Bob CollinsThe Crystal Police Department says on its Facebook page today that it’s not out to shame the driver who wouldn’t get out of the way of an ambulance. Fortunately, NewsCut is under no such constraints. We’ve had our fill of knuckleheads on our roadways. 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.
Brandon Bakke, a sixth grader, is adopted and he never met his father. But he found out his biological father died in Chicago and is buried in an unmarked grave. Read more →
Last night, in their first exhibition game, the Boston Celtics released and played a video. The players and coaches then locked arms and bowed their heads during the National Anthem. Read more →
Perhaps if someone in Aleppo dressed as a clown, the horrors taking place there could get a little attention. Read more →
KARE 11’s Boyd Huppert, of course, has found another angel walking among us and, as it turns out, he owns a bus company.
He’s Jon Held, who has the bus contract for the Kenyon-Wanamingo School District. Read more →
It’s hardly a new phenomenon that people will look at a fashion and not go with their instinct. Better to fit in than to say “that’s absolutely stupid.” It’s been that way since the emperor went for a stroll in his invisible suit. Read more →
The student body at Willmar Senior High School is 57 percent white, 23 percent Hispanic, 18 percent black and 2 percent Asian, and it wasn’t a big deal at all to the kids when Anisa Abdulahi was named the first Somali-American homecoming queen at the school, West Central Tribune’s Linda Vanderwerf writes. Read more →
Charlie Sykes, probably the most well-known conservative radio voice in Wisconsin, announced today that he’s done with the business at the end of the year. Read more →
We’re not exactly Ground Zero when it comes to clowns but Minnesota is, nonetheless, well represented in the sudden, weird fascination with dressing up as a clown and frightening the landscape merely by being a clown. Read more →
A voting rights group, using audio it recorded from several DMV offices in rural areas of Wisconsin, says people in the state are being given incorrect information when they try to get an ID to vote in next month’s election. Read more →
Norma Bauerschmidt, of Michigan, became an online celebrity thanks to her daughter-in-law’s Facebook page, Driving Miss Norma, which started over a year ago after she was diagnosed with uterine cancer. Read more →
Writing an op-ed in the Star Tribune today, Mark Brandt, of Minneapolis, spotted one of those ‘no big deal’ moments of true charity.
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University of Minnesota students get a lesson: A political message that people may find offensive doesn’t cross the constitutional free speech line. Read more →
2016 has created an immense vacuum in the arts with the deaths of some of music’s most iconic individuals. The names of those who’ve died reveal the incredible breadth of artistic endeavor across the species. Read more →
I filled out my absentee ballot this weekend, making sure to turn the ballot over so I could ignore the judicial races on the back, all of which (other than the Minnesota Supreme Court) feature a judge I know nothing about (except for the ex-politicians) who are running unopposed.
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