Boston Public Radio

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A new law in California guarantees free meals to public school students.

Inaugural poet Richard Blanco gave Jim and Margery a crash course in poetry.

TV guru Bob Thompson previewed the week in entertainment.

In his latest special report for The Boston Globe, Nestor Ramos looks into how the Cape is changing in the face of climate change.

On Monday, Charlie Chieppo and Michael Curry joined Boston Public Radio for their weekly political round table

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell condemned former President Trump for inciting the insurrection on Jan. 6, just hours after he’d voted to acquit Trump of the charge in the impeachment trial. McConnell, like many of his Republican colleagues, argued that regardless of Trump’s role, the impeachment trial was unconstitutional because it occurred after he had left office. Suffolk University Law Professor Renée Landers told Boston Public Radio that even though the acquittal was “preordained,” the trial itself was “necessary for the proceedings to happen, because … it established a record for the country about what happened on Jan. 6 and what the president’s actions were that day that led to an assault on the Capitol building.” Landers is a Professor of Law, Faculty Director of the Health and Biomedical Law Concentration, and Faculty Director of the Masters of Science in Law Life Sciences program at Suffolk University Law School in Boston.

Today on Boston Public Radio: Renée Landers shares her legal analysis of former President Trump’s impeachment trial, and discussed the importance of Congress establishing a timeline of what happened during the Jan. 6 Capitol siege for the public record. Landers is a professor of law and faculty director of the health and biomedical law concentration at Suffolk University’s School of Law. Next, we open the phone lines to hear listeners’ thoughts on the acquittal of former President Trump. Gerly Adrien speaks about her recent Boston Globe op-ed, where she discussed the higher standards she's being held to as a Black, female politician. She also touches on her colleagues’ calls for her resignation, and her ongoing campaign for reelection. Adrien is the City Councilor At-Large for the City of Everett. Jeannie Suk Gerson explains former President Trump’s acquittal in a political and cultural context. She also weighs in on whether Capitol siege rioters could be charged with treason, and former President Trump’s defense team’s legal strategy. Suk Gerson is the John H. Watson, Jr. Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and a contributor to The New Yorker. We talk with listeners about former President Trump’s impeachment trial. Revs. Irene Monroe and Emmett G. Price III discuss the racist messaging behind former President Trump’s “Stop the Steal” narrative, and President Biden’s Lunar New Year message condemning racism against Asians. 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. Shirley Leung talks about the Baker administration’s handling of unemployment benefits and small business assistance. She also discusses Boston’s racial wealth gap. Leung is a business columnist for the Boston Globe. We wrap up the show by asking listeners how they were spending school vacation week during quarantine.

Today on Boston Public Radio: We begin the show by taking listener calls about Gov. Baker’s “vaccine buddy system.” Sue O’Connell talks about the President of the Tokyo Olympics stepping down after sexist comments, and the potential for Trump family members to run for political office. She also weighs in on the resignation of Mass. Climate Change Undersecretary David Ismay. 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. Next, we open phone lines to talk with listeners about day four of former President Trump’s impeachment trial. Scott Brown shares his views on today’s political climate, touching on divisiveness in Congress and the lawyers who proceeded with the claim that the 2020 election was stolen. Brown is the former U.S. Ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa, the former U.S. Senator for Mass., and is now the Dean and President of New England Law Boston. We speak with listeners about the state of the Republican Party, and what they think the outcome of the impeachment trial could be. Callie Crossley discusses Gov. Baker’s “vaccine buddy system,” former First Lady Michelle Obama’s upcoming Netflix cooking show, and Aunt Jemima’s name change to The Pearl Milling Company. Crossley hosts GBH’s Under the Radar and Basic Black. We end the show by talking with listeners about the possibility of acquittal for former President Trump.

Today on Boston Public Radio: Jennifer Horn, former chair of the New Hampshire Republican Party, weighs in on former President Trump’s impeachment trial, and touches on her recent resignation from the Lincoln Project. She also speaks about how the country can become less divisive, and the state of disinformation in politics. We open phone lines to talk with listeners about how they thought the impeachment trial of former President Trump would proceed. Former Suffolk County sheriff and secretary of public safety Andrea Cabral shares her thoughts on dismissive comments from Senate Republicans about the impeachment trial of former President Trump, and offers critique of the arguments from Trump’s legal defense team. She also talks about the recent abolishment of the death penalty in Va. Next, we ask listeners what they thought about some Republican senators’ responses to audio and video evidence presented at the impeachment trial. Former Mass. education secretary Paul Reville discusses the challenges school systems are facing in reopening due to the emergence of new COVID-19 variants. He also speaks about one of the biggest issues on educators’ minds: how to address learning loss and gaps in students. We end the show by asking listeners if they believe that Democrats have done enough to make their case that former President Trump should be held responsible for inciting the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

Former Massachusetts Education Secretary Paul Reville spoke to Boston Public Radio on Thursday about the timeline for reopening schools amid the pandemic. “It’s clear that for the balance of this semester, we’re not going to have in-person education fully restored in any of our big cities,” he said. “The fall [semester] is still an open question and depends how far we can penetrate with the vaccine.” Paul Reville is former state secretary of education and a professor at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education, where he also runs the Education Redesign Lab. His latest book is "Broader, Bolder, Better: How Schools and Communities Help Students Overcome the Disadvantages of Poverty."