Boston Public Radio

The Harvard professor explained several new policies hospitals are implementing to slow the spread of coronavirus.

For HBO subscribers Bob Thompson recommends the documentary “After Truth: Disinformation and the Cost of Fake News,” an intimate look at the impact of disinformation on real people.

Boston's economy is taking a hit, as restaurants and hotels are forced to close.

We must follow social distancing guidelines to prevent the spread of COVID-19, but loneliness may follow.

Walsh said he prefers voluntarily measures to prevent spread of coronavirus but that the situation could change.

In fighting the outbreak of COVID-19, Rep. Ayanna Pressley is calling for legislation to ensure that the nation’s prisoners are not left out of any federal relief programs

Today on Boston Public Radio: We begin the show by asking listeners how they’re faring as students, teachers and parents figure out back to school plans amid Omicron spread. Trenni Kusnierek talks about Antonio Brown walking off the field mid-game and getting fired from the Buccaneers, and a hockey fan saving an NHL staffer from cancer by spotting a mole from the stands. Kusnierek is a reporter and anchor for NBC Sports Boston, and a weekly Boston Public Radio contributor. Carol Rose discusses the ACLU’s national and local priorities in 2022, including work on voting rights, police reform and facial recognition software. Rose is the Executive Director of the ACLU of Massachusetts. A.C. Thompson previews his documentary on the Jan. 6 insurrection, and weighs in on the state of far-right extremism in the U.S. Thompson is a senior reporter at ProPublica and a FRONTLINE correspondent. His documentary, “American Insurrection,” airs at 10 p.m. eastern on PBS and will be available to stream on Frontline’s website, YouTube, and the PBS video app. Corby Kummer talks about the Biden Administration’s push to aid small meat producers, Starbucks requiring all U.S. employees to get vaccinated and a pastry program in an Italian prison. 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. John King weighs in on the status of Build Back Better and the state of media and democracy in the U.S. 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 asking listeners what phrases they would like to get rid of in 2022.

Today on Boston Public Radio: We begin the show by checking in with listeners about how they’re doing as Omicron spreads in the new year. Mike Deehan updates listeners on the state of the governor’s race, including potential Democratic and Republican candidates, after Governor Charlie Baker announced he will not be running for reelection. Deehan covers the statehouse for GBH News. Charlie Sennott discusses the latest international news, including Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s funeral and the state of the Taliban in Afghanistan. Sennott is a GBH News analyst and the founder and CEO of The GroundTruth Project. Jim Aloisi and Stacy Thompson talk about Mayor Michelle Wu’s transit agenda, including free fare pilot programs, and the problems with parking in the city. Aloisi is the former Massachusetts transportation secretary, a member of the Transit Matters board and contributor to Commonwealth Magazine. Thompson is executive director of Livable Streets. The Revs. Irene Monroe and Emmett G. Price III discuss Tutu’s legacy in helping end South African apartheid following the Archbishop’s funeral Saturday. Monroe is a syndicated religion columnist, the Boston voice for Detour’s African American Heritage Trail and co-host of the All Rev’d Up podcast. Price is the founding pastor of Community of Love Christian Fellowship in Allston, the inaugural dean of Africana studies at Berklee College of Music and co-host of the All Rev’d Up podcast. Sara Jensen Carr tells stories of how epidemics throughout history have shaped geographic landscapes, including in the Boston area. Carr is an assistant professor of architecture, urbanism and landscape at Northeastern University. Her new book is “The Topography of Wellness: How Health and Disease Shaped the American Landscape.” We end the show by asking listeners about their new years resolutions, if they’re setting them at all.

In the last episode of Boston Public Radio in 2021, we're bringing you some of our favorite chefs from recent months. Joanne Chang talks about her latest book inspired by her baking journals, “Pastry Love: A Baker’s Journal of Favorite Recipes.” Chang is a James Beard Award–winning pastry chef. Bren Smith shares different ways to eat kelp in his book “Eat Like a Fish: My Adventures Farming the Ocean to Fight Climate Change.” Smith is a former commercial fisherman and executive director of the non-profit GreenWave, focused on regenerative farming in water ecosystems. Jacques Pépin and Shorey Wesen discuss cooking together as grandfather and granddaughter as part of their latest collaboration, the cookbook “A Grandfather’s Lessons: In the Kitchen with Shorey.” Pépin is a chef, author and PBS contributor. Wesen is his granddaughter and cookbook collaborator. Dolores Huerta talks about why her work as a labor leader for farm workers’ rights remains as relevant today as it was in the 1960s, and about coining the phrase “Sí, se puede.” Huerta is an activist and co-founder of the National Farmworkers Association alongside Cesar Chaves. Nathan Myhrvold dives into the world of bread baking with his latest cookbook, a 50 pound, six-volume series titled “Modernist Bread, The Art and Science.” Myhrvold is a Microsoft executive turned experimental chef and founder of The Cooking Lab. Marcus Samuelsson highlights Ethiopian, Swedish and other international cuisines in talking about his PBS show “No Passport Required.” Samuelsson is a global restaurateur, chef and TV host. Andrew Li and Irene Li share food and tips from their latest cookbook, which they wrote with their sister Margaret Li: “Double Awesome Chinese Food: Irresistible and Totally Achievable Recipes from Our Chinese-American Kitchen.” Andrew Li and Irene Li are co-founders of the restaurant Mei Mei, along with their sister Margaret Li. 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.

Today on Boston Public Radio we're on tape, bringing you some of our favorite conversations from recent months. Dylan Thuras tells stories of strange food from around the world, including psychedelic honey, the anti-masterbatory origins of graham crackers and the great molasses flood in Boston in 1919. Thuras is the co-founder and creative director of Atlas Obscura, and the co-author of the New York Times bestseller “Atlas Obscura: An Explorer’s Guide to the World’s Hidden Wonders.” His latest book is “Gastro Obscura: A Food Adventurer’s Guide.” It was co-authored with Cecily Wong. Daniel Leader discusses his latest book, "Living Bread." Leader is a pioneer in the American baking world. Arthur Brooks explains how charitable giving can help a person find happiness, and other tips on the search for fulfillment. He is the William Henry Bloomberg professor of the practice of public leadership at the Harvard Kennedy School, a professor of management practice at the Harvard Business School, the happiness correspondent at The Atlantic and host of the podcast series "How to Build a Happy Life." Jelani Cobb explains how he positioned the Kerner Commission Report in today’s political context for his book, “The Essential Kerner Commission Report.” Cobb is a staff writer at The New Yorker and the Ira A. Lipman Professor of Journalism at the Columbia Journalism School. Daniel Lieberman talks about his new book on the evolution of human beings and our aversion to exercise, called "Exercised: Why Something We Never Evolved To Do Is Healthy And Rewarding.” Lieberman is a professor in the Department of Human Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University. Rosa Brooks discusses her new book, “Tangled Up In Blue: Policing The American City,” and describes her experiences as a reserve police officer in D.C. Brooks is a former Pentagon official in the Obama administration and a professor of law and policy at Georgetown Law. Fiona Hill previews her memoir, “There Is Nothing for You Here: Finding Opportunity in the Twenty-First Century,” and weighs in on the similarities and differences between former United States President Donald Trump and Russia President Vladimir Putin. Hill served as deputy assistant to the president and senior director for European and Russian affairs in the Trump administration from 2017 to 2019, and was a witness in Trump’s first impeachment hearing. Spencer Buell and Erica Walker talks about the rise of noise complaints in Boston, as well as what — and if — residents and politicians should do about it. Buell is a staff writer for Boston Magazine. Walker is a noise researcher who founded Noise and the City, as well as an assistant professor of epidemiology at Brown.

Today’s Boston Public Radio is on tape. We’re bringing you the ultimate book club — back-to-back conversations from over the years with some of our favorite writers: Kevin Young shares from his collection of poetry, “Brown.” Young is the poetry editor of The New Yorker and the director of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. Ann Patchett discusses the autobiographical elements of her book “Commonwealth,” and makes a pitch to all readers to shop at local, independent bookstores. Patchett is an author and the owner of Parnassus Books in Nashville, Tenn. Sy Montgomery offers up details about her newly-released book: an illustrated children’s version of her memoir, “How to Be a Good Creature.” Montgomery is a naturalist, journalist and frequent Boston Public Radio contributor. David Duchovny talks about his book, “Miss Subways: A Novel.” Duchovny is an actor and writer, and recently appeared in the Netflix series “The Chair.” Elizabeth Gilbert discusses her book “Big Magic,” a self-help book about tapping into creativity. Gilbert is a journalist and writer — her other books include “Eat, Pray, Love” and “Committed.” T.C. Boyle drops in on the dropout culture with his novel “Outside Looking In,” which is based on the LSD research of Timothy Lear. Boyle is a novelist and short story writer. Lizzie Post weighs in on cannabis culture in her new book, “Higher Etiquette: A Guide to the World of Cannabis, From Dispensaries to Dinner Parties.” Post is a writer, co-director of The Emily Post Institute and great-great-granddaughter of etiquette writer Emily Post. Sebastian Smee talks about his book “The Art of Rivalry: Four Friendships, Betrayals, and Breakthroughs in Modern Art.” Smee is an art critic for The Washington Post.