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.
He and his wife having paid off student loans in the last year, Daniel Sarles wasn’t looking forward to the idea of going right back into debt. But the 20-year old Camry with more than 200,000 miles wasn’t getting any younger. The Minneapolis man, 28, a financial analyst for UCare, has been driving it since Read more →
Political victory speeches are usually tame and boring things. Even if you hate your opponent, graciousness is the order of the day. Ronald Reagan declared it so when he created the 11th Commandment. Not in Michigan last night, and not for Rep. Justin Amash, the Republican who won his primary battle. One can hardly blame Read more →
A man was getting on a train in Perth this morning when he stepped back and into the gap between the train and the platform. He couldn’t get out. No problem, though. Because people saved him by moving the train. “Everyone sort of pitched in,” a spokesman for the transit authority said. “It was people Read more →
Why? Why does everything have to have a reason? Sometimes the world just needs a little video of a surfing pig, that’s why.
Israeli troops have left Gaza and it appears the 72-hour truce will hold. The troops left messages for the girls at the Beit Hanun High school which was reportedly used as an advanced base during Israel’s military offensive. Caution: Obscenities included in the images.
If you really love restaurant workers, you’ll start paying your tips in cash. Read more →
It doesn’t look like the Mount McKay is going to be a fixture tooling around the Duluth waterfront again, not unless someone buys it and treats the tugboat the way Don Bergholm and the boat’s engineer, Bruce Lindberg, did. The two restored the 1908 boat and worked the waterfront until cancer claimed Lindberg last year. Read more →
Minnesota is generally considered a high-tax state but the Thumbtack.com survey found that taxes was not statistically significant in defining whether a state is friendly to small businesses. Read more →
It’s not hard to find men coaching sports played by women. So why aren’t there women coaching men’s teams? Ask no more, NBA fans. The San Antonio Spurs, perhaps the finest basketball organization in America, today hired a woman as an assistant coach. Becky Hammon is in her final season — her 16th — with Read more →
Cindy Bjerke of Fargo was upset at her 18-year-old daughter’s disrespectful behavior, WDAZ-TV reports, so she sold the Katy Perry tickets she’d purchased for her daughter on the Fargo-Moorhead Garage Sale page. Read more →
A federal panel has ruled that, while deplorable, it’s not a federal crime to beat children for not doing “chores.”
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A Twin Cities federal law enforcement officer is raising money to try to get the family of an Iraqi who served as an interpreter for U.S. forces back together. Read more →
The Atlantic gives new life to the story of a Mormon born a boy but becoming a girl. Read more →
Restaurant bills have something to say about prayer and the minimum wage Read more →
Southern cities are generally more conservative than northern cities; not much of a surprise there. The Economist has pored over the data in a new survey of cities and found a few interesting differences within states. Toledo is more conservative than Cleveland, for example. And Colorado Springs (a military community) is more conservative than Denver. Read more →
Bob Collins