Bob CollinsVladimir Putin’s letter to the USA, transparency and Minneapolis crime statistics, ‘Pink’s’ obituary, the long mountain climb for several disabled soldiers, and no child left untableted. 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.
MNSure falls short in the African American community, the White House pushes the burden of success to Russia, Missouri considers arresting feds who try to enforce gun laws, Boston says ‘whoops’ for scheduling a fire drill on 9/11, how one California community tries to beat the banks at their own game, what to do about Read more →
Distasteful or not? AT&T has apologized for posting this picture on Twitter and Facebook today: “We apologize to anyone who felt our post was in poor taste. The image was solely meant to pay respect to those affected by the 9/11 tragedy,” the company wrote. But the Ad Freak blog notes that AT&T posted a Read more →
Fans don’t have any responsibility to support a bad team any more than a car buyer has an obligation to buy a lousy car, but criticism of Minnesota fans is unwarranted. Read more →
A Catholic school teacher acknowledges she’s gay and loses her job. Read more →
The day terrorists hit a lucky shot, with this ring she brought jobs to Minnesota, the failure of the railroad vision, the Star Tribune Bachmann editorial, and the people who wash windows. Read more →
About three dozen people in Duluth are being tossed out of work because the rest of us aren’t drinking enough milk. Kemps announced today it’s closing its Franklin Foods milk processing plant in the city next month. It’s not Obamacare. It’s not state taxes. It’s not the cows. It’s not, apparently, any of the things Read more →
What does Arctic ice tell us, shopping Moorhead and Moorhead only, trading your adopted child, teaching our kids to be criminals, and ballooning the St. Croix Valley. Read more →
Rep. Walz says ‘no’ to bombing Syria, George Zimmerman can’t stay out of the news, the disaster special session ends in Minnesota, the State Police defends the high-speed chase that killed an innocent person, a woman in a hijab violates Abercrombie’s “look policy,” which violates the law, and Diana Nyad answers skeptics. Here’s today’s news Read more →
If you’re a woman under 50 wondering whether you should get a mammogram, you are basically on your own. Read more →
An Asian cast member of the local production of “Miss Saigon” is stepping in to defend the production against allegations it’s a racist play. Read more →
The Minnesota Court of Appeals today rejected an attempt to stop the state’s sale of mining leases without any environmental review. Read more →
The search for common ground in the mining debate, the smartphone addiction, why Sioux Falls has won James Fallows’ heart, struggles of mainline churches, and yeah, you’re gay, now how about cleaning your room? Read more →
A fairly surprising percentage of the best and the brightest got where they are by cheating.
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Far too often, journalists act as stenographers, dutifully reporting bilge that professional spokespersons distribute that everyone knows to be nonsense. Read more →