Bob Collins
Next week, as the anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War approaches on April 30, the country will be flooded with stories, TV shows, and memories of the war, which — at least for a time — made us reluctant to get into another one. 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.
Twin Cities writer David Brauer has been processing his past since the death of New York Times columnist David Carr, with whom Brauer worked. He poured it out in Minnesota Monthly. Read more →
It’s hard for a stadium to provide an economic boost to an area when it’s nearly empty. Read more →
If there was any confusion, the Minnesota Court of Appeals cleared it up today: The car wash receipt you get at the gas station is only good for 30 days.
It wasn’t for lack of trying by Don Wells, who bought a $7.99 car wash at the Holiday in Blaine in January 2012 and didn’t use it, even though it said on the receipt that the code expired in 30 days.
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Given the climate in this country, it might not be a bad idea to keep politics out of an obituary. Read more →
The new NPR ombudsman is taking on an old complaint from some public radio listeners: the choice of what commercial interests to allow underwrite NPR programming.
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Allan Law, of Minneapolis, tells KARE 11’s Boyd Huppert he’ll be on the streets for the rest of his life. It’s because a lot of other people will be, too.
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It’s not trendy and it’s not glitzy but Virginia, Minnesota — on the Iron Range — has one of the 10 best neighborhoods for people over 50 in the country, according to the AARP.
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We’ll find out more later today about the arrests of several people in Minneapolis and San Diego in a continuing investigation of the recruitment of potential terrorists. Read more →
A little gloomy today, perhaps, but Aitkin County author Leif Enger’s latest video marks the official beginning of ‘we don’t complain about the weather’ season in Minnesota.
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This week’s clue:
When you enter this town, a huge Hereford steer greets you.
For the literary crowd, it’s better known as the city where author Jon Hassler was raised.
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A civil war in the country music world this week is highlighting what happens when people aren’t interested in things like facts and details. Read more →
We could stare for hours at the faces in Pioneer Press reporter Fred Melo’s tweet/photo from Mayor Chris Coleman’s State of the City speech last night.
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Sun Newspapers reports the district is considering a policy to ban permanent memorials to dead students. Officials are concerned about having too many memorials on school grounds. Read more →
If cats could get the respect they occasionally deserve, a cat — Professor X, to you — would be the newest member of the North Dakota State University Senate. Read more →