Bob CollinsI’ve pretty much given up trying to get the little kids in my neighborhood wear bike helmets while riding on the street out front. Why parents aren’t the ones insisting remains beyond the human capacity to understand the world’s mysteries. Read more →
MPR News Reflections and observations on the news
This or That
If you’ve ever wanted to trace — maybe even recapture — some of your family’s past, you can probably appreciate the beauty in this beast.
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Maybe there was a time when a guy could dress up like a clown and hand out candy to kids to celebrate his birthday, but those days are long gone.
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If people are dying because passengers can’t part with their ‘stuff,’ maybe it’s time to prevent them from carrying it onboard. Read more →
If the Park Board can’t change the name, if the Hennepin County Board can’t change the name, if the DNR can’t change the name, and if the Minnesota Legislature can’t change the name, who can change the name? Read more →
Sometimes it takes bullying to recalibrate the arrogance of the majority and pull a civilized world out of the darkness of its ignorance. Read more →
On another morning full of stories of hate, we are somewhat comforted in the knowledge that there are still people grabbing a share of our attention armed only with whimsy and good spirit. Leave it to the science kids. Read more →
‘The pie has been cut too many times,’ said Anthony Mitchell, manager of Yellow Cab.
Let us count the ways: Uber, Lyft, electric scooters. Read more →
There’s some irony — somewhere — in the inability of a World War II bomber to land at the Anoka-Blaine airport on July 4th because of a nearby golf tournament.
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An elderly woman was eating alone last Thursday evening when Jamario Howard, JaMychol Baker, and Tae Knight walked into Brad’s BBQ in Oxford, Alabama. Read more →
This is Lyra McKee, who was shot and killed while trying to do her job on Thursday. She’s a reporter. Read more →
Slavery is good marketing for Ancestry.com, the outfit that sells DNA tests. It’s not a good look for the firm. Whitewashing never is.
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If you had a technical choice now to give up your keyboard, would you? Read more →
Brooke Windsor, 23, a tourist from Michigan, was in a good spot to take this picture of the Notre Dame cathedral not long before it went up in flames on Monday, and now she’s searching for the people in it. Read more →
Chris Wenzel, a tattoo artist in Saskatoon, died last year of heart failure at 41. His wife, Cheryl, and he ran a tattoo shop.
She says he didn’t see much sense going through the process of getting a tattoo if they were just going to be buried with him, and he would’ve wanted Chris’ body of work to be preserved.
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