If you read USA Today (or watch KARE 11), you’ve probably seen or read the story this week asserting that the National Transportation Safety Board is too quick to blame pilots for crashes involving general aviation airplanes. Nearly 45,000 people have been killed over the past five decades in private planes and helicopters — almost Read more →
First, let’s acknowledge that we all have heard the warnings not to drive through standing water. That said, today’s various photos provide a great chance to evaluate the worst way to do what you’re not supposed to do in the first place. People blast through, apparently figuring if you go through really fast, all the Read more →
The flooding comes at a bad time. In the spring, the schools are in and the supply of young people with strong backs is inexhaustible. Not so in late June. Read more →
A Seattle newspaper is banning the use of the name Washington Redskins in an acknowledgement that it’s a racist expression.
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The developing civil war in Iraq is raising the question anew: “How much of the decision to get involved in Iraq again should involve the fact that the U.S. has already lost more than 4,000 soldiers there?” Read more →
It’s back to the ’50s for the American Doll collection. The toy maker, Mattel, is retiring four of its dolls, including the only Asian American doll in its collection. Read more →
Is the Green Line more a transportation system or development tool? Read more →
That questionable study we mentioned last week that suggested that there are more head injuries in cities — including Minneapolis — where there are bicycle ride-sharing programs is looking even more questionable. The researchers’ theory was that people don’t wear helmets for most rideshare rides and that accounts for the increase in head injuries. As Read more →
Changing a racist name can take a long time, but it might be about to pay off for opponents of the Washington Redskins name. The U.S. Patent Office today canceled the trademark on the Redskins name. That only took about 20 years. Opponents figured out long ago that if the profit from the sale of Read more →
Everybody wants to be a star in Minnesota, apparently. Read more →
In a lot of Minnesota — northern Minnesota, primarily — it’s a lot easier to find a gun store than it is to find knowledge, or so the Washington Post characterizes the situation.
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I’m pretty sure there’s such a thing as climate change and I’m pretty sure humans are responsible for it. I also think it’s too late to do anything about it even if we were a country capable of discussing the question in a reasonably intellectual way. Read more →
During Monday night’s tornado scare in Nebraska and Iowa, the Weather Channel TV meteorologists told people in the Sioux City, Iowa, area to evacuate. It’s not a call that’s the TV channel’s to make. Read more →
A story circulating thanks to a post on a Washington state hospice’s Facebook page is so sweet that one wonders why they waited three months to tell it. No matter. We’re not so overwhelmed with these sorts of tales that we can turn up our nose at three-month-old stories. Read more →
Every now and again, we need a little reminder about what a diverse and breathlessly beautiful country the United States can be. Even its ugly parts are weirdly enthralling. Today’s reminder comes from photographer Dave Hirschman, who occasionally ferries airplanes for a living. This week, he flew an Aircam, owned by Twin Cities businessman Walt Read more →
Bob Collins