Bob Collins
For old radio people, there’s plenty to be wistful about in the Alexandria Echo Press’ story today about Dennis Anhalt, the retiring news director at KXRA Radio. 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.
NPR’s StoryCorps provides a warm update to the journey of Mary Johnson, the Minneapolis woman whose son was murdered by Oshea Israel in 1992, and who came to forgive him — and become friends with him — after visiting him in Stillwater prison. Read more →
Mikhail Gorbachev opines today that the world seems to be preparing for war.
Good morning!
Read more →
If you want to troll people in the city, go after their bikes. Read more →
With the announcement this afternoon that President Donald Trump wants to charge a 20% tax on imports from Mexico to pay for his wall across the country’s southern border, there’s a fair chance of an all-out trade war erupting.
What happens then? Read more →
Two news stories today show the danger of taking a stand in today’s America. Read more →
an attorney for a student thrown out of the NAVY ROTC program has filed a federal suit claiming a lack of due process, the Indianapolis Star reports today. Read more →
Today’s most intriguing trivia mystery comes from Paul Lukas, who writes the Uni Watch blog, which focuses on sports uniforms: Whose name is on the back of the Fran Tarkenton jersey that Mary Richards is wearing in the opening credits while washing her car?
Hint: It’s not Fran Tarkenton.
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Sutin and his father, Julius, managed to escape from the ghetto to the forest region of eastern Poland, where Sutin became the leader of a small group of Jewish partisans who managed to accumulate arms and become a fighting force against the Nazis and the collaborating Polish police. He met his love in a bunker. Read more →
It’s awfully hard being a kid today. You have to learn some tough and painful lessons at too young an age.
In Mesquite, Texas, the kids have learned not to trust people with sad stories. Read more →
We’ll take our kindness and humanity anywhere we can find it and today we find it from a couple of dueling politicians, which is why this qualifies as ‘news’, and also why we’re constantly searching for kindness and humanity. Read more →
If the Minnesota Department of Transportation isn’t careful, it’s going to make winter snowstorms in Minnesota positively entertaining. The agency today announced that “plowcams” are now available on 511.org, its traffic website. Read more →
There is only one true way to mark the death of Mary Tyler Moore.
By laughing. A little song. A little dance. A little seltzer down your pants.
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There will, at least for now, be no additional inspections of jetliners for fatigue cracking in their skin, as a result of the Trump administration’s order to withdraw all regulations waiting to be published in the Federal Register. But U.S. travelers won’t be unsafe because of the decision. Read more →
At one time, Musburger was at the top of the heap of sports broadcasters, but time has a way of passing sportscasters by, sometimes with embarrassing results. Read more →