Boston Public Radio

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…

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…

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.”

Today on Boston Public Radio: MIT economist and Affordable Care Act architect Jonathan Gruber discussed concerns that a rushed COVID-19 vaccine could exacerbate vaccine skepticism in the U.S., and other political quandaries surrounding Operation Warp Speed. We opened lines to ask listeners: what would it take to get you on board with an American-made coronavirus vaccine? CNN’s Brian Stelter discussed his latest book, "Hoax: Donald Trump, Fox News, and the Dangerous Distortion of Truth.” National security expert and CNN analyst Juliette Kayyem discussed controversial acknowledgments made by the president in a forthcoming book from veteran journalist Bob Woodward, and her latest piece in The Atlantic, called "The Emotionally Challenging Next Phase of the Pandemic." Medical ethicist Art Caplan weighed in on the thousands of Americans attending Donald Trump rallies without masks, and ethical questions raised by a new drug claiming to treat a common form of dwarfism. Food writer Corby Kummer discussed data from the Massachusetts Restaurant Association indicating that 20% of Mass. restaurants have closed permanently because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and thoughts on fellow food writer Tom Philpott’s new book, “Perilous Bounty: The Looming Collapse of American Farming and How We Can Prevent It." We opened lines to ask listeners: are you ready to continue eating outside at restaurants during the fall and winter?