Bob CollinsA 12 year old girl has been charged with a felony for pinching her grandmother. The Argus Leader reports the girl, unidentified of course, is facing a charge of abuse of an elderly woman. The girl’s mother is the one that turned her in after she saw the 75-year old woman, presumably her own mother, Read more →
MPR News Reflections and observations on the news
Floods have returned to New Hope because of the rain this morning. Do you have any flooding where you are? pic.twitter.com/jMpwpnO3OU — KARE 11 (@kare11) July 11, 2014 Sometimes it’s hard to have sympathy for drivers. It’s not like we haven’t been told thousands of times not to drive through standing water because it might Read more →
It must kill the rest of America to admit it, but Cleveland has had a pretty good week, landing both the Republican National Convention and LeBron James. In quite a surprise, it was Sports Illustrated that released the word that has had the sports tongues wagging. In his essay today, James does not promise a Read more →
What happens when you invite 350 musicians to learn a new piece of music, then invite them to assemble on the street and take a crack at playing it? NPR did it. “But what we’ve found, and what is so incredibly gratifying, is that amazingly talented and generous people join in — this year, about Read more →
It’s been about 70 years since World War II, but when Germany beat Brazil in the World Cup this week, it unleashed a torrent of Nazi references on social media. Why? Read more →
It’d be just fine with us if Erling Kindem, 89, and Emmett Rychner,3, get their own reality show.
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You’re a police officer executing a search warrant. Instead of knocking on a door, you break it down. Two dogs inside start barking. What do you do? Read more →
A cure for HIV. The words flow so easily, it’s possible not to grasp the meaning. A cure for HIV . For those who remember the fear that accompanied the realization that there was an insidious and unknown disease at work, the news that a child born with HIV has been cured — or at Read more →
One of these days on NewsCut we’re going to have to have an NCAA-Tournament-style competition of summertime festivals. When we do, remind me to include Pequot Lakes’ Bean Hole Days, which wrapped up yesterday, according to the Brainerd Dispatch. There’s something oddly comforting about a town that will turn out in the middle of the Read more →
Paul Tosto
Crude rules the rails right now. Oil deliveries are trumping food right now, so forget Amtrak passengers. Read more →
It was a big day this week for potheads in Washington state when the first legalized sales of marijuana took place. In Spokane, Mike Boyer camped out to be the first in line. But Mike provides a great lesson. Even if you’re buying legal pot, ix-nay on the ameras-cay. He’s been fired from his security Read more →
Do newsroom bosses give the audience enough credit for understanding social media? NPR has put the question in the spotlight after an education reporter tweeted on an NPR account that while she tries to provide diverse voices, only the white voices call her back. That’s a typical social media grenade and one of NPR’s news Read more →
Over a few dozen years watching the pilots for the mosquito control districts, I’ve concluded you have to be just a little bit of a daredevil to drop the mosquito bombs, at least watching them from afar. MPR’s Tim Post today has a different perspective on these people. Clearly, there’s not a lot of room Read more →
Do you suppose this picture is going to sweep across meme-land today? President Obama met with Texas Gov. Rick Perry and other Texas officials on the brewing immigration calamity there in which hundreds of young people are crossing the border, overwhelming the state. No doubt, the picture isn’t about the issue — photographers weren’t allowed Read more →
The Minneapolis Police Department is looking for some help to find the likely illiterate who did this: Someone torched the Little Library on Minnehaha Avenue on Sunday, according to a post on the MPD Facebook page. It takes a lot of hate to burn a book.