Bob Collins
We’re only two years away from hosting a Super Bowl in Minnesota so it’s worth paying attention this year to how things are going in Santa Clara, Calif., which hosts this year’s edition. 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.
If it’s history told in song it’s some fine Minnesota history. Read more →
The tweet from the Ontario Provincial Police struck a nerve with people who’ve apparently seen plenty of people driving like this. Read more →
In the wake of the disastrous selection of a Minneapolis school superintendent candidate whose background was researched largely by a consultant, Lynnell Mickelsen says it’s unfair to vilify the school board as particularly incompetent ‘because the Minneapolis school board has been a mostly dysfunctional form of governance for decades.’
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Gov. Rick Snyder of Michigan used some of his State of the State address this week to apologize for the disaster that has befallen the people of Flint, Michigan thanks in large measure to the incompetence of their elected officials. Residents get a helping of lead when they turn on the tap and run their water. In some cases, the lead content is so higher, the water is classified as ‘toxic waste.’ Read more →
If you’ve lived through a few winters, maybe the Arctic blast and a half-inch of snow wreaking havoc on a morning commute in the Minneapolis St. Paul area as it did today, rates a little bit lower than if you’re a kid from Syria whose home was literally blown from under you. Read more →
The Minnesota Timberwolves (have I mentioned that they’re raising ticket prices again?) are enduring another wasted season as their fans have been convinced — again — that it’s impossible to build a culture of winning for a young team by actually, you know, emphasizing the importance of winning. Read more →
The state’s highest court has resuscitated the case of a woman who blew the whistle on financial irregularities in Minneapolis Public Schools only to have her job eliminated.
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Whose fault is it that nobody but one person helped a homeless person sleeping by the side of a major highway in Minnesota? Read more →
The news that the United States isn’t the best country in the world should startle Americans who’ve never watched The Newsroom. Read more →
Frank Deford will still be an NPR contributing commentator under a new lineup announced today, but his weekly visits to NPR’s Morning Edition are over. He’ll be on only monthly from now on, the network announced today.
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Can we really learn anything from a cookie? Read more →
Maybe it’s time to add history and civics to the list of standardized testing if that’s what it takes to jam home some pretty basic knowledge about the country. Read more →
Who among us hasn’t thought that if we drove a school bus, we’d be the coolest school bus driver ever?
Sorry, but Philip Bologna, of Rochester, Minn., has that distinction. Read more →
We understand that time marches on and today’s entertainment venues need rides and musical stages to get people through the door, but we’re wistful about the official demise of Machinery Hill at the Minnesota State Fair nonetheless. Read more →