Bob Collins
If your city-owned liquor store is the only thing standing between you and becoming a ghost town, aren’t you already one?
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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.
South by Southwest, the incredibly popular festival in Austin, Texas, is canceling two panels, even though one of them really needs to be held.
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Torii Hunter has announced that he’s retiring with plenty of baseball accomplishments to admire. But at least for his legacy, he made a fatal mistake. He answered a question honestly, and he talked about his religious beliefs.
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The takeaway from today’s Star Tribune story on a messy lawsuit between a youth sports league and the parents of a deaf player: The local Lions Club is the unsung hero of nearly every community around here. Read more →
Contrary to what you may have heard, it’s a bad time to be nearing retirement, at least if you’re looking for work. Read more →
Of the many memories of Flip Saunders being shared in the aftermath of his death yesterday, here’s a video classic from the ’70s: The Gopher men’s basketball team’s entertaining pre-game drill. Read more →
How long would civil order last if there were actually a significant disaster in the U.S.? Read more →
The Sunday night dread is partly the fault of worker-bees, trying to get a head start on the week. Part of it is the dawn of ‘Internet time.’
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We might suggest that the Star Tribune commentary on student loan debt perfectly shows why courses on personal finance might not be a bad idea in high school.
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There are worse ways to start a week than a little high school sportsmanship. Check out what the Renville County West football team found when it traveled to rival Cleveland, Minn. Read more →
Kevin Garnett and Flip Saunders were joined at the hip in the NBA. This afternoon, KG posted this picture on his Facebook page with the caption “forever in my heart.” Update 7:11p Stephon Marbury’s tribute: My heart and all of my love goes out to Flip Saunders Family as your leader leaves this earth in Read more →
As long as radio survives, many Americans will get to enjoy a favorite pastime of media — critiquing voices coming out of their transistor.
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My grandfather — I didn’t really know all that well — was a horse man.
Well into his 70s, he was a harness racer on the small-town tracks that dotted upstate New York, living out of a truck for a good share of the year, as I recall. Read more →
Today’s must-read story comes from the Iron Range, where the Star Tribune this afternoon unveiled a wonderful story about the football team at Mesabi Range College.
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There’s big news on the history-of-beavers beat today. Read more →