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NewsCut

MPR News Reflections and observations on the news

Weather

Why winter stinks

Bob CollinsBob Collins December 5, 2016, 3:44 PM Dec 5, 2016
11

Minnesotans have no right to snicker when it comes to the difficulty of driving in snow. We saw your morning commute this morning, Minnesota.

But there’s something about cars sliding into each other that’s even more impressive when it happened this morning in Montreal, a city that knows its snow. Read more →

Economy

Are store cashiers the next disappearing job?

Bob CollinsBob Collins December 5, 2016, 1:04 PM Dec 5, 2016
82

The Amazon Go store is being tested in Seattle. Walk in, take what you need, and pay automatically. Who needs humans?

No doubt there are plenty of reasons why this is a great idea. And yet, the future is scary.
Read more →

Crime and Justice

Appeals Court: Wishing a cop dead is not a terroristic threat

Bob CollinsBob Collins December 5, 2016, 11:19 AM Dec 5, 2016
16

The Minnesota Court of Appeals today said if someone says he hopes a Minnesota state trooper will be shot, that’s not a terroristic threat.

The court ruled in the case of Gregory Allen Olson, who was in a car stopped by police in October as he and a friend were driving to Chisago City after an evening of heavy drinking. Read more →

Arts & Culture

How Rachel Martin will change NPR’s Morning Edition

Bob CollinsBob Collins December 5, 2016, 9:19 AM Dec 5, 2016
15

Rachel Martin started her new gig as a co-host of NPR’s Morning Edition today, and if you read between the lines of her interview with Current, the public radio newspaper, one gets the sense that the ‘inner-Beltway mentality’ continues to crumble.
Read more →

Politics

MN governor’s race likely to pit environment vs. jobs

Bob CollinsBob Collins December 5, 2016, 8:18 AM Dec 5, 2016
50

If DFL leaders on Saturday back language that would put the party officially against a proposed copper-nickel mine near Hoyt Lakes, it could drive away longtime, pro-mining Democrats. Can the DFL win the 2018 governor’s race without them? Read more →

Science

Climate change blog closes

Bob CollinsBob Collins December 5, 2016, 6:54 AM Dec 5, 2016
2

Facebook and Twitter increasingly are the new venue for audience feedback, so while the online audience continues to have a voice, the reality is that fewer people in the news business side of things are listening. Read more →

Politics

For president-elect, Twitter is the new ‘fireside chat’

Bob CollinsBob Collins December 4, 2016, 8:49 AM Dec 4, 2016
30

Donald Trump’s penchant for communicating via Twitter while ignoring mainstream media is rewriting all the rules.

Take this question, for example. If a president has chosen Twitter to communicate with the people he represents, is it ethical to ‘block’ people from following him and, thus, hearing what he has to say? Read more →

Economy

Booze isn’t a cure for what ails small-town Minnesota

Bob CollinsBob Collins December 3, 2016, 8:19 AM Dec 3, 2016
17

Running a liquor store in rural Minnesota seems like a great way to lose money, especially if it’s the town running the store.

The Minnesota State Auditor has found net profits for municipal liquor stores dropped nearly 9 percent in 2015 compared to the year before, the Rochester Post Bulletin reports.
Read more →

Giving the pipeline protest story its due

Bob CollinsBob Collins December 2, 2016, 5:10 PM Dec 2, 2016
10

A note from a listener passed my way this week asking MPR to provide more coverage of the Standing Rock protest over the Dakota Access Pipeline and even send a reporter there, arguing we didn’t have one.

We did. Two. And now, three. Read more →

Crime and Justice

Jury deadlocked on cop shooting the world saw

Bob CollinsBob Collins December 2, 2016, 2:44 PM Dec 2, 2016
14

The jury in South Carolina reported today it’s deadlocked in the trial of the police officer who killed Walter Scott.

They deliberated 14 hours over three days and decided they can’t decide whether this constitutes murder. Read more →

This or That

Reconsidering the great Christmas lie

Bob CollinsBob Collins December 2, 2016, 1:05 PM Dec 2, 2016
18

There’s some contention from the experts that we may be harmed by the great lie of the season. Read more →

Education · The jobs we do

Enjoy heartbreak? Be a school bus driver

Bob CollinsBob Collins December 2, 2016, 10:25 AM Dec 2, 2016
1

The racist taunts between a school bus driver in Moorhead and his passengers has brought out school-bus drivers in the area willing to tell the story of what the job is like. Read more →

Crime and Justice

Duluth Christmas tree thief strikes

Bob CollinsBob Collins December 2, 2016, 9:05 AM Dec 2, 2016
15

It happened in the city’s Lakeside neighborhood where Martin Running has several pine trees in his yard.

Someone thought, ‘I’ll just saw off the top of one of his trees and save some money’ apparently, because that’s what happened. They cut about 12 feet off, presumably leading police to suspect the thief is someone with a high ceiling. Read more →

Education · Politics

After election protest, college restores the American flag’s place

Bob CollinsBob Collins December 2, 2016, 6:37 AM Dec 2, 2016
69

Hampshire College is putting the American flag back on the flag pole. The school in western Massachusetts pulled it down three weeks ago after it was set on fire in the wake of the election of Donald Trump. “I’ve received many e-mails, a lot of them extremely unpleasant,” Hampshire College president Jonathan Lash said. You Read more →

This or That

With shortage of black Santas, Minnesota brings in a ringer

Bob CollinsBob Collins December 1, 2016, 4:16 PM Dec 1, 2016
11

It’s a step forward that the Mall of America has hired its first black Santa Claus, but the news today also comes with a question: Is there nobody of color in Minnesota who can be Santa Claus? Read more →

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