Boston Public Radio

The roller-coaster controversy has some people wondering how far "cancel culture" will go.

Even with housing assistance, many families need more help to move into high-opportunity areas, Chetty said.

Somerville Mayor Joseph Curtatone and Aeronaut's Jason McCool joined us for our weekly news quiz.

The governor has faced criticism for imposing a four month ban on vaping devices, but the Boston Globe business columnist said she thinks Baker made the right call.

Richard Tretheway and Jeff Sweenor joined Boston Public Radio to take calls from listeners and discuss the show's upcoming season.

Steve Hoffman said that while he's not critical of a four-month ban on vaping products, he is concerned it will have negative consequences.

Dr. Katherine Gergen Barnett gave a roundup of recent COVID-19 developments going on across the country, and here in Massachusetts, on Boston Public Radio this Tuesday. “Things are pretty dire across the country - everyday we hear news about states and governors who are finally putting in orders around masks and starting to close indoor dining, bars, and gyms,” she said. “Populations that really didn’t believe COVID-19 was true, or didn’t believe the severity of it, are now getting very ill, some on their death beds resenting this is true.” As for Thanksgiving festivities, Dr. Gergen Barnett asks people to get creative celebrating the holiday remotely. “Increasingly states with very high rates - and in Massachusetts we’re certainly barreling up to high numbers - we’re really asking people to please just have this Thanksgiving be like no other Thanksgiving, be creative, maybe take an outdoor hike with masks on,” she said. “There’s lots of other ways to appreciate gratitude on Thanksgiving besides sitting around a lot of food for a number of hours.” Gergen Barnett is the Vice Chair of Primary Care Innovation and Transformation and the Program Director in the Department of Family Medicine at Boston Medical Center. She is also an assistant professor of Family Medicine at Boston University School of Medicine.

Today on Boston Public Radio: We kicked off Monday’s show by talking with listeners about the disastrous coronavirus surge throughout the U.S., and new developments in the race for a vaccine. Boston Globe political reporter James Pindell discussed GOP efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, and weighed in on the slew of issues facing Democrats in the wake of underwhelming Election Day results. Emily Oster, Brown economist and co-author of CovidExplained.org, made her case for why the benefits of moving forward with in-person learning outweigh the risks, and discussed the economic divide between pandemic-era education for wealthy kids versus their less well-off peers. T.V. expert Bob Thompson reviewed the latest episodes of “The Crown” and “SNL,” and talked about the known details of a forthcoming show from Jon Stewart on Apple TV Plus. Reverends Irene Monroe and Emmett Price, hosts of GBH’s All Rev’d Up, debated the impact of evangelical voters on the 2020 election, and weighed in on the newly-emerged child sex abuse scandal within the Catholic Church, involving ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick. In light of HBO’s “The Undoing” returning to the format of one episode per week, we opened lines to talk with listeners about your feelings on T.V. binging. Inaugural poet Richard Blanco recited some poems about American hope in the face of turmoil.

Today on Boston Public Radio: We opened the show by talking with listeners about America’s worsening coronavirus crisis, and why you think the United States ended up where it is today. Filmmaker Frederick Wiseman discussed his new in-depth documentary about Boston Marty Walsh's administration, titled “City Hall.” Beat the Press host Emily Rooney talked about the spread of election misinformation on Fox News, read a COVID-themed list of fixations and fulminations, and previewed Friday’s episode of Beat the Press. Under the Radar and Basic Black host Callie Crossley talked about Rudy Giuliani's chaotic press conference at the Four Seasons Total Landscaping, Stacey Abrams’ efforts ahead of January's runoff election in Georgia, and her excitement about America’s (soon to be) first second gentleman Doug Emhoff. Suffolk County D.A. Rachael Rollins joined for our monthly “Ask the D.A.” series. She talked about her views on the prosecution style of Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, Netflix's true crime series “Trial 4," about a Boston murder case, and who she'd like to see appointed as A.G. under President-elect Joe Biden.

Today on Boston Public Radio: NBC “Meet the Press” moderator Chuck Todd discussed President Trump’s deluge of lawsuits attempting to delegitimize his election loss, and gave his take President-elect Biden’s leveled reaction. We opened lines to hear your takes on what exactly President Trump is planning, as he spreads false claims about voter fraud and refuses to concede his loss to Present-elect Biden. Former Suffolk County sheriff and secretary of public safety Andrea Cabral discussed members of the legal community who are actively distancing themselves from President Trump’s effort to litigate his way into a second term. She also reflected on why white American voters have so reliably swung Republican. Sen. Ed Markey talked about the surge of coronavirus throughout the U.S., and why he’s worried about it getting worse in the final months of the Trump administration. He also weighed in on Trump’s refusal to concede defeat, and the actions he hopes President-elect Biden will make to move the U.S. forward on the environment during in his first weeks in office. Former Mass. education secretary Paul Reville explained why he believes Mass. ought to be better prioritizing in-person learning, and discussed the moves President-elect Joe Biden can make to boost public education in a post-Betsy Devos era. Mike Astrue discussed President Trump’s unprecedented refusal to accept the results of the 2020 election, and reflected on some past presidential transitions that he helped facilitate. He also read a Vietnam War-era poem Richard Wilbur that's relevant for today, called "For the Student Strikers." Astrue served as counsel in both the Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations, and as commissioner of the Social Security Administration in both the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations. He also writes and translates poetry under the alias A.M. Juster, and his latest book of poetry is "Wonder and Wrath.” We closed out Thursday’s show by returning to listeners, to hear your thoughts and concerns about traveling college students and this year’s Thanksgiving.

Former Massachusetts education secretary Paul Reville returned to Boston Public Radio on Thursday, lamenting failures in the Commonwealth’s execution of pandemic-era public schooling. Amid news of high remote-learning rates and inefficient virtual classrooms, Reville warned that student learning losses are piling up, “literally day to day now,” and argued that the state needs to do more to prioritize education ahead of services like gyms, restaurants and movie theaters. “I think it needs to be a more urgent national and statewide priority, to put in place conditions in schools that’re going to give both teachers and parents that sense of security that they can send their children back to school safely,” he said. During the interview, Reville also discussed his hopes for the public education priorities of President-elect Joe Biden, and weighed in on the challenge of limiting the spread of COVID-19 as college students head home for Thanksgiving. Reville is a former Mass. 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.”