Bob Collins
You couldn’t have asked for more miserable weather than the Arctic blast that’s gripped us over the last few days. Which is why the people of Duluth have exclusive bragging rights for being ‘real’ Minnesotans when it counted most. 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.
On two fronts, and from two different political directions, the lack of education by the American voter is cited as a factor in the country’s direction today.
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The demand for larger, less fuel efficient vehicles in on the rise.
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Lawsuits against Jason McLean, who owns Dinkytown’s Varsity Theater and Loring Pasta Bar, are prompting a social media-fueled boycott of the locations. Read more →
Remember when people made fun of foreign tourists for constantly viewing the world through their video cameras?
This tweet from a Christian pop duo aboard a Southwest Airlines flight today proves — again — that those tourists were ahead of their time. Read more →
Minnesota has its share of weird decisions by politicians to look good for the TV cameras, but we’ve got nothing on Cranston, Rhode Island. Read more →
The U.S. economy, not exactly humming along at 2 percent growth and stagnant wages, is the jewel of the global economy now. Europe is a mess. China is getting its bubble comeuppance and the daily business watch is now a debate over whether a recession is ahead.
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For many people in the East Metro, commuting to work means taking a deep breath and doing this: trying to cross the St. Croix by the ‘ice road.’ Read more →
It’s probably never a good idea to use the New York Daily News as a barometer of the state of journalism.
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The venerable Boston Symphony Orchestra has acknowledged that young people can’t sit through a concert without being connected to their iPads. Read more →
Sun Prairie, Wisc., near Madison, needs a groundhog if there’s going to be a groundhog day in the city that’s tried mightily since 1948 to be the Midwest’s Punxatawney.
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Last month Austin Roberts, of Spencer, Iowa, was wrestling in a high school championship match when he collapsed. The wrestler, who hadn’t been defeated all season, died a few hours later.
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Experts on suicide have generally succeeded in tamping down public talk about suicide by the nation’s school children. But Dan and Wanda Lienemann of Waukee, Iowa think there’s a better way to prevent the kind of thing that happened to their 18-year-old son. Read more →
The creeping — and creepy — intrusion of business and government on people’s personal Twitter musings has taken a step forward in Wisconsin where a high school player has been suspended for using profanity in a tweet on her personal account. Read more →
You are not alone in your misery. Read more →