Bob CollinsOne small suggestion for Minneapolis public schools. Pick up the phone. KARE 11’s Boyd Huppert reports on the problem Sean Boyce had when a bus carrying his first-grader home on his first day of school didn’t show up. He called Minneapolis Public Schools and got put on hold. He called Kenwood Elementary on another line 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.
Well, this is, according to Beverly Hills police, “unfortunate.” That’s the best the cops could do yesterday to explain why they handcuffed Charles Belk, a film producer who allegedly matched the description of a bank robber — large, and bald, and black. “The Beverly Hills Police Department deeply regrets the inconvenience to Mr. Belk and Read more →
People like Douglas McAuthur McCain scare the heck out of people. He was apparently a nice guy who was also a killer fighting on behalf of the despicable and subhuman ISIS, Read more →
If you’re heading to the Minnesota State Fair tomorrow (Wednesday) and Thursday, I hope you’ll stop by the MPR booth at the corner of Judson and Nelson (just follow the pork chop smog). I’ll be pushing the MPR merchandise from 1-9 p.m., while watching the acts my pals at The Current have planned for the Read more →
While the new Minnesota Timberwolves were enthralling fans at the Minnesota State Fair today, the Cleveland sports media welcomed Kevin Love, the first time Love has spoken since he forced a trade from the Timberwolves. “It means a lot,” he said. “LeBron had signed to come back with the Cleveland Cavaliers and just a few Read more →
Football is deeply American and reflects our values and likes. And that’s the problem. We love us a good war or two. Read more →
Confirming what most drivers already know, Allstate’s annual survey reveals that St. Paul isn’t a particularly safe city to drive in.
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It’s not going to take the National Transportation Safety Board long to figure out why a helicopter crashed in Osage, Minnesota, last month while it was spraying for mosquitoes. Read more →
Lillian Weber makes a dress each day as she sits by the sewing machine in her Iowa farmhouse. She sends them to people she doesn’t know in Africa. Read more →
Kevin Love is gone now and the Ricky Rubio watch is now officially underway with a report that the onetime franchise savior has turned down a deal that would keep him in Minnesota. Read more →
Banker White, a San Francisco producer, moved back to Boston to care for his mother after she was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. During the time of her decline, he did what filmmakers do. He filmed. “One of the most striking things that Alzheimer’s has revealed is the strength of my parents’ marriage, even as it alters Read more →
If you move to Moorhead and raise a family, imagine the amount of money you’ll inject into the local economy, creating jobs and stabilizing neighborhoods. Maybe you could be rewarded with a tax break. Moorhead isn’t unlike every other community in Minnesota when it comes to wanting businesses to move in but, like yesterday’s news Read more →
You didn’t miss much if you missed the Emmys last night, with one exception: Billy Crystal’s tribute to Robin Williams, who took his own life a few weeks ago. “I used to think if I could just put a saddle on him and stay on for eight seconds I would be OK,” he said.
Kevin Love is shedding his past in a big way, first dumping Minnesota and now the number — 42 — he’s worn in high school, college at UCLA, and in the NBA with the Timberwolves. The new number? Behold: We won’t know for certain what this is all about until Love is introduced to the Read more →
It’s become a fairly common game in business to extract public dollars in exchange for creating additional jobs, but in Wisconsin, Ashley Furniture is getting $6 million from the state in exchange for laying people off. According to the Milwaukee State Journal, the $6 million tax credit was awarded in January to the company in Read more →