Bob Collins
The people who want to dramatize the traffic congestion in the Twin Cities are doing it again — making big numbers out of trivial little numbers. Read more →
MPR News Reflections and observations on the news
Archives for March 2014
If there’s anybody people have been collectively pulling for, it’s Duffy, who was profiled in a Star Tribune article a month ago about the plight of older workers who get laid off. Read more →
This is the sort of story that could turn a person into a soccer fan for good. Ayo Dosumu, 7, ran onto the field — pitch, whatever — in South Africa. Security stopped him before he could do any damage, but then a Brazilian player grabbed him and gave us today’s daily dose of cute. Read more →
The Des Plaines Oasis that spans Interstate 90 is as close to iconic as anything is on the long drive to civilization. Soon it will be gone. Read more →
Carnegie Hall has announced that 120 musicians from 33 states will make up the National Youth Orchestra on its eight stop tour beginning in July. For the second year Arjun Ganguly, who plays viola, is returning to the orchestra — one of 26 players to return. What were you doing at 15? Arjun Ganguly tells Read more →
Raymond Callihan, 72, will be taken off life support in the next few days; he suffered an apparent heart attack while eating breakfast last week, according to WCCO.
Would it have made a difference if Minneapolis’ 911 operators had answered Arcola Tullis’ call for help? Read more →
By now, you’ve probably heard the story of Myles Eckert, the Toledo-area boy who found $20 outside a Cracker Barrel restaurant and then decided to give it to a soldier who was having dinner inside. He did it, he told CBS’ Steve Hartman, in memory of his father, who was killed in Iraq on Mother’s Day 2005.
There’s another kid in that family, and she’s got a pretty good story, too. Read more →
You can’t blame Carrie Steacy, an airline pilot in Canada, for being a little steamed. All she did was get “David in 12E” and all of the other passengers safety to their destinations in British Columbia. Read more →
Another anchor from the state-run Russia Today network is protesting the actions of Russia. Liz Wahl, an American, quit on the air this afternoon. “I cannot be part of a network funded by the Russian government which whitewashes the actions of Putin,” Wahl said. She said her grandparents emigrated from Hungary to the U.S. to Read more →
Joe Bell put on his uniform to honor runners who were raising money for scholarships for veterans. So they honored him. Read more →
The situation in Ukraine is occupying our attention. And now it’s almost hard to remember what the big crisis was before that?
Syria is still happening. Read more →
What can hackers steal along with the credit card data they took when they broke into Target’s servers? At least in Wisconsin, child support payments. In Wisconsin, child support from the state is given to recipients in the form of debit Mastercards, a program described as “a secure and convenient way to receive payments.” But, Read more →
Minneapolis actor brought life to “Captain Phillips” but times are still lean. Read more →
A change in the way FAA hires air traffic controllers is upsetting those who train many of them.
Read more →
Oh, Canada! Cpl. Justin Stark, an infantry soldier with the Argyle and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada, killed himself in October 2011. He was just 22 years old. Stark had been on a a seven-month tour in Afghanistan that started in 2010, including patrolling Nakhonay, a village southwest of Kandahar city. Nobody really knows what pushed Read more →