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.
Justin and Tia met in elementary school in Kentucky, but fate kept them apart. Her family moved to Green Bay. He joined the Air Force and moved to Italy. After nine years of speaking online, they finally have been reunited, thanks to The Buried Life, the show of four guys whose “bucket list” includes asking Read more →
Writer Maya Lang posted this tweet this morning, allegedly to show how blacks are portrayed differently than whites when it comes to profiles, at least in the New York Times. @rgay Here's a side-by-side on Mike Brown vs. Boston Bomber, both from NYT pic.twitter.com/wpcQmFE9Xj — Maya Lang (@WriterMayaLang) August 25, 2014 Here’s the Times’ paragraph that Read more →
Cleveland is already treating Kevin Love with the adoration Minnesota never did. He’s not even the top player on his team and he gets the mural-on-the-side-of-a-building treatment. So this is going up in downtown Cleveland as we speak. #Love pic.twitter.com/v2xZfrvNFm — Dustin Fox (@DustinFox37) August 25, 2014 Coincidentally, the mural replaces another one on the Read more →
The Ice Bucket Challenge, you’ve probably heard, has caught on in a big way to raise money for ALS research. If someone you know hasn’t posted a video of dumping him/herself with ice water, you probably need more friends. Here’s an offshoot that probably won’t catch on. Ayman al Aloul, a Palestinian journalist, dumped a Read more →
Marketplace’s David Brancaccio raises a fascinating question today: If a municipality starts a business that could compete with private business — say, a municipal liquor store like the one in more than 200 Minnesota communities — is it socialism? Brancaccio reports on a town in Kentucky that was frustrated by high gasoline prices charged by Read more →
Today’s sign that the educational apocalypse is upon us comes from the Washington Post, which reports that kids in kindergarten now face final exams, have homework and are subject to standardized testing. And in Elwood, N.Y., the Post says, the principal sent a letter to parents canceling the annual play so the kids can buckle Read more →
It’s a happy ending for a Duluth man who lost his wedding ring while golfing in Neillsville, Wis., six years ago. He had taken it off to put on sunscreen (Guys, don’t take off your wedding ring to put on sunscreen. Don’t take your wedding ring off for any reason) and he forgot to put Read more →
We were driving home from our visit back East on Saturday when we came across an SUV full of a mostly enthusiastic — we guess — Illinois family at the Tomah, Wis., rest stop, heading for one of the great passages of life: the moment when you’re dropped off to be on your own in Read more →
That was quite a PSA that ran during this evening’s MTV video music awards tonight. The network said it wanted to start a discussion on race among those who still watch it, which makes it hard to believe there wasn’t one already. But the PSA is part of a larger campaign called “Look Different.” “Eighty Read more →
Brigette Mengerson, one of our favorite readers from North Minneapolis, is an unabashed fan of NoMi as we’ve noted in the past. She hardly overlooks its flaws, not the way many people do with the good stories that exist there. Like this one, which she forwarded today. It’s certainly good enough for me to pause Read more →
August is a vastly underrated month.
Read more →
I haven’t posted audio of my daily conversation with Mary Lucia on The Current in months, but I’ve gotten a number of messages this afternoon asking me to do so. The subject, of course, is Robin Williams and it relates to the post I wrote this morning on the subject. I got a nice note Read more →
It’s not been a particularly prideful 24 hours for Republican Party insiders on social networks. Read more →
This is one of those days when a guy playing a piano at an airport in Prague is the faint string of civilization we’re grasping for.
Read more →
Cubs fans created the worst “tradition” in the history of baseball — throwing a home run from the other team back onto the field — and a play yesterday highlighted it.
Bob Collins