Bob Collins
Eleven years ago tomorrow night, Garrison Keillor had the most unenviable job in Minnesota. 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.
Even more troubling: He comes from a long line of Vikings fans. Read more →
Patsy checks out, Adrian Peterson’s failure, making it OK to talk about mental illness, marinating in the online comment muck, and why do people want to get married amid cows? Read more →
How the health care website ended up such a mess, Wisconsin’s attempt to limit mining regulations, the latest on the teacher killing in Massachusetts, Nienstedt says were made, swimming for the arts, and the most distant galaxy ever discovered. Read more →
It’s getting so you can’t build a football stadium for $1 billion anymore. Read more →
If you buy your own health insurance, and particularly if you have a pre-existing condition and an older “guaranteed issue” policy, there’s a fair chance you’re getting canceled, Kaiser Health News is reporting. Read more →
Whatever happened to this police officer? Now we know. Lt. John Pike, who pepper-sprayed protesting students at the University of California Davis, was awarded $38,056 in a worker’s compensation case this week. The Davis Enterprise says Pike, who was fired not long after the incident, suffered from depression and anxiety after nationwide death threats. “ Read more →
An advertising campaign has just been released in the UK, to encourage people to give ex-cons a break. The campaign uses this online video to make the point about how quickly ex-cons can be dismissed. Read more →
The narrative that people don’t want vocational jobs doesn’t seem to be supported by the number of trained people still having difficulty find them.
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The suicide crisis among vets, drown your town, are you Minnesota enough, students try to revive broadcasting at the U of M, and why locals don’t want jobs at ski areas. Read more →
Archbishop Nienstedt breaks his silence, Petters asks for the chance to get out of jail alive, the killing of a teacher in Massachusetts, the anniversary of the Beirut barracks bombing, the controversy over an anti-Tea Party ad featuring the KKK and why does pet food come from China?
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If Thanksgiving is going to be just another day to go shopping, do we really need to have it off from work anymore? Read more →
The new voice of NPR is Sabrina Farhi. Read more →
In the unlikely event the Minnesota Twins had surprised us, played decent baseball, and made it to the World Series (which begins tonight, you may have heard), here’s something you wouldn’t be seeing: Two orchestras — St. Louis’ and Boston’s — “playing trash” at each other. Read more →
The Minnesota Supreme Court has rejected a man’s claim that police should be required to obtain a warrant before blood and urine tests determine whether he was driving drunk.
The court ruled today in the case of Wesley Brooks, who was stopped three separate times for suspected drunk driving.
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