Bob Collins
The protest during the playing of the National Anthem at sports events is growing still.
Last evening, an entire WNBA team knelt during the song’s playing. 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.
What’s the matter with these kids in Grand Forks today? You take them to a parade and someone on a float throws candy and they run to get it. Where are the parents?
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The next time you get into a little fender-bender or are cut off in traffic and given to a bout of road rage, think about Thom Richard, a pilot who was stopped on a runway at the National Championship Air Races in Reno last weekend.
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A good dog is a pretty important hunting companion during the current birding season, but so is a good drone. Read more →
A study from Harvard’s Kennedy School says the inclusion decades ago of “why” to the traditional list of questions every news story should answer — who, what, why, when, where, how — has shifted the focus of news coverage from the newsmaker to the reporter.
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A history teacher in North Carolina is bound to get into some hot water for teaching kids about history, specifically the First Amendment of the Constitution which gives the right to burn, cut, or step on the American flag.
So that’s what Lee Francis did at his high school on Monday. Read more →
Sometimes you just have to stand for something.
Stacy Yannazzo Koltiska, a school cafeteria worker in Pennsylvania’s Canon-McMillan School District, stands for something: feeding kids without shaming the poor. Read more →
Woodstock the therapy chicken is dead. Read more →
The Faribault Daily News reports the City Council yesterday took aim again at AC units installed in apartments in the city’s downtown. In 2014, it declined to ban them. This time, the heat is on. The city staff is giving the Council the option of banning air conditioners. Read more →
Weeks after NPR decided to give up on the notion that its online audience can intelligently discuss the day’s news via comments, the New York Times, which generally has a comment section worth reading, is trying another approach to elevate the scene. Read more →
Here’s your daily dose of bittersweetness. Michael Reagan, an artist in Edmonds, Washington, could probably be making bigger bucks as an artist. But making bigger bucks isn’t his passion right now. Drawing the images of every service member killed in Iraq and Afghanistan is. He got a fair amount of publicity in the last decade Read more →
At least in the short term, a scolding from a politician can be costly, but it takes a lot more to bring a big bank down. Read more →
Today daily dose of sweetness comes from Soldier’s Grove, Wisc., where Roderick Olsen’s horse, Zaxson, went blind a few years ago.
But even a blind horse wants to go for the occasional run. Read more →
As any outsider who’s ever criticized Minnesota can attest, nothing can stir up the locals like a little disrespect.
And nothing can feel so fulfilling as some comeuppance. Read more →
In its editorial, the St. Cloud Times is stating what shouldn’t have to be stated: the obvious. It’s not a time to turn on each other in the wake of the weekend stabbing attack at a mall in St. Cloud.
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