Bob Collins
Your daily dose of sweetness comes from Steve Hartman, of course, who found some kids in Florida who were ‘starved for company’ at lunch time. 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.
Kids, here’s a tip. If your friend is in danger of choking to death, try not to throw up your hands and walk away because it’s grossing you out. Also, learn the Heimlich maneuver. Read more →
From news accounts, it appears that because Jose Vasquez, of Elk Township in southwestern Minnesota is a nice guy, he’s got almost 100 cars on his land that he can’t dispose of. Read more →
It’s hard to imagine that any game’s finish in the Minnesota State High School League’s boy’s basketball tournament could be any more dramatic than this week’s Champlin-Chaska contest.
Imagine! Read more →
A woman at the scene of this week’s terrorist attack in Westminster is finding out firsthand how fake news works. Read more →
A four-wheeler on Lake Ida, an ATV on Lake Osakis on Monday and a Polaris Ranger on Tuesday on Smith Lake.
There’s your vehicles-through-the-ice count just for this week. Read more →
In Wheaton, Illinois, a truck with 57 dogs, all of them saved from a kill shelter, rolled into a parking lot. Fifty-seven new dog families waited outside to meet their new family member. Read more →
Audrey Marie Luke is back home, hopefully with the knowledge that a lot of people care about her.
She the missing person whom Kenyon police chief Lee Sjolander urged to return home, where she hadn’t been since February. In his Facebook post this week, Sjolander relayed the story of the time he ran away.
Read more →
The general manager of the Chicago Cubs, Theo Epstein, has been named the world’s greatest leader by Forbes. Read more →
Royal Jordanian Airlines, one of the airlines affected by a U.S. and U.K. ban on laptops and electronic devices, wins the Internet for turning the ban into a social media campaign. Read more →
Timothy Caughman, an Army veteran, was pretty proud of himself on Election Day, getting up early to stand in a fairly long line for the privilege of voting. God bless America.
Mr. Caughman is dead because he’s black.
Read more →
Maybe it’s just as well he skipped the Nobel ceremony. He didn’t say much. Read more →
Former Minnesota transportation commissioner Elwyn Tinklenberg is blowing up one of the most widely-held assertions in Minnesota today: that the transportation issue pits the Twin Cities metro against people in rural Minnesota. Read more →
Maybe cutting health care for the mentally ill, the elderly, and the disabled is simply the price of freedom, a price someone else will bear so that we may enjoy its benefits. Read more →
The only way today’s state basketball tournament quarterfinal between Chaska and Champlin could have been any better is if Chaska had won. Read more →