Bob Collins
The myth surrounding Bob Dylan says that he was booed at the Newport Folk Festival 50 years ago this month when he plugged in an electric guitar to play three songs.
A new book says it’s not true, at least the way the story is told. 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 ‘most enduring’ marriage in Minnesota has ended after 77 years.
The Duluth News Tribune says Dan ‘Pinky’ Skorich, of Marble, died earlier this month. He was 98. Read more →
This video, from 2013, might be the most shocking video of an aviation disaster ever recorded.
A Boeing 747 crashed while taking off from Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan. Read more →
Just as it was during the crackdown on distracted driving, the Minnesota State Patrol’s Twitter account has been delightful, if depressing, reading since the start of its two-week crackdown on speeding.
The bottom line? Some people shouldn’t be driving. At all. Read more →
The ‘Sugardale barn’ on I-35 north of Northfield is no more. It is now blue. Read more →
Alfred Postell is mostly lost to the world now, a victim of an illness that denied the world his brilliance. He’s a reality check that anyone can succumb to mental illness.
Read more →
It wasn’t an accident that NASA gave Facebook-owned Instagram a head start for the image of Pluto, obtained this morning by the New Horizons spacecraft. NASA wants to appeal to a new generation. The old generation hasn’t done much in the interest of space exploration. Read more →
‘Uncle Harvey’s Mausoleum’ — also known as ‘the cribs’ in Lake Superior in Duluth — changed last winter when a concrete column ‘disappeared.’
Slowly — too slowly, perhaps — the landmark is disappearing. Read more →
We don’t recommend violence against anyone, but, truthfully, we at least have some understanding for those doing something stupid while battling an invasive species in Minnesota — the guy who mows his lawn early in the morning.
Listen to me, Minnesota. Seven in the morning is too early to mow your lawn!
Read more →
There are 6,000 or so cemeteries in Minnesota and over half of them may be abandoned, according to the Minnesota state archeologist, Scott Anfinson.
Also: Minnesota has a state archeologist. Read more →
When a woman was badly injured by a foul ball in Boston earlier this season, you had to suspect that there’d be a cry for more protection for spectators at baseball games. Read more →
People have respiratory diseases. Air pollution is particularly troublesome for people with respiratory diseases. People die from respiratory diseases. Therefore, air pollution has a role in the deaths of people.
What’s particularly fascinating about the report, however, isn’t the headline-grabbing number of deaths; it’s that it takes less air pollution to cause health problems than apparently it once did. Read more →
Boy Scouts aren’t much into camping in Wisconsin anymore and parents apparently aren’t all that keen about letting them go. Read more →
No Minnesotans were on the list of commuted sentences of individuals President Barack Obama said bore the brunt of overly harsh sentences for non-violent drug offenses.
But Steven Donovan of Oak Creek, Wis., received a commutation of his 1992 life sentence for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine; interstate travel to promote distribution of cocaine; possession with intent to distribute cocaine. Read more →
Bear researcher Lynn Rogers has struck out at the Minnesota Court of Appeals in his attempt to be allowed to attach a tracking collar to bears. Read more →