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.
Many news media organizations insisted after the beginning of the war in Iraq that they’d learned the lesson that they’re not supposed to set the agenda when it comes to the urge to rush to war.
So it was at least a little significant today when CNN’s Jim Acosta got his chance to ask President Obama a question about why the U.S. isn’t ready to go back to war in Syria and Iraq? Read more →
In hindsight, it’s, perhaps, not too surprising that the ‘local company’ that wants subsidies to add jobs in St. Paul is one of the largest corporations in the country. Read more →
A new online ad for toilet paper — toilet paper! — feels like a revolutionary acknowledgement that society has changed. The Cleavers are dead. Read more →
There are few sports stories around these parts better than Minneapolis North’s football team’s march to the state championship game, which the squad lost over the weekend.
The school was on the verge of being closed a few years ago, but the community saved it and the football team turned its fortunes around.
Then a player wiped all of that away with one stupid moment. Read more →
The Dixie Chicks announced today they’ll play the Minnesota State Fair next August. It’s the first tour of the United States in 10 years for the group that paid a terrible price for having an unpopular opinion.
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The social media aftermath of last week’s attacks in Paris has followed a predictable route. People have reposted without questioning a news media slight of Lebanon, where a double suicide attack on Thursday killed dozens.
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It must’ve been a big moment in the life of a football fan in Green Bay on Sunday during a moment of silence for the people killed in the attacks in Paris.
He had the stadium to himself, the rest of the fans smart enough to respect the silence.
‘Muslims suck!’ he shouted.
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The Metropolitan Opera stands up to evil the way the patrons of Rick’s American Cafe did. Read more →
Undeterred by the warnings from officials that attacks in the city may not be over, the people of Paris lined up to donate blood to victims of Friday’s terrorism. Read more →
Stand down, Minnesota, there’s no big snowstorm coming on Monday. And anyone who tells you otherwise is spending far too much time on Facebook. Read more →
This film, though, is more than just the story of a man pursuing a dream. It’s about the most important people in our lives who encourage us to chase our passion when all logic may say ‘don’t.’ Read more →
Several studies over the years, however, have said higher speed limits don’t cause more crashes; they just inflate the severity of the ones that occur. So why are there more crashes in Wisconsin, the latest state to raise highway speed limits to 70? Read more →
Minnesota Power has filed for a rate increase for residential customers because it wants to cut the rates for mining companies that are losing business to other parts of the globe. Read more →
All it took for Howard Dean to be forced out of the race for president was a caucus-night scream. Those were good times for off-the-wall moments.
It takes more to be considered ‘unhinged’ in Iowa now, but Donald Trump met the new standard last night. Easily. Read more →
Bob Collins
Woman allowed to wear colander on head for driver’s license photo