Boston Public Radio

MIT president L. Rafael Reif said the university was unaware of Jeffrey Epstein's sexual misconduct when they took his money.

Investigative reporter Jenifer McKim discussed her latest piece.

What's a consequence of Boston's school choice registration? Chronically delayed buses, says Paul Reville.

Landry supports SNL's decision to fire new cast member Shane Gillis due to the comedian's history of racist remarks.

Wealthy people are swapping glitz and glamor for minimalism, says Michael Norton.

Rep. Ayanna Pressley called for an impeachment inquiry, but Senate Democrats aren't thrilled about it.

Today on Boston Public Radio: EJ Dionne weighs in on what the infrastructure bill, the Virginia mayoral race and the status of voting rights and the filibuster all mean for Democrats in 2022. Dionne is a columnist for The Washington Post and a senior fellow at The Brookings Institution. His latest book is "Code Red: How Progressives And Moderates Can Unite To Save Our Country." Then, we ask listeners about whether they have hope in the U.S. political system, or if the country is doomed to political silos. Acting Mayor Kim Janey reflects on her time as the first woman and first person of color to lead the city, how she brought her lived experiences to the job and what’s next for her after mayor-elect Michelle Wu takes office. Janey is acting mayor of Boston. Michael Curry discusses the state of the pandemic, including the availability of COVID-19 treatment pills, and a push from legislators to save local hospitals. Curry is the president and CEO of the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers and a member of Gov. Charlie Baker’s COVID Vaccine Advisory Group. He’s also a member of the National NAACP Board of Directors and chair of the board’s advocacy and policy committee. Revs. Irene Monroe and Emmett G. Price III argue that medical professionals need to go into churches to promote the COVID-19 vaccine, and talk about the role of white women in elections. Monroe is a syndicated religion columnist, the Boston voice for Detour’s African American Heritage Trail and co-host of the All Rev’d Up podcast. Price is the founding pastor of Community of Love Christian Fellowship in Allston, the Inaugural Dean of Africana Studies at Berklee College of Music and co-host of the All Rev’d Up podcast. Ali Noorani talks about cycles of anger towards immigrants, why it is so hard to unite the country around immigration issues and how to ease the Green Card backlog. Noorani is the president and chief executive officer of the National Immigration Forum. His forthcoming book is “Crossing Borders: The Reconciliation of a Nation of Immigrants.” We end the show by asking listeners if their opinions towards marijuana have changed after five years of legalization.

Today on Boston Public Radio: Shirley Leung discusses what Mayor-elect Michelle Wu’s win means for the Asian American community, and her latest piece on how female entrepreneurs secure venture funding in a male-dominated industry. Leung is a business columnist for The Boston Globe and a Boston Public Radio contributor. Then, we ask listeners about whether they plan to vaccinate their children aged 5-11. Callie Crossley talks about Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers lying about his vaccination status following his COVID-19 diagnosis. She also critiques the omnipresence of pink products for breast cancer awareness, as a form of “pinkwashing” in which companies fail to actually contribute to breast cancer research. Crossley hosts GBH’s Under the Radar and Basic Black. Andy Ihnatko criticizes Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook’s rebranding as Meta, and tells listeners how to proactively maximize their phone’s emergency features. Ihnatko is a tech writer and blogger, posting at Ihnatko.com. Sue O’Connell discusses Katie Couric’s memoir “Going There,” and the Senate confirmation of Justice Beth Robinson, the first openly LGBTQ+ woman to serve on any federal district court. 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. Thato Mwosa previews her latest film, “Memoirs of a Black Girl,” a coming of age story about a Black girl growing up in Roxbury up for a city-wide scholarship, and the decisions she must make to survive high school. Mwosa is an award-winning illustrator, screenwriter, playwright, filmmaker, and film teacher at Brookline High. “Memoirs of a Black Girl,” is available to stream online through Prime Video, Apple TV, Google Play and other video on demand services. We end the show by asking listeners their opinions on daylight savings time, as clocks turn back an hour this Sunday.

Today on Boston Public Radio: Chuck Todd begins the show by unpacking Tuesday’s election, including what Glenn Youngkin’s win for Virginia mayor means for Democrats and the role of education as a dividing issue. Todd is the moderator of “Meet the Press,” host of “Meet the Press Daily” on MSNBC and the political director for NBC News. Then, we ask listeners about their reactions to the election, including Youngkin’s win and Boston Mayor-elect Michelle Wu’s win. Andrea Cabral talks about why only one Black juror was chosen in the trial of Gregory McMichael, Travis McMichael and William Bryan, who shot Ahmaud Arbery in February 2020. Cabral is the former Suffolk County sheriff and the former Massachusetts secretary of public safety. She is currently the CEO of the cannabis company Ascend. Paul Reville weighs in on why he maintains hope following Tuesday’s election, and his thoughts on Wu’s education plan. 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.” Tori Bedford discusses her recent reporting on Mass. and Cass following Acting Mayor Kim Janey’s executive order, including the state of arrests, tent clearings, and proceedings at a makeshift courthouse in the Suffolk County House of Correction. Bedford covers Boston’s neighborhoods, including Dorchester, Roxbury and Mattapan for GBH. Jon Gruber draws parallels between the government in the hit Korean show “Squid Game” and the United States, including who viewers and voters find culpable for poverty and why rich countries fail to care for their poor. Gruber teaches 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.” We end the show by asking listeners whether they would eat insects, which was proposed as a solution to the environmental effect of farming at the U.N. Climate Summit in Glasgow.

Today on Boston Public Radio: We begin the show by asking listeners about their reactions to the results of election day yesterday. Art Caplan weighs in on how the country should approach vaccinating children aged 5-11, and why even some vaccinated parents might be hesitant to vaccinate their young children. Caplan is the Drs. William F. and Virginia Connolly Mitty Professor and founding head of the Division of Medical Ethics at NYU School of Medicine in New York City. Juliette Kayyem breaks down the latest news across the political divide, including the meaning of new Republican catchphrase “let’s go Brandon,” and a QAnon rally in Dallas yesterday, where supporters expected John F. Kennedy Jr. to emerge, despite having died over 20 years ago. 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. Meredith Goldstein takes questions from listeners on all things love, including on how having a baby changes relationships and how short men can cope with the insecurities of dating apps. Goldstein is an advice columnist and features writer for the Boston Globe. Her advice column, Love Letters, is a daily dispatch of wisdom for the lovelorn that has been running for more than a decade. She also hosts the Love Letters podcast. Jared Bowen previews this weekend’s theater events, including “Macbeth In Stride” at the ART, “Hadestown” at Broadway in Boston, and “WITCH” at the Huntington, as well as tours of two Frank Lloyd Wright houses in New Hampshire. Bowen is GBH’s executive arts editor and the host of Open Studio. We end the show by continuing our conversation with listeners about their reaction to yesterday’s election.

Craigie on Main, The Asgard, Tiger Mama, The Kinsale — these are just a few examples from a long list of Boston-area restaurants that have shuttered during the pandemic. With the end to outdoor dining this winter and uncertainty around the future of COVID, more restaurants could meet the same fate. “It’s going to get worse before it gets better,” Corby Kummer told Boston Public Radio on Tuesday. “There's so many factors, all of them precipitated by the close downs of the pandemic.” Long-term, industry-wide issues, such as low profit margins and low pay for restaurant staff, were exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. At the same time, restaurants are facing new pandemic-era challenges in the high number of staffers leaving the industry and “fights over rent,” as was the case of Eastern Standard and Island Creek Oyster Bar in Kenmore Square. Kummer notes that some restaurants, however, may have closed due to inadequate business planning. “Some very sharp business people are saying [that] there are so many restaurant business people who shouldn’t have been in business in the first place, if they didn’t have three months of reserves or if they didn’t know how to write a business plan,” he said. “That means there should be more assistance to restaurant owners on how to run businesses.” 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.