Boston Public Radio

Bloomberg should pay off all the fines preventing ex-felons from voting, Cabral said.

"I'm an engineer, we never use the word 'perfect,'" Sununu said. "But we will get it 100% right.

The president's former campaign manager listed infrastructure as one of the issues Washington failed to deliver on during the President’s first term.

NBC’s “Meet the Press” moderator said he was surprised the candidates haven't made more slip-ups because of exhaustion.

Many New Hampshire voters still haven't made up their minds on the day of the first primary election in the nation.

The presidential candidate argues for a universal basic income to fight job loss as markets change.

Speaking on a Friday edition of Boston Public Radio, food writer Corby Kummer presented a plea to diners: if you’ve got to cancel your dinner reservation, do your best to give the restaurant 12 hours notice – at minimum. No-shows, for struggling restaurants operating at reduced occupancy, “are really damaging,” Kummer explained in a tease of his forthcoming Diner Code of Conduct. “Be considerate of restaurants … if you make a reservation and you can’t come, be sure to tell them well in advance.” Corby 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.

Today on Boston Public Radio: Washington Post personal finance columnist Michelle Singletary discusses “Sincerely Michelle,” her ongoing series addressing misconceptions about racial equity in the world of personal finance, and reflects on her own experience coming up in media as a Black woman. NBC “Meet the Press” moderator Chuck Todd runs through the latest political headlines, touching on anticipated COVID stimulus consensus in Congress, President-elect Joe Biden’s undying faith in the Senate, and the slowly-growing number of GOP members willing to acknowledge Biden’s November election victory. Boston City Councilor and mayoral candidate Andrea Campbell discusses the Boston City Council’s Sunday vote to establish an Office of Police Accountability and Transparency, and next steps for its implementation. She also touches on Gov. Baker's decision not to sign the Mass. police reform bill, and pushback against a proposed charter school in Roslindale. Former Suffolk County sheriff and secretary of public safety Andrea Cabral discusses Georgia’s legacy with of voter suppression, and what she’s anticipating from the state’s Senate runoff races in January. She also talks about efforts from the outgoing Trump administration to create special council investigations into President-elect Joe Biden’s son Hunter, and the president's still-unsubstantiated claims of vote rigging in the 2020 election. Former Mass. education secretary Paul Reville discusses the Boston Teachers Union’s Sunday evening vote of no confidence against BPS Superintendent Brenda Cassellius, ongoing issues with remote learning throughout Mass., and questions around whether schools ought to keep the snow day alive through the pandemic. Next, we open lines to talk about Thursday’s snowstorm, asking: are school districts walking on thin ice by denying students a well-earned snow day? Inaugural poet Richard Blanco returns for our monthly edition of "The Village Voice," where he discusses poetry and how it can help us better understand our lives and times. This time around, he reads a selection of poems about gratitude, renewal, and healing. He also talks about the Inaugural Poem Project and Contest for Students – more information on which can be found here.

Michelle Singletary, nationally syndicated personal finance columnist at the Washington Post, said she faced a lot of questions about her credentials when she was first hired. So she pulled her editor aside and asked him point blank, was she hired because she’s Black? The answer her editor gave herShe was, but like all things, it’s more complicated. “I hired you because you’re Black, I hired you because you’re young. I hired you because you were raised in a low income household so you know what it means not to have a lot of money. I hired you because you have a Masters’ Degree,’” Singletary recalled her editor telling her. “He said ‘I hired you for the totality of who you are,’ ... I get teared up now when I think about it, because he said ‘I didn’t want you to run away from your Blackness.’” That’s where Singletary’s latest series, Sincerely Michelle, starts: affirmative action. Part memoir, part history lesson, the series breaks down misconceptions about race and finance through letters to readers. She tackles reparations, misconceptions about Black people and their investment in education, criticisms about the way people of color spend their money, and so much more about the Black American experience. “I wanted to write these letters to let people know there are people behind these statistics,” she said. “I get that you don’t understand this, so let me walk you through this stuff, let me put it in context so that we can have a candid conversation and try to fix these things.” Reflecting on 2020 — a year filled with protest for racial equality and police reform against the backdrop of a deadly pandemic — Singletary said she has hope that America is ready to have the tough conversations that are necessary for change. Singletary said the comments section on her columns were turned off, because of racist messages, but she left her email for people to reach out. “Some of the things I received were so vile, and so horrible that I cannot imagine that it’s 2020 and people still think this way,” she said. “There were days, I just sat at my desk, slumped, and cried, like ‘I cannot believe you think I’m so different because of the color of my skin.’” But, Singletary said she also received comments from white Americans thanking her for making their own micro-aggressions and racism clear to them, and helping to start conversations about race. “So, I actually do have some hope.” Michelle Singletary is personal finance columnist for the Washington Post. Author of "The 21 Day Financial Fast." Her column "The Color of Money" is syndicated in newspapers across the country.

Today on Boston Public Radio: Adam Reilly discusses his reporting on scholastic sports during the era of COVID, and the pressure on local-level leaders around whether or not to postpone basketball and hockey seasons as Mass. returns to phase three, step one of Gov. Baker's reopening plan. We open lines to talk with listeners about your experiences with scholastic sports during the pandemic. Ali Noorani, CEO of the National Immigration Forum, discusses conclusions drawn Tuesday by Mass. A.G. Maura Healey that Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson violated the civil rights of immigrant detainees. He also weighs in on a recently-filed court case out of Texas that’s threatening the future of DACA. Medical ethicist Art Caplan talks about the latest news on the COVID-19 vaccine front, reflecting on how the world’s richest nations have already bought up much the supply. He also offers his take on right-wing criticism of First Lady-elect Jill Biden using "Dr." in her title. Next, we return to listeners, opening lines to talk about your feelings around the upcoming snowstorm. CNN analyst Juliette Kayyem discusses the importance of setting up fair expectations for the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccines, issues with vaccine skepticism, and explains what's publicly known about a recent string of Russian hacks against several federal U.S. agencies. Journalist and naturalist Sy Montgomery closes out Wednesday’s show by discussing her work patrolling Cape Cod beaches to help protect cold-stunned sea turtles, recapping a dramatic swan rescue in New York City, and explaining the bizarre ways that bees are protecting themselves against murder hornets.

Today on Boston Public Radio: We open lines to talk about the latest round of pandemic rollbacks in Mass., asking: is this the right thing to do? NBC Sports Boston anchor and reporter Trenni Kusnierek talks about the economic consequences of the truncated, physically distanced year in professional and collegiate sports, Celtics player Jaylen Brown getting named a “Bostonian of the Year” by the Boston Globe, and the Cleveland Indians’ announcement that they're going to change their name. Self-described “transit nerds” Jim Aloisi and Chris Dempsey talk about the ramifications of the MBTA board's approval of severe pandemic-related service cuts, and offer their takes on President-elect Biden's best options for transportation secretary. Behavioral economist Michael Norton talks about the science behind people's decision making processes, and why we have a tendency to turn down opportunities even when there’s nothing to lose. Boston Globe cannabis reporter Dan Adams discusses the latest news on the state of cannabis in Mass., four years after voters elected to legalize marijuana, including the opening of the first legal pot shop in Hyde Park, head by a former Boston firefighter and a Roxbury-based activist. He also touches on what he’s expecting from the incoming Biden administration on the question of federal cannabis legalization. CNN’s John King discusses the latest political headlines out of Washington, including Monday’s electoral college vote confirming President-elect Joe Biden’s November win, and President Trump’s announcement that Bill Barr will be stepping down in his final month as A.G. We close out Tuesday's show by returning to listeners, asking: what are you saying "good riddance" to as we head out of 2020?