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 new study from the University of California Berkeley reveals the extent to which your decision on where to live impacts the environment. The researchers found that people in the bigger cities are responsible for less greenhouse gasses, but the suburbs produce more than enough to cancel the cities out, the Los Angeles Times reports.. Read more →
The owner of a restaurant in Texas is selling out, but not for the usual reasons. Read more →
If you look beyond the glamour events, it’s still possible to find the old-time Olympic spirit, even though the Olympics are increasingly for the well-paid professionals. One of the best places to find it is in women’s sports, in this case: hockey. The U.S. women’s hockey team is training in Massachusetts, which is great if Read more →
Like a kick in the gut comes the news today that Seven Corners Hardware in Saint Paul is closing. Given the number of people we see on the occasions when we’ve slipped out of work to browse the 9 inch-wide aisles (it’s the only retail store I know of that carries the band-saw blade I Read more →
Why can’t businesses do without its employees for a few extra hours when there’s a snowstorm? Read more →
The state gives in to the law and destroys archived baby blood samples, how did the thieves get the Target card data, a young woman’s nightmare in the Oil Patch, should Downton Abbey have included rape in its story line, and a hero bus supervisor gets his job back. Read more →
Tough times and budgets claim ESPN 1500 radio personality Jeff Dubay. Read more →
If a woman with Stage IV breast cancer wants to blog and tweet about her illness and experience, who is anybody else to criticize her? Read more →
Seniors are doing relatively well these days. Not so for people in their prime working years. Read more →
When the Denver Broncos host the overachieving New England Patriots for the AFC championship this weekend, there’s little chance any Patriots fans will be attending. Read more →
A look at the other Twin Cities, Remembering Sam Bern’s, why we don’t see the obvious, the new North Dakotans, and the gift of gratitude. Read more →
Franklin McCain and three college classmates were the first African-Americans to sit down at a Woolworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro, N.C. Read more →
Google has announced a new scheme to try to boost its Google+ service by allowing people to email you who don’t have your e-mail address. Read more →
Bill Conlin was one of the finest baseball writers of his generation. None of his accomplishments in life matter, because the last description of him on this planet is that he molested children. Read more →
Scientists confirm what we already suspect, can Dunkin’ run on Minnesota, the Indians stand behind their racist mascot, lessons from a bullied woman, and reflections on the lost cause of Iraq. Read more →
Bob Collins