Bob Collins
The New York Times has exposed a syndicate that European police investigators says fixed hundreds of professional soccer matches around the world. 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.
This week marks the 70th anniversary of D-Day and The Guardian is providing a compelling photographic tribute to the day that marked the beginning of the end of World War II. Read more →
A Montreal girl has started a pushback against rules on what girls can wear in school after she was ordered to change the shorts she’d worn to school on a recent hot day.
Lindsey Stocker says she felt singled out. Why should she have to change the way she dresses? Why not discipline boys for their behavior instead? Read more →
We’re in the middle of a run of neighbors-feuding-with-neighbors stories here in the land of Minnesota Nice. Read more →
Rudy Hummel’s year of sleeping outside is almost over.
The Hermantown teenager started his quest last June, and never gave up, even during the brutal winter. Read more →
People with perfectly normal voices who, for unexplained reasons, talk with a creaky voice — vocal fry, it’s called — are creaking themselves right out of a job, a study says today.
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Timberwolves boss Flip Saunders is stretching belief and trying to put a good face on a pretty obvious play by his superstar player to force a trade soon. Read more →
Last evening, Dayton crowned his legislative year by waiting until all the Capitol’s political reporters were in Rochester covering the GOP state convention, to put out a release after hours indicating he’d vetoed the Legislature’s bill putting the kibosh on the state lottery’s plan to allow online scratch-off gambling and lottery sales at gas pumps in the state. Read more →
There’s no question that corporations have to be very protective of the brand, but does McDonald’s really want to avoid being linked to democracy? Apparently so.
Protesters against the coup and crackdown on democracy and dissent in Thailand have been using the golden arches of McDonald’s in social media campaigns to keep the issue front and center. The McDonald’s stores in Bangkok have become a gathering point for street protests. Read more →
Jeffrey LaDow, paralyzed since diving into the water when he was only 18, fought depression and his own situation with a paintbrush in his mouth.
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Next week, France will recognize the 70th anniversary of D-Day — a day when foreign troops helped saved France — and the country’s broadcasters aren’t allowing free coverage of it.
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Congratulations to Sriram Hathwar of Painted Post, New York, and Ansun Sujoe of Fort Worth, Texas, who share the championship of the Scripps spelling bee.
They were confident and rarely flustered, which is why a few hours from now, we’ll forget who they were. Read more →
This week the Minnesota Court of Appeals reversed a district court ruling that prevented a 27-year-old man from marrying a woman, because he has a mental illness. His parents don’t believe he fully understands what marriage is. Read more →
Odin Stutrud, 94, survived the rigors of the United States Army from 1942 to 1946, including fighting the Japanese in the Aleutian Islands campaign in World War II. It’s some jerks (or jerk) in Wahpeton who have him steamed. Read more →
Ties, jackets, and only one button allowed to be unbuttoned on blouses. That’s the way we used to do it, kids. Read more →