Bob Collins
Here are the stories, topics, and guests you’ll hear today on MPR News. 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.
Humanity to one another is nice and all but what really sets a heart atwitter is a good animal in need.
How else can we explain the story of Esther the Wonder Pig, whose illness prompted people in Canada to raise $650,000 so that a CT scanner big enough to fit the pig could be purchased. One wasn’t available in Canada. Read more →
There’s nothing we enjoy more than a nice, round number.
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In their race to pass legislation, lawmakers often don’t have or don’t take enough time to fully think about what they’re passing. Then, it’s up to courts to clean up the mess. Read more →
There’ll be plenty of citations of Aretha Franklin’s best work on the occasion of her death today.
I prefer to cite its impact. It could make your heart swell and think anything is possible.
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Two stories in the news this week reveal anew a problem in our technological age: humans. Read more →
It was the height of the morning rush hour on I-94 below when a man perched himself on the Earl St. bridge on Wednesday. He was saved by a man who gives a rip and a six-pack of Coors Light. Read more →
The Boston Globe asked news media around the country to editorialize today in support of a free press. A few hundred papers took the Globe up on the challenge. A lot of others didn’t.
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Here are the stories, topics, and guests you’ll hear today on MPR News. Read more →
Last September, the appeals court overturned the firearms and drug
convictions of suspected drug dealer Cortney John Edstrom, saying if a court ruled a drug sniffing dog outside an apartment isn’t an invasion of privacy, the Fourth Amendment would be of little use to apartment dwellers.
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Dismiss the value of trivia if you wish, but we take some comfort in the fact that ‘Big Al’ Delia has risen above the daily nonsense to capture America’s attention. Read more →
The declining population of small towns and the growing concern over the safety of children are teaming up to kill football at Pine River-Backus High School. Read more →
Woe to any person who challenges one particular Farmall Model M tractor in this Saturday’s McLeod County Fair Truck and Tractor Pull in Hutchinson. In a perfect world, only one entrant should win: retired Hutchinson dairy farmer Robert Dobratz.
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Always give the baseball to a kid. Read more →
Here are the stories, topics, and guests you’ll hear today on MPR News. Read more →