Bob CollinsMaybe there was a time when a guy could dress up like a clown and hand out candy to kids to celebrate his birthday, but those days are long gone.
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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.
Why do some children survive the very worst life can throw at them and some don’t? Quite often, it’s one person who gives a damn. Read more →
Some sports fans in Wisconsin are complaining some drinks made them too drunk.
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Here are the stories, topics, and guests you’ll hear today on MPR News. Read more →
In Reggie Deal’s family, when someone turns 40, they get to do something big. The Texas native’s wife toured the Amazon last year and although the Wyoming resident doesn’t turn 40 until next year, they decided if he’s ever going to reach his goal of visiting all 30 major league cities in 30 days, this was the year to do it. Read more →
We’re running out of helium and it’s a big deal if you’re in the balloon business. What good is a balloon without helium? Read more →
Somehow, the nation has made it through a workweek without the old NPR Morning Edition theme. Americans are nothing if not resilient in the face of unimaginable adversity. Read more →
That Katharine Gerbner feared retaliation if she’d said something before getting tenure is a commentary on top of her commentary. Read more →
You’ll want to check the calendar — spoiler alert: it’s 2019 — while reading the St. Paul Pioneer Press story about a teacher in the city school system who thought it acceptable — if only for a moment — to use the ‘N word’ in polite conversation. Read more →
Here are the stories, topics, and guests you’ll hear on MPR News on Friday. Read more →
If Wednesday evening’s vigil for a student killed during this week’s school shooting in Colorado is any indication, it’s no longer possible to mourn gun victims without politicians and activists crowding out the kids. Read more →
The heavens above, in this case the Milky Way. So natural. So mysterious. So beautiful. So incredibly fake. Read more →
The Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania is closing, an announcement that brings back a flood of memories of a panic. That’s when a president stepped in, Read more →
It’s not often — well, never — we hear about road rage on bicycles but KARE 11 says a single bicyclist is responsible for two attacks on a school bus blocking his path. Read more →
We’re probably never going to see the full Mueller report on Russia’s interference in the 2016 election in support of the person who won the election, but a group of psychiatrists have used the redacted version to offer a clinical diagnosis of the president’s mental health. Read more →