Boston Public Radio

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.

The simulcast provided some of the best entertainment in the age of coronavirus, Thompson said.

The new documentary looks at the different political response rates to the coronavirus pandemic.

The state's hospitals have done well to prepare for the surge, but the national response has been mired by politics.

Today on Boston Public Radio: With the pardon given by the Biden Administration regarding federal marijuana charges, we opened our lines to ask: Are you happy by this move? Did it go far enough or did it go too far? Tech author Andy Ihnatko joined us on the show and discussed the most recent technological developments, from the “Made by Google” keynote event to an AI James Earl Jones’ voice as Darth Vader. Ihnatko is a tech writer and a co-host on the Material Podcast. Callie Crossley discussed the Biden Administration’s recent marijuana pardon, a campaign to get the Cherokee Nation a seat in Congress and a recent fancy butter trenk on TikTok. Crossley is the host of GBH’s Under the Radar. Cider Donuteur Alex Schwartz has amassed thousands of Instagram followers with his reviews of apple cider donuts. He joined us on the show and discussed this and taught Jim and Margery the subtleties of this treat. Sue O’Connell talked about former president Trump’s new defamation suit against CNN, the 299 GOP midterm nominees continuing to deny the 2020 election results and more. O’Connell is the co-publisher of Bay Windows and South End News, and contributor to Current on NBC-LX and NECN. Organizers of Somerville’s HONK! Fest, Ken Field and Cecily Miller discussed their upcoming festival and were treated to the music of Chilean band Banda Rim Bam Bum. We closed the show with a call-in segment, and heard from listeners if they prefer to have their sandwiches cut in half or diagonally.

Today on Boston Public Radio: Kristen Welker discusses the impact of Hurricane Ian on Floridians, and the Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker allegedly paying his girlfriend to get an abortion despite his pro-life stance. Welker is the Chief White House Correspondent for NBC News and Co-Anchor of Weekend Today. She also co-hosts Meet the Press Now alongside Chuck Todd on NBC Now. We then ask listeners about the more than one hundred days since the Supreme Court overturned precedent set by Roe v. Wade. Andrea Cabral talks about The Onion’s amicus brief to the Supreme Court in support of a man who faced criminal charges after making a Facebook page parodying his local police department, and shares her thoughts on the former Northeastern employee arrested in an apparent bomb hoax. Cabral is the former Suffolk County sheriff and secretary of public safety, and former CEO of the cannabis company Ascend. Dr. Kimberly Parker shares how kids are handling the return to school after hybrid learning, and the controversy surrounding an NYU professor who was fired after his students said his class was too hard. Parker is a Boston-based educator and authority on education issues. She’s currently Director of the Crimson Summer Academy at Harvard, and the former president of the Black Educators’ Alliance of Massachusetts. Her latest book is Literacy is Liberation: Working Towards Justice Through Culturally Relevant Teaching.” Jay MacMahon discusses his run for attorney general of Massachusetts. McMahon is the Republican candidate for Attorney General. He’s a Cape Cod attorney, small business owner in Buzzards Bay, and was the 2018 GOP nominee for AG against Maura Healey. Nick Quah shares some of his favorite podcasts of late, focusing on the New York Times’ “The Run-Up,” Pushkin and Somethin’ Else’s “Death of an Artist,” and a selection of podcasts for children. Quah is Vulture’s podcast critic. We end the show by talking with listeners about this year’s numerous cheating scandals – from fishing tournament contestants allegedly stuffing weights in fish to win a cash prize, to competition fixing in the world of Irish dancing.

Today on Boston Public Radio: Art Caplan weighs in on the health benefits of coffee versus tea, and discusses the ethics of using data from experiments that cause suffering. Caplan is the Drs. William F and Virginia Connolly Mitty Professor and founding head of the Division of Medical Ethics at NYU School of Medicine in New York City. We then continue our conversation on coffee versus tea with listeners. Trenni Casey discuss a new report that found systemic abuse in the U.S. women's pro soccer league. She also talks about speculation over Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen deciding to divorce. Casey is a reporter and anchor for NBC Sports Boston, and a weekly Boston Public Radio contributor. Evan Horowitz walks us through the Mass. ballot questions ahead of November's election. Horowitz is the Executive Director of the Tufts University Center for State Policy Analysis. Matt Gilbert shares some of his current must-watch TV shows, from Apple TV+'s "Bad Sisters" to Hulu's "Wedding Season." Gilbert is the TV critic for The Boston Globe. Sy Montgomery joins us for another edition of "The Afternoon Zoo," sharing the latest news on potential evidence of animal sentience and the contestants of this year's Fat Bear Week. We end the show by returning to Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen's potential divorce.

Today on Boston Public Radio: Shirley Leung talks about her recent experience biking 8.5 miles through Boston to work, and the sentencing of former eBay executive Jim Baugh to nearly five years in prison for running a scheme to harass a Natick couple. Leung is a business columnist for the Boston Globe. We then ask listeners about their experiences biking through the city. Lee Pelton explains the racial inequities are exacerbated by natural disasters like hurricanes. He also discusses President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan. Pelton is the president and CEO of The Boston Foundation. Juliette Kayyem discusses the criticism over Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and FEMA’s evacuation of Lee County just a day before Hurricane Ian hit. She also talks about a rise in threats against lawmakers. Kayyem is former assistant secretary for homeland security under President Barack Obama, and the faculty chair of the homeland-security program at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. Her new book is “The Devil Never Sleeps: Learning to Live in an Age of Disasters.” Jared Bowen dissects the cast drama behind “Don’t Worry Darling,” and shares whether the movie lives up to its tabloid frenzy. He also talks about artist Rose B. Simpson’s “Legacies” exhibit at the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA). Bowen is GBH’s executive arts editor and the host of "Open Studio." John King updates us on the latest political headlines, focusing on pro-life Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker allegedly paying his girlfriend to get an abortion. King is CNN's Chief National Correspondent and anchor of "Inside Politics,” which airs weekdays and Sunday mornings at 8 a.m. We end the show by talking about moral hypocrisy among politicians.

Award-winning food writer Corby Kummer joined Boston Public Radio on Monday to share the story of food scientist Maria Orosa, the Filipino inventor of banana ketchup. Orosa was born in Taal, Philippines, in 1893, and became a U.S. government-sponsored scholar at 23, traveling to the U.S. to earn her bachelor’s and master’s in chemistry and pharmaceutical science at the University of Washington at Seattle. Though she was offered a job by the State of Washington, Orosa returned to her native Philippines to join the government’s Bureau of Science to create a variety of new local foods and tools: flour from bananas and cassava, earthenware palayok ovens, soybean drink Soyalac, and more. Perhaps Orosa’s most beloved creation was banana ketchup. After the U.S. colonized the Philippines in 1898, imports like ketchup became expensive — and tomatoes proved hard to grow in the tropical climate. Orosa developed banana ketchup using local saba bananas, sugar, vinegar, a variety of spices, and red food coloring. “She was like the Booker T. Washington of the Philippines, finding ways of using native-grown products in the Philippines to help feed people on a much broader scale,” Kummer said. In the wide-ranging discussion, Kummer also discussed the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health, and McDonald’s new Happy Meal for adults. Corby Kummer is 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.