Bob Collins
Evelyn lost her driver’s license because someone thought she was too old to drive. But she wasn’t too old to fight back for her neighbor. 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.
They’re so cute when their small. Then they hit the teenage years, tell you how much they hate you and how they wish they’d never been born, they go into their room for a few years and come out and tell you what college they want you to pay for.
That’s the typical cycle of parenthood life. Everybody gets over it. Eventually. Read more →
“Has it ever before happened that people associated with Ukrainian, Russian, Belarusian, Armenian, Polish, and Jewish culture have died in a revolution that was started by a Muslim? Can we who pride ourselves in our diversity and tolerance think of anything remotely similar in our own histories?” Timothy Snyder asks in his marvelous recap of Read more →
The I-35W collapse was supposed to be a wake-up call. Instead, the nation has fallen back to a comfortable sleep, the New York Times reports today. Read more →
While we’re stuck in the unique hell of both winter and the spring pothole season season, perhaps we can work on our art appreciation, for potholes are art. Just ask Davide Luciano and Cladia Ficca, a husband and wife team who some years ago created mypotholes.com to show their obsession with streetscapes reimagined. You see Read more →
Sure, it was cold again overnight with a little bit of snow and there’s no indication spring is anywhere in sight. Trust me, we’re one morning closer than we were at this time yesterday. In the meantime, we present today’s “Can your summer do this?” entry. Related: Chisholm musher begins run in grueling Iditarod (Duluth Read more →
Wisconsin has reached back 34 years to promote its tourism industry. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Robert Hays — two stars of the movie, “Airplane” — reunited for a parody to promote Wisconsin: David Zucker, the director of the film, graduated from UW Madison. This isn’t his first crack at promoting Wisconsin. Two years ago, he produced Read more →
Nazi salute? Nope. Read more →
Nobody in their right mind would mistake the movie trailer for an actual emergency. Right? Read more →
News that long-time St. Paul Saints season ticket holders are being squeezed out in the new park is worrisome. Read more →
Do we act based on what we know to be true, or merely on what we think to be true? Read more →
It’s March! Welcome to “31 Days Of Thinking About Signing Up for 30 Days of Biking” in April. I usually don’t get further than thinking about it. Registration for those of you who do more than thinking about it opened over the weekend here.
A Memphis TV broadcaster says it’s time to show viewers what she really looks like. Read more →
NPR’s Planet Money has dropped in on La Crosse, Wis., to find out why so many people there have planned for their deaths, writing down what they want to have happen at their end of their lives. Read more →
A woman who works at St. Cloud’s Electrolux is suing the company because it fired her when she urinated in a box on the plant floor, after she was denied the opportunity to take an additional bathroom break beyond that which employees are allowed. Read more →