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.
Dylan wrote the song in his early 20s while he lived in Wisconsin. He made a mention of Wauwatosa even though there’s no record of his ever visiting there. But it rhymes with ‘toaster’ — sort of — and nothing screams ‘Wisconsin’ like its famous toasters. Read more →
The Star Wars franchise issued its awaited tribute to Carrie Fisher today. Fisher, of course, died in December. Read more →
Someone has been tearing down and burning rainbow flags in the Wisconsin river town. But they’re going back up faster and more plentiful. Read more →
It’s the end of an era on Wisconsin’s license plates.
There are no more six-character combinations left in America’s Dairyland.
The state will go to seven.
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NASA has released what it’s calling the clearest view ever achieved of the earth at night. Read more →
Dr. Anupam Jena, of Harvard Medical School, looked at 11 major U.S. marathons — the Twin Cities Marathon included — and a decade’s worth of heart attacks for Medicare patients. He found that on marathon days, the mortality rate increased by about 15 percent.
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It’s not often that a TV reality show sparks a national conversation on the ethics of ‘outing’ another person, but it’s not often a TV reality show ‘outs’ an individual as CBS’ Survivor did last night when contestant Jeff Varner — a former news anchor — revealed that fellow contestant Zeke Smith is transgender. Read more →
It’s commencement season and now it’s really over, parents. They’re really on their own now. Sure, you cried when they went off to college four years ago, thinking it was really over, but they came home with their laundry every now and again and had some free meals while reminding you that they’re smarter than you are now.
There’s just one thing left for a parent to do. Read more →
Changing a sports team’s logo is a pretty simple task. All it takes is a bucketload of money, as the Minnesota Timberwolves showed last night as part of the team’s plan to wipe away the stench of bad basketball.
Wiping away the stench of racism, however, continues to befuddle the sports world and the people who run the leagues, particularly baseball and football. Read more →
When the Harlem Globetrotters come into a town, where do they head to shoot their promotional video? If you’re ‘Zeus,’ a football stadium, of course. Read more →
There are bigger stories in the world than the death yesterday of David Letterman’s mom. So why are we so sad about someone we didn’t know?
Because we did. Read more →
The Minnesota Twins last season lost 103 games, often played in a half-empty stadium, and made a ton of cash. Read more →
The Winona Fine Arts Commission is in a tough spot. It’s got 100 historical works of art, and it has to decide which 90 it’ll have to sell off. It can only afford to save 10. Read more →
Don’t steal candy from an amusement park near Toronto. The cops will go to DEFCON 1. Read more →
Among the most disturbing stories of the day is the NPR report today on the use of corporal punishment in schools. It still exists. It’s 2017. Read more →
Bob Collins