Bob CollinsThe celestial calendar tells us today is the first day of summer but we really don’t need it to know that spring is giving way to a new season; we just have to keep an eye peeled for the complaints about applause as commencement ceremonies. 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.
Admit it: If there’s one city you thought would pick up on the odd, recent “tradition” of burning cars after a city wins a championship, you figured, ‘Cleveland.’ Me too. Read more →
Listeners often say all the right things when it comes to offering tips for how journalists should do their jobs — Don’t worry about getting it fast, just get it right.
There’s just one problem with that very sound piece of advice; in 2016, listeners won’t let newsrooms do that. Read more →
‘Don’t live scared,’ a father-to-be said he’d like to teach his kid.
It’s a neat trick since the prospect of becoming a father is often horrifying.
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There’s a battle brewing over control of the ticket reselling market for the play, the latest in the ongoing struggle between resellers, sports teams and artists.
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Social media has a good chuckle over a grandmother who thought there was a human at the other end of Google. Read more →
The idea that we all have to trudge to a particular spot on the planet to cast a vote in an election is a relic of yesteryear and turnout numbers suggest it’s an ineffective one. Read more →
In the airplane-flying business, we’re required to prove every two years that we’re capable of safely piloting our vehicles. What would happen if we adopted the same philosophy to driving? Why do we treat driver’s licenses as lifetime passes? Read more →
The New York Times today hits on a truism: Even as he’s been an icon of Minnesota since the the glaciers helped create Bluff Country, nobody really knows him. Read more →
For the first time since 2009, Clown Camp, which made La Crosse somewhat internationally famous in the clown community, is back in town, the La Crosse Tribune says. Read more →
The role of baseball as the glue that keeps fathers and son together has been documented so often that most attempts to add to it seem cliche anymore. Read more →
There might have been a time when the murder of nearly 50 people might cause the country to step back and re-evaluate how hatred begins. Maybe pull a little closer together. Maybe give each other a break. Read more →
How horrible is the open office? People would rather be in their soulless cubicles, the Boston Globe says. Read more →
Kevin Love is so bad that a city that is pretty comfortable with losing isn’t comfortable with losing with him. Read more →
Dale Mossey, of Clearwater, isn’t done working or dreaming. He gave up the bench to be a long-haul trucker in 2011. Now, he’s starting another new career. Read more →