Bob CollinsWe scoff at Chicago but is downtown Minneapolis safe? 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.
A post on Reddit says they were found in a Goodwill store, and now the social media site is doing what it does best: Solving mysteries.
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That was quite a piece of audio on NPR’s Morning Edition this morning when NPR reporter David Schaper was interviewing a woman in a South Side Chicago neighborhood about a city effort to more closely track gun sales. Just after the woman insisted the block was safe, gunfire broke out. Read more →
A week or so ago, MPR News reported that during testing of the new Green Line light-rail route, trains were taking about an hour to go from Union Depot in Saint Paul to Target Field, well above the 39 minutes of the original projections. Transit officials insisted that once the trains were timed with traffic Read more →
In Colorado, Slate reports today, the Colorado Symphony, staged a ‘Classically Cannabis’ concert, a bring-your-own pot event. Read more →
Say what you want about it being -25 in January, but at least there are no mosquitoes.
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Unquestionably, House Republicans smell blood in the water with the Veterans Affairs scandal, but last night’s House hearing on the scandal appeared to be more than just typical political theater. Three officials of the Veterans Administration — none of them named Eric Shinseki — appeared before the House Veterans Affairs Committee last evening to answer Read more →
The last time Patty Duke was in Duluth, she had a baby.
It was in a movie — You’ll Like My Mother — in 1972 in which a pregnant Francesca, played by Duke, arrives from Los Angeles to meet her late husband’s mother in Duluth. Eventually, someone gets stabbed.
Whatever happened to the baby in the movie?
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In San Diego over the Memorial Day weekend, the mobility scooter of a Vietnam Vet ran out of juice, leaving him stranded along the road.
Even the typical ‘police lingo’ in the official report can’t take the humanity out of the story. Read more →
The Texas Rangers beat the Minnesota Twins 1-0 last night at Target Field. There were only a total of 14 hits between the two teams which, theoretically, should’ve been played lickety split and everyone could be heading home by 9:45 to get up for work.
But the game approached 3 1/2 hours. This is typical of baseball these days. Read more →
A study out this week says deep-brain stimulation, intended as a treatment for obsessive compulsive disorder, leads to a greater appreciation of the music of Johnny Cash. Read more →
For hundreds of people in the Twin Cities, the difference between homelessness and a more stable existence is a pair of black, no-slip shoes. Or barber tools. Or a bus pass. Or work clothes. Or an electrician’s license renewal. Read more →
Maybe when you grow up in Aberdeen, you have a natural inclination to see the rest of the world. That might explain why Matt Guthmiller, a student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is going to try to become the youngest person ever to fly around the world by himself. Read more →
President Obama yesterday announced that the U.S. will leave about 10,000 troops in Afghanistan by 2016, ending the war in Afghanistan.
Is it too soon to ask who won the war? Read more →
Today’s forecast. Mostly sunny, high in the 80s with a chance of icebergs. Kid on iceberg Monday at Madeline Island harbor. Not sure how he got there but boat picked him up pic.twitter.com/hHjxVfjr1U — Andrew Krueger (@akpix) May 27, 2014