Bob Collins
It’s entirely possible the alleged resurgence of vinyl has been overstated. 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.
On the list of people who are going places in this world, we can safely add the name of Jakeem Tyler, spotted in a Chick-fil-A in Avon, Indiana last week by Cameron Nelson. Read more →
What makes some out-of-towners adopt Minnesota? Let’s ask Ralph Bradley, who was an undercover narcotics officer in the Oakland, Calif., area when he first set foot on Minnesota sod. He was here picking up a prisoner. Read more →
You’ll have to work hard to find any significant logic in the interviews Vox’s Sarah Kliff did with residents in Kentucky, who apparently voted for Donald Trump because they didn’t think he and the Republicans would really take away their health insurance coverage.
He was, you may recall, the candidate promising to repeal Obamacare. Read more →
Baseball’s new collective bargaining agreement will ban the ‘tradition’ in which young players are required on a late-season road trip to travel while wearing outrageous costumes.
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It was such a sweet story when KARE 11’s Boyd Huppert, who has a habit of finding them, told the tale of Greg Thomas, who restored a declining church in Montgomery, Minn. He was fighting cancer and, the story goes, he wanted to fix up St. John’s church when he stopped to pray. Read more →
Eric Schmitt-Matzen, of Tennessee, is a professionally trained Santa Claus, but nothing can prepare any Santa Claus for what the Knoxville News Sentinel says Schmitt-Matzen faced this season. Read more →
How could actor and comedian Nick Offerman outdo last year’s online ‘ad’ for a whisky in which he sat in front of a yule log fire for 45 minutes?
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The best hockey call of all time?
It could have been a cringe worthy moment when Patti Smith lost the words at the weekend Nobel Prize gala, but it turned out to be a rather perfect moment of grace. Read more →
The White House’s video touting the website where people can shop for health insurance is a little like John Belushi’s last attempt to rally his beaten frat brothers in Animal House.
But as a “bit”, it’s got legs. Read more →
Rescuers plucked the swan out of the St. Croix river and got it to a wildlife rescue center, but it was too late.
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‘The new brand will increase recognition, build trust (especially around cyber security), and change the story about what it means to work for and do business with the State of Minnesota,’ MnDOT said on its website. Read more →
It was a moment in time captured by a random photographer. Saya Tomioka and her boyfriend, Griffin Madden, shared a kiss in Times Square after they’d emerged from ‘The Book of Mormon.’
The photographer showed them the picture and then dashed off.
A random moment became meaningful, however, when the Oakland Ghost Ship fire claimed the life of Madden.
Having just worked my way through Scott Berg’s long biography of Charles Lindbergh, and being a huge fan of John Glenn since I was a boy, Bill Flanagan’s commentary on Glenn (and Lindbergh) this morning was particularly riveting. Read more →