenway Park brought out the commenters who view these sorts of things as assaults on free speech.
They’re probably racist too, a study released last week from the University of Kansas says.
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In Madison Wis., parents have gotten messages from school authorities that if they’re on a limited data plan, their kids might soon be driving up the usage. The schools are shutting down the Wi-Fi to see if student performance improves.
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Here’s a pro tip for a happier life: Stop talking politics in social settings. Nothing good can come of it. Let’s just go back to talking about the weather. Or fishing. Read more →
Minnesota Supreme Court Justice David Stras, a Tim Pawlenty appointee, is heading for the federal bench now that President Donald Trump has nominated him for for the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals. Read more →
School officials in Minnesota and around the country have warned parents to talk to their kids about the Netflix series, ’13 Reasons Why.’ A Catholic school in Canada has warned its students not to talk about the series at all.
In Michigan, some students have a better idea.
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When police in Ferguson, Missouri launched tear gas into the crowd protesting the police shooting there in 2014, Edward Crawford, then 25, went for a cannister and threw it back and kept ahold of his bag of chips.
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We’ll cop to swearing as much as the next blogger, but Kraft Macaroni and Cheese’s new campaign to capitalize on America’s most overrated ‘holiday’ is making us blush a bit.
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