Bob CollinsBernetta Kouba is hanging it up as a newspaper carrier. She can’t see well anymore and her health isn’t much to write home about.
That’s the way things go when you’re 91.
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MPR News Reflections and observations on the news
The jobs we do
Mike Schmidt, a 36-year veteran of the Minnesota Department of Transportation, represented the Minnesota culture well last evening when he considered then answered MPR host Mike Mulcahy’s question about being stuck atop the Stillwater Lift Bridge on Tuesday when its electrical system shorted out. Read more →
Yesterday, the auctioneer showed up in Arkansaw, Wisc., — near Durand in Pepin County — and by lunch, 62 cows at Patnode Lane Holsteins were gone. Weston and Jenni Patnode were out of business after four generations on the land. Read more →
Parking lot attendants in Fargo are finding out what most cities have already learned. The world doesn’t need parking lot attendants anymore. Read more →
The dairy industry in these parts is in rough shape. Milk prices are low and there’s too much of it.
What the industry needs is a little more snootiness. Read more →
If you happen to be having a lot of indifferent feelings right now about people’s disconnection from each other, follow Officer Tommy Norman. Read more →
Cody NelsonBen Jacobs, a reporter for The Guardian, asked Greg Gianforte a predictable question about the congressional Republican health care bill. In just a few seconds, Jacobs says Gianforte body-slammed him to the ground and yelled at him to “get the hell out of here.” Read more →
In the latest list, the newspaper reporter job retains its title, while ‘broadcaster’ leapfrogs over ‘logger” into second place. But are these really the worst jobs? Not likely. Read more →
The crews of medevac helicopters fly into the worst weather on dark nights because someone needs help. Those aboard longing for a long life, would do well to find another line of work. But those aboard have different values. That’s why I referred to them as ‘angels in helicopters’ when I wrote in December about Miles Weske’s recovery from a crash during bad weather in September.
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It’s hard to imagine a more difficult and stressful job than being a security monitor on the University of Minnesota campus, charged with keeping people from jumping off the Washington Avenue bridge. Read more →
Bertram Boyum worked on a farm for 15 years but decided he wanted to do something different with his life. He started doing auctions at a church bazaar. That’s when an aunt told him a person could make a buck or two in the business. Read more →
Ray Lund, a mailman, is 79 years old — he’ll be 80 this summer — and still working, or, at last, he was until the end of the week. His supervisors seemed to suggest that when he goes, an approach to working will go with him.
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For old radio people, there’s plenty to be wistful about in the Alexandria Echo Press’ story today about Dennis Anhalt, the retiring news director at KXRA Radio. Read more →
A little early, perhaps, we have reached that time of the year that keeps tow truck operators in the tall clover. Read more →