Boston Public Radio

Members of the House are expected to vote Thursday on a $2.2 trillion economic relief bill to mitigate financial effects of the coronavirus pandemic.

The "Meet the Press" moderator also defended former Vice President Joe Biden's limited public response to the pandemic.

Sports reporter Trenni Kusnierek says that Brady is promoting dangerous advertising during the coronavirus pandemic.

Former education secretary says state education officials need to make determinations about learning requirements as school shifts online.

In response to the outbreak, MassInc conducted a tracking poll, sponsored by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, to gauge public sentiment about COVID-19 within Massachusetts.

Self-isolation is one of the most effective ways of preventing the spread of the coronavirus.

Today on Boston Public Radio: Chuck Todd updates us on the latest political headlines, from debates over repealing the filibuster to the link between former President Donald Trump’s comments on COVID-19 and violence against Asian Americans. 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 open the phone lines to talk with listeners about the rise of violence against Asian Americans. Andrea Cabral shares her thoughts on New York District Attorney Cy Vance’s investigation into former President Trump’s taxes, and weighs in on Massachusetts’ compassionate release law. Cabral is the former Suffolk County sheriff and Massachusetts secretary of public safety. She’s currently the CEO of the cannabis company Ascend. We ask listeners what they’ll use as an excuse to get out of obligations once the pandemic ends. Andy Ihnatko explains the environmental impact of bitcoin and streaming services. He also discusses craft printing company Cricut’s decision to back off of a retroactive subscription fee for device owners. Ihnatko is a tech writer and blogger, posting at Ihnatko.com. Shirley Leung discusses the rise in violence against Asian Americans, and shared her thoughts on the spa and massage parlor killings in Georgia. She also talks about Gov. Charlie Baker’s declining approval rates. Leung is a business columnist for the Boston Globe.

Today on Boston Public Radio: Jonathan Gruber explains how the passage of President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus package could lower the cost of the Affordable Care Act. Gruber is the Ford Professor of Economics at MIT. He was instrumental in creating both the Massachusetts health-care reform and the Affordable Care Act, and his latest book is "Jump-Starting America How Breakthrough Science Can Revive Economic Growth and the American Dream." Next, we ask listeners what their thoughts were on Gov. Charlie Baker’s vaccine eligibility timeline. Juliette Kayyem discusses Tuesday’s spa and massage parlor killings in Atlanta, updating us on what Georgia officials are learning as they investigate the case. She also talks about a recently declassified report stating that the Russian government interfered with the 2020 U.S. election. 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. Art Caplan weighs in on Europe’s suspension of the AstraZeneca vaccine, and whether it’s safe to send kids back to school with new COVID-19 variants on the rise. 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. Bina Venkataraman talks about the resurrection of the abolitionist newspaper The Emancipator by The Boston Globe, Dr. Ibram X. Kendi and the Boston University Center for Antiracist Research. She also discusses her editorials on statewide police reform and Boston police overtime. Venkataraman is the editorial page editor at The Boston Globe. Her latest book is “The Optimist's Telescope: Thinking Ahead in a Reckless Age.” We end the show by talking with listeners about reentering society, post-pandemic.

Today on Boston Public Radio: We start the show by asking listeners whether their relationship with Amazon would change if an Amazon warehouse moved into their neighborhood. Trenni Kusnierek weigh in on Sen. Mitt Romney’s New York Times op-ed calling for an economic and diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. She also discusses Cam Newton’s deal with the Patriots, and the return of the Boston Marathon. Kusnierek is a reporter and anchor for NBC Sports Boston, and a weekly Boston Public Radio contributor. Lyndia Downie talks about the challenges of keeping the homeless community safe during the pandemic. She also explains how shelters across the country are converting old hotels and motels into supportive housing. Downie is president and executive director of the Pine Street Inn. Chris Dempsey and Jim Aloisi discuss service cuts to the MBTA, as more people receive vaccinations and return to work in-person. Dempsey is the Massachusetts Director of Transportation and former assistant secretary of transportation. Aloisi is the former Massachusetts transportation secretary, a member of the Transit Matters board, and contributor to Commonwealth Magazine. Rick Steves shares his thoughts on what travel may look like once more people get vaccinated. He also talks about the difference between how Ireland and the U.S. celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. Steves is an author, television and radio host and the owner of the Rick Steves' Europe tour group. You can catch his television show, "Rick Steves’ Europe," weeknights at 7:30 p.m. on GBH 2 and his radio show, “Travel With Rick Steves,” Sundays at 4 p.m. on GBH. John King updates us on the latest political headlines, from moves to repeal the filibuster to the 2022 midterm elections. 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 talking with listeners about what TV shows got them through the pandemic.

Today on Boston Public Radio: E.J. Dionne weighs in on the Biden administration’s cross-country “Help is Here” tour after the passage of the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill. 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 to hear what listeners had to say about Massachusetts’ Education Secretary James Peyser’s plan to address learning loss by expanding in-person summer school programs. Charlie Sennott discusses President Joe Biden’s charge to end the forever wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, touching on the current state of Al Qaeda in the Middle East. He also discussed Pope Francis’ visit to Iraq. Sennott is a GBH News analyst and the founder and CEO of The GroundTruth Project. Bob Thompson recaps Sunday night’s Grammys. He also shares his thoughts on how soon is too soon when it comes to joking about a tragedy. Thompson is the founding director of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture and a professor of television and popular culture at the Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. Revs. Irene Monroe and Emmett Price discusses the Vatican’s decree to not bless same-sex unions, and famous evangelist Beth Moore’s decision to leave the Southern Baptists. 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. Robert Lewis, Jr. talks about his near-death experience with COVID-19, and what the past year has been like while working with kids. Robert Lewis, Jr. is the founder of the nonprofit The BASE. We wraps up the show by asking listeners if they’re ready to return to working in-person.

Food writer Corby Kummer spoke to Boston Public Radio on Friday about how major fast food chains are bolstering infrastructure for mobile drive-through orders. Chipotle, for example, has created ‘Chipotlanes’ at many of its franchise stores for customers who have preordered meals online. “QR codes are big in drive-throughs now,” Kummer said. “If you go onto the app and you order your food, you can go into a special lane that various places are installing, it will read your QR code order, and your food will be delivered, some of it virtually contact-free.” Companies that previously had no drive-through lanes at all are creating them for the first time, like Shake Shack and Applebees, Kummer noted. Those with established fast food drive-through lanes are amping up the use of technology to improve customers’ experiences. Burger King is exploring the use of Bluetooth technology to calculate and predict a customer’s order based on everything from prior orders to the weather that particular day. “There’s more and more use of apps and more and more use of these drive-through lanes,” Kummer said. “Everybody’s jumping on this, the big clunky chains have caught on.”