Boston Public Radio

Governor Charlie Baker has to be more direct about social distancing guidelines, regarding the novel coronavirus, says O'Connell.

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.

Today on Boston Public Radio: *Washington Post *politics reporter Annie Linskey previewed Thursday night's 2020 Democratic presidential debate. Boston Globe columnist Shirley Leung discussed her column on City Hall corruption. Homeland security expert Juliette Kayyem spoke about the ousted national security adviser John Bolton. Boston Globe columnist Alex Beam talked debated the origin of the name of Canada geese. WGBH's executive arts editor Jared Bowen reviewed The Goldfinch and Lyric Stage Company's production of Little Shop of Horrors. Media maven Sue O'Connell discussed the Bryon Hefner case and Doyle's closing in Jamaica Plain. We opened the lines to ask our listeners about restaurants and bars that have closed that are now missed.

Today on Boston Public Radio: We opened the lines to hear listeners' takes on how the United States is handling Bahamians seeking refuge from hurricane damage. NBC Boston sports reporter Trenni Kusnierek discussed Antonio Brown's deal with the Patriots, and other sports headlines. Chris Dempsey, director of Transportation for Massachusetts, broke down congestion pricing, and Governor Charlie Baker's hesitation to it. Corby Kummer, executive director of the Food and Society Policy program at the Aspen Institute, discussed how the movement to eat less meat is growing, to the concern of farming advocates. Abby Ellis, director of a new Frontline documentary that goes behind the headlines of the Flint water crisis, joined us to discuss the investigation, which revealed one of the country's largest outbreaks of Legionnaires disease was largely hidden from the public. CNN's John King gave us the latest on the breaking news Tuesday that President Donald Trump's National Security Adviser John Bolton is out, and previewed the Democratic debates. Bob Thompson, founding director of Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture at the Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse, reviewed his best and worst television of the week.

If you're a consumer at Chipotle or Sweetgreen, you might feel virtuous that the bowls used there are considered compostable. Yet new findings show that these compostable bowls can still cause harm to both the environment and human health. Food writer Corby Kummer joined Boston Public Radio on Tuesday to talk about what this new research means for the future of your food bowl. "A writer from The New Food Economy got 19 different samples of compostable bowls, from Chipotle to Sweetgreen. All of them had high content of fluorines, which is what these 'forever chemicals' contain," he said. Compostable bowls began to find increasing popularity when some cities like New York banned Styrofoam containers, Kummer said. "New York and others started banning single-use foam because it was so bad for the environment and it never biodegraded." These foam containers contained long chain PFAs, and switching to compostable materials seemed reasonable, Kummer said. Yet these compostable containers consist of the less researched short chain PFAs, he added. "What they didn't know is that all these short chain PFAs make compost toxic, because they never dissipate and they are long persistent in the human body and collect in your organs," Kummer said. The reason that PFAs are useful in food containers lies in their ability to resist liquid, preventing food from dripping through its holder, Kummer noted. "PFAs are used to resist water in cookware and carpets. The long forms [of PFAs] were ruled out for a lot human use, but there's no data on the shorter forms." A new law will go into effect in 2020 banning all PFA use in single-use serviceware in San Franciso. With this in mind, alternatives containers will be produced, Kummer said. "All sorts of manufacturers are racing to provide alternatives, since San Francisco will outlaw short form PFAs in January," he said. "Sweetgreen was the first to step up and say yes we're looking into alternatives and we're going to find a way around this." 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*: Shannon O'Brien, Former Massachusetts State Treasurer and Democratic nominee for Governor and Charlie Chieppo, principal of Chieppo Strategies, senior fellow at the Pioneer Institute and adjunct professor at Suffolk University, joined us for a political round-table. WGBH News Analyst Charlie Sennott discussed Trump's canceled secret Camp David meeting with the Taliban. Ronan Farrow joined us to break down his latest investigation for The New Yorker, in which he details MIT's broad effort to conceal its relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein Inaugural poet Richard Blanco shared poems about 9/11 for this installation of Village Voice. Reverends Irene Monroe and Emmett G Price III joined us for another edition of All Rev'd Up, and discussed the ex-gay Christianity movement's quiet comeback. Former New York Times science writer Tatiana Schlossberg discussed her new book, "Inconspicuous Consumption: The Environmental Impact You Don't Know You Have." We opened the lines to hear from listeners about how they're adapting to and fighting against climate change.

Today on Boston Public Radio: President Donald Trump doubled down on his use of an outdated map that included Alabama in Hurricane Dorian's path, instead of just admitting he was wrong. We opened the lines to hear from listeners if they have people in their lives that are just incapable of apologizing for making mistakes, big or small. Shirley Leung discussed her latest column, on the sexism surrounding a male judge's decision to hold a female attorney in contempt of court. The attorney, Susan Church, was advocating on behalf of her client, an activist who was arrested while protesting the "Straight Pride" parade. Prosecutors from Rachael Rollins' office requested some cases not be prosecuted, and the judge refused. Emily Rooney, host of Beat The Press on WGBH, joined us for her famous list of fixations and fulminations. Dan Adams, Boston Globe marijuana reporter, updated us on a proposed state regulation that would mandate cannabis delivery people to be outfitted with police-style body cameras, and the latest reporting on hazards of vaping cartridges. Tech writer Andy Ihnatko discussed the latest tech headlines, from Elon Musk's starlink network to YouTube being fined $170 million for violating kids' privacy. Callie Crossley, host of Under The Radar on WGBH, discussed frustration among African-American entrepreneurs for not being able to break into the cannabis industry in Massachusetts. Aaron Cohen of Gracie’s Ice Cream and Jacqueline Dole of Parlor Ice Cream Company join us for a weekly news quiz.