Bob CollinsJeff Tollefson updates his effort to provide opportunities for low-income young people. 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.
A football coach takes a stand on his players’ behavior. Read more →
Abortion issue splits same-sex marriage coalition, calculating health care, darker days for the arts, pushing back against ‘teaching to the test’, and why we don’t fear autumn. Read more →
The decision by Minnesota officials to pay for a football stadium for one of the richest men in America certainly has sparked emotional debate over the years, especially in an era of declining economic conditions. It is, some say, a statement of Minnesota values. Others insist it’s a legitimate economic stimulant. Both points have their Read more →
The FBI this afternoon has released a video of Aaron Alexis, the man who staged the massacre at the Washington Navy Yard earlier this month in which 12 people were shot to death. It also released this timeline: 7:53 a.m. – Alexis’ rental car, a blue Toyota Prius with New York plates, entered Parking Garage Read more →
A Twin Cities organization is being honored in Washington for doing what a lot of people in Washington aren’t — something. Read more →
Back in my day, it was J.D. Salinger’s “Catcher in the Rye” that got some parents all atwitter over the “pornography” available in the local school library. Today, it’s Rainbow Rowell’s “Eleanor & Park,” that has stirred a couple of Anoka County parents enough to earn Rowell a disinvite from the county’s school and library Read more →
The seventh ring of hell: Internet comments. Al Shabab’s recruiting video. Why a sexual assault center in Saint Cloud is desperate. A study of grit. And the musical conductors who walk among us. Read more →
Don’t call the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center “the Herb” or St. Cloud State will be unhappy. Read more →
Do big-spending MLB teams have an unfair advantage over smaller market teams? Read more →
University of Minnesota employees seek the British music songwriter’s help. He says yes. Read more →
What New Jersey gets that Minnesota doesn’t, to be single with cancer, caution: texting ahead, the missing Minnesotans in Somalia, and why people really aren’t rebelling against Facebook over privacy. Read more →
The government reportedly is considering getting out of the air traffic control business and turning it over to private industry. Read more →
What happens if the federal government shuts down? Read more →
The new iPhone with the fingerprint security system was just made available on Friday and by Saturday the Chaos Computer Club had already figured out how to break into it without the right finger. Read more →