Boston Public Radio

On April 14, 1865, Abraham Lincoln was in an exceptionally good mood. Only five days before, General Robert E. Lee had surrendered at Appomattox, ending…

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was found guilty today of all 30 charges in the Boston Marathon bombing trial, including 17 that qualify for the death penalty. Jim…

Afghanistan is rebuilding, slowly, after more than a decade of war. But is the progress being made fleeting, or built-to-last?That's a question Charles…

Does any snack sing "spring" quite like the pastel-colored culinary marvel that is the Peep?*Let me answer that for you: no. Jim Braude and Margery Eagan…

Mere hours after Germanwings pilot Andreas Lubitz crashed a passenger airplane into the French Alps, killing all 150 people on board, airlines in Europe…

Coffee giant Starbucks was skewered earlier this month when it introduced a campaign trying to get customers to talk about race (not surprisingly, it…

The United Kingdom delivered the first shot in its COVID-19 vaccination program on Tuesday, becoming the first Western country to deliver a broadly tested vaccine to the general public. Two people who received the Pfizer and BioNTech shot developed allergic reactions, but recovered. Medical ethicist Art Caplan spoke with Boston Public Radio on Wednesday about what this latest development means for the vaccine’s rollout. “You’re probably going to have to wait after you get the vaccine - like an hour in the place where you get it - to make sure you don’t have that kind of reaction,” he said. “So that makes it harder, logistically, because now you’ll have people lined up, trying to find a place to sit them, and once you unfreeze the Pfizer vaccine, you have to administer it all like 500 at a time.” Caplan also worries that anti-vaxxers will use this as fuel against the vaccine. “You’re probably going to see anti-vax people use that to scare people away from the vaccine,” he said. “That would be unfortunate.” 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 kicked things off by opening lines, to talk with listeners about the surging coronavirus cases in Mass., and whether the state ought to be imposing stricter lockdown measures to quell the spread of COVID-19. NBC Sports Boston reporter and anchor Trenni Kusnierek discussed new charges in the prostitution cases involving Patriots owner Robert Kraft, who himself will not face charges. She also weighed in on the $1 million PPP loan for former Patriot Tom Brady, and Sport Illustrated's list of five athlete activists it named “Sportspersons of the Year." Jamahrl Crawford talked about his impressions of the Mass. police reform bill, the political limits of the “defund the police” slogan, and the value in hiring police officers from within the communities they'd be serving. Crawford is a Boston based Boston community activist, and the publisher of the Blackstonian. He also served on the Boston Police Reform Task. Food writer Corby Kummer talked about Singapore becoming the first nation to approve lab grown meat for human consumption, and growing displeasure in the U.S. with foods that’re described as “moist." He also spoke about the pandemic’s impact on the already-miserable food served in prisons, and other food headlines. Next, we opened lines to talk with listeners about lab-grown meat, and whether you'd be open to making the switch from the real thing. CNN’s John King returned for his weekly breakdown of national political stories, including infighting in Washington over further pandemic relief, and conversation around whether or not to pursue potential legal charges against President Trump and his allies once President-elect Biden is in office.

Singapore has become the first nation on the planet to approve cell-cultured meat for human consumption. Food writer Corby Kummer spoke to Boston Public Radio on Tuesday about San Francisco start-up Eat Just Inc., which got regulatory approval to cell it’s lab-grown chicken in Singapore. “We talk all the time about Beyond Meat and the Impossible Burger, but this is different,” Kummer said. “Its cells are from animals, that are then cultured in quantity enough to, in this case, make a chicken cutlet.” What’s good about this is that only one animal is needed to give cells which will then be cultured to produce boundless chicken meat, Kummer said. “Only one chicken has to die to provide vibrant cultures, which the company then builds out onto various forms,” he said. “Cell-cultured meat has had billions of dollars invested in it over the past years, and it will be coming here [to the United States.]” 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: Dr. Elizabeth Pinsky, a pediatrician and psychiatrist at MGH, talked about the mental and physical strain that remote learning has taken on the thousands of Mass. kids stuck at home through the pandemic, and offered her assessment of the state's pandemic response with respect to public education. We opened our lines to talk with listeners about Dr. Pinksy's comments about schooling in Mass., and ask: did we get it wrong? Charlie Sennott, GBH News analyst and GroundTruth Project CEO, talked about the potential problems with the U.K.’s fast-tracked approval of Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine. He also reflected on President-elect Joe Biden’s choices for secretary of state and director of national intelligence director, and weighed in on the future of “Trumpism” after President Trump leaves office. TV expert Bob Thompson discussed news that Warner Brothers plans to release all of their 2021 films online at the same time they’ll be in theaters. He also reviewed Netflix’s “Mank,” Showtime’s “Your Honor,” and HBO's new documentary about The Bee Gees, “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart." Irene Monroe and Emmett Price, hosts of GBH’s All Rev’d Up podcast, discussed last week’s Supreme Court ruling on COVID restrictions and religious liberty, reflecting on the impact of the court’s decision to side with religious organizations. Boston Globe business columnist Shirley Leung explained the growing tension between Mass. Gov. Charlie Baker and local leaders and public health officials around the spike in Mass. residents who’re testing positive for COVID-19. Anthony Rudel, general manager for music at GBH, talked about GBH’s upcoming collaboration with performance arts organization The Handel & Haydn Society, for their annual holiday production of “Messiah.”

Today on Boston Public Radio: We kicked off Friday's show by turning to listeners to talk about all things coronavirus, from the incoming vaccines to your thoughts on the winter ahead. Media magnate Sue O’Connell offered her prediction about the public reputation of the Trump family, post-presidency. She also weighed in on recent comments from Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito that’ve drawn condemnation from LGBT advocates, and gave a quick review of the Hulu holiday rom-com about two lesbians, called “The Happiest Season." Boston Mayor Marty Walsh called in for our monthly “Ask the Mayor” series. He discussed the city's ongoing efforts to mitigating the spread of coronavirus, his views on the latest police reform bill, and what he thought of the recently-released four hour documentary about his administration, titled “City Hall.” CNN analyst Juliette Kayyem talked about the latest news on distributing a COVID-19 vaccine in the U.S. She also touched on the current COVID surge, overcrowding in hospitals, and why she’s started calling social-distancing “smart-distancing." GBH’s A Celtic Sojourn host Brian O’Donovan detailed this year’s virtual Celtic Christmas Sojourn, with performances from musicians around the world. He also discussed the enormous amount of work that went into putting together the event safely, leading him to call it the “NBA of Christmas shows.” We closed out Friday’s show by returning to listeners about “revenge travel,” and asking: Now that there's the promise of a vaccine, is it safe to start thinking about travel?