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NewsCut

MPR News Reflections and observations on the news

By Bob Collins

Bob Collins
bcollins@mpr.org • @newscut

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.

Five by 8

Winston Borden dies, learning from the starving, and the thoughtless outing of a transgender woman (5×8 – 1/21/14)

Bob CollinsBob Collins January 21, 2014, 6:48 AM Jan 21, 2014
16

The old stove loses a pal, should marijuana be legalized in Minnesota, how Minnesota researchers starved people to learn about starvation, the sports-related discussion we really should be having, and the gift of sight for an elderly woman. Read more →

MPR host gives up dream of climbing mountain

Bob CollinsBob Collins January 17, 2014, 2:54 PM Jan 17, 2014
4

What drives us to do things that might kill us? How do we decide when to stop doing it? Read more →

Sports

Kobe chases ‘marketing dreams’

Bob CollinsBob Collins January 17, 2014, 1:42 PM Jan 17, 2014
0

What do you do when you’re an NBA star, are on the road, and have a day off? You go to college. Or, you do if you’re Kobe Bryant. The Los Angeles Lakers star, who’s injured but accompanying his team on the road anyway, dropped in on a marketing class at Boston College last night, Read more →

Sports

To be blunt, Zimmer should shake up this town

Bob CollinsBob Collins January 17, 2014, 11:58 AM Jan 17, 2014
2

Mike Zimmer: "Wait… Who says I'm blunt?" pic.twitter.com/DV9rWyNtRI — Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) January 17, 2014 New Minnesota Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer tried to assure those attending his first news conference today that he’s one of us. “I’ve gone hunting and fishing in areas just like this,” he said. “I grew up watching the NFC Read more →

Economy · Five by 8

Hiding behind privacy laws, sad Ricky, and how ‘do what you love’ fuels class war (5×8 – 1/17/14)

Bob CollinsBob Collins January 17, 2014, 7:43 AM Jan 17, 2014
15

The convenience of Minnesota privacy laws, sad Ricky Rubio, how the “do what you love” bromide cheapens workers, the beauty and genius of the diverging diamond, and NPR and the ‘b’ word. Read more →

Minnesota: Land of millionaires

Bob CollinsBob Collins January 16, 2014, 3:03 PM Jan 16, 2014
4

Minnesota is the land of 10,000 lakes, but it’s got 10 times as many millionaires.
Read more →

Reporter identifies malware used in Target breach

Bob CollinsBob Collins January 16, 2014, 1:53 PM Jan 16, 2014
2

Details on how hackers used a malware called “Reedum” to steal customer data from Target. Read more →

Israel considers banning its own ‘N’ word

Bob CollinsBob Collins January 16, 2014, 1:20 PM Jan 16, 2014
0

Should it be illegal to describe someone as a Nazi? Read more →

Sports

The weapon of the new Cold War: gay athletes

Bob CollinsBob Collins January 16, 2014, 11:27 AM Jan 16, 2014
3

Gay athletes in the U.S. Olympic delegation to Russia are sending a loud message to the International Olympic Committee that it doesn’t want to hear. Read more →

Crime and Justice

How not to steal a car

Bob CollinsBob Collins January 16, 2014, 11:10 AM Jan 16, 2014
12

You can steal the car, but can you drive the car? Read more →

Five by 8

Why the stadium deal is illegal, sportsmanship from kids, and a gay Marine dies (5×8 – 1/16/14)

Bob CollinsBob Collins January 16, 2014, 7:25 AM Jan 16, 2014
5

Why a Minneapolis man is suing to halt state funding of a new stadium for the Vikings, a White Bear Lake hockey player shows what sportsmanship is, Winona is the stained-glass capital of the USA, a gay Marine dies a Marine, and the return of BatKid. Read more →

Sports

Everything’s coming up Vikings

Bob CollinsBob Collins January 15, 2014, 2:28 PM Jan 15, 2014
4

Give credit to Minnesota Vikings fans. Few other teams’ fans do more with a little hope than them. On social media this afternoon, Vikings fans appear to be riding high (by whatever definition you want to ascribe to that phrase) after the team apparently cut a deal for a new coach. Mike Zimmer, the defensive Read more →

SF firefighters demonstrate how not to respond to a plane crash

Bob CollinsBob Collins January 15, 2014, 11:40 AM Jan 15, 2014
2

The San Francisco Fire Department is defending itself against allegations it was callous in its response to a 16-year-old girl who was injured when thrown from the Asiana Airlines jet that cartwheeled at the airport last year. Read more →

‘Your head scarf or your job!’

Bob CollinsBob Collins January 15, 2014, 11:14 AM Jan 15, 2014
2

Quebec’s proposal to ban public workers from wearing religious symbols and garb is generating plenty of heat as testimony opens on the proposal. Its supporters, however, say the ban is necessary to protect Quebec as a secular province. They call the proposed ban the “your head scarf or your job” bill. The Montreal Gazette blog Read more →

Five by 8

The MNsure train wreck and newspaper columnists who don’t get Twitter (5×8 – 1/15/14)

Bob CollinsBob Collins January 15, 2014, 7:23 AM Jan 15, 2014
6

Poor left behind in MNsure mess, how out of touch do you have to be to get a newspaper column, the tuition tip, a year off for the ice man of Big Lake, and your moment of Minnesota zen. Read more →

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