Bob CollinsWhile the Minnesota Legislature tackles the thorny issue of portraits of ex-governors, the scandal that is the mental health system continues relatively unabated, as just about anybody who’s tried to get access to it can attest. Read more →
MPR News Reflections and observations on the news
Health
If you’re not careful, the extent to which life is inherently unfair can knock you down so hard that you don’t want to get up.
Logan Schoenhardt’s story is like that. Read more →
When it comes to mental health, we’ve all become expert at looking the other way. Read more →
If you’re a boy in the United State with Muscular Dystrophy, there’s a chance you’ve tried deflazacort, which isn’t sold in the United States but is available from an online store in the UK.
It’s not a cure for the disease, of course, but tests have shown it can improve muscle strength. Read more →
There are angels who walk among us, an assertion I think MPR reporter John Enger proved yesterday in his story about John and Cindy Ness, the Bemidji couple who could’ve ignored the plight of babies who are born addicted to opioids. Read more →
It’s in Hunk of Beef, manufactured by Evanger’s Dog Food and sold in Washington, California, Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts, Maryland, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. Read more →
Gov. Mark Dayton is reportedly going to spend the weekend evaluating his options for treatment of his prostate cancer. The possibilities are surgery or radiation, MPR’s Brian Bakst reports.
What’s to decide? Read more →
There aren’t a lot of obituaries that end up on the editorial page, but Casey Schwartzmier, who died of a heroin overdose earlier this month, would have wanted it that way. Read more →
Rod Carew, the beloved former Minnesota Twin, returned home over the weekend, more than a month after his heart transplant. Read more →
For people who live on the Canada side of the U.S. border, emergency health care can be a horror show. Read more →
Of all of the ludicrous, misplaced, and, frankly, chilling criticisms and intimidation of the free press in recent days, none rises to the level of absurdity as the criticism leveled against the Minnesota media overnight for showing images of Gov. Mark Dayton’s collapse during his State of the State address. Read more →
A study of baseball players, who spend most of their summers in different time zones, finds that traveling eastward is more disruptive than going west. But it also found that home teams suffer more than visiting teams. Read more →
What a terrific piece of reporting Marketplace health beat reporter Dan Gorenstein turned in on the show last night!
It followed a comment from the likely new secretary of Health and Human Services at his confirmation hearings yesterday. Read more →
Now that Congress is on the road to repealing the Affordable Care Act — Obamacare — we’re reminded again how the country missed an opportunity to have an intelligent debate during the campaign on health care access. Read more →
Francisco Javier Ojeda, 50, was struck and killed by a car while crossing a street against the light when walking to work at the Home Depot in Fridley this week. He commuted there from his home in St. Paul’s Frogtown neighborhood, a gauntlet that appears to mirror much of his life.
Read more →