Boston Public Radio

MGH employees do more than take care of patients — they also sing!

The civil rights organization wants more information about potential civil rights violations.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is trying to block state department officials' testimony.

The recovery of dead bodies is weeks behind in progress, Juliette Kayyem says.

The executive director of the National Immigration Forum questioned how officials in the Trump administration can ignore the president's rhetoric anymore.

Though Kennedy's challenge to Ed Markey mirrors other primaries that have toppled insiders, Miles Howard and Stephanie Murray say this race is a little different.

Today on Boston Public Radio: NBC Sports Boston Reporter Trenni Kusnierek discussed whether the Patriots’ Sunday loss to the Miami Dolphins signals the end of their reign in the NFL. Constitutional law professor Kent Greenfield discussed his recent op-ed criticizing Sen. Mitch McConnell’s partiality ahead of the Senate impeachment trial. In our second and third hours we spotlighted some of our favorite conversations, including: Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Robert Woodward discussed his book FEAR: Trump in the White House Author Susan Orlean joined Jim and Margery to talk about her latest work, The Library Book Poet Richard Blanco joined us for another edition of The Village Voice. Chef Dorie Greenspan discussed her new cookbook: Everyday Dorie: The Way I Cook Harvard Business School’s Michael Norton shared his research on the dark side of the inside joke.

Today on Boston Public Radio: Michael Curry and Lylah Alphonse discussed Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s statements about Mitch McConnell’s role in the Senate impeachment trial, a Trump-themed festival in Arizona, and the passing of Boston City Counselor Chuck Turner. Curry is senior vice president and general counsel at Mass League of Community Health Centers, and a member of the National NAACP Board of Directors. Alphonse is the Managing News Editor at the U.S. News & World Report. Evan Falchuck and Lou DiNatale discussed their new report on the center-leaning politics of Massachusetts voters. Falchuck is a former gubernatorial candidate and CEO of the health care tech company VillagePlan, and DiNatale is a veteran Massachusetts pollster. Food writer Corby Kummer discussed an investigation into the safety of airline food, and the surging popularity of so-called “ghost kitchens." Journalist and author Sy Montgomery discussed the growing crisis of ocean trash on marine life, the hard-to-decipher facial expressions of cats, and Sy’s favorite animals stories of 2019. Comedian Chris Fleming discussed his decade in comedy on YouTube, and his forthcoming show at the Wilbur.

As online food ordering becomes more popular, a new restaurant trend is popping up to deal with the demand: ghost kitchens, or production centers to handle delivery orders only, with no store front at all. Food writer Corby Kummer joined Boston Public Radio on Monday to discuss the trend, first adopted by restaurants, which is now expanding into the food delivery apps themselves. "The idea is, you save a lot of money if you don’t have to rent a store front location and you don’t have to have your own staff doing delivery. So Seamless and Doordash are starting their own ghost kitchens. What are these? They're windowless production kitchens ... you can't order takeout, you can't go in, they're only to fulfill online orders." For example, Doordash has partnered with various restaurant chains to open a shared kitchen, to be a one-stop production kitchen for multiple brands that deliver through the app. "You order something, it has a separate brand identity online, that's the only brand identity it has, because it's online only. It's the same staff reaching for a different set of spice bottles, often they share the same raw ingredients," said Kummer. "It's kind of as soulless and mechanical as it sounds." Corby Kummer is 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

We’re on tape today, replaying some of our favorite conversations, which include: Harvard Business School's Michael Norton discussed his research into why we fall for marketing gimmicks that give us a false sense of exclusivity. Margot Lee Shatterly discussed her book, "Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race." Former UN Ambassador Susan Rice discusses her memoir, "Tough Love: My Story of the Things Worth Fighting For." Salman Rushdie discussed his latest novel "Quichotte." Imani Perry talked about her new memoir, "Breathe: A Letter to My Sons.” Writer Lindy West discussed her latest book, "The Witches are Coming."

A new poll finds that new Millennials, the generation that loves to dine out, tip less frequently than the two previous generations. Food writer Corby Kummer joined Boston Public Radio on Tuesday to explain the “confusing, messy” world of restaurant tipping. The poll, published by YouGov, found that 63 percent of Millennials tip regularly, compared to 89 percent of Baby Boomers, and 81 percent of Generation Xers. But, according to the poll, Millennials feel guiltier about their habits. “The only good thing about this is that they feel guilty,” said Kummer. “They think they should be doing more, and they’re not sure how to handle it.” Waiters and waitresses in most states in America rely on tips to cover a substantial part of their income, as employers can pay servers about $2 an hour as long as tips cover the remainder of the minimum wage. If tips don’t get employees to minimum wage, employers are required to pay the difference, although Kummer said this system often leads to wage theft and isn’t often enforced. Even so, attempted solutions didn’t end up changing consumer behavior. “The solution was to incorporate tips right into the check … but restaurant customers don’t like it, they feel their control is being taken away from them, they have no autonomy, and they wish to be able to punish the people who didn’t come to the table or give them good enough service. What they’re not thinking in that moment of wanting to withhold tips is that signal will not be sent to the server, they’re almost always pooled.” Kummer said there’s one surefire way to absolve any guilt you have of your counterparts who may not tip: “You need to personally make up for it.” Kummer is 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.