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…

Luis Espinoza and Craig Panzer are the duo behind Massachusetts’ first Latino-owned brewery – Roundhead Brewing. They stop by the library to talk Latino beer, and the state of craft beer in the state.And, Ian Coury is our guest for Live Music Friday, he’s a 22 year-old mandolin phenom carving his own path in the world of Brazilian Choro music, he joins ahead of a free show next week in Roxbury.

We open the lines to ask about the latest attempt by corporations to boost worker productivity by banning personal phones on the job. Ian Coury is our guest for Live Music Friday. He’s a 22 year-old mandolin phenom carving his own path in the world of Brazilian Choro music. Boston Medical Center's Dr. Katherine Gergen Barnett talks about the science behind gender affirming care, renewed conversation around medical debt in the U.S. and physician strikes in Boston.James Bennett II discusses a Village Person’s revisionist history of the ‘Y.M.C.A.' song, plus his reflections on 2024 music and movies.Then we asked folks to weigh-in on the news that 'Y.M.C.A.' is not a gay anthem.Roundhead Brewing Company is Massachusetts’ first Latino-owned brewery. We’ll talk with co-owners Luis Espinoza and Craig Panzer about the upcoming Latino beer festival and sample some brews.We end the show with a Christmas tree potpourri.

Today:In the 1980s, the height of the crack epidemic, Paul Joyce was a Boston police officer. He’s now out with a new book about how the department struggled during that era, and the rise in gun and gang violence. He joins to discuss his new book “It Started With the Hats” – the life experiences of Boston’s founding street gang members.And, MIT economist Jon Gruber breaks down Trump’s view on tariffs, and how changing policy would affect the global economy.

Chuck Todd on the Hunter Biden pardon & more news from the incoming Trump administration… Andrea Cabral on yesterday’s killing of UnitedHealth CEO Brian Thompson.Jon Gruber explains Trump’s stance on tariffs & how varying approaches would affect the U.S. & global economies.Paul Joyce is a longtime Boston cop and author of the book “It Started With the Hats: The Life Experiences of Boston’s Founding Street Gang Members.” He joins to discuss.

Today: Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley frames President Biden’s decision to pardon his son Hunter a matter of legacy – and calls on him to pardon others in this country who have had their lives upended by war on crime prosecutions or wrongful convictions, beyond his own family members.And, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse tells us the “grotesqueness” of Trump’s cabinet picks is a feature – not a bug. We talk with him about Trump 2.0, and his experience at the COP29 climate summit.