Bob Collins
Is it too soon for honest talk about the Vietnam War? The Pentagon is planning a 50-year anniversary website of the war and the old band is getting back together to oppose it, the New York Times reports. Read more →
MPR News Reflections and observations on the news
Archives for October 2014
If autumn could hold its beauty for more than just a few days, summer would be a second-banana season around here. Read more →
Today’s column from the Pioneer Press’ Ruben Rosario is the sort of thing you want to put before every young person in your house to whom you’ve given a smartphone.
It’s the story of a courageous seventh-grade girl in Woodbury who reveals how a typical middle-school relationship degenerated quickly into sexual manipulation. Read more →
The moments you don’t cherish today will be the ones that fascinate you later. Read more →
The Nobel Peace Prize committee has made some bonehead choices in recent years, but today’s announcement that Malala Yousafza is the recipient is about as perfect as any selection has ever been. Read more →
This is a story that is sad, depressing, horrifying, but ultimately incredibly beautiful.
Shane Michael Haley died today. Millions of people on Facebook knew him even though Shane Michael Haley was also born just today. Read more →
October is breast cancer awareness month, which means the annual debate over ‘pinkwashing’ is flaring anew. Read more →
Transportation officials will start describing winter road conditions differently so that you can more clearly understand just how bad — or good — the roads are. Read more →
Glen Campbell, the legendary singer and songwriter, is in the final stages of Alzheimer’s, an illness, of course, with no happy endings.
This week, he released his final ballad, which he recorded in January, right after he stopped performing in public. But he remained faithful to his promise not to hide his journey with the illness so that he could shed light on what 44 million Americans are going through.
Read more →
Word arrives from the ‘little town by the lake’ — Hendricks, MN. — today that Bob Neff, the longtime Methodist pastor in town died overnight.
Every town needs a Bob Neff and for many years, every little town in Minnesota had one. Read more →
A young bull moose is causing a bit of a sensation in western Wisconsin. Read more →
Among life’s many mysteries is this one: Why do some people persist in the face of adversity and some others don’t?
Read more →
Members of a Duluth military honor guard says the government is nickel and diming the funerals of veterans. Read more →
I’m not entirely sure why Ira Glass told a story on the Fallon website today about the time someone swore on the radio at Minnesota Public Radio.
Especially since I’ve never heard the story before in the 22 years I worked here. Read more →
It could have gone very badly for ‘Matt,’ who didn’t want his last name used in his interview with KARE 11, when he thwarted a sexual assault in a downtown Minneapolis parking ramp in the middle of the day. Read more →