Boston Public Radio

CNN's John King called in to discuss the primaries and other political headlines of the day. A new tax that will tax millionaires an additional four…

It is nearly impossible to watch TV, surf the internet, or walk into a supermarket, without being bombarded with advertisements for a miracle dietary…

It's cold outside. Why not dial the temperature up by a few degrees with a hot read?The Boston Public Radio Book Club has a pick for you: "Heartburn," by…

Registered voters across Iowa received a strange phone call over the weekend; a robotic message from a white nationalist super PAC, urging them to vote…

Boston Police Commissioner Bill Evans praised President Obama's call last week for expanded background checks for gun sellers, saying: "I believe it does…

Today on Boston Public Radio: Jake Auchincloss, the Democratic candidate for Massachusetts' 4th Congressional District, discussed why he believes America needs a green energy economy, and offered his take on how Congress ought to be handling economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. We opened our lines to talk with listeners about the wildfires devastating the west coast, and America's failure to seriously confront climate change. New Yorker staff writer and historian Jelani Cobb called in to talk about his new documentary for FRONTLINE, “Policing the Police”. TV expert Bob Thompson weighed in on news of the final season of “Keeping Up With the Kardashians,” and reflected on the passing of veteran actor Diana Riggs. Reverends Irene Monroe and Emmett Price, hosts of WGBH’s All Rev’d Up, discussed the recently published Harvard Law School report into racial disparities in the Mass. prison system, and the racist subtext of President Trump’s “law and order” messaging. We opened lines to talk with listeners about the Patriots' Sunday victory over the Miami Dolphins, and whether the win has added significance in light of Tom Brady’s loss with the Buccaneers. Inaugural poet Richard Blanco called in for our monthly edition of “Village Voice,” where he read a handful of poems commemorating the September 11 terrorist attacks.

Today on Boston Public Radio: Media maven Sue O’Connell offered her unique insight into some best practices for remote learning, as both a parent and pupil. She also weighed in on the ridiculousness of gender reveal parties, and the upsides to ranked-choice voting. We opened lines to talk with parents about your plans for navigating the school year, as classes begin to get underway. Boston Mayor Marty Walsh called in for “Ask the Mayor,” where he spoke on a wide range of issues impacting the city, and responded to questions and comments from listeners. Tech writer Andy Ihnatko discussed the recently-announced inclusion of civil rights activist and former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick in the next installment of the Madden video game series. He also explained why some Amazon delivery workers are hanging smartphones in trees outside shopping centers. Boston Globe business columnist Shirley Leung talked about her recent column criticizing Mayor Marty Walsh for speaking to reporters about the mayoral ambitions of Boston City Councilor Michelle Wu. She also spoke on how the COVID-19 pandemic is widening America's “grotesque” wealth gap. We opened lines to ask listeners: Has pandemic life diluted your ability to distinguish weekends from weekdays?

Today on Boston Public Radio: NBC “Meet the Press” moderator Chuck Todd discussed revelations about President Trump’s understanding of the COVID-19 pandemic, from journalist Bob Woodward’s forthcoming book. He also weighed in on whether Woodward ought to have shared clips from the interviews with the public earlier. We opened lines to talk with listeners about the president’s acknowledgment, made in interviews with journalist Bob Woodward, that he understood the seriousness of COVID-19 as far back as February, all while publicly downplaying the severity of the looming crisis. Former Suffolk County Sheriff and Secretary of Public Safety Andrea Cabral weighed in on the recent move by the Department of Justice to represent President Trump in a defamation suit, and the wider legal implications of last week’s arrest of nine Boston police officers in an alleged overtime fraud scheme. Ali Noorani discussed whether changing attitudes around immigration could edge suburban voters towards Biden in November, and a hunger strike by detainees at an ICE detention center in Louisiana. Noorani is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Immigration Forum. His latest book is "There Goes the Neighborhood: How Communities Overcome Prejudice and Meet the Challenge of American Immigration.” Former Mass. Education Secretary Paul Reville discussed tensions around the return of teachers to in-person learning, and recent allegations from a former Boston principal that she was unfairly targeted by parents with political connections. Andrew Bacevich discussed President Trump’s failure to end U.S. military involvement in the Middle East, and his recent piece for Salon, positing how Joe Biden ought to lead the nation should he win in November. Bacevich is the President of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, a Professor Emeritus of International Relations and History at Boston University, and author of "The Age of Illusions: How America Squandered Its Cold War Victory.” We opened lines to ask listeners: are you mentally and emotionally prepared for fall and winter life during the coronavirus pandemic?

Immigration authority Ali Noorani called in to Boston Public Radio on Thursday, where he reflected on shifting political attitudes in Arizona’s densely populated and largely suburban Maricopa County. The conversation followed a recent Bloomberg article, titled "If Maricopa County Sours on Trump, So Will Suburbs Everywhere." "This county was very much the locus of anti-immigrant legislation in Arizona that very quickly moved across the country,” he explained, citing examples like the state’s controversial 2010 “Show Me Your Papers” provision, which was drafted by a Senator situated in the county, and the extreme anti-immigrant politics of Joe Arpaio, who served as county sheriff from 1993 to 2017. "But now, as Bloomberg points out, it’s this change in demographics, the changing economics of Maricopa County, that’s changing the county’s perspective and approach on immigration,” he said, adding that some faith-based voters "just don’t like the way that Donald Trump – and frankly, the Republican Party – is approaching immigration." During their conversation, Noorani also touched on how a slowed-down naturalization process for immigrants will limit votership in November, and detainees at a Louisiana ICE detention center on hunger strike in protest of inhumane treatment. Ali Noorani is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Immigration Forum. His latest book is "There Goes the Neighborhood: How Communities Overcome Prejudice and Meet the Challenge of American Immigration."

Massachusetts’ largest teachers unions strategy for urging fully remote learning in the state this fall hit a snag when a teacher strike in Andover was ruled illegal by the state’s labor board, after the union instructed teachers not to enter school buildings for a staff training last week. Paul Reville told Boston Public Radio on Thursday he agreed with the labor board’s decision, though acknowledged that there is no unified front on either side of the issue. “There’s a lot of tension now between the unions’ understandable and justifiable role in protecting their members’ health and interests, and school districts pushing hard to reopen school, with a lot of parents feeling they want to see their children back in school,” he said. State law prohibits public employees from striking, and the labor relations board determined that the union overstepped its authority when it tried to unilaterally dictate where teachers perform their work. “I’m looking, I know a number of people are looking for flexibility, both from management and labor, in getting to a set of agreements that takes into account the needs of children and families in this moment,” he said. The ruling comes as a number of districts are still negotiating how to start school this fall. Reville is former 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, co-authored with Elaine Weiss, is “Broader, Bolder, Better: How Schools and Communities Help Students Overcome the Disadvantages of Poverty.”