Bob CollinsIf ‘feel what it’s like to get Tased by cops’ is in your 2016 resolutions, you’ve got only a day to wait to respond to the Eagan Police Department’s solicitation for its Citizens Academy. 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.
The Bartz boys of New Brighton are at it again. Read more →
The social media landscape has given rise to a new art form: the ‘why I quit’ treatise. You’ve probably seen them from time to time. Someone doesn’t want to work somewhere anymore, quits, and then bares all of the faults of the workplace with the innuendo that its time is up. Read more →
Anyone who’s delivered newspapers had to chortle a little bit over the weekend when the Boston Globe announced its reporters and employees would pitch in to deliver the newspaper because of widespread distribution failures.
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How you feel about a new study on telecommuting might well depend on whether you’re anxious to get back to the workplace today after the holiday break, or whether you’d like to stay put and work from home.
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Seinfeld fairly nails it when he notes that when the ’63 Stingray came out, America did things without having a reason to do it and a knowledge how.
That was back in the day when it could also have an occasional chuckle.
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None of these will make the news, although they reveal the nature of us. We put one foot forward, then the other, and exhibit a quiet dignity and strength whether we succeed or whether we fail. That alone is uplifting and worthy of our attention and gratitude. Read more →
It’s not every day that a Vatican entity longs for more evil in the world. Read more →
When I started NewsCut eight years ago this month, one of the things I wanted to do was provide the occasional behind-the-scenes look at MPR News, an area most people never get to see unless you take one of my patented two-hour in-person tours.
I never got around to it but being called out of radio talk-show retirement in the last couple of weeks to fill in for Kerri Miller reminded me again that radio is an iceberg, most of which lies beneath the surface. Read more →
Ten years ago today, Daniel Jay (apparently not his real name) went to a Christmas party, got drunk, then hit the road. Then he hit Emily Pothast’s parents. Her mom died instantly. Her dad bled to death in the hospital.
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Army Staff Sergeant Matthew Whalen suffered a massive and sudden stroke in Dallas. He couldn’t be saved, but he was kept alive so that his organs could be donated to someone else. Read more →
Oh, nothing. Just goofing off at work on a slow news day watching Aaron Rodgers being all Aaron Rodgers. You? Read more →
Bruce Hagen, the mayor Superior, Wisc., is in trouble with some of his constituents for making a personal opinion on his Facebook page, adding more fuel to a growing debate in America: What link should there — or shouldn’t there — be between someone’s personal opinion (no matter how insipid) and their public role? Read more →
This is my final day filling in for Kerri Miller on her MPR talk show and, I suppose, we’re not going to exactly ‘leave ’em laughing.’ Read more →
If we can defend the right to burn a cross in St. Paul, we can surely defend the right to post a message on Facebook, or to be compelled by the government to post something on Twitter. Read more →