Boston Public Radio

IKEA has shared it's Swedish meatball recipe online, as it's stores remain closed during the coronavirus pandemic.

The national security expert said the president's executive order would have a negligible impact, and accused him of pandering to his base.

The MIT economist proposed creating a “care corps” program to bring more workers to the nation’s sorely under-staffed nursing homes.

When COVID-19 was ramping up in America, the United States sent millions of masks to China.

A new documentary highlights the civil rights issues at the center of the drug lab scandals, and the broader war on drugs.

The GroundTruth CEO commended the work of female leaders and healthcare workers abroad and at home.

Today on Boston Public Radio: Michael Curry discusses the rollout of coronavirus vaccines throughout the U.S. and questions around skepticism in communities of color. Curry is the incoming president and CEO of the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers, a member of Gov. Charlie Baker’s COVID-19 Vaccine Advisory Group, and a member of the National NAACP Board of Directors. Next, we open our lines to talk with listeners about holiday travel during the pandemic, asking: will we learn our lesson this time around, or will the promise of the vaccine make us only more prone to hit the road? Travel guru Rick Steves talks about some of the varied Christmas traditions practiced throughout Europe, from Norway to Austria. He also talks about his ongoing “Why We Travel” series and what a COVID-19 vaccine could signal for travel and tourism in the months aheads. T.V. expert Bob Thompson discusses news that streaming heavyweight “The Office” is getting pulled from Netflix and updates us on the future of Jeopardy post-Alex Trebek. He also reviews "The Stand” on CBS and Steve McQueen's "Small Axe,” currently streaming on Amazon. Irene Monroe and Emmett Price, hosts of GBH’s All Rev’d Up podcast, talk about pro-police reform protests staged over the weekend by some Massachusetts faith leaders. They also weigh in on pro-choice pastors, and the Netflix holiday special “Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey.” Boston Globe business columnist Shirley Leung recaps her latest reporting on the global reverberations of Boston's economic downturn and offered her thoughts on news that Boston seafood staple Legal Seafoods is being sold. We close out Monday's show by reflecting on all the holiday traditions we’re missing out on this season, and asking about some of the new ones you're creating in their place.

Today on Boston Public Radio: Smith College associate professor Loretta Ross speaks on why it’s more productive to call people “in” rather than call them out, and the importance of have private – and occasionally uncomfortable – conversations with people we disagree with, in a discussion sparked by her forthcoming book, “Calling In the Calling Out Culture.” Next, we open lines and asked you about callout culture, asking: should 2021 be the year we try to call people in? Beat the Press host Emily Rooney talks about Vice President Mike Pence receiving his COVID shot Friday morning in front of the media, and the reemergence of Boston's great space saver debate. She also read a 2020 retrospective list of fixations and fulminations. Food writer Corby Kummer weighs in on frustration from some environmentalists and food justice advocates around news of President-elect Biden’s pick of Tom Vilsack to head the USDA. He also offers advice for restaurants struggling to afloat through the winter, and one sure-fire way diners can make things easier on them. Media maven Sue O’Connell gives her take on Boston’s notorious space saver debate, and discusses the significance for the LGBT community of President-elect Biden picking former Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg to lead the U.S. Department of Transportation. Under the Radar host Callie Crossley talks about the billions of dollars in donations made during the pandemic by Mackenzie Scott, former wife of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. She also discusses donations from filmmaker Tyler Perry to the defense fund for Breonna Taylor’s boyfriend, and the historic significance of President-elect Joe Biden’s pick of Rep. Deb Haaland to head the Department of the Interior. We close out Friday's show by opening lines, to hear your takes for and against snow time space savers in Boston.

Speaking on a Friday edition of Boston Public Radio, food writer Corby Kummer presented a plea to diners: if you’ve got to cancel your dinner reservation, do your best to give the restaurant 12 hours notice – at minimum. No-shows, for struggling restaurants operating at reduced occupancy, “are really damaging,” Kummer explained in a tease of his forthcoming Diner Code of Conduct. “Be considerate of restaurants … if you make a reservation and you can’t come, be sure to tell them well in advance.” Corby Kummer is the executive director of the Food and Society policy program at the Aspen Institute, a senior editor at The Atlantic and a senior lecturer at the Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy.

Today on Boston Public Radio: Washington Post personal finance columnist Michelle Singletary discusses “Sincerely Michelle,” her ongoing series addressing misconceptions about racial equity in the world of personal finance, and reflects on her own experience coming up in media as a Black woman. NBC “Meet the Press” moderator Chuck Todd runs through the latest political headlines, touching on anticipated COVID stimulus consensus in Congress, President-elect Joe Biden’s undying faith in the Senate, and the slowly-growing number of GOP members willing to acknowledge Biden’s November election victory. Boston City Councilor and mayoral candidate Andrea Campbell discusses the Boston City Council’s Sunday vote to establish an Office of Police Accountability and Transparency, and next steps for its implementation. She also touches on Gov. Baker's decision not to sign the Mass. police reform bill, and pushback against a proposed charter school in Roslindale. Former Suffolk County sheriff and secretary of public safety Andrea Cabral discusses Georgia’s legacy with of voter suppression, and what she’s anticipating from the state’s Senate runoff races in January. She also talks about efforts from the outgoing Trump administration to create special council investigations into President-elect Joe Biden’s son Hunter, and the president's still-unsubstantiated claims of vote rigging in the 2020 election. Former Mass. education secretary Paul Reville discusses the Boston Teachers Union’s Sunday evening vote of no confidence against BPS Superintendent Brenda Cassellius, ongoing issues with remote learning throughout Mass., and questions around whether schools ought to keep the snow day alive through the pandemic. Next, we open lines to talk about Thursday’s snowstorm, asking: are school districts walking on thin ice by denying students a well-earned snow day? Inaugural poet Richard Blanco returns for our monthly edition of "The Village Voice," where he discusses poetry and how it can help us better understand our lives and times. This time around, he reads a selection of poems about gratitude, renewal, and healing. He also talks about the Inaugural Poem Project and Contest for Students – more information on which can be found here.

Michelle Singletary, nationally syndicated personal finance columnist at the Washington Post, said she faced a lot of questions about her credentials when she was first hired. So she pulled her editor aside and asked him point blank, was she hired because she’s Black? The answer her editor gave herShe was, but like all things, it’s more complicated. “I hired you because you’re Black, I hired you because you’re young. I hired you because you were raised in a low income household so you know what it means not to have a lot of money. I hired you because you have a Masters’ Degree,’” Singletary recalled her editor telling her. “He said ‘I hired you for the totality of who you are,’ ... I get teared up now when I think about it, because he said ‘I didn’t want you to run away from your Blackness.’” That’s where Singletary’s latest series, Sincerely Michelle, starts: affirmative action. Part memoir, part history lesson, the series breaks down misconceptions about race and finance through letters to readers. She tackles reparations, misconceptions about Black people and their investment in education, criticisms about the way people of color spend their money, and so much more about the Black American experience. “I wanted to write these letters to let people know there are people behind these statistics,” she said. “I get that you don’t understand this, so let me walk you through this stuff, let me put it in context so that we can have a candid conversation and try to fix these things.” Reflecting on 2020 — a year filled with protest for racial equality and police reform against the backdrop of a deadly pandemic — Singletary said she has hope that America is ready to have the tough conversations that are necessary for change. Singletary said the comments section on her columns were turned off, because of racist messages, but she left her email for people to reach out. “Some of the things I received were so vile, and so horrible that I cannot imagine that it’s 2020 and people still think this way,” she said. “There were days, I just sat at my desk, slumped, and cried, like ‘I cannot believe you think I’m so different because of the color of my skin.’” But, Singletary said she also received comments from white Americans thanking her for making their own micro-aggressions and racism clear to them, and helping to start conversations about race. “So, I actually do have some hope.” Michelle Singletary is personal finance columnist for the Washington Post. Author of "The 21 Day Financial Fast." Her column "The Color of Money" is syndicated in newspapers across the country.