Bob Collins
Apart from the big airport, when it comes to airport noise complaints, Flying Cloud Airport is the bad child. 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.
Time for the weekly check of your tear ducts. Read more →
I’m fairly certain that this week, the New York Times has upped the standard for mainstream journalism in telling the story of three of the 60 million people who have fled their home because of war and persecution.
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Reopening the post-conviction proceedings is in the interest of justice, the judge said in today’s order. He also granted Adnan Syed’s motion to reopen the question of the reliability of cellphone data used to convict him. Read more →
Shanley High School, a Catholic school in Fargo, has advanced to the North Dakota high school playoffs, and that’s a problem for some people because the team wants to hold a prayer. Read more →
Daniel Fleetwood, 32, of Spring Texas, is dying. He has cancer and he’s in his last days. He was given 1-2 months to live in September.
He’s also a big Star Wars fan, but he’s not likely to survive long enough to see Star Wars: The Force Awakens, when it opens in theaters on December 18. Read more →
Perhaps you’ve seen the video a man on the way home from a curling match filmed at a McDonald’s drive-thru on Stinson Boulevard in Minneapolis on Monday. Read more →
Memo: If you’re a leader in the fight against cultural appropriation, you might not want to go with blackface on Halloween. Read more →
In the annals of Minnesota Public Radio, perhaps only Michael Barone has a beard more worthy of historical note than our former colleague Mark Heistad.
He’s had it since June 1975. He stopped shaving the day after he graduated from high school. Read more →
The prevailing jet stream over the Midwest from the south and west has brought the unusual warmth in the last few weeks. Despite today’s return to cooler weather, that trend is likely to continue for awhile.
And that might be part of the reason for an increase in jet noise complaints recently — the wind. Read more →
By all accounts, Misty Leonida’s son, Eli, 13, was looking forward to Halloween last weekend when he could help pass out candy and celebrate the day as family. He was going to trick-or-treat with his West Side St. Paul friends. Then he had a seizure and ended up in the hospital. Read more →
Maybe Minnesotans won’t invite you to their home. But they’ll bring you doughnuts. What more can you want? Read more →
On the list of great jobs, we’re going to have to put Yves Rossy’s. He’s a ‘jetman.’ He flies around with a jetpack on his back, making appearances at various air shows as he did two years ago over in Oshkosh, his first public flight in the United States.
Now he’s upped his game even more.
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On Halloween, Georgia state trooper Nathan Bradley heard the particulars on his police radio of a traffic accident not far away from where he was patrolling.
He headed for the scene, he writes.
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High schools that may have resisted dumping their offensive Native American nicknames now have an additional incentive to do so: Money.
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