Bob CollinsEven if you don’t agree with it, you have to acknowledge the Minneapolis Park Board’s response to the venture capitalist behind the effort to overturn the renaming of Lake Calhoun to Bde Maka Ska.
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MPR News Reflections and observations on the news
Regional history
The Republican majority in the Minnesota Senate, with the help of a few DFLers — is trying to strip money from the Society in retaliation for its decision to add a single word to a sign for the Fort Snelling Historical Site Read more →
The Minnesota Court of Appeals on Monday renewed the debate over the renaming of Minneapolis’ Lake Calhoun to Bde Maka Ska, overturning a Ramsey County District Court ruling that had derailed a challenge. Read more →
The rules of prom were clear: You could bring anybody you want as long as one of the attendees is a senior. And that’s how Randy Rohl and Grady Quinn became the first gay couple to attend a high school prom. Read more →
Not long after NewsCut was hatched, I drove around the state interviewing women who had served in World War II for a series on women and the war. Whenever I contacted one of my intended subjects, their response was almost always the same: ‘I’m not very newsworthy.’ They were wrong, of course. Everyone’s got a story worth telling. Read more →
Some white people have gotten their feelings hurt — again — because the Minnesota Historical Society has pointed out that Minnesota history didn’t begin with them. Read more →
Jay Johnson inherited from his mom a priceless home full of buried treasures that have consumed his later years and kept him where he says he’s been all his life: poor. She left him something else: a keen interest in history, and a desire to tell the family story by preserving her grandfather’s Old Prospect Inn. Read more →
Nelson and his gang escaped with $30,000 — about $500,00 in today’s dollars. With mining operations and the railroad in full tilt, Brainerd had a lot of cash around town.
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The Kern Bridge, which has spanned the Le Sueur River in rural Mankato since 1873, somehow has survived its 145th winter and spring flooding season. Soon, it will be gone. Read more →
Today would be Norman Borlaug’s 105th birthday. He is known by some fans as the greatest human who ever lived. Read more →
Richard King had flown in the plane in the summer of 1945, just a few days before it disappeared over Minnesota. The plane was leaking fuel and, fearing it would explode, the crew set the autopilot for 9,000 feet and bailed out over Grand Rapids.
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Cody NelsonFinally there’s something most people agree on. The Northwest Angle belongs to Minnesota. Read more →
Warren MacKenzie died Monday morning at 94 years old. There aren’t a lot of people who are both potter and hero. Read more →
The way people loved Bones, a homeless man, was a constant reminder of what we’re capable of.
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It’s a good thing that John Dwan, Henry Bryan, Harmon Cable, and J. Danley Budd had already made some money in various businesses around Two Harbors, Minn., right around the time they started thinking there was money in the ground on the North Shore. The four — a lawyer, a butcher, a doctor, a railroad baron — weren’t particularly good at all things mining. Read more →