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NewsCut

MPR News Reflections and observations on the news

Tag: Icons

Politics · Science

Godspeed, John Glenn

Bob CollinsBob Collins December 8, 2016, 2:23 PM Dec 8, 2016
22 Comments

He had a war record, looks, was a national hero, had experience, and was still married to his high school sweetheart.

By all accounts, he was the perfect candidate, and just what voters say they want. But voters fib. What they say they want isn’t what they’ll vote for.

Read more →

Veda Ponikvar, America’s ‘Iron Lady,’ dies at 96

Bob CollinsBob Collins October 14, 2015, 7:48 AM Oct 14, 2015
1 Comment

By all accounts, there’ll never be another force on the Iron Range like Veda Ponikvar, of Chisholm, who died yesterday at 96. Read more →

Economy

Burt Shavitz, a vanishing species, didn’t need the cash

Bob CollinsBob Collins July 6, 2015, 6:53 AM Jul 6, 2015
2 Comments

Burt — his real name was Ingram — died over the weekend in the backwoods of Maine where he kept bees to make a living after moving there from New York.
Read more →

‘Ambassador of the Hamm Building’ suffers strokes

Bob CollinsBob Collins June 29, 2015, 6:24 AM Jun 29, 2015
0 Comments

On my list of people I want to interview someday sits Gene Wiley, the more-than-affable shoeshine man at St. Paul’s Hamm Building.

I may have missed my chance.

The St. Paul Pioneer Press reports that Wiley has suffered ‘a series of strokes’ that’s left him hospitalized. Read more →

Joyce Lamont dead at 98

Bob CollinsBob Collins December 29, 2014, 11:51 AM Dec 29, 2014
3 Comments

Though it’s heresy for me to say, radio will probably never tie a community together the way it once did, which is why there probably won’t be any more “members of the family” like Joyce Lamont and broadcasters of her day. Read more →

Regional history

John Doar: The ‘one of us’ who changed America

Bob CollinsBob Collins November 12, 2014, 1:46 PM Nov 12, 2014
3 Comments

John Doar was “one of us” in the classic way we proudly claim ownership of legends. But his contributions to the world were often overlooked, especially here, for some odd reason. Read more →

Arts & Culture

A eulogy for Tom Magliozzi

Bob CollinsBob Collins November 11, 2014, 6:25 AM Nov 11, 2014
3 Comments

Processing the death of radio icon Tom Magliozzi was easy for most of us. We got to remember the Car Talk laugh machine the way he was.

That’s not the case for his family, his son’s eulogy revealed.
Read more →

Regional history

Death of the popcorn man

Bob CollinsBob Collins October 14, 2014, 7:55 AM Oct 14, 2014
1 Comment

Myron Peterson, 95, an icon in the skyways of St. Paul, has died. At his funeral last weekend, his remains were placed in a popcorn tin. Read more →

Arts & Culture

The essential Joan Rivers

Bob CollinsBob Collins September 4, 2014, 2:38 PM Sep 4, 2014
6 Comments

I saw a couple of tweets over the weekend from some male funny people who couldn’t understand why Joan Rivers, who died today, was getting Twitter love as she lay in a coma. Sure, she was a funny person and all, but her act was “mean.” Maybe. Maybe not. Comedy is subjective. Humanity shouldn’t be. Read more →

Arts & Culture

Remembering ‘WeeZee,’ a State Fair icon

Bob CollinsBob Collins July 18, 2014, 7:38 AM Jul 18, 2014
1 Comment

Louise “WeeZee” Miner of Bloomington was legally blind but she said she always could tell what a horse was doing at the Minnesota State Fair horse ring, where she passed out the ribbons. Read more →

People doing good · War

Louis Zamperini and his lifetime of forgiveness

Bob CollinsBob Collins July 3, 2014, 7:39 AM Jul 3, 2014
2 Comments

Louis Zamperini won’t get to be at the premier of the movie about his incredible life. He won’t get to fulfill his appointment as next year’s Rose Bowl parade grand marshall. He died this morning at age 97, more proof that life isn’t fair. He was so impressive as a track and field star at Read more →

Whatever happened to ‘Tank Man’?

Bob CollinsBob Collins June 3, 2014, 9:22 AM Jun 3, 2014
4 Comments

It was 25 years ago tomorrow. One guy with a briefcase stood up to a line of tanks. Read more →

Arts & Culture

Exit, Carl Kasell

Bob CollinsBob Collins May 16, 2014, 8:15 AM May 16, 2014
0 Comments

Carl retired as an NPR newsreader a few years ago, and last night he taped his final episode of Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me. Of his many accomplishments, proving that a serious news person can have a personality may be the most important, especially for public radio types. Read more →

Arts & Culture

David Letterman, comedic curmudgeon, hangs it up

Bob CollinsBob Collins April 3, 2014, 4:04 PM Apr 3, 2014
1 Comment

It leaked out today that David Letterman is retiring.
Read more →

Wait, don’t tell me Carl Kasell is retiring!

Bob CollinsBob Collins March 4, 2014, 12:44 PM Mar 4, 2014
7 Comments

The only thing that made Carl Kasell’s retirement from NPR acceptable, was that he’d still be on Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me every week. Now, that’s ending too. Kasell announced today he’s retiring from the show. “My favorite time at NPR has been Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me! It was loads of fun and gave Read more →

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