Bob CollinsWisconsin has always been a little bit ahead of its neighbor to the west when it comes to discouraging Native American mascots by sports teams. 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.
We like the pizzazz Torii Hunter brings to the Twins as much as the next blogger, but we still have to admit: This pitch is too close to take with two strikes and even if it’s outside, it’s not the type of call to do a Target Field striptease over. But that wasn’t really the Read more →
It was a short but predictably successful search for the man who donated a wedding dress to a charity thrift shop this week, thanks to social media.
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We don’t like to admit it, but many of us are closer to rock bottom than we might think.
Even TV news celebrities — a high-ego community if ever there was one — aren’t shielded from the ‘shame’ we tend to heap on people who are unemployed. The Great Recession should’ve taught us how vulnerable we are to the whims of employers and a shaky economy, and to think about what we’d do when the ax falls.
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Chopper might be among the most famous therapy dogs but when he and his owner returned from a trip that included visiting VA hospitals and nursing homes, his owner found out that Pet Partners, a nonprofit group that evaluates and insures therapy animals, is dropping Chopper because he wears a biker outfit. Read more →
The price of gasoline jumped in the Twin Cities today, hitting $2.79 a gallon in most locations. It’s a lot better than a year ago, of course, but it’s a lot higher than a few months ago.
The experts said the economy would get a big boost because we’d spend the money we didn’t spend on gas on things that might get the economy humming a little more.
It’s as if the experts have never met the motoring public. Read more →
Nobel recipient Tim Hunt has failed again to solve one of life’s enduring mysteries: how can some smart people be so utterly stupid? Read more →
Generations have grown up without looking up and dreaming. Read more →
Snow Leopards, Prairie Hawks, Wooly Mammoths, Green Pride, didn’t make the latest cut, the Grand Forks Herald reports today. Read more →
Lake Elmo is a mess, but like most things in Minnesota government these days, the particulars are officially a secret.
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South Dakota Public Broadcasting knows how to put the ‘public’ in broadcasting.
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There are worse ways to start a day than with Grand Forks Herald great Marilyn Hagerty’s restaurant reviews. Read more →
Perhaps it should be no surprise that improving graduation rates in the nation’s high schools are often the result of cooking the books. Whenever the standards for earning a high school degree are raised, politicians seem to backtrack on them because so many students would fail to graduate. Well, yes, that’s the thing with higher standards; they have to be met or they have to be lowered — one or the other. Read more →
Another gaping hole in the downtown St. Paul skyway system is emerging. Read more →
For most of us, a minute or two of our workday in the context of our lives doesn’t define us. Read more →