Boston Public Radio

James Beard Award cookbook author Grace Young is raising awareness about the struggles facing Chinatown neighborhoods.

Andrea Campbell chose last week the head of her office’s newly created Housing Affordability Unit starting in July, focusing on expanding affordable housing across Massachusetts.

Joe Spaulding, the longtime president and CEO of the Boch Center, first met the theater’s current namesake in the ticket line for a Cat Stevens concert. The rest is history.

But Republican Michael Sullivan, former U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts, disagreed: “I felt a great deal of sadness.”

President and CEO of the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers Michael Curry spoke about new COVID-19 variant called FLiRt and the impact on Black and Brown communities who struggle with long COVID.

Katie Theoharides discussed the new parking system at Crane Beach and the impact of climate change on shoreline access.

Today: Andrea Cabral and Shirley Leung fill in for Jim and Margery.Charlie Sennott of The GroundTruth Project and Frontline's Martin Smith update on the latest out of Syria.And, outgoing Harvard professor Khalil Gibran Muhammad discusses DEI in retreat, and the right's original big lie -- about identity politics.

Brian McGrory, head of Boston University's journalism department, discussed Trump's Meet the Press interviewRevs Irene Monroe and Emmett Price discussed the young men leaving their churches in favor of 'masculine' Orthodox ChristianityFood policy analyst Corby Kummer on the reality behind a seeming rise in food recallsAcademic Khalil Gibran Muhammad on the retreat of DEI initiatives by higher ed institutions ahead of Trump's inauguration

Luis Espinoza and Craig Panzer are the duo behind Massachusetts’ first Latino-owned brewery – Roundhead Brewing. They stop by the library to talk Latino beer, and the state of craft beer in the state.And, Ian Coury is our guest for Live Music Friday, he’s a 22 year-old mandolin phenom carving his own path in the world of Brazilian Choro music, he joins ahead of a free show next week in Roxbury.

We open the lines to ask about the latest attempt by corporations to boost worker productivity by banning personal phones on the job. Ian Coury is our guest for Live Music Friday. He’s a 22 year-old mandolin phenom carving his own path in the world of Brazilian Choro music. Boston Medical Center's Dr. Katherine Gergen Barnett talks about the science behind gender affirming care, renewed conversation around medical debt in the U.S. and physician strikes in Boston.James Bennett II discusses a Village Person’s revisionist history of the ‘Y.M.C.A.' song, plus his reflections on 2024 music and movies.Then we asked folks to weigh-in on the news that 'Y.M.C.A.' is not a gay anthem.Roundhead Brewing Company is Massachusetts’ first Latino-owned brewery. We’ll talk with co-owners Luis Espinoza and Craig Panzer about the upcoming Latino beer festival and sample some brews.We end the show with a Christmas tree potpourri.

Today:In the 1980s, the height of the crack epidemic, Paul Joyce was a Boston police officer. He’s now out with a new book about how the department struggled during that era, and the rise in gun and gang violence. He joins to discuss his new book “It Started With the Hats” – the life experiences of Boston’s founding street gang members.And, MIT economist Jon Gruber breaks down Trump’s view on tariffs, and how changing policy would affect the global economy.