Boston Public Radio

The former Massachusetts governor said that George Floyd's death was "a heinous murder carried out by a person with a badge."

The Gold Dust Orphans theater company founder said it was important that Americans remember their country's racist legacy.

Demonstrations against police brutality are beginning to coalesce around a platform of policies. Is this a turning point in America?

The GroundTruth Project CEO said there's credence to concerns the president is slipping into authoritarianism.

The Greater Boston Food Bank President and CEO said one in eight people in eastern Massachusetts are now food insecure.

The NFL has been hesitant to support racial injustice protests in the past, notably by it's treatment of player and activist Colin Kaepernick.

Today on Boston Public Radio: Chuck Todd updates us on the latest political headlines, from attempts to grant D.C. statehood to the investigation into Rep. Matt Gaetz. Todd is the moderator of “Meet the Press” on NBC, host of “Meet the Press Daily" on MSNBC, and the Political Director for NBC News. Next, we talk with listeners about their post-vaccine reunions. Andrea Cabral discusses Derek Chauvin invoking the Fifth Amendment during his trial, and the white Milton Police officer facing backlash after she harassed teenagers attending a sleepover for liking Black Lives Matter social media posts. She also talks about the rise of the Boogaloo Boys. Cabral is the former Suffolk County sheriff and Massachusetts secretary of public safety. She’s currently the CEO of the cannabis company Ascend. Andy Ihnatko talks about Facebook whistleblower Sophie Zhang, who alleged that the tech company didn’t prioritize dealing with fake pages and likes if they were impacting politics in largely non-western, poorer countries. He also discusses the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Broadband Data Collection program. Ihnatko is a tech writer and blogger, posting at Ihnatko.com. Paul Reville explains why some kids would rather stick with online school than go in person, and shares his thoughts on the teacher shortage in the U.S. Reville is the former Massachusetts secretary of education and a professor at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education, where he also heads the Education Redesign Lab. His latest book, co-authored with Lynne Sacks, is “Collaborative Action for Equity and Opportunity: A Practical Guide for School and Community Leaders.” Andrew Ryan discusses the Boston Globe’s investigation into child sexual abuse allegations against ex-Boston police officer Patrick Rose. He also talked about the difficulty of accessing public records in Massachusetts. Ryan is an investigative reporter with the Boston Globe. We wrap up the show by asking listeners about eco-friendly commutes, following Google Map’s new promotion of eco-friendly driving routes.

Former state secretary of education Paul Reville spoke to Boston Public Radio on Thursday about how online virtual schooling could be here to stay even after the pandemic. “There’s an interesting phenomenon developing that some families and some students might prefer virtual schooling,” he said. “There are any number of reports from students and from families that their particular child learns more easily in this kind of a fashion due to special needs, their own personality, or anxieties about going out to school.” An increasing number of school districts are taking the initiative to launch virtual schools and to provide a virtual option to people, not just this year in the midst of this crisis, but in the long run, Reville noted. “They intend to set-up virtual schools to give parents the option, should they want, to have their children learn from home,” he said. “And this is more widespread than expected.” One of the multiple downsides of having a permanent virtual schooling option is that students would miss out on socialization, Reville added. “The social function of education is to help children learn to interact with one another, to disagree agreeably, to make common cause with their peers, to have fun, to make relationships, and if we make it highly individualized there are risks and downsides,” he said. “But there are also obviously position features that if were you a parent and had a child that really needed this, you could hardly blame that parent for wanting the school system to provide this, now that we know we can do it.” Reville is a professor at Harvard Graduate School of Education and co-author of the upcoming book Collaborative Action for Equity and Opportunity: A Practical Guide for School and Community Leaders.

Today on Boston Public Radio: Rep. Seth Moulton shares his thoughts on President Joe Biden’s announcement that he would withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan by Sept. 11, 2021. He also talks about potential cross-country high speed rail stemming from President Biden’s infrastructure plan. Congressman Moulton represents Massachusetts’ 6th Congressional district. Next, we open the phone lines, asking listeners whether they’d give up their cars if the U.S. invested in high speed rail infrastructure. Juliette Kayyem talks about the Capitol Police inspector general Michael A. Bolton’s findings in an investigation on how the Capitol Police handled the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. She also discusses the recent increase in gun violence across the U.S. Kayyem is an analyst for CNN, former assistant secretary at the Department of Homeland Security and faculty chair of the homeland security program at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. Patricia Wen discusses the Boston Globe’s Spotlight investigation, which found that multiple Boston hospital board CEOs have been moonlighting on corporate boards. She also speaks about the Globe’s reporting of the child sexual abuse allegations against ex-police officer and union leader Patrick Rose. Wen is the editor of the Boston Globe’s Spotlight team. Art Caplan weighs in on federal officials’ decision to pause the administration of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, and explains how it could increase vaccine hesitancy. Caplan is the Drs. William F and Virginia Connolly Mitty Chair, and director of the Division of Medical Ethics at the NYU School of Medicine. TJ and Hadley Douglas talk about how they kept their South End wine store, the Urban Grape, afloat during the pandemic. They also share their experiences over the past few months as the death of George Floyd prompted calls for racial justice and equity. TJ Douglas is the founder and CEO of the Urban Grape. Hadley Douglas is the founder and CMO of the Urban Grape. We end the show by asking listeners what hobbies they’ve picked up during the pandemic.

Today on Boston Public Radio: We begin the show by talking with listeners about vaccine hesitancy in the wake of the U.S. government pulling the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Trenni Kusnierek shares her thoughts on Minnesota sports teams postponing their games after the death of Daunte Wright. She also talks about Julian Edelman’s retirement announcement, and explained what it means for the Patriots. Kusnierek is an anchor and reporter for NBC Sports Boston, and a weekly Boston Public Radio contributor. Karim Hajj previews the FRONTLINE documentary film American Insurrection, which looks into the rise of far-right violence across the U.S. Hajj is a producer for FRONTLINE. He helped produce American Insurrection in collaboration with ProPublica and UC Berkley’s Investigative Reporting Program. You can watch American Resurrection on April 13 at 10 p.m. EST on your local PBS station. Dr. Katherine Gergen Barnett discusses U.S. federal health officials’ decision to pause the administration of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine after six women developed rare blood clots. She also answers listeners’ questions. Gergen Barnett teaches in the Department of Family Medicine at Boston Medical Center and Boston University Medical School. John King updates us on the latest political headlines, from Dr. Anthony Fauci’s briefing on the Johnson & Johnson vaccine to the trial of ex-police officer Derek Chauvin. King is CNN's Chief National Correspondent and anchor of "Inside Politics,” which airs weekdays and Sunday mornings at 8 a.m. We wrap up the show by asking listeners if they’ve found their favorite products dwindling in stores due to pandemic shortages.

Today on Boston Public Radio: E.J. Dionne weighs in on President Joe Biden’s formation of the Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States. He also shares his thoughts on calls for Justice Stephen Breyer to resign. Dionne is a columnist for The Washington Post and a senior fellow at The Brookings Institution. His latest book is "Code Red: How Progressives And Moderates Can Unite To Save Our Country.” Next, we open the phone lines, talking with listeners about local government transparency in the wake of a Boston Globe article detailing the child sexual abuse allegations against ex-Boston Police officer and union leader Patrick Rose. Charlie Sennott discusses increasing unrest in Northern Ireland, and President Biden’s return to Iran nuclear deal talks. Sennott is a GBH News analyst and the founder and CEO of The GroundTruth Project. Christopher Kimball previews his latest Milk Street cookbook, “Tuesday Nights Mediterranean: 125 Simple Weeknight Recipes from the World's Healthiest Cuisine.” Kimball is the founder of Milk Street, a food media company which produces Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street Magazine, He’s also the host of Milk Street Radio and Milk Street TV. Revs. Irene Monroe and Emmett Price talk about the death of Daunte Wright, and the ongoing trial of ex-police officer Derek Chauvin happening just miles away. They also share their thoughts on the reluctance of white Evangelicals to get vaccinated. Monroe is a syndicated religion columnist, the Boston voice for Detour’s African American Heritage Trail, and a visiting researcher in the Religion and Conflict Transformation Program at the Boston University School of Theology. Price is an executive director of the Institute for the Study of the Black Christian Experience at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. Together, they host GBH’s *All Rev’d Up *podcast. We then ask listeners how they felt about plant-based alternatives to meat. Latanya Sweeney discusses the prevalence of racial bias in popular search engines, and calls for more proactive responses to racial bias from tech giants. Sweeney is the Professor of the Practice of Government and Technology at the Harvard Kennedy School and in the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Editor-in-Chief of Technology Science, and the director and founder of the Data Privacy Lab. Sweeney appears in the NOVA documentary short, “Search Engine Breakdown,” on Wednesday night at 10:30 p.m. ET.