Bob Collins
Thirty years ago today, Galaxy Airlines Flight 203 crashed shortly after taking off from the airport in Reno. Most of the victims of the crash were from Minnesota. They’d flown to Nevada for Super Bowl weekend. 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.
Minneapolis’ Band Box diner is down to its last grill burner, so it’s turning to crowdfunding to stay in business, Minneapolis St. Paul Business Journal reports. Read more →
Testimony in the trial of Brian Fitch, the man accused of killing a Mendota Heights police officer last summer, hadn’t even started yet and already there’s a question of journalistic ethics.
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For sheer beauty, your next 365 days in Minnesota are covered, thanks to Jim Brandenburg, who has unveiled an ambitious project to document some of Minnesota’s beauty every day this year. Read more →
There’s very little redeeming value in the Minnesota Wild these days. But the fans? That’s another story. Read more →
Richard Rhodes, 73, died alone in his Winona apartment last month. He had no family. He left no will. If not for a funeral home director, no one would have noticed his passing. Read more →
Millennials, you’ve got a problem ahead. Two-thirds of you say you expect your partner will handle the child-rearing in your family, according to a recent survey from Harvard. About half of the Millennial women expect bringing up baby will fall on them. See the math, there? Read more →
The Minnesota Wild have no one to blame but themselves for yet another snub against the ‘state of hockey.’
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Inside every person is a snow angel longing to come out. Read more →
ESPNw reports that softball coach Jen Banford has been informed she will not have her contract renewed when it expires. She received notice the same week that women’s hockey coach Shannon Miller would not be retained, a move that has sparked controversy at the school. Read more →
One month and two days after the historic civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Ala., Martin Luther King Jr., gave a speech at UCLA. But there was no audio recording of the 55-minute address; or so it was thought. Read more →
Contrary to what you may have heard, it’s tough being a New England Patriots fan, what with the constant claim by their detractors that the team cheats. It doesn’t help that the team cheats, either. Read more →
Mike and Rainy Lofald’s son, Joseph, was killed in April 2011 after a shift at the Minntac plant in Mountain Iron when the car in which he was riding went into the ditch. His colleague, James Duane Voltzke, was driving. And he was under the influence. Read more →
The greatest contribution to the nation has already been made. To promote its promotion, the White House has reassembled the surviving cast of the West Wing, which once counted Big Block of Cheese Day as one of its most popular episodes.
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This will make little difference, we suspect, in the ongoing debate on climate change. The drip, drip, drip of facts long ago ceased to matter in this debate. Read more →