Bob CollinsWriter James Fallows seems surprised to find out that the entrepreneurial environment isn’t limited to San Francisco. 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.
Pitchers and catchers reported for spring training yesterday, in preparation for the return of the last remaining sport in which fans don’t have to get hammered to enjoy it.
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Virginia McLaurin was 104, when she was honored for working 40 hours a week working with students with severe mental and physical challenges. At the time, she had one wish: She wanted to meet the nation’s first black president. Read more →
One of these days we’re simply going to have to get down to Kenyon to meet police chief Lee Sjolander, whose Facebook account is a must-read for anyone from these parts. Read more →
As the dust-up between Donald Trump and the pope begins to fade, a new front in the definitions of Christianity and the Church has opened up with a St. Louis archbishop’s letter to his clergy to consider evicting the Girl Scouts from parishes that sponsor them. Read more →
Enjoy the annual runway collection of garments that you’ll never find on the rack at Target, but over which people will ogle and applaud, and never, ever see again. Read more →
I suppose it’s no secret that if you want to appeal to the ‘average’ person in America — or so the elitist political experts suggest — you must try to be a little less competent at the use of the English language.
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Homeless people in San Francisco are bringing a ‘tech bro’ down. Read more →
There’s trouble in Fargo. I said trouble. Trouble with a capital ‘T’. And that rhymes with ‘P’ and that stands for ‘pool’. Read more →
Joshua Meyrs, 29, walked into a busy intersection, hoping a car would hit him. But a stranger stopped her car, brought him to it, and started talking to him. Read more →
It is the season of departures in one fashion or another, which leads me to recommend a couple of essays today on matters of life. Read more →
Utility player Mike Aviles said his daughter, Adriana, underwent a bone marrow transplant in December and is now cancer free. Read more →
Hundreds are jamming the state Capitol today to protest two bills from the Wisconsin assembly: One, forbids any city from ordering its police departments not to question the immigration status of people. The other restricts local governments in issuing IDs to people who otherwise may have trouble getting one. Wisconsin is a voter ID state. Read more →
Tensions have increased between the new generation and the old guard since Black Lives Matter interrupted Rep. John Lewis, a civil rights icon, at a Hillary Clinton rally this month. Read more →
If you’re a regular listener to MPR News, you probably noticed a disturbance in the force of public radio, whose fans tend to like to have things just where they were the day before.
It involved one word: “Live”, and boy did the bosses at NPR hear about it.
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