Bob CollinsFor 22 years, the Owatonna Arts Center has hosted the Festival of the Arts, but no more — at least not for a year.
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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.
The theory comes from Como Park High School hockey coach Mike Searles, who says it’s been a struggle finding ice time for his kids, especially since the rink at the state fairgrounds closed. Read more →
American forces entered the camp on 11 April 1945, bringing an end to the ordeal of 21,000 prisoners being held there by Nazi troops. Read more →
Today’s clue: Its name in Ojibwe is ‘Ne-zhingwaakokaag’.
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There’s probably a lesson in the fact that the one World’s Fair people are able to name is the one that wasn’t sanctioned by the international body that awards world’s fairs — New York in 1964 and 1965. Read more →
Dick and Rick Hoyt didn’t want a big name to help continue their tradition of running the Boston Marathon every year. They wanted a big heart.
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A study of 2 million people found that those who were thinnest were far more likely to develop dementia. Read more →
She was given only until December to live. But she wanted to play a game for her college basketball team. She did, and then she spent her remaining days raising money for cancer research. Read more →
Though we’re always suspicious of headlines that suggest something may happen — because it may not, but how newsy is that? — we’re at least tempted to consider the consequences of legislation passed in good faith. Read more →
Bert Blyleven, the Twins broadcaster, might have learned a valuable lesson today. When your team stinks and it has turned in four straight 90-loss seasons, it’s probably not smart to criticize the city that’s won five straight division titles and, oh by the way, has shut out your squad in the first two games of the season.
It started with this tweet during the rain delay of today’s no-contest between the Twins and Tigers.
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With its familiarity, space is boring to many Americans today, which makes us wonder whether today’s commemoration can ever adequately be appreciated by future generations. Read more →
It’s believed that only one in three rape victims report their attack. It’s not something we didn’t already know. Darren Sharper’s case, though, shows it’s something that doesn’t seem to change.
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As you get older, you start to get a little used to the small indignities that remind you that you’re too old to be of much use. Be the Match told me today I’m too old to donate marrow. Read more →
The state’s grand champion jack pine tree is no more.
It was a good run for the tree in a Mountain Iron neighborhood — two days, according to the Duluth News Tribune.
But after receiving its crown, it was cut down.
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A new survey says nearly 9% of people in the United States have outbursts of anger, break or smash things, or get into physical fights — and have access to a firearm, the Los Angeles Times reports. Read more →