Bob Collins
Why on earth would people pick on the woman who once graced the front page of HealthCare.gov? 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.
Professor to give $4,000 to prove a theory, the power of saying ‘I’m sorry,’ Concordia students battle the ‘bottoms up’ brigade at the Capitol, whatever happened to that promise to lower property taxes in Minnesota, and our quest to mean something to somebody. Read more →
Relief is just now starting to reach the hardest hit areas of the Philippines, a do-over for Target Center, the latest wolf tally from the Minnesota hunt, legalizing peddle pubs in Wisconsin, the death-row inmate who’s not allowed to donate his organs to his family, and a new study says depression makes us physically older. Read more →
Ever since the city of Saint Paul started wooing a grocery store for downtown that would scream ‘upscale,’ plenty of people have wondered what would happen to the grocery that doesn’t. Read more →
Locally Laid, the Wrenshall, Minn., egg farm, is one of four finalists now in Intuit’s promotion to buy a Super Bowl commercial for one small business in America. Read more →
What’s the first thing to do after a disaster takes everything away from you? Read more →
An undignified end for ‘Old Blue,’ why is ethanol bad for everyone but farmers, websites that close at night, the racist with a black past, and the difference between men’s and women’s college hockey. Read more →
A Gold Glove, batting-title winning catcher is more valuable — since there are not a lot of them — is a lot more valuable than a high-average, low-power first baseman. At $23 million a year, that’s a lot of money to pay. Read more →
The Braves are abandoning a stadium that is just 17 years old, but yet needs “hundreds of millions of dollars in improvements. Read more →
Tough times for the non-hunter in Minnesota, your kid isn’t your best friend, is it possible to succeed in the Oil Patch without others failing, Car2Go hits the streets of Minneapolis, and Jerry Kill quiets the critics. Read more →
Some letter writers take issue today with the Star Tribune’s ongoing series on the number of nurses who shouldn’t be nurses, either because they’ve become addicted to some substance or because they have a criminal history. A nurse brings up an outstanding point: there’s no place to go for nurses who find themselves in trouble. Read more →
In 1956, the Hennessy company gave Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle an 1896 bottle of Hennessy Cognac — the year he was born. Every year since, the surviving members of the flyboys who raided Tokyo in World War II, gather to drink a toast to those who’ve died. Saturday will be the last toast. When Maj. Read more →
Sometimes, sports stars really can be appropriate role models. Read more →
The skydiver plane crash reveals only one change is needed in air safety. Read more →
Does the NPR reporter’s FoxNews work affect her credibility? Following the Red Cross’ Hurricane Sandy money, Minnesota as an unfair hockey factory, people in a vegetative state may be more alive than we think, and can trains pave the way to a more bike-friendly Minnesota? Read more →