Bob Collins
Karinya, 15, had tickets to last Thursday’s Florence and the Machine concert in Austin, TX. But she was too sick to go. She has cancer and things have been pretty tough.
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MPR News Reflections and observations on the news
Health
Three giants of neurology will be talking about the mystery in our head, but one guest’s story of how she ended up in a position to be the human who solved the cause of a horrific neurological disease is worth particular attention. It’s also a story that should frame the various debates over immigration. Read more →
On Wednesday evening at Chanhassen High School, the Chaska Hawks baseball team defeated the Chanhassen Storm 1-0.
Any game that ends 1-0 is quite a game but it was quite a tribute from the kids on both teams that people will long remember, because they long remembered Ethan Herman, who would have been a senior this year had he not taken his own life in 2010. Do the math on that. He was just 12 years old. Read more →
‘Could kindness be bad for your health?’ the Valley News Live story asked the other night, noting the Centers for Disease Control report that tuberculosis rates are rising in the country for the first time in 20 years. Read more →
It’s not as if we needed proof, but we’ve got more confirmation than when it comes to getting hammered, nobody beats a Midwesterner. Read more →
A Florida man allegedly killed his wife because he didn’t have money for her medication. That should be a starting point for political candidates and the media to start talking about the problems. Read more →
Boyd Huppert’s story last evening on KARE 11 leads us to consider again an old question: Why can’t life be more fair?
He profiled the Linn brothers of Avon, Minn., who lost their father in 1992 when he was killed by a bull, leaving behind a big family and a 1980 Chevy pickup truck.
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In Spencer, Iowa, a 26-year-old man in a faith-based treatment program was talked out of taking medications by two pastors he was friendly with.
But a few days after entering a program, he told one of them that he wasn’t feeling right and that he was suicidal.
Rev. Nick Hanges told him it would pass.
A few days later, Hanges found the man — Alex Jacobsen — in a pool of blood. He had cut his own throat. Then he saved his life.
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Greater love hath no basset hound than that which Grumpie and Gracie had for five-month-old Nora Hall, who died on Monday at Children’s Hospital in Minneapolis after suffering a stroke last month. Read more →
The Star Tribune reports that an addiction specialist in California was working to get Prince into rehab before he died. If true, it makes Prince’s death all the more tragic. Read more →
There’s still a chance, albeit somewhat slim, that the Minnesota Legislature will pass legislation to require an estimated 10,000 police officers in Minnesota to get four hours of training on how to respond to mental health calls. Read more →
Al Hams, who started a few music careers when he owned Al’s Music in St. Cloud, isn’t allowed to forget Vietnam. Not anymore, anyway.
He’s got Parkinson’s Disease, believed to be linked to the widespread use of the Agent Orange defoliant he was exposed to during the year he served in Vietnam.
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There are plenty of challenges when it comes to opioid abuse. One of the most difficult: the “it serves them right” mentality toward people who overdose on drugs.
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Not surprisingly, perhaps, the 60 Minutes Facebook page is hosting a spirited debate following last night’s broadcast in which the show revisited an Ohio community that has been devastated by the heroin epidemic. Its broadcast last year first raised the national alarm over the drug. Read more →
Kathleen Errico, of Haverhill, Mass., found her 23-year-old daughter dead of a heroin overdose two weeks ago. In the days that followed, she knew what she had to do. She had to ignore the ‘died suddenly’ code words and write about her daughter’s life the way her daughter’s life was.
So she wrote this.
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