Bob Collins
Here are the stories, topics, and guests you’ll hear today on MPR News. Read more →
MPR News Reflections and observations on the news
By Bob Collins
Bob Collins retired from Minnesota Public Radio in 2019 after 12 years of writing NewsCut and pointing out to complainants that posts weren’t news stories. A son of Massachusetts, he was a news editor 1992-1998, created the MPR News regional website in 1999, invented the popular Select A Candidate, started several blogs, and every day lamented that his Minnesota Fantasy Legislature project never caught on.
We’re guessing there aren’t a lot of well-raised adults in these parts who didn’t grow up with at least something from Creative Kidstuff, the Twin Cities toy stores whose philosophy was “play is joyful, educational, creative and inspiring.” That ethos couldn’t survive in our high-tech era.
But that was before smartphones and iPads. Read more →
You can’t go wrong with an obituary that includes fisticuffs with a nun. Read more →
Just as sure as spring is going to come and ice is going to melt, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources will call out the pigs who leave their garbage behind after being required to remove their ice houses for the season. Read more →
If you live east of St. Paul you have to really be committed to mass transit to ride mass transit, given the hurdles one has to jump over to use what little there is — like having your car towed from an official park and ride for no good reason. Read more →
Find the spelling mistakes in these signs being posted around US Bank Stadium for this weekend’s NCAA Final Four basketball championship. Read more →
Here are the stories, topics, and guests you’ll hear today on MPR News. Read more →
This is the darkness that is descending. Read more →
There’s nothing but irony in the BBC’s video about a Minneapolis kid who has become a sensation in China because people there don’t like to say what they really think. Read more →
Princehoward Barbecue Yee, of Falmouth, Maine, made a federal case last year out of his insistence that he be allowed to play baseball at Deering High School, which is in another school district from his residence. Read more →
Perhaps it won’t be long before hockey acknowledges what is increasingly becoming clear: constant hits damage the brain. Read more →
Since the Affordable Care Act was passed in the Obama administration, the woes of insurance companies and premium-paying customers have always been front-page news as the shock-to-the-system health care law gets implemented.
But what’s this? The non-profit insurance companies in Minnesota have made a ton of money in the last year. Read more →
Here are the stories, topics, and guests you’ll hear today on MPR News. Read more →
The Cleveland media spent much of the weekend complaining that the Minnesota Twins didn’t build a domed ballpark, thanks to a stiff wind and 37 degree temperatures for the opening series of the 2019 baseball stadium. Read more →
The Columbine High School shooting 20 years ago this month is the massacre that started the wave of mass shootings in the modern crime era.
We’ve come a long way since then and many shootings never make it to the front page; they’re that common now. Read more →