Boston Public Radio

"Parkland Rising" follows students leading March For Our Lives, grieving parents and others who used the tragedy in Parkland to change the national conversation about gun reform.

"Saving American Cities" tells the history of the man who brought a brutal City Hall to Boston, leveled an entire neighborhood, and sparked an economic revival.

The new law requires women seeking an abortion to have a medical procedure performed that serves no medical purpose.

The man behind the Ice Bucket Challenge, which raised close to a billion dollars for ALS research, has died.

An art installation of a banana taped to a wall sold for $120,000. Then, another artist ate it off the museum wall.

The "Sesame Street" actor and puppeteer died on Sunday.

Today on Boston Public Radio: Saraya Wintersmith updates us on the investigation into former Boston Police Commissioner Dennis White amid allegations of domestic violence. Wintersmith covers Boston City Hall for GBH News. Next, we open the phone lines, talking with listeners about transparency in police departments. Rob Anderson talks about what the past year has been like for The Canteen, his Provincetown-based restaurant, from the psychological impact of trying to keep business afloat during COVID-19 to a drop in employees. Anderson is the chef and owner of The Canteen in Provincetown. Charlie Sennott discusses the escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and how U.S. politicians have responded to the rising crisis. Sennott is a GBH News analyst and the founder and CEO of The GroundTruth Project. Ali Noorani speaks about President Joe Biden’s meeting with DACA recipients last week, and the Biden administration’s decision to lift the refugee resettlement ceiling for this fiscal year. Noorani is President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Immigration Forum. His latest book is "There Goes the Neighborhood: How Communities Overcome Prejudice and Meet the Challenge of American Immigration.” Revs. Irene Monroe and Emmett G. Price III weigh in on House lawmakers’ advancement of a bill that would form a commission to develop proposals on reparations for slavery. They also preview this week’s episode of All Rev’d Up. 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. Then, we ask listeners how they felt about Gov. Charlie Baker’s updated COVID-19 guidelines. Bob Thompson discusses the end of “The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” and comedian Ziwe Fumidoh’s new Showtime series, “ZIWE.” He also talks about the endurance of sitcoms. 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.

Today on Boston Public Radio: Superintendent Brenda Cassellius discusses the Boston School Committee’s decision to raise graduation requirement standards for students, and the school system’s capital improvement plan. She also talks about addressing learning loss among students. Cassellius is the superintendent of Boston Public Schools. Next, we talk with listeners about the CDC’s updated mask guidelines. Emily Rooney shares her thoughts on the trial of former Fall River Mayor Jasiel Correia. She also previews tonight’s episode of Beat the Press. Rooney is the host of Beat the Press, which you can watch Friday nights at 7 p.m. Leonard Egerton and Clarrissa Cropper talk about what the past year has been like for The Frugal Bookstore, from surpassing their GoFundMe campaign goal to a spike in orders of antiracist literature after the murder of George Floyd. Egerton and Cropper are the husband and wife team behind The Frugal Bookstore in Roxbury’s Nubian Square. Andy Ihnatko discusses the Federal Communications Commission's Emergency Broadband Benefit program, and the cyberattack on Colonial Pipeline. Ihnatko is a tech writer and blogger, posting at Ihnatko.com. Dr. Terri Bright talks about pet separation anxiety, and answers listeners’ questions about their pets. Dr. Bright is the lead behaviorist at the MSPCA’s Angell Animal Medical Center.

Today on Boston Public Radio: Chuck Todd shares his thoughts on the future of the GOP after the ouster of Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WI). 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 ask listeners what pre-pandemic behaviors they’ve returned to. Shirley Leung talks about the top CEOs who received high pay increases as many Americans faced pay cuts and layoffs during the pandemic. She also discussed President Joe Biden’s approval of the Vineyard Wind project. Leung is a business columnist for the Boston Globe. Corby Kummer discusses the labor shortage restaurants are facing as they reopen and prepare for summer business. He also shares his thoughts on restaurant owner Daniel Humm’s decision to not serve meat in his restaurant, Eleven Madison Park. 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. Paul Reville weighs in on American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten’s call for schools to reopen in the fall. He also argues in support of keeping the MCAS exam as a high school graduation requirement. Reville is the former Massachusetts secretary of education and a professor at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education, where he also heads the Education Redesign Lab. His latest book, co-authored with Lynne Sacks, is “Collaborative Action for Equity and Opportunity: A Practical Guide for School and Community Leaders.” Sue O’Connell talks about Bill and Melinda Gates’ divorce amid rumors the couple split due to Bill’s meetings with Jeffrey Epstein. She also discusses President Biden’s reinstatement of anti-bias healthcare protections for transgender people. O’Connell is the co-publisher of Bay Windows and the South End News, as well as NECN's political commentator and explainer-in-chief. We wrap up the show by asking listeners whether they’ve reevaluated their jobs over the course of the pandemic.

Food writer Corby Kummer spoke to Boston Public Radio on Thursday about the current worker shortage in the restaurant industry. Many workers simply left Boston during the pandemic, Kummer said. “People who had options found other sources of work and moved to places that were cheaper to live than Boston,” he said. “They decided they’re going to be where their money will go farther and where they can be with their families.” Kummer says that there’s been an exodus of people who find it cheaper and easier to live elsewhere. But businesses and restaurants can incentivize workers to come back and stay, he added. “Your duty is to protect your staff,” he said. “For restaurants reopening, the first thing a manager or owner has to do is work hard to get their staff fully vaccinated.” 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: We start the show by opening phone lines, talking with listeners about Rep. Liz Cheney’s (R-WI) ouster from GOP leadership. Jonathan Gruber weighs in on whether the U.S. should implement a value-added tax to help fund President Joe Biden’s “Build Back Better” agenda. 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." Juliette Kayyem discusses the cyber attack on the Colonial Pipeline, and explained how ransomware attacks on private companies are on the rise. She also talks about the crash of a Chinese rocket in the Indian Ocean, and the potential for more space debris and rocket parts to fall to earth. 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 shares his thoughts on the possibility of school COVID-19 vaccine mandates, and an increase in Americans on diets. Caplan is director of the Division of Medical Ethics at the New York University School of Medicine. Chuck Wexler explains the nationwide decline in police applicants, and discusses changes in police training over the last few decades. Wexler is the executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF), and a former member of the Boston Police Department. Brendan Nyhan talks about his research into misinformation, emphasizing the role digital technology has played in accelerating the spread of misinformation. Nyhan is a professor in the Department of Government at Dartmouth College, and the co-founder of Bright Line Watch, which monitors practices of and threats to American democracy. We end the show by asking listeners what they thought about Apple’s new AirTag tracking devices.