Today’s obit section reveals another poignant piece of writing. This time, unlike some of the other obituaries we’ve highlighted over the years, the compelling part is just a single line at the end of an obituary for a gentleman who died of Alzheimer’s.
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MPR News Reflections and observations on the news
By Bob Collins
bcollins@mpr.org • @newscutBob 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.
Gov. Mark Dayton used some common sense this week when he unraveled a public relations disaster at the state’s Department of Corrections. Read more →
If you’ve ever had a desire to work on a “saltie,” the tale of the Cornelia should clear that up. The oceangoing freighter has been anchored off Duluth for weeks, the Duluth News Tribune reports, and it, its cargo, and its crew may soon fall victim to winter. Read more →

Not since ‘the lady in pink’ has the state of hockey been so smitten with an attendee at a Minnesota Wild game. Read more →

The new bridge over the St. Croix River is taking longer to construct than expected, but this time-lapse video, just released by the Minnesota Department of Transportation, is still a riveting testimony to the industriousness of humans.
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Here’s something you don’t hear every day. A neighbor applauding the tear-downs happening on her street.
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The University of Minnesota football program can never seem to get out of its own way.
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The snowstorm that didn’t live up to expectations wasn’t a lot of fun for a few hours yesterday, but do you feel ‘pummeled’ by it?
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Ellison and other officials tried the declare-victory-and-go-home strategy to get Black Lives Matter protesters to end their 4th Precinct demonstration. It didn’t work. Read more →
We throw ‘giant’ around too much, but Minnesota really did lose a giant today when it was announced that Hy Berman has died at age 90.
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The Minnesota Court of Appeals today agreed with a man who shot his ex-girlfriend that he can’t be convicted of first-degree assault in the state because the bullet he fired into her back didn’t hit any vital organs. Read more →
It’s not even December yet and we have a clubhouse leader in the ‘Tear my guts out, why doncha?’ competition for 2015. Read more →

It seemed like only yesterday that Navy vet Chris Ring jumped into the little creek known as the Mississippi River in Itasca and headed south. Read more →
Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank learned what thousands — maybe millions — of other Americans have already learned recently: Getting help for mental illness is an impossible task. Read more →
Why do the people who want to lead the country act as though it’s a burden they’re forced to endure?
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