Stay Curious. Stay Connected.
MailNewsletters♡Donate Now
Sign up
*Password must be at least 8 characters and contain one uppercase letter, one lowercase letter, one number and one symbol.
Already have an account?
By submitting, you consent that you are at least 18 years of age and to receive information about MPR's or APMG entities' programs and offerings. The personally identifying information you provide will not be sold, shared, or used for purposes other than to communicate with you about MPR, APMG entities, and its sponsors. You may opt-out at any time clicking the unsubscribe link at the bottom of any email communication. View our Privacy Policy.
Sign in to your profile
Forgot Password?
New to MPR News?
Welcome back
to news
for you
Reset Password

Enter the username on file and we'll send you a code to reset your password.

Still require assistance or not sure what your User Name is?
Welcome back
to news
for you
Email Verification

A verification code has been emailed to

Still awaiting the code?

NewsCut

It’s not the heat, it’s the humility

It’s not the heat, it’s the humility

If you live in Minnesota or the rest of the Upper Midwest, this is the week to deliver payback to your friends who spend the winter in Arizona, and delight in sending e-mails in January that it'll be so cold tonight -- 75 -- that they might have to put on a sweater.
by Bob Collins

Go Deeper.

Create an account or log in to save stories.

Like this?

Thanks for liking this story! We have added it to a list of your favorite stories.

Show me!
The people who kill off the National Anthem

The people who kill off the National Anthem

Back in my earlier days -- just before I moved to Minnesota in 1992 -- I ran the programming at a small-market radio station in Massachusetts. It was a great little station that cared about the town it served, read the school lunch menus, covered the selectmen, broadcast live from charity events, and passed along the news that your dog was lost -- all the things that people say now they wanted then but didn't really want enough to keep from turning on the public radio station from Albany instead.
by Bob Collins

Go Deeper.

Create an account or log in to save stories.

Like this?

Thanks for liking this story! We have added it to a list of your favorite stories.

Show me!
5 x 8: News from White Bear Puddle

5 x 8: News from White Bear Puddle

The canary in the lake, learning to accept a gay son, the other Supreme Court decisions, how a model railroad fights cancer, and why news photographers matter.
by Bob Collins

Go Deeper.

Create an account or log in to save stories.

Like this?

Thanks for liking this story! We have added it to a list of your favorite stories.

Show me!
All talked out

All talked out

Real pros say all the right things at the right time, but there's no getting around the fact that having your show canceled and shown the door is rough on any person with a beating heart.
by Bob Collins

Go Deeper.

Create an account or log in to save stories.

Like this?

Thanks for liking this story! We have added it to a list of your favorite stories.

Show me!

What’s happiness and how do we pursue it?

Next week is the 4th of July, a day we honor our declaration of freedom to pursue happiness, if not outright attain it. Just one question: What is this happiness we are told we can pursue? Time’s cover story this week considers whether the Founding Fathers’ view of the word is the same as the…
by Bob Collins

Go Deeper.

Create an account or log in to save stories.

Like this?

Thanks for liking this story! We have added it to a list of your favorite stories.

Show me!
Religious symbols and baseball

Religious symbols and baseball

As we learned during the Tim Tebow years, religion and professional sports makes some people pretty nervous. The latest brouhaha? See if you can spot the religious symbol. Check behind the mound in St. Louis. There’s a cross and what some insist is a number 6, in honor of Cardinals great Stan Musial, allegedly put…
by Bob Collins

Go Deeper.

Create an account or log in to save stories.

Like this?

Thanks for liking this story! We have added it to a list of your favorite stories.

Show me!
Adios, Talk of the Nation

Adios, Talk of the Nation

Tomorrow is the last day for NPR’s Talk of the Nation. NPR is dropping the show and getting out of the midday talk business. So Highlights, the kids’ magazine, dedicated a special edition of its classic game to spot the differences in two drawings. Host Neal Conan had told a Highlights staffer last year that…
by Bob Collins

Go Deeper.

Create an account or log in to save stories.

Like this?

Thanks for liking this story! We have added it to a list of your favorite stories.

Show me!

Court rethinking case of the ‘irresistible employee’

Remember that case I told you about in December when the Iowa Supreme Court said it was OK to fire a woman who worked in a dentist’s office because the dentist’s wife was jealous that he found the worker irresistible? Never mind. The court had ruled 7-0 for the Fort Dodge doctor, employing an odd…
by Bob Collins

Go Deeper.

Create an account or log in to save stories.

Like this?

Thanks for liking this story! We have added it to a list of your favorite stories.

Show me!
Minnesota eating Wisconsin’s economic lunch

Minnesota eating Wisconsin’s economic lunch

My colleague, Paul Tosto, has a loving passion in pointing out Minnesota’s dominance over the state to our east when it comes to the economy. Today, he’s got a little more ammunition from the Minneapolis Federal Reserve. In a report today, the Fed says Minnesota is rapidly catching up to Wisconsin in the total number…
by Bob Collins

Go Deeper.

Create an account or log in to save stories.

Like this?

Thanks for liking this story! We have added it to a list of your favorite stories.

Show me!
The humanly art of throwing

The humanly art of throwing

The next time you watch a baseball player throw a pitch, you can thank a hunter from two million years ago, apparently. If it weren’t for our ability to throw, we’d all be having lunch eating our front lawns today. The BBC reports on a study in Nature that traces the origins of humans’ ability…
by Bob Collins

Go Deeper.

Create an account or log in to save stories.

Like this?

Thanks for liking this story! We have added it to a list of your favorite stories.

Show me!