Bob Collins
Transportation officials will start describing winter road conditions differently so that you can more clearly understand just how bad — or good — the roads are. 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.
Glen Campbell, the legendary singer and songwriter, is in the final stages of Alzheimer’s, an illness, of course, with no happy endings.
This week, he released his final ballad, which he recorded in January, right after he stopped performing in public. But he remained faithful to his promise not to hide his journey with the illness so that he could shed light on what 44 million Americans are going through.
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Word arrives from the ‘little town by the lake’ — Hendricks, MN. — today that Bob Neff, the longtime Methodist pastor in town died overnight.
Every town needs a Bob Neff and for many years, every little town in Minnesota had one. Read more →
A young bull moose is causing a bit of a sensation in western Wisconsin. Read more →
Among life’s many mysteries is this one: Why do some people persist in the face of adversity and some others don’t?
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Members of a Duluth military honor guard says the government is nickel and diming the funerals of veterans. Read more →
I’m not entirely sure why Ira Glass told a story on the Fallon website today about the time someone swore on the radio at Minnesota Public Radio.
Especially since I’ve never heard the story before in the 22 years I worked here. Read more →
It could have gone very badly for ‘Matt,’ who didn’t want his last name used in his interview with KARE 11, when he thwarted a sexual assault in a downtown Minneapolis parking ramp in the middle of the day. Read more →
A long-awaited trial contending that Tommy the Chimp has legal rights is finally going to trial. Read more →
Henry Walsh didn’t have a video camera going last week when he was rousted by Minneapolis cops. That could make it difficult for his story to get the kind of traction other similar tales have received, but his father, Jim Walsh is writing about the incident involving his son on the Southwest Journal website. Read more →
Gov. Mark Dayton will hold a special meeting on Thursday with his cabinet and airport officials to discuss Ebola prevention and preparation efforts, MPR’s Tim Pugmire reports this afternoon. It’s a good idea, of course, and comes months after the Ebola health crisis surfaced in Africa. While some hospitals have already had response practices, the Read more →
The University of Minnesota’s Accessibility Observatory this week released its study (pdf) ranking the 46th largest metro areas, calculating how many jobs a resident could get to during a morning commute by transit. Eric Jaffe at City Lab calls it the “carless commute ranking to end all carless commute rankings.” First, they capture the importance Read more →
The Minnesota Supreme Court today faced a question: Should it fix a state law that’s unconstitutional because it mandates that minors be sentenced to life without parole in particular heinous crimes? Read more →
The Associated Press today raises the specter of a changed relationship with the family dog. It lends credence to the possibility that the Ebola virus could be spread by dogs.
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Why would a couple of national organizations care about a school board race in Minneapolis? Read more →