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.
Though it won’t, the world should pause for a moment to mark the life of Joe Girard, who was 90 years old when he fell at his home and died two days later. Joe Girard, of Grosse Pointe Shores, Mich., was the greatest car salesman in the world. Read more →
We’re guessing the senator actually does know how to blow out birthday candles, he simply intends to share his bounty with his staff sans germs and senatorial spittle. Read more →
Richard King had flown in the plane in the summer of 1945, just a few days before it disappeared over Minnesota. The plane was leaking fuel and, fearing it would explode, the crew set the autopilot for 9,000 feet and bailed out over Grand Rapids.
Read more →
There is snow and there is snow. The light, fluffy stuff on February has given way to the heart-attack snow of March. The situation on your roof has changed. Read more →
Here are the stories, topics, and guests you’ll hear today on MPR News. Read more →
The world of medicine is still trying to figure out how to incorporate the wonders of technology with the need and importance of human interaction and comfort.
It’s still got a way to go, if the story of Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Fremont, Calif., is any indication. Read more →
Alex Jacquot, 10, has spunk. Alan Joyce, the head of Quantas Airlines, likes spunk. Read more →
NPR’s Scott Simon is coming to recognize what we all eventually do: people on the internet have no idea how to discuss anything in a civil manner. Read more →
Serious question: Are you really the state of hockey, Minnesota? Can you be with an empty arena for your signature college hockey team? Read more →
Even the University of Minnesota Student Association can’t escape controversy.
Read more →
Here are the stories, topics, and guests you’ll hear today on MPR News. Read more →
This year’s weather is a crime. Read more →
Adnan Syed, convicted in 2000 of killing his former girlfriend, high school senior Hae Min Lee, in a Best Buy parking lot in 1999, is not going to get a new trial, Maryland’s highest court ruled on Friday. Perhaps you recognize the name; this is the case that practically made podcasting a ‘thing.’ His story, and allegations of ineffective counsel by a lawyer who’s dead, failure to interview an alibi witness, questionable witness testimony, and withheld evidence, was told by the podcast ‘Serial.’ Read more →
The Atlantic League will test out several ideas this season and it’s clear that if they work, Major League Baseball will try to convince its unions to adopt them for the big-league game. The most striking addition? Robot umpires. Sort of. Read more →