Boston Public Radio

Massachusetts' new guidelines for rationing medical resources prioritize young and otherwise healthy people.

The travel writer gave highest marks to the freeze-dried beef stroganoff

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?

A recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study found that adults who’ve tested positive for COVID-19 were twice as likely to have eaten at restaurants. But the study is facing criticism for its lack of distinction between diners who ate at indoor versus outdoor establishments, food writer Corby Kummer said. “I do trust the CDC, but the study they released did not differentiate between bars or restaurants or between indoor and outdoor dining,” he said. It’s a challenge for restaurants to successfully and safely have indoor dining, Kummer said, but possible if everyone, specifically diners, follow health guidelines. “There are going to be big problems for restaurants trying to open indoors, but there’s a path forward if they follow the rules and insist that their diners follow the rules,” he said. “As for bars, they’re probably not go to reopen until there’s a vaccine that’s well established, and that’s a good year.” 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.

Today on Boston Public Radio: Dahlia Lithwick, a legal correspondent and senior editor at Slate, discussed the legacy of the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg as a feminist icon, and reflected on her experience interviewing her in January. Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy discussed his views on the danger of politicizing the Supreme Court, and why he believes most Senate Republicans will fall in line behind Sen. McConnell’s efforts to fill the vacancy left by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg before the November election. We opened lines to hear your impressions on the passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and efforts by Senate leaders and President Trump to replace her before the November election. Martha Minow spoke on late Justice Bader-Ginsburg, and the legal legacy left in her wake. Minow is the 300th Anniversary University Professor at Harvard University, and a former Dean of Harvard Law School. Her latest book is "When Should Law Forgive?" We reopened lines to talk with listeners about the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and what’s to come for the Supreme Court. Boston University law professor Jay Wexler, who clerked for Bader Ginsburg in the late nineties, talked about his experience working under the late Supreme Court justice. Michael Curry and Jennifer Nassour offered their takes on Justice Bader Ginsburg’s passing, and weighed in on the effort by Senate Republicans and President Trump to fill her vacancy before the election. Curry is the Deputy CEO & General Counsel for the Mass. League of Community Health Centers and a member of the National NAACP Board of Directors, where he chairs the board's Advocacy and Policy Committee. Nassour is the former chair of the Mass. Republican Party, and founder of the Pocketbook Project, a non-profit organization dedicated to recruiting, supporting, and electing more female candidates to public office. We closed the show by returning to listeners, to get your thoughts on the passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and discuss the road ahead for the Supreme Court.

Today on Boston Public Radio: Former FBI agent Peter Strzok weighed in on corruption and within the Trump administration and its impact on U.S. national security, in a conversation about his new book, “Compromised: Counterintelligence and the Threat of Donald J. Trump." Boston City Councilor Andrea Campbell offered her thoughts on Mayor Walsh's police task force, the rocky transition to hybrid learning for Boston Public Schools students, and discussed whether she intends to enter the 2021 Boston mayoral race. Beat the Press host Emily Rooney reflected on Thursday night’s town hall with Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, critiques of the media from writer James Fallows, and read a rank choice voting-themed list of fixations and fulminations. CNN analyst Juliette Kayyem discussed news that a former homeland security advisor to Vice President Mike Pence is publicly backing Joe Biden for president, and explained why she believes the Trump administration is directly responsible for the bulk of the nearly 200,000 U.S. coronavirus deaths. Under the Radar host Callie Crossley talked about a recent assertion from AG Bill Barr that COVID-19 restrictions are akin to slavery, and polls showing a close race for South Carolina’s Senate seat between Sen. Lindsay Graham and Democratic challenger Jamie Harrison. Tech writer and BPR contributor Andy Ihnatko called in to answer all your remote-learning tech questions.

Homeland security expert Juliette Kayyem spoke with Boston Public Radio on Friday about Olivia Troye, former homeland security, counterterrorism and coronavirus adviser to Vice President Mike Pence, who quit her job in July and has now endorsed Joe Biden. “She’s a significant staffer, so it is big in the sense that she left the task force, she left government, and then she goes public in support for Biden,” Kayyem said. “It assures the president to be the pig that he is in terms of how he talks about people.” 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.

Today on Boston Public Radio: NBC “Meet the Press” moderator Chuck Todd weighed in on the latest headlines around November’s elections, and President Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic. GBH News’ Adam Reilly discussed new GBH/MassINC polling on voter attitudes around the 2021 Boston mayoral race. We opened lines to ask listeners: is it time for leaders in the science and medical communities to call out President Trump’s reckless statements on coronavirus and climate change? Former Suffolk County Sheriff and Secretary of Public Safety Andrea Cabral discussed the recent settlement reached between the city of Louisville, Ky. and the family of Breonna Taylor, as well as last week’s study from Harvard Law School on stark racial disparities in the Mass. justice system. Harvard Business School behavioral economist Michael Norton discussed research on leisure, and what we know about those of us who have a hard time letting loose. We also opened lines to hear your thoughts on active and inactive leisure time. Shannon O’Brien, former Mass. Treasurer and advisory board member of the Brookline-based voting app Voatz, discussed growing interest in online voting, and the pros and cons of current online voting systems. Travel guru Rick Steves called in to reflect on a series journals he wrote as a teenage traveling “urchin,” and discuss how traveling has shaped his worldview. We opened lines to talk with listeners about what Rick Steves describes as the “traveler’s mindset,” and ask: have you been able to use the coronavirus pandemic to discover new things about the places around you?