Bob CollinsIf you’re going to make a mistake when writing a check, don’t make it in the part where you write out the words, and don’t make it with an insurance company. They’re ruthless. Read more →
MPR News Reflections and observations on the news
Health
Steve Winfree has a lot of worries on his mind. He started dialysis in November and he needs a kidney for a transplant. But he’s not so consumed with worry that he can’t appreciate the excitement of opening a new pack of Topps baseball cards.
It’s a stress-relief hobby for him and his wife, Heather. Read more →
John Tumpane, a Major League Baseball umpire, could’ve kept walking yesterday when he saw a woman climb over a railing on the Roberto Clemente Bridge in Pittsburgh yesterday afternoon.
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Nothing can disrupt a political debate like a human face put on the issue.
Alison Chandra did that this week. This face. Her son. Read more →
Theoretically, the supporters of taking health care away from 22 million Americans — as the Congressional Budget Office predicts the U.S. Senate health insurance bill will — shouldn’t be too bothered by today’s full-page ads in the Star Tribune that warn a dispute between an insurer and Children’s Hospital threatens health care for kids.
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Workplace shooting stories in America follow a predictable arc. The shooting, the profile of the killer, the debate over guns, a few fundraisers, and then we move on to the next killing without looking back. Read more →
Last January, Abbey Conner, a junior at the University of Wisconsin Whitewater; and her brother, Austin, a graduating senior at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, were found at the bottom of a swimming pool in Cancun, Mexico. Their dad thinks someone put chemicals in their drinks.
Abbey died, and Austin lived to graduate late last month. Read more →
John Sylvester died last Friday. Sylvester, who played professional soccer for the Minnesota Thunder and was coaching director for Minneapolis United, was diagnosed several years ago with ALS. Could it get any worse for a family?
Yes. Read more →
The Owatonna area is one of the first out-state communities to participate in a push to get people to complete advance directives. But only about 10 percent of people have advance directives, guidelines for dying, in their medical files, according to David Albrecht, president of Owatonna Hospital.
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The future of Obamacare is being decided in a back room somewhere in Washington, from what we’ve been told, but maybe its immediate future is being decided in some cubicles in the Twin Cities.
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If you’re a veteran and you want the government to honor its committment to provide health care coverage, it helps if you can get your story told on a local TV station. Read more →
If you’ve watched sports stadium debates over the years, you might recognize the technique. Nothing’s ever dead except for people’s interest in opposing it. Read more →
It’s been hard for people to dismiss or turn away from Nick Briner’s story, which his mother began telling just before he got out of prison last year and she was weighing what to do. People pull for her. People pull for her son. And that’s just how it should be. Read more →
If ever there was a stroke of brilliance in Minnesota, it was the moment someone thought to create drug courts to help people get rid of their addiction, rather than sending them to jail or prison. Read more →
Eric Kussin was kind of a big deal in the National Hockey League, where he was the chief revenue officer for the Florida Panthers.
So it’s unusual, to say the least, that he’s posted his email address and cellphone number, asking people to contact him if they’ve experienced personal trauma/professional stress and need some help.
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