Bob Collins
In 1986, Joe Murphy was the first overall pick in the NHL draft, selected by the Detroit Red Wings after a career at Michigan State. It was the first time an NCAA collegiate player had been taken No. 1.
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.
The killing of Molly Tibbetts, the Iowa college student who was abducted when she went out for a run, is a scary story, and not because of the liklihood we’ll be the victim of a similar crime.
Read more →
Those of us in the news business tend to think the audience is preoccupied with the big stories we deem worth covering. Here’s the reality: most people aren’t. Read more →
People who didn’t have a complete formal education are often quicker to realize the value of one than those who did. Read more →
Here are the stories, topics, and guests you’ll hear today on MPR News. Read more →
Nothing, not losing a license, not jail time, not even losing most of her kids to the state, is likely to keep Tasha Lynn Schleicher, 41, of New Hope, Minn., from driving drunk. Read more →
The schedule-makers for Major League Baseball should come visit Minnesota. If they would, they might understand why some Minnesota Twins officials are shaking their heads after looking at the 2019 schedule, which was revealed to the rest of us today. Read more →
Jeff Swenson, of St. Paul Park, is a different sort of Minnesota politician. He won an election in which he wasn’t running.
Read more →
Last year on “move-in day,” the new students at the University of Minnesota Duluth had to run the gauntlet of testosterone and alcohol. It wasn’t pretty. Read more →
You have to really want to be a journalist to end up in journalism. And if you want to cover the federal courts of the low-tech United States, you have to be a track star. Read more →
The Minnesota Lynx lost last night in the absurd one-game playoff that constitutes the opening round of the WNBA, and it feels like the end of a good book. Read more →
Here are the stories, topics, and guests you’ll hear today on MPR News. Read more →
Circuses are dead or dying. The company that makes Animal Crackers would rather not follow suit. Read more →
Someday, an alien civilization will land on a dusty planet and find a picture like this and conclude that the planet’s demise was likely due to the insane people who waged wars. Read more →
Here’s a tip learned the hard way: Get your name on your elderly parents’ bank accounts. Read more →