Boston Public Radio

When Botham Jean’s brother Brandt took the stand at the sentencing of his brother’s killer Amber Guyger, he had an unusual request for the judge. On the stand, Brandt forgave Guyger for killing his brother, and asked the judge if he could hug her. The judge allowed it.

Harvard's admissions process passes muster in federal court, but isn't perfect, Reville said.

Roosevelt introduced sweeping progressive policies with his New Deal. Can today's progressives do the same around climate change?

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.

Today on Boston Public Radio: Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian discussed his latest book his latest book, "Prisoner: My 544 Days in an Iranian Prison--Solitary Confinement, a Sham Trial, High-Stakes Diplomacy, and the Extraordinary Efforts It Took to Get Me Out." Writer Susan Orlean joined Jim and Margery to talk about her latest publication, "The Library Book," which will soon be turned into a TV miniseries. Jack Bishop, from America’s Test Kitchen, discussed his latest cookbook, "Tasting Italy: A Culinary Journey." Investor Roger McNamee helped to build Facebook. In his latest book he wrote about how he’s come to regret it. It’s called "Zucked: Waking Up to the Facebook Catastrophe." Julia Zelizer joined Jim and Margery to talk about his latest book, "Fault Lines: A History of the United States Since 1974." Zelizer is an analyst for CNN and a professor of history and Public Affairs at Princeton University. Poet Richard Blanco discusses the work of poet Ada Limón. Blanco is the fifth presidential inaugural poet in U.S. history, His new book, "How To Love A Country," deals with various socio-political issues that shadow America. This episode of *Boston Public Radio *was previously taped.

Today on Boston Public Radio: ESPN’s Howard Bryant discussed his new book, "The Heritage: Black Athletes, a Divided America, and the Politics of Patriotism." Michael Eric Dyson discussed his new book, “What Truth Sounds Like: RFK, James Baldwin, And Our Unfinished Conversation About Race In America." Harvard’s Stephen Greenblatt discussed his book, "Tyrant: Shakespeare on Politics." Sy Montgomery, journalist and naturalist joined the show to talk about her book "The Hyena Scientist." John Hodgman talked about his book, "Vacationland: True Stories From Painful Beaches." Actor and activist George Takei discussed the musical Allegiance, which is based on his real life experience of living in** **a Japanese-American internment camp. This episode of *Boston Public Radio was previously taped.*

Today on Boston Public Radio: Jim and Margery talked to New York Times Magazine staff writer and lecturer at Yale Law School Emily Bazelon, whose latest book, Charged: The New Movement to Transform American Prosecution and End Mass Incarceration, looks at the causes of mass incarceration. Environmentalist and journalist Bill McKibben, the founder of 350.org discussed his latest book, Falter: Has the Human Game Begun to Play Itself Out? MIT economists Jonathon Gruber and Simon Johnson discussed their latest book, Jump-Starting America: How Breakthrough Science Can Revive Economic Growth and the American Dream. TC Boyle joined Jim and Margery to talk about his latest novel Outside Looking In. Poet Richard Blanco gave a crash course on the literary tools that can make your poetry more poetic. This episode of Boston Public Radio was previously taped.

Today on Boston Public Radio: We opened the lines to hear what listeners think of presidential candidates' playlists. Tech writer Andy Ihnatko joined us to discuss Apple's new credit card, and other tech headlines. Harvard Business School historian Nancy Koehn discussed a recent pledge from nearly 200 CEO's to put workers before shareholders. Boston Globe business correspondent Shirley Leung discussed how trade wars are affecting manufacturing in western Massachusetts. Boston Globe travel writer Christopher Muther examined Boston's latest big little trend: micro hotels. Novelist and travel writer Paul Theroux discussed his forthcoming book,* On the Plain of Snakes: A Mexican Journey*. Zachary Robinson and Matt Kurtzman, two of the founders of Short Path Distillery in Everett, joined us for a weekly news quiz.

Meat, dairy and eggs have been challenged by alternative plant-based products that mimic the taste and texture of animal products. Now, a company called Atomo Molecular Coffee is trying to create the perfect cup of joe without using the coffee bean. Why would brewing a cup of coffee without the beans be a good idea? Coffee bean production largely contributes to deforestation, food writer Corby Kummer said on Boston Public Radio Thursday. "It is to prevent the environmental destruction that clear-cutting forests to grow coffee causes," Kummer said. "Farmers all across Central and South America, and even Africa and Vietnam, take these great rainforests and clear-cut everything. They're creating all sort of environmental destruction that lasts for decades. The land dries out, it becomes unproductive, but they're just producing coffee as a cash-crop in the meantime," he said. Atomo hasn't yet made it completely clear how they're producing coffee bean-less coffee, Kummer said. "What's unclear is how they are copying coffee's molecular makeup to create this substance that they say baristas can't tell the difference in blind taste tests," he said.