Bob Collins
Turning out some lights has never been so poignant. 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.
The tragedy in Larimore, N.D., this week, in which a BNSF train collided with a school bus, has certainly put public safety officials in the state in a tough spot: questioning the account of heroism by the parents of a girl on the bus who was killed. Read more →
If you get your health insurance from your employer, the chances are pretty good that last week your co-pays — the amount you pay just for showing up — went up. So did your out-of-pocket maximum and your deductible. In short, it’s going to cost you a lot more to use your health care.
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Kirby Delauter, the Maryland politician who became a national joke earlier this week when he insisted that a local newspaper not use his name without authorization, has more than redeemed himself. Read more →
Nick Ziegler has provided plenty of videos on YouTube experimenting with ways to take advantage of the cold. He calls it the Minnesota Cold Channel.
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Anoka County–Blaine Airport was selected as one of five airports to host a one-day “convention” of aviation enthusiasts. Read more →
Last month, a Cretin-Derham High School basketball player went to the free-throw line in a game against White Bear Lake High School when someone in the stands made ‘racially motivated noises,’ the Pioneer Press reports. Read more →
Stillwater, Minn., which proudly lives in its past, is going to be a little less ’50s and ’60s to accommodate a lot more ’10s. Read more →
Comedy in the wake of tragedy presents a challenge to comedians. Read more →
A day after the killings of journalists — including many editorial cartoonists — in Paris, many newspapers in the rest of the world are casting off the conventions of the editorial page to speak out. Read more →
Sometimes, the events that come from us being apart from one another, pull us together.
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With a few seasons as exceptions, the Minnesota Wild have been dull underachievers almost since the day they brought mediocre hockey back to Minnesota. Read more →
Perhaps like us, you’ve been getting texts and tweets from colleagues who are in sunny Las Vegas at the Consumer Electronics show, in which tomorrow’s hyped gadgets are on display today.
We’re pretty sure this isn’t overhyped. Read more →
The Baseball Hall of Fame balloting is over and all that’s left are the sour grapes. Read more →
Terrorists killed a dozen people in an assault on free speech, but it took a newspaper in New York to deliver the final blow. Read more →