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.
There’s more indication today that the Minnesota legislative process isn’t quite running on all cylinders.
Today, Sen. Ann Rest and several House DFLers proposed that voters do the job they elected lawmakers to do: Decide on the record whether the state’s minimum wage should be raised and, if so, how?
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If you’ve driven I-94 through Wisconsin on the long slog back to civilization, there’s not a lot of scenery to entertain you other than the occasional bull semen pun from ABS, the artificial insemination company for cows. Read more →
This was supposed to be the season when things finally blossomed for the Minnesota Timberwolves. But the team will miss the playoffs again. In many ways, this team is more frustrating than the 15- and 17-win teams of recent seasons past. Those had no talent; this one did. Read more →
Writing in today’s Star Tribune, Kirsten Ragatz, who has taught for 20 years, was responding to an earlier Strib article that the poorest schools get the ‘rookie’ (and by innuendo, worst) teachers. Read more →
Stopping in at the local firehouse and offering a quick word of appreciation wouldn’t be the worst idea we hear today, not after this half-week of reminders that there are people who go to work every day by running into the most horrific places that people are running away from. Read more →
The Boston Red Sox are about to make a huge fashion mistake, but there’s probably no stopping them. Player Jonny Gomes saw this jacket and liked it so much he bought one for every member of the Red Sox team that’s going to go to the White House on Tuesday, and apparently his teammates either (a) Read more →
How many pothole fillers does it take to get a pothole repair truck out of a pothole? Read more →
The survey, from the Kaiser Family Foundation, finds found that only 39 percent of uninsured people 18-64 know that Monday is the deadline to sign up for individual health insurance this year or risk a penalty. Read more →
Despite the attention given to the missing Malaysian jetliner, when you get on an airline in the United States, you’re getting on one of the safest forms of transportation known to the civilized world. The U.S. has some of the most stringent safety requirements of any country and it shows in the results. If any Read more →
Two moves yesterday underscore the aversion corporate sports has to personality. Read more →
Michael Kramer of St. Charles, Minn., was killed while spraying for mosquitoes in the area when his helicopter crashed into a garage. The NTSB has concluded its investigation without determining why. Read more →
It wouldn’t be an issue if riders voluntarily gave up the seats they’re supposed to give up for the elderly and disabled. Read more →
The grandparents of an 8-year-old Lynchburg, Va.girl have been told by her private Christian school that Sunnie Kahle’s short hair, T-shirts, and interest in baseball is causing confusion for her classmates who can’t tell whether she’s a boy or a girl. Read more →
It’s not at all surprising that so many Americans are ignorant about their civil liberties given that many of the school districts in charge of teaching them can’t grasp them, either. Read more →
Writer Theodore Ross got his first crack at parenting the same way most fathers do these days: During a two-week parental leave. His wife, using maternal leave, got 90 days.
Writing on Al Jazeera today, Ross says fathers deserve the same opportunity to bond with their children that mothers get and America’s workplaces should extend paid leave. Read more →
Bob Collins