Boston Public Radio

Late last week, Congressman Kevin McCarthy abruptly withdrew his name from the running to be the next Speaker of the House. The California Republican was…

This weekend, an army of activist brass bands descends on Somerville to celebrate the tenth annual HONK! Fest. To celebrate, Jim Braude and Margery Eagan…

In the wake of the shooting at Umpqua Community College in Oregon, Democrats in Congress have launched a renewed push for gun control legislation like…

Doctors Without Borders, the international organization in charge of a hospital in Afghanistan bombed by an American airstrike this weekend, has called…

Thomas Hughes was a 29 year old investment banker at the prestige firm of Moelis & Company when he missed a family Easter brunch at the Yale Club in New…

Over the weekend, an American airstrike in the northern city of Kunduz, Afghanistan led 12 staff members and seven patients dead at a hospital run by the…

Food writer Corby Kummer spoke to Boston Public Radio on Friday about how major fast food chains are bolstering infrastructure for mobile drive-through orders. Chipotle, for example, has created ‘Chipotlanes’ at many of its franchise stores for customers who have preordered meals online. “QR codes are big in drive-throughs now,” Kummer said. “If you go onto the app and you order your food, you can go into a special lane that various places are installing, it will read your QR code order, and your food will be delivered, some of it virtually contact-free.” Companies that previously had no drive-through lanes at all are creating them for the first time, like Shake Shack and Applebees, Kummer noted. Those with established fast food drive-through lanes are amping up the use of technology to improve customers’ experiences. Burger King is exploring the use of Bluetooth technology to calculate and predict a customer’s order based on everything from prior orders to the weather that particular day. “There’s more and more use of apps and more and more use of these drive-through lanes,” Kummer said. “Everybody’s jumping on this, the big clunky chains have caught on.”

Today on Boston Public Radio: We begin the show by talking with listeners about President Joe Biden’s first prime-time address on Thursday. Sue O’Connell weighs in on Gov. Charlie Baker’s statement on teachers unions, and the Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance’s decision to allow politicians to purchase body armor with campaign funds. 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. Emily Rooney talks about the sexual harassment and assault allegations against Gov. Andrew Cuomo. She also shares her thoughts on Oprah’s interview with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. Rooney is host of Beat the Press, which you can watch Friday nights at 7 p.m. Corby Kummer explains how apps are changing the way fast food drive-thrus operate, and discusses a provision within President Biden’s COVID-19 stimulus package that allocates $4 billion in debt relief to farmers of color. 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. Callie Crossley discusses the anniversary of Breonna Taylor’s murder. She also talks about Piers Morgan’s reaction to Oprah’s interview with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. Crossley hosts GBH’s Under the Radar and Basic Black. Shirley Leung talks about Amazon’s proposal to turn Widett Circle into a major distribution hub, and how the catering start-up Alchemista pivoted to apartment vending machines during the pandemic. Leung is a business columnist for the Boston Globe. We wrap up the show by asking listeners whether they’re ready to make daylight saving time permanent.

With just three months left in the semester for Massachusetts public schools, there’s a lot of unanswered questions about what classrooms are going to look like in the months and years ahead. But speaking Thursday on Boston Public Radio, former Mass. Education Secretary Paul Reville said the lack of clarity isn’t the fault of educators or school administrators. "People are very caught up in the present, understandably, ‘cause we’re still in a sort of quasi-emergency response mode,” he explained. “I’m not making excuses, but I’m rather explaining why it isn’t as visible or high priority, because the demands of the present are so urgent and so rapidly changing." Currently, Massachusetts is continuing its push to get kids back in schools, which Reville commended. But to the question of how those same schools address problems created by a year of remote learning, he suggested that state leaders consider investing more money into finding and creating long-term solutions. "I think one of the things that the state can help with – and some of this new funding can help with – is to buy the additional time and help that’s needed for people to do longer-term planning,” he said. “Because it’s very difficult in this emergency response mode to take a breath and step up on the balcony and take a look at the future, and then make some plans.” Paul 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, co-authored with Elaine Weiss, is "Broader, Bolder, Better: How Schools and Communities Help Students Overcome the Disadvantages of Poverty.”

Today on Boston Public Radio: Chuck Todd updates us on the latest news in politics, from President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus package to Michael Cohen’s meetings with the Manhattan district attorney’s office. Todd is the moderator of “Meet the Press” on NBC, host of “Meet the Press Daily" on MSNBC, and the Political Director for NBC News. Next, we open the phone lines to talk with listeners about Gov. Charlie Baker’s prioritization of teachers and school staff in the vaccine line. Andrea Cabral discusses the reinstatement of a third-degree murder charge against former Minnesota Police officer Derek Chauvin for the death of George Floyd. She also talks about the release of an additional phone call former President Donald Trump made to Georgia Secretary of State chief investigator Frances Watson. Cabral is the former Suffolk County sheriff and Massachusetts secretary of public safety. She’s currently the CEO of the cannabis company Ascend. Ken Burns and Lynn Novick preview their upcoming PBS docuseries, “Hemingway,” detailing their research process and what they learned from Ernest Hemingway’s letters. Burns is an award-winning documentarian. Novick is an acclaimed director and producer of documentary films. Their upcoming docuseries, “Hemingway,” airs on PBS and streams April 5 through April 7, starting at 8:00 p.m. Paul Reville weighs in on Massachusetts schools reopening and the postponement of the MCAS testing. He also argues that standardized tests are a civil rights issue. 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 Elaine Weiss, is: "Broader, Bolder, Better: How Schools And Communities Help Students Overcome The Disadvantages Of Poverty.” Andy Ihnatko explains non-fungible tokens (NFTs) after an NFT sold for a record $69 million at Christie’s. He also speaks about the Microsoft Exchange Server hacks, and how U.S. government agencies are responding. Ihnatko is a tech writer and blogger, posting at Ihnatko.com. We end the show by asking listeners what risks they’d feel comfortable taking as Massachusetts reopens.

GBH News marks the first anniversary of Gov. Charlie Baker’s emergency declaration in Massachusetts by taking a look back at how we covered the disaster. The special draws on the rich variety of in-depth reporting, feature stories and community conversations GBH journalists produced during the past year.