Boston Public Radio

The Greater Boston Food Bank president said she’s mostly concerned with keeping workers safe from COVID-19.

Massachusetts should release racial data for COVID-19 response, says civil liberties union.

Voters are waiting in long lines to vote in the presidential primary on Tuesday, as the Governor's push to delay the election in the name of public health was denied.

Will Brady ever get to step out onto field with his new team, if the 2020 NFL season is cancelled due to the coronavirus?

Thompson criticized the interviews, but said he sees the benefit in having Chris Cuomo, who himself has COVID-19, a platform to talk about the disease.

Amid widespread economic downturn due to the coronavirus pandemic, will people embrace broader government protections?

Today on Boston Public Radio: We begin the show by asking listeners what their “third place” – a place to go besides home and work – was throughout the pandemic. Trenni Kusnierek talks about Tiger Woods’ return to the Masters Tournament, and this year’s March Madness winners. Kusnierek is an anchor and reporter for NBC Sports Boston. She's also a BPR contributor. Lee Pelton discusses guaranteed basic income programs, the possibility of reparations in Boston and the Boston Foundation’s new strategic vision. Pelton is the president and CEO of The Boston Foundation. Corby Kummer weighs in on Route 1 icon Kowloon downsizing, debates over outdoor dining in the North End and the role of lard in cooking. Kummer is a senior editor at The Atlantic, an award-winning food writer, and a senior lecturer at the Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition and Policy. Carol Rose shares her thoughts on Attorney General Merrick Garland’s approach to the Jan. 6 committee and the statehouse’s report on the use of facial recognition. Rose is the executive director of the ACLU of Massachusetts. John King updates us on the latest political headlines, including recent news from Ukraine and former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin’s announcement that she will be running for Congress. 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 with listeners about the changing appearance of Route 1.

Today on Boston Public Radio: We begin the show by asking listeners for their thoughts on office friendships as people return to work after so much time working remotely. Tetiana Litus and Vsevolod Petriv share their efforts to support their home country of Ukraine from abroad, and why they think the U.S. should do more to support refugees. Petriv is president of the Boston branch of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America. Litus is a 24-year-old Ukrainian who just moved to the U.S. a few months ago. Callie Crossley discusses President Joe Biden finally signing an anti-lynching bill into law after nearly 100 years of attempts, and Steph and Ayesha Curry’s latest venture into 150 little libraries in under-resourced parts of Oakland, California. Crossley hosts GBH’s Under the Radar and Basic Black. Andy Ihnatko explains developments at the EU to reign in big tech companies, and Facebook’s partnership with GOP consultants to generate bad press for TikTok. Ihnatko is a tech writer and blogger, posting at Ihnatko.com. Emma Choi talks about how her dorm room NPR show, “Everyone and their Mom,” came to be, and the struggles of women comedians in the changing comedy environment. Choi is the host of the NPR podcast “Everyone & Their Mom.” Sue O’Connell weighs in on Amazon's union busting and the first successful Amazon union vote, Caitlyn Jenner becoming a Fox News contributor and Bruce Willis stepping away from acting due to his recent diagnosis of aphasia. O’Connell is the co-publisher of Bay Windows and South End News, and contributor to Current, on NBC L-X and NECN. We end the show by talking with listeners about their favorite April Fools Day pranks.

Today on Boston Public Radio: Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden joined us to discuss the investigation into the deadly parking garage collapse downtown, and his new Firearm Rapid Indictment program focused on illegal gun seizures. He also shined light on his approach to cases by exiting former Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins, and pushback from his DA opponent Boston City Councilor Ricardo Arroyo that he doesn’t support Rollins’s policies, such as not prosecuting lower level offenses. We asked listeners whether they agreed with a WalletHub study that found that Massachusetts ranked as the 43rd most stressed state in the country. Paul Reville discussed MIT being an outlier by bringing back the ACT and SAT standardized tests and the correlation between race, wealth, and testing performance. Reville is the former Massachusetts Secretary of Education and a professor at Harvard’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.” We continued our conversation on WalletHub’s ranking of Massachusetts as one of the least stressed states. Juliette Kayyem discussed President Joe Biden’s speech regarding Vladmir Putin’s ability to stay in power in Russia,as well as former President Donald Trump’s claim that Putin has damaging information on Hunter Biden. She also commented on how the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences should have handled the slapping incident between Chris Rock and Will Smith. Kayyem was formerly an assistant secretary for homeland security under President Barack Obama, and is now 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.” We ended the show by talking with listeners about their drinking habits, following a JAMA Network study that claims moderate drinking is bad for your heart.

Today on Boston Public Radio: We began the show by opening the phone lines, asking listeners whether the public has lost its focus on the mounting evidence of former President Donald Trump’s involvement in the Jan. 6 Capitol attacks. Trenni Kusnierek talked about the Boston Pride’s second-straight Isobel Cup win, and the U.S. Embassy finding WNBA player Brittney Griner in “good condition” as she is detained in Russia. Kusnierek is an anchor and reporter for NBC Sports Boston. She's also a BPR contributor. Then, we talked with listeners about returning to civil discourse in an age of vitriol. Lylah Alphonse shared the latest news from Rhode Island, from the backlash against the finalists for the state’s new license plates to the Providence College men’s basketball team’s winning streak. Alphonse is the Rhode Island editor for the Boston Globe, where she leads a team covering and exploring the Ocean State. Jared Bowen talked about “Freestyle Love Supreme,” an improv rap and hip-hop show at the Emerson Colonial Theatre, and the musical “Once on This Island” at the Speakeasy Stage. Bowen is GBH’s executive arts editor and the host of "Open Studio." John King updated us on the latest political headlines, focusing on President Joe Biden’s response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. King is CNN's Chief National Correspondent and anchor of "Inside Politics,” which airs weekdays and Sunday mornings at 8 a.m.

On Monday’s “Boston Public Radio,” food writer Corby Kummer made a boldest assertion when he declared the city’s outdoor dining as “better than Paris.” Kummer, a senior editor for The Atlantic, admitted the take was likely to spark controversy. His reasoning? That “people in Boston are nicer, and they make the entire experience pleasanter.” “It’s just better to be in Boston in general” he added. The subject was broached during a back-and-forth on the question of $7,500 outdoor dining fees for restaurant owners in Boston’s North End. Kummer said he understood the reasoning for the fees, but wasn’t sure North End restaurant owners alone ought to foot the bill. “The city of Boston should say ‘[here are] exactly the problems we ran into. Here are possible solutions. Here’s what the money can go towards to remedy all of this, and have you got better ideas’ – rather than just coming out with what looks like a penalty if you happen to be in the North End.” 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.