Bob Collins
After civil unrest in recent years, the spotlight has shown on the words that news reporters use to describe what’s happening.
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.
I’ve said it before but it bears repeating today. Nothing makes you feel older than hearing of the infirmities and deaths of sports heroes from a younger time. Read more →
A Little Canada DFL senator wants 40 percent of transit sales-tax revenue to be spent “where 40 percent of the people reside,” on the east metro. West metro folks aren’t thrilled. Read more →
Irwin Horwitz says he reached “the breaking point” last week after what he calls a semester of disrespect, backstabbing, lying, and cheating, Houston TV station KPRC reported. Read more →
Images that aren’t likely to be on the front page of newspapers and websites when telling the story of what’s happening in Baltimore.
In retaliation for a vote against including gays in anti-discrimination legislation, a Fargo politician has been outed by a man who says he recognized Rep. Randy Boehning from a gay dating smartphone app, the Fargo Forum reports today. Read more →
Abdi Warsame ridiculed ex-Sen. Norm Coleman’s assertion that the large Somali community in the state could lead to “the land of 10,000 terrorists.” Read more →
This drone video of Nepal, photographed and posted to Facebook by Kishor Rana today, raises a question we’ve often asked when recovering from a disaster.
Where do you start? Read more →
If there’s one constant in Minnesota, it’s the debate over whether we’re a welcoming people.
It’s hard to make friends here, the theory goes. We’re a little cold and a little distant and you can grow old waiting for an invitation to dinner from the neighbors.
Tell it to Shonda. Read more →
The Minnesota Court of Appeals Monday tossed out a lawsuit from a former doctor at the St. Peter psychiatric hospital who argued that an MPR investigation on the treatment of patients there was based on state data that should’ve been private. Read more →
It’s Vietnam week, the 40th anniversary of the fall of Saigon. Read more →
You never know how the Internet can inspire people to help.
Read more →
This message from your ‘bucket list’: Time is fleeting. Get moving. Read more →
The Iron Range has always been the land of boom times and bust, but the country is full of decaying cities where people once waited for a bust to end and the status quo to return. Read more →
Jost Kobusch, a German mountaineer attempting to climb Everest, apparently started filming when the ground started shaking at his Everest base camp. Read more →