Boston Public Radio

Last week, in a mission to rescue 70 hostages being held by the group that calls itself the Islamic State, Army Master Sergeant Joshua Wheeler was killed.…

Congresswoman Niki Tsongas joined Jim Braude and Margery Eagan on Boston Public Radio Tuesday. Highlights included:On the upcoming Benghazi hearings in…

The adoption of a landmark nuclear weapons treaty with Iran officially kicked off October 18th, 90 days after the United Nations Security Council…

If someone dared you to jump in to the Charles River for a nice little swim, you might blanch a little bit. But what if someone asked you to drink from…

Governor Charlie Baker's administration is hoping to target the state's opioid crisis with a new bill unveiled Thursday. The bill would limit doctors to…

Senator Ed Markey believes that Congress is past due for a historic showdown on gun control."I think we're close to a tipping point," Markey said on…

Food writer Corby Kummer spoke with Boston Public Radio on Tuesday about returning to eat at restaurants amid the coronavirus pandemic. "The problem is always going to be 'How do we get diners to wear masks and behave?' - that's the real problem for restaurants and is why they're opening and reclosing," he said. "We're working on a diner code of conduct on how to enforce this, because this is the central problem." Restaurants are coming up with various ways of enforcing health safety to a customer base that doesn't want to abide by the rules, Kummer noted. "Applebee's is hiring employees who just go around with a tub of cleaning products constantly disinfecting," he said. "But Applebee's should hire someone who also very nicely stands at the door of the restaurant saying 'I think you've forgotten your mask, can we give you one?' so that they have the equivalent of a bouncer enforcing this." Hiring a person to enforce mask-wearing among customers is a good investment of money that restaurants could be taking, Kummer added. "But of course independent restaurants can't afford this extra person, they can't afford this enforcement." Kummer is a *senior editor at The Atlantic*, an award-winning food writer, and a senior lecturer at the Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition and Policy.

Today on Boston Public Radio: MIT's Justin Steil and City Live/ Vida Urbana's Lisa Owens discussed their new report on how Boston’s evictions hit Black communities particularly hard, and what the disparity means ahead of the statewide eviction moratorium lift on August 18. Comic and writer Maeve Higgins discussed her recent New York Times piece, "To the White People Who Want to Be One of the "Good Ones.” Carol Rose from the Mass. ACLU talked about the Supreme Court’s recent decisions on abortion rights, and attempts by President Donald Trump to end the federal DACA policy. Food writer Corby Kummer talked about issues stemming from restaurant patrons refusing to wear facemasks, and worker abuses by meat-processing giant Tyson Foods. Reverends Irene Monroe and Emmett Price, hosts of WGBH’s All Rev’d Up, talked about recent reporting on the attitudes of white evangelicals around President Trump, and recent statements from the great-grandson of the woman who portrayed Aunt Jemima, who’s upset about the company’s decision to rebrand. We opened our lines to ask: Now that museums, movie theaters, and outdoor performance venues are opening back up, what have you missed the most and what are you looking forward to picking up again?

On today's pre-taped episode of Boston Public Radio: Jim and Margery talked to New Yorker staff writer Adam Gopnik about his latest book, "A Thousand Small Sanities: The Moral Adventure of Liberalism." Harvard Business School behavioral economist Michael Norton looked at the pathology of the “ask braggart,” the person whose sole motivation behind asking you a question is to tell you about themselves. Jim and Margery talked to Norman Mineta, the former statesman who served as cabinet secretary for Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, about a new PBS documentary, "Norman Mineta and His Legacy: An American Story." New Yorker Staff writer George Packer discussed his latest book, "Our Man: Richard Holbrooke and the End of the American Century." Filmmaker, writer, artist John Waters talked to Jim and Margery about his latest book, "Mr. Know-It-All: The Tarnished Wisdom of a Filth Elder." Raphael Bob-Waksberg, creator of “Bojack Horseman” discussed his collection of short stories, "Someone Who Will Love You in All Your Damaged Glory." Ben Mezrich discussed his latest book, "Bitcoin Billionaires: A True Story of Genius, Redemption and Betrayal."

On today's pre-taped episode of Boston Public Radio: New Yorker staff writer Patrick Radden Keefe discussed his latest book, "Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland." Cartoonist Roz Chast and humorist Patricia Marx discussed their latest collaboration, "Why Don't You Write My Eulogy Now So I Can Correct It? A Mother's Suggestions." Comedian Jay Pharaoh joined us to talk about his latest projects, which includes a new standup tour, web series, and the movie "Unsane," directed by Stephen Soderberg. Judge Richard Gergel discussed his latest book, "Unexampled Courage," which recounts a racist attack on a South Carolina native after World War II and how that episode sparked the civil rights movement. Harvard Businesses School’s Michael Norton joined us to explain his latest research, which looks at identity branding. Michael Norton is the Harold M. Brierley Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School. His latest book is "Happy Money, the Science of Happier Spending." Alt-rock band Guster joined us for an in-studio performance of their album, "Look Alive."

On today's pre-taped episode of 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." Author 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.