Bob Collins
The theater surrounding executions is particularly gruesome in which reporters who are invited to watch, come out later and tell us things we’re not really sure we want to know. Read more →
MPR News Reflections and observations on the news
Crime and Justice
The police are a political wedge issue now. Read more →
If you’re planning on flying, try not fidget, use a computer, reverse your direction in an airport, have a ‘jump’ in your Adam’s apple or a ‘cold penetrating stare.’ Otherwise, you might be the target of a secret spying program that is shadowing unsuspecting regular travelers, the details of which were revealed today by the Boston Globe.
When’s the last time you got off the couch and joined in a search because the media carried yet another story about a missing woman? Read more →
Michaela Sousa of River Falls was likely to get a stiff sentence for the abuse her then 4-month-old baby suffered in 2016. But her homophobia guaranteed it.
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A publisher with local newspapers in Dodge County was covering a news story the other day when his camera was confiscated by a sheriff’s deputy. The data card was taken and hasn’t been returned, the Rochester Post Bulletin says.
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Maybe Sunday’s efforts will be a wake-up call to law enforcement and politicians. If so, it should give us pause to ask why it’s slept on the problem to now. Read more →
It’s hard not to sympathize with Laura Berg’s disinterest in forgiving Jordan Paulus, 20, of East Bethel, who ruined Berg’s life. Read more →
The Minnesota Court of Appeals Monday ruled that people with drug convictions cannot be permanently required to undergo drug testing as a condition of receiving general assistance benefits. The case involved a Washington County woman. Read more →
No doubt there will be plenty of debate surrounding the story behind this scene, filmed by Brianna Lindell in Minnehaha Park in Minneapolis on Tuesday. One thing seems clear: if she hadn’t been filming, there’d probably be no news conference to explain the story. Read more →
‘He used to have secret handshakes with people,’ Leila Ramgren, 10, tells StoryCorps. ‘And if you didn’t have enough on your tray, he would pull out graham crackers or something. And he did it with his own money.’ Read more →
Terrance Sargent didn’t pay his income taxes in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014 and in 2016 the state put a lien on him. Read more →
It’s asking a lot to judge sentences handed in a courtroom at which those doing the judging aren’t present, but a sentence handed down in a texting and driving case in Chisago County is likely to stir the debate over how serious the system is on cracking down the practice. Read more →
It’s a fair bet that the U.S. Supreme Court will have to decide a key constitutional question from Wisconsin at some point: What part of “you need a warrant” don’t you get, Wisconsin?
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The union decision doesn’t clear a pathway for the overturning of Roe v. Wade. The court’s conservatives signaled long ago that they were open to the idea. The union decision, instead, illustrates that the interpretations — real or imagined — of ‘stare decisis’ won’t stop it.
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