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NewsCut

MPR News Reflections and observations on the news

By Bob Collins

Bob Collins
bcollins@mpr.org • @newscut

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.

Arts & Culture · Education

Why can’t music get more respect in schools?

Bob CollinsBob Collins February 3, 2015, 8:05 AM Feb 3, 2015
22

There’s really nothing that music can’t do, as today’s inspiring video from the New York Times proves. Again.

Why can’t it get a little respect from a civilized society?
Read more →

Crime and Justice

A police officer’s widow neuters a killer’s hate

Bob CollinsBob Collins February 3, 2015, 6:36 AM Feb 3, 2015
1

Given the opportunity, there are so many things Minnesota would like to say to Brian Fitch Sr., words that would probably mirror the ones he hurled at a judge last evening as the verdict was read in his trial, where he was accused of killing Mendota Heights police officer Scott Patrick. Read more →

Economy

SD company’s success shows value of spitballing ideas

Bob CollinsBob Collins February 2, 2015, 7:14 PM Feb 2, 2015
1

Tucked away inside this CBS story on Brookings, South Dakota’s Daktronics company yesterday — they make the video scoreboards at sports arenas, including the Xcel Energy Center and Target Field — was a fascinating nugget about how times have changed when it comes to creating a business Read more →

Health

TV anchor announces he has ALS, retires

Bob CollinsBob Collins February 2, 2015, 4:00 PM Feb 2, 2015
1

Over the summer, North Carolina TV news anchor Larry Stogner was among the thousands of people who took the ‘ice bucket challenge’ to call attention to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis — Lou Gehrig’s Disease.

Then he was diagnosed with ALS. Read more →

Health

Land costs may close lake resort for disabled

Bob CollinsBob Collins February 2, 2015, 12:35 PM Feb 2, 2015
2

The province owns the land that the The Wilderness Discovery Resort leases and wants to sell it for market value, which the resort owners can’t afford. Read more →

Crime and Justice

For using others’ material, Minnesota firm loses its website

Bob CollinsBob Collins February 2, 2015, 10:28 AM Feb 2, 2015
4

Up until today, no Minnesota court has ever ruled that copyrighted websites are property subject to being seized and sold to satisfy court awards.
Read more →

Arts & Culture

A little ‘blasphemy’ on the prairie

Bob CollinsBob Collins February 2, 2015, 9:16 AM Feb 2, 2015
10

Curiously, the Star Tribune’s use of the word ‘blasphemy’ has sparked its own debate on whether it is. Read more →

Weather

Asked about spring, groundhog bites mayor instead

Bob CollinsBob Collins February 2, 2015, 8:43 AM Feb 2, 2015
4

Jimmy didn’t see his shadow, which isn’t surprising since Jimmy looked for it before the sun was up far enough to cast shadows this morning. Read more →

Health · Politics

Vaccinations as a presidential campaign issue?

Bob CollinsBob Collins February 2, 2015, 8:14 AM Feb 2, 2015
28

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who’s over in Europe burnishing his foreign policy credentials, just injected the vaccine issue into his likely 2016 presidential campaign. Read more →

Sports

The winners and losers of Super Bowl XLIX

Bob CollinsBob Collins February 2, 2015, 6:58 AM Feb 2, 2015
14

No matter what kind of day you have at work today, at least it’s not going to be as bad as the one the Seattle Seahawks had in last night’s Super Bowl, when they elected to pass the ball for the win rather than just give it to automatic-touchdown running back Marshawn Lynch. Read more →

Health

When it’s time to let go

Bob CollinsBob Collins February 1, 2015, 9:49 AM Feb 1, 2015
6

If you had to line up all the possessions of your life, put price tags on them, and then watch people come pick through them, could you? Read more →

Sports

Kevin Love isn’t taking the bait

Bob CollinsBob Collins January 30, 2015, 4:10 PM Jan 30, 2015
0

Former Minnesota Timberwolves star Kevin returns to the state he spurned tomorrow night when the Cleveland Cavaliers make their one and only appearance at Target Center.
Read more →

Education · Politics

The education of U.S. senators: Nothing but the best

Bob CollinsBob Collins January 30, 2015, 3:55 PM Jan 30, 2015
2

The people at College Raptor have finally found something that Republicans and Democrats in the United States Senate have in common: Their educations. For the most part, nothing but the best, and disproportionately from the Ivy League.
Read more →

Crime and Justice · Health

MN ID’s counties most likely to have drunk drivers

Bob CollinsBob Collins January 30, 2015, 2:12 PM Jan 30, 2015
4

The Department of Public Safety has answered the question today in releasing the counties targeted for increased DUI patrols around the Super Bowl. Read more →

Arts & Culture

On the radio, ‘whiteness’ is more than skin deep

Bob CollinsBob Collins January 30, 2015, 12:29 PM Jan 30, 2015
12

It’s not much of a secret that public radio is white — really white. The lack of diversity has hardly gone unnoticed locally or nationally. The origins go far deeper than race. Back when I was a young college student, my Boston accent was (mostly) beaten out of me in a voice and articulation class. Read more →

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