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.
A Grand Forks area man isn’t getting a lot of sympathy for his complaint about the trash people left by the side of the road just outside the city limits the other night. That might explain a lot about why people feel empowered to leave their garbage in the ditches. Read more →
There’s a little something for everybody in the Pioneer Press story about the arrest of a man who allegedly pointed a gun at a person at a gas station on Sunday evening. Read more →
The Chilcot Report, Britain’s investigation into the Iraq War, was released this morning, and it’s too big for reporters at The Guardian to go through alone. Read more →
People are already staking out parade viewing spots for a parade that doesn’t start until Friday evening. Read more →
Glenn Burke, who left the airport job in South St. Paul last year when he was appointed manager of Metropolitan Airport Commission’s Crystal and Anoka-Blaine airports, has been charged with seven counts of theft by swindle, according to a press release from Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom. Read more →
In Willmar, Minn., over the weekend, several hundred residents could do the only thing they could to grieve for two Somali boys who drowned last week. They walked. Read more →
Putting flowers on her desk today is about all we can do. We couldn’t offer any support to her during her three-year affair with cancer because she never told us. Read more →
Future alien archaeologists who discover Earth and try to figure out the civilization that once roamed it will have a thankless job.
How can you explain the civilization, based only on the just-completed 24 hours let alone centuries of existence.
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Our correspondent in the western part of the state caused a mini-uproar in his community a few weeks ago when he suggested after Gov. Mark Dayton ordered flags at half staff in memory of those slaughtered in the Pulse nightclub attack that maybe we’ve taken this half-staff thing too far. Read more →
A gentleman in Nisswa went old school when it came to saving a spot for the town’s 4th of July parade on Sunday evening. He saved his spot by actually occupying it. Read more →
A boat provides he perfect location to watch fireworks over Hudson, Wis. Read more →
Brent Olson had big plans for his Bush Foundation grant in Clinton, Minn. He would reopen a closed cafe and try to give people a reason to stay and live in a declining small town. How has it worked out? Read more →
Reader Andi Lassiter has responded to our request for pictures of the ways people are calling ‘dibs’ for July 4th parade viewing spots.
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Goodhue County is looking for the driver of a Ford Focus who couldn’t be bothered with detours, it reports on its Facebook page. Read more →
I find pride in finding people — often older people– giving up a piece of a holiday weekend to do something for the benefit of someone else. Read more →
Bob Collins