Bob CollinsTimes are good. Unemployment is low. People are buying big SUVs and trucks and driving fast. New homeowners are buying houses for more than the asking price.
What if it’s about to all come crashing down again? 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.
Here are the stories, topics, and guests you’ll hear today on MPR News. Read more →
Let’s end the week on a nice note. Literally. Read more →
In the first decade of this century, music festivals exploded. Announce a date and an outdoor venue, throw some artists in and, voila! Success. Those days are over. Read more →
There was nothing like the Holocaust, which is why a project that made its debut this month on the internet is so important.
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Indignant Minnesotan, the hilarious Twitter account that demands adherence to the notion that we’re #1 in everything, will need a defibrillator today. Rolling Stone is out with its assessment of Duluth, following this week’s appearance there by the president.
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Kaitlyn Strom’s 15 minutes of fame is stretching into its 16th minute and beyond.
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The internal drive to know more, to question, to discover, to wonder why, to ask questions about why we believe what we believe, to adapt and change what we think, is the foundation of the species, let alone the most important attribute for a columnist. Read more →
Here are the stories, topics, and guests you’ll hear today on MPR News. Read more →
The plan to get somewhere is a powerful force. It can make you do things you know you shouldn’t do. But we do them anyway. Sometimes you get lucky. Sometimes you don’t. Read more →
Twitter provides a safe haven for white supremacists and Nazis but it’s got a real problem with people who tweet phone numbers of politicians. Read more →
The summer solstice provides us with another opportunity to consider the half-full/half-empty nature of the cosmos. Read more →
We are consistently impressed with the ingenuity and passion of the people who love to fish. Read more →
Koko the gorilla could do some amazing things. But in her lifetime, her notable achievement was making humans stop to consider whether we do right by our evolutionary pals. Read more →
Parking revenue at Minneapolis St. Paul International Airport is down and the Metropolitan Airports Commission is trying to lure people back to its cement jungle. Who could see that coming? Anyone who has tried to park at MSP in the last year or so. Read more →