Boston Public Radio

For their day jobs, they run two Massachusetts cities—Salem and Somerville—but occasionally Boston Public Radio can convince Kim Driscoll and Joseph…

You already know the story of what happened to the Titanic. But what about another famed ocean liner, the Lusitania?Erik Larson, author of The Devil in…

Former employees of Florida Governor Rick Scott says he forbade staff from discussing climate change—including using the terms "global warming" or "sea…

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers a speech to Congress tomorrow, but not everyone will be welcoming him with open arms. That's because…

Charles Sennott, co-founder of GlobalPost and head of The GroundTruth Project, joined Boston Public Radio to discuss the international headlines of the…

State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf raised eyebrows Monday when suggested that the best way for America to combat ISIS was through addressing its root…

Boston Public Schools put a pause to reopening plans on Wednesday, citing the city’s COVID-19 positive test rate climbing over 4%. Paul Reville, former Massachusetts education secretary, spoke with Boston Public Radio about the difficult situation. “I certainly sympathize with what Boston is doing - I mean it’s hit a certain point and is trying to be cautious at same time as there’s tremendous tension to want to provide in-person schooling especially to the neediest and youngest students,” he said. “They’re trying to bend over backwards to do that, and they’re being cautious, and you certainly can’t fault them for that.” Reville is 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."

Medical ethicist Art Caplan spoke with Boston Public Radio on Wednesday about the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) new guidance on COVID-19 vaccine approval. On Tuesday, the agency required that pharmaceutical companies developing a COVID-19 vaccine must monitor subjects two months after vaccination, to look for side effects. This makes it unlikely that a vaccine will be approved before Election Day, something urged by President Donald Trump. “I was very pleased that the FDA issued some straight science guidelines about what they want to improve a vaccine,” Caplan said. “It pretty much ensures, in order to meet them, that there won’t be a vaccine approved before election day - but I think that’s appropriate, we’ve got to go prudently, we don’t want people to be fearful that they can’t trust the data.” Art Caplan is the Drs. William F and Virginia Connolly Mitty Chair, and director of the Division of Medical Ethics at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine.

Today on Boston Public Radio: We opened lines to talk with listeners about the president’s bout with COVID-19, and his abrupt departure from Walter Reed Medical Center on Monday evening. NBC Sports Boston anchor and reporter Trenni Kusnierek discussed abysmal voter registration statistics among players in the NBA, political advocacy in the WNBA, and the latest news around Patriots quarterback Cam Newton’s COVID-19 diagnosis. We aired audio from Monday night’s Senate debate between Sen. Ed Markey and GOP challenger Kevin O’Connor. Tina Chéry, civic leader and founder of the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute, discussed the wide-reaching issue of gun violence in Mass., and what her organization is doing to confront it during the coronavirus pandemic. CNN’s John King talked about the latest polling on voter attitudes ahead of the November election, and why the president appears to be falling out favor with the American electorate. He also caught us up on the Republican effort to appoint Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. We opened lines to talk with listeners about creative ways celebrate Halloween safely during the coronavirus pandemic.

Dr. Katherine Gergen Barnett offered her medical perspective on the latest headlines around President Trump’s fight with COVID-19, helping parse together exactly how sick the president actually is. Gergen Barnett is the vice chair of Primary Care Innovation and Transformation and residency director in the Department of Family Medicine at Boston Medical Center and Boston University Medical School. Jennifer Braceras and Michael Curry weighed in on the wider political implications of President Trump’s coronavirus diagnosis. Braceras is a political columnist and director of the Center for Law & Liberty at the Independent Women’s Forum. Curry is Deputy CEO & General Counsel Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers and member of the national NAACP Board of Directors, Chair of the Board’s Advocacy & Policy Committee. We opened lines to talk ask listeners: is the Trump administration blowing an opportunity to use his diagnosis as a teachable moment? CNN analyst Juliette Kayyem discussed the growing number of Trump Administration officials testing positive for COVID-19, and the national security implications of having a compromised president. Mike Astrue discussed the origins of the 25th amendment, his time drafting the first operational plan during the George H.W. Bush administration, and implications for President Trump, now that he’s at risk of COVID-related incapacitation. He also recited some of his poetry. Astrue is former Commissioner of the Social Security Administration, and a former Associate Counsel to the President of the United States. He also writes and translates poetry under the alias A.M. Juster, and his latest book of poetry is "Wonder and Wrath.” Reverends Irene Monroe and Emmett G. Price III, hosts of “All Rev’d Up,” discussed the lighter tone of some COVID-era funerals taking place on Zoom, and some new local art by muralist Rob “ProBlak” Gibbs. They also reflected on the life of reverend and civil rights activist James P. Breeden, who died in September. GBH Executive Arts Editor Jared Bowen debated the merits of ephemeral art, in a conversation about conceptual artist Maurizio Cattelan’s “Comedian.” He also reviewed two new documentaries, “The Sit-In” and “Aggie,” and discussed a new exhibit at the Peabody Essex Museum about the Salem Witch Trials.

President Donald Trump tested positive for COVID-19 last Thursday, and was transported to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for monitoring on Friday. Homeland security expert Juliette Kayyem spoke with Boston Public Radio on Monday about how the rest of the world views the news of Trump contracting the coronavirus. “What our enemies are looking at are unbelievable unforced error at this stage, that basically here is a country already on its knees and now a White House that has failed to protect itself,” she said. “It goes against the narrative of the United States’ ability to beat the virus, since Trump could not keep it out of his own home.” Kayyem is an analyst for CNN, former assistant secretary at the Department of Homeland Security and faculty chair of the homeland security program at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.