Bob CollinsLake Superior State University in Michigan couldn’t have been more perfect with its selection of words that should — but won’t be — banned in 2015. 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.
Jay Wilds, the somewhat mysterious man who blew the whistle on Adnan Syed in the murder case that spawned the podcast “Serial,” has never heard the show. Read more →
A decision from the Minnesota Court of Appeals earlier this year on an unrelated case, adds more grist to the analysis mill of why Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman hasn’t charged Navell Gordon with possession of a handgun by a felon.
Read more →
Boy, if there’s one thing that gets Public Radio types in a lather, it’s the misuse of the English language.
Read more →
There’s plenty of depravity in the world, but the Duluth News Tribune today offers a timely reminder that there are still the Wayne Hoffmans among us. Read more →
A below-zero night is a small price to pay for a good look at the Northern Lights, as was the case early this morning in St. Cloud.
Read more →
The average American only gets about 10 days of paid vacation if they get vacation at all. For many, it’s a use-it-or-lose-it proposition and as 2014 is in its final days, many are willing to lose the vacation time. Read more →
Add Hennepin County attorney Mike Freeman to the list of politicians embroiled in Pointergate, the KSTP story alleging Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges was flashing gang signs with a felon during a get-out-the-vote effort in North Minneapolis in October. KMSP is reporting Freeman has refused to charge the man — Navell Gordon — with being a Read more →
The podcast exploring the death of a Baltimore area high school student is over without reporter Sarah Koenig finding how whether the man serving a life sentence was wrongfully convicted. But the man who was the prosecution’s main witness was certainly portrayed as one who’d be most likely to be involved in the death of Hae Min Lee.
He wouldn’t talk on the record for the podcast, but he’s talking now. Read more →
There’s a little bit of good news for the Monarch butterfly. Initial estimates from their winter grounds suggest there are more arriving this year than last year. That would appear to confirm evidence in these parts over the summer that there were more Monarchs around than in previous years. Read more →
Though it’s heresy for me to say, radio will probably never tie a community together the way it once did, which is why there probably won’t be any more “members of the family” like Joyce Lamont and broadcasters of her day. Read more →
The NTSB’s official cause of the crash doesn’t really answer the obvious question.
Read more →
Two of the largest newspapers in the country are focusing today on justice — or lack of it — on Native American reservations in the Dakotas. Read more →
Anna Stoehr, the woman who made headlines when she was initially denied a Facebook account because of her age, was laid to rest in Potsdam on Saturday.
Read more →
Minnesota Vikings fans found out the hard way yesterday that it’s worth paying attention to the snow emergency rules in the city following the paralyzing three- to four-inch snowstorm on Saturday. Read more →