Bob Collins
A car is burning and you know it has a tank full of gasoline. Do you approach it? 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.
An artist collective creates a large images to reach the hearts of distant drone operators. Read more →
Today, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case of a New Mexico photographer who refused the job of photographing a same-sex commitment ceremony. You may recall in the Legislature’s debate about same-sex marriage, the mythical wedding photographer who would be forced to take pictures against her will was a common theme.
Elaine Huguenin is that photographer and her case is the first to reach the Supreme Court, which wanted nothing to do with it. It rejected the case without comment. Read more →
For the second time, the Minnesota Court of Appeals has overturned the conviction of a St. Paul priest and ordered a new trial on charges he took advantage of a vulnerable woman he was counseling. Read more →
The resignation of Mozilla CEO Brendan Eich because he donated $1,000 six years ago to the effort to ban same-sex marriage in California, has renewed several debates: Should disclosure requirements be loosened? Is there a free-speech component to a legal campaign contribution? What kind of personal opinions disqualify a person from being CEO?
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If you’re on social media, there’s a pretty good chance you saw this picture, which was captured by Cleveland attorney Peter Pattakos outside Friday’s Twins-Indians game in Cleveland. Read more →
The former head of MNsure says she didn’t mislead anybody when the health care exchange went live last October. Yes, she did. Read more →
When cops and firefighters play hockey, hockey is secondary. Read more →
The Minnesota Timberwolves had a chance to make a statement Saturday when Dante Cunningham bailed himself out of jail and flew to Orlando to play for an undermanned team. The team is already out of the playoff picture and it might’ve elevated their status in town to let Cunningham watch from the bench, and maybe think about what it means to get yourself arrested for trying to strangle a woman in your home.
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The U.S. Senate is pondering a resolution offering an apology to Elsie Moren of Two Harbors and thousands of others like her, the Duluth News Tribune reports today. Moren’s ‘crime’? She married a non-citizen of the United States and, because of the law at the time, she lost her citizenship. She died a non-citizen in her own country.
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A ban on dreadlocks and restrictions on cornrows leads to a White House petition that claims the regulations are culturally insensitive. Read more →
As most fans of NPR’s Morning Edition know, Friday is the day you get to cry on your way to work.
StoryCorps, the segment in which people tell their life story in their own words, is always good for a punch to the feels; this morning’s outdid its usual compelling self. Read more →
You can tell a lot about the type of person who is behind a camera by the images of the people in front of the lens. Read more →
This is a good day to pay attention to Nickolas Butler, of Fall Creek, Wisconsin, near Eau Claire, who gets plenty of New York Times love today for his book, ‘Shotgun Lovesongs.’ Read more →
A lot of companies still run for cover when the issue of same-sex marriage comes up. Honey Maid got its share of grief last month when it showed same-sex couples in some of its ads.
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