Bob Collins
In preparation for Monday’s show on the art and culture of obituaries, I recommend today another example of a finely written obit that appeared in today’s Star Tribune. 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.
Peter DeMarco’s letter to the health care workers who cared for his dying wife went viral two weeks ago, as it should have. His message in today’s column by their friend should too. Read more →
The Minnesota Supreme Court today settled a long-running dispute over whether a BB gun is a firearm under Minnesota’s weapons laws.
It’s not, the court ruled, overturning a ruling from the Minnesota Court of Appeals, and reversing the conviction of a Ramsey County man. Read more →
It wasn’t part of a protest, Northland Community and Technical College’s president assured veterans groups. But if it had been, he wouldn’t have tried to stop it. Read more →
Bloomberg Politics wins the Internet today for this video reassuring us — we think — that the coming election is not rigged.
One additional point it makes, however, is that it is, just not the way you think it is. Read more →
It’s gratifying to see some of the real geniuses of Minnesota Public Radio getting some attention in The Current’s just released behind-the-scenes video. Read more →
Alice Seagren didn’t mix words in her criticism of the back-patting over the news this week that the high school graduation rate in the U.S. reached an all-time high of 83 percent in the 2014-2015 school year. Read more →
Some election officials, and some state laws, prevent police from providing security at polling places this election because they say it will make voters feel unwelcomed. Read more →
The second-best part of October postseason baseball is some city’s symphony always posts a video in support of their local team, playing the sport’s national anthem.
This year the distinction goes to Chicago. Read more →
Eli Dourado and Raymond Russell tackle NIMBYism in their latest paper, claiming that complaints about airport noise come from a small number of people and disproportionately tilt noise abatement programs in a way that hinders the advancement of cheaper and faster commercial flight.
Read more →
We’ve been amused over the years by the dynamic by which Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s name gets floated for high-profile gigs in Washington but there it is in black and white, thanks to the hacking of Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta’s e-mail with the first cut-down of potential running mates. Read more →
Might we suggest you take a break from the noise of news and spend 24 minutes watching the story of Joseph Feingold, who heard a classical radio station ask for used instruments and donated his.
He had played it as youngster in a Siberian labor camp, his mother and his youngest brother were both killed at Treblinka. Read more →
Too often, the story of our amazing lives don’t get told until it appears on the newspaper’s obituary page and Star Tribune reporter Chao Xiong today provides a perfect example.
Read more →
People who fly airplanes have to prove every two years that they’re still capable of performing the task and they’re knowledgeable about the rules.
The unbelievable video from the Hudson Police Department inspires us to renew our suggestion that maybe it’s not a bad idea for drivers too.
Read more →
There’s no chance winning the Nobel Prize for literature is going to change Bob Dylan. Read more →