Boston Public Radio Podcast

Today on Boston Public Radio: Chuck Todd updated us on the latest political headlines, focusing on today’s Jan. 6 hearing. Todd is the moderator of “Meet The Press” on NBC, host of “Meet The Press Daily” on MSNBC and the political director for NBC News. Next, we opened the phone lines, talking with listeners about the January 6th House Select Committee hearings. Andrea Cabral discussed a Connecticut jury ordering Alex Jones to pay Sandy Hook victims’ families nearly $1 billion in damages. Cabral is the former Suffolk County sheriff and secretary of public safety, and former CEO of the cannabis company Ascend. Rick Steves joined us to talk about the essential artwork on view throughout Europe. Steves is a television host, guidebook author, activist and owner and founder of Rick Steves’ Europe. His latest special, “Rick Steves Art of Europe,” is available for streaming on PBS Passport. We then switched to live coverage of today’s hearing on the Jan. 6 Capitol riots.

Jim and Margery opened the show by taking your calls about a study from the University of Utah which found that 42 percent of Americans lied or misrepresented their adherence to Covid-19 protocols. Medical Ethicist Art Caplan discussed a new experiment out of Japan where researchers implanted transmitters into cockroaches, allowing them to be controlled remotely. Researchers say the technology can be used to assist in search and rescue missions. Caplan is the Drs. William F. and Virginia Connolly Mitty Professor and founding head of the Division of Medical Ethics at NYU School of Medicine in New York City. Juliette Kayyem discussed the implications of President Joe Biden's comments that the world is facing the biggest threat of a nuclear Armageddon since the Cuban Missile Crisis. Juliette Kayyem is former assistant secretary for homeland security under President Barack Obama, and the faculty chair of the homeland-security program at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. MIT Economist Jonathan Gruber disc

Today on Boston Public Radio: Five years ago, the New York Times and the New Yorker posted allegations against Harvey Weinstein regarding sexual assault. This week Weinstein is beginning another trial now in Los Angeles. With this in mind we wanted to open our lines to ask: in your day to day life, have your lives changed five years on after #MeToo? Is workplace harassment less tolerable or has it stayed the same? Trenni Casey discussed the NFL’s adjusted concussion protocol. She also talked about rookie quarterback Bailey Zappe’s start to NFL life and the Patriots Week 5 game against the Lions. Casey is a reporter and anchor for NBC Sports Boston, and a weekly Boston Public Radio contributor. Trenni Casey on BPR | Oct. 11, 2022 ACLU of Massachusetts executive director Carol Rose discussed the various SCOTUS cases the league is involved in, and the impact of the Biden Aaministration’s marijuana possession pardons and the risk doctors in blue states take by sending abortion pills to red states. Mayor Miche

Speak of the deviled. On Monday, food and policy writer Corby Kummer returned to Boston Public Radio to herald a resurgence in popularity for deviled eggs, per the staff writers over at Bon Appetit Magazine. It’s not your standard deviled eggs that are getting all this attention, though. “Fancy” eggs, with ingredients like Kewpie mayonnaise, miso, and caviar are apparently the hors d’oeuvre célèbre. “It’s kind of the ingredients of the moment and the seasonings of the moment that are making their way into deviled eggs,” Kummer explained, commenting on the article dubbing 2022 the “year of the fancy deviled egg.” “Fat is a wonderful carrier of flavor. Egg yolks are fat. You puree and mash in… you know, it used to be mustard and Worcestershire sauce, and paprika! Those were the flavoring components, that was as exotic as it got,” Kummer said. “Now it’s Kewpie mayonnaise and anchovies and fish sauce – and Sriracha if you can find it.” During his weekly conversation with hosts Jim Braude and Margery Eagan,

Today on Boston Public Radio: We began the show by opening phone lines, asking listeners about the large number of people in their 20s and 30s moving back in with their parents amid rising costs of living. Michelle Singletary shared her advice off of her latest personal finance columns, focusing on the looming deadline for public service loan forgiveness. Singletary is a personal finance columnist for the Washington Post. She writes the nationally syndicated column, "The Color of Money,"  which provides insight into the world of personal finance. Her latest book is: What To Do With Your Money When Crisis Hits: A Survival Guide. Mitra Kalita and Levi Rickert talked about covering politics and this year’s midterm elections, as well as Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Kalita is co-founder/ CEO of URL Media, a network of Black and Brown community news outlets that share content. She was most recently Senior Vice President at CNN Digital, overseeing the national news, breaking news, programming, opinion and features te

Today on Boston Public Radio: With the pardon given by the Biden Administration regarding federal marijuana charges, we opened our lines to ask: Are you happy by this move? Did it go far enough or did it go too far? Tech author Andy Ihnatko joined us on the show and discussed the most recent technological developments, from the “Made by Google” keynote event to an AI James Earl Jones’ voice as Darth Vader. Ihnatko is a tech writer and a co-host on the Material Podcast. Callie Crossley discussed the Biden Administration’s recent marijuana pardon, a campaign to get the Cherokee Nation a seat in Congress and a recent fancy butter trenk on TikTok. Crossley is the host of GBH’s Under the Radar. Cider Donuteur Alex Schwartz has amassed thousands of Instagram followers with his reviews of apple cider donuts. He joined us on the show and discussed this and taught Jim and Margery the subtleties of this treat. Sue O’Connell talked about former president Trump’s new defamation suit against CNN, the 299 GOP midterm nom

Today on Boston Public Radio: Kristen Welker discusses the impact of Hurricane Ian on Floridians, and the Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker allegedly paying his girlfriend to get an abortion despite his pro-life stance. Welker is the Chief White House Correspondent for NBC News and Co-Anchor of Weekend Today. She also co-hosts Meet the Press Now alongside Chuck Todd on NBC Now. We then ask listeners about the more than one hundred days since the Supreme Court overturned precedent set by Roe v. Wade. Andrea Cabral talks about The Onion’s amicus brief to the Supreme Court in support of a man who faced criminal charges after making a Facebook page parodying his local police department, and shares her thoughts on the former Northeastern employee arrested in an apparent bomb hoax. Cabral is the former Suffolk County sheriff and secretary of public safety, and former CEO of the cannabis company Ascend. Dr. Kimberly Parker shares how kids are handling the return to school after hybrid learning, and the

Today on Boston Public Radio: Art Caplan weighs in on the health benefits of coffee versus tea, and discusses the ethics of using data from experiments that cause suffering. Caplan is the Drs. William F and Virginia Connolly Mitty Professor and founding head of the Division of Medical Ethics at NYU School of Medicine in New York City. We then continue our conversation on coffee versus tea with listeners. Trenni Casey discuss a new report that found systemic abuse in the U.S. women's pro soccer league. She also talks about speculation over Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen deciding to divorce. Casey is a reporter and anchor for NBC Sports Boston, and a weekly Boston Public Radio contributor. Evan Horowitz walks us through the Mass. ballot questions ahead of November's election. Horowitz is the Executive Director of the Tufts University Center for State Policy Analysis. Matt Gilbert shares some of his current must-watch TV shows, from Apple TV+'s "Bad Sisters" to Hulu's "Wedding Season." Gilbert is the TV crit

Today on Boston Public Radio: Shirley Leung talks about her recent experience biking 8.5 miles through Boston to work, and the sentencing of former eBay executive Jim Baugh to nearly five years in prison for running a scheme to harass a Natick couple. Leung is a business columnist for the Boston Globe. We then ask listeners about their experiences biking through the city. Lee Pelton explains the racial inequities are exacerbated by natural disasters like hurricanes. He also discusses President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan. Pelton is the president and CEO of The Boston Foundation. Juliette Kayyem discusses the criticism over Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and FEMA’s evacuation of Lee County just a day before Hurricane Ian hit. She also talks about a rise in threats against lawmakers. Kayyem is former assistant secretary for homeland security under President Barack Obama, and the faculty chair of the homeland-security program at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. Her new book is “The Devil Neve

Award-winning food writer Corby Kummer joined Boston Public Radio on Monday to share the story of food scientist Maria Orosa, the Filipino inventor of banana ketchup. Orosa was born in Taal, Philippines, in 1893, and became a U.S. government-sponsored scholar at 23, traveling to the U.S. to earn her bachelor’s and master’s in chemistry and pharmaceutical science at the University of Washington at Seattle. Though she was offered a job by the State of Washington, Orosa returned to her native Philippines to join the government’s Bureau of Science to create a variety of new local foods and tools: flour from bananas and cassava, earthenware palayok ovens, soybean drink Soyalac, and more. Perhaps Orosa’s most beloved creation was banana ketchup. After the U.S. colonized the Philippines in 1898, imports like ketchup became expensive — and tomatoes proved hard to grow in the tropical climate. Orosa developed banana ketchup using local saba bananas, sugar, vinegar, a variety of spices, and red food coloring. “She w

Today on Boston Public Radio: The midterms are now 36 days away. We opened the lines and asked our listeners: What does an increase in political violence in America say about us? We opened our lines again for another installment of Ask the Doctor with Dr. Katherine Gergen Barnett of Boston Medical Center. She joined us on the show to answer listeners' questions from COVID to the upcoming flu season. Charlie Sennott discussed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s staged annexation of Ukrainian territories. Far-right surges in recent elections in Italy and Sweden, as well as the upcoming runoff election in Brazil. Sennott is the founder and editor of The GroundTruth Project and award-winning correspondent. Co-founder and editor of The American Prospect, Robert Kuttner joined us and discussed his new book: ‘Going Big: FDR’s Legacy, Biden’s New Deal, and the Struggle to Save Democracy.’ Revs. Irene Monroe and Emmett Price discussed nonreligious women of color gathering to talk about Christian nationalism, and J

Today on Boston Public Radio: Hurricane Ian has left a trail of devastation. We opened the lines to listeners to ask: Has climate change won? Is it too late for some spots on the coast line, like Florida and Cape Cod? Lauren Friel and Andrew Brady from Cambridge restaurant Dear Annie discussed their recent success including reviews from the New York Times and Bon Appetit. Callie Crosley joined us through zoom and discussed the current Corey Lewandowski sexual assault case, an uptick of COVID levels in Massachusetts wastewater, and airlines that charge a premium to keep nearby seats empty. Crosley is the host of GBH’s Under the Radar. Sue O’Connell from NBC 10 Boston discussed Biden’s recent “Where’s Jackie?” moment, an HIV-positive man in Revere finally able to pursue his dream of joining the Army, and the Lizzo x James Madison collaboration. James Bennett II discussed Carly Rae Jepsen’s music with a message for the burdened adult, Japanese Breakfast, and Trevor Noah’s exit from the Daily Show after seve

Today on Boston Public Radio: Chuck Todd talked about the political impacts of climate change-induced severe weather, Ron DeSantis’ upcoming governor race, the latest in the Brett Favre welfare scandal. Todd is the moderator of “Meet The Press” on NBC, host of “Meet The Press Daily” on MSNBC and the political director for NBC News. Then, we asked listeners if they’ve become more judgmental post-COVID. Andrea Cabral discussed the latest in the Brett Favre welfare scandal, the potential of Ginny Thomas’s role in the Jan. 6th hearing, and new polls showing millions of Americans say they support violence to get Trump back in power. Cabral is the former Suffolk County sheriff and secretary of public safety, and former CEO of the cannabis company Ascend. J.B. Smoove talked about how he landed his Curb Your Enthusiasm role, and gave us a taste of his “Physical Therapy” tour. J.B. Smoove plays Leon Black on HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm. He has a show at the Wilbur Friday night. Kevin Green & Frank Lowenstein

Today on Boston Public Radio: We opened the show by hearing from listeners about Hurricane Ian baring down on Florida's gulf coast, and how climate change is making storms more extreme. Medical ethicist Art Caplan discussed medical transparency for people seeking political office, Biogen's results from a clinical trial of a drug they're developing that aims to slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease. Caplan is the Drs. William F and Virginia Connolly Mitty Professor and founding head of the Division of Medical Ethics at NYU School of Medicine in New York City. Congressman Jim McGovern called into the show from the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health to discuss the administration's efforts to end hunger in the United States. Tom Nichols discussed Russia's conscription and the latest developments in the war in Ukraine. Nichols is a staff writer at The Atlantic, where he writes the Peacefield newsletter. Matt Gertz discussed how right-wing media has been covering the January 6 commit

Today on Boston Public Radio: We started the show by hearing our listener's reactions to the news that NASA had successfully launched a satellite into an asteroid to test its ability to redirect the paths of objects in space. Trenni Casey discussed how Boston Celtics coach Ime Udoka’s year-long suspension for having an inappropriate relationship with a female staff member impacted the official launch of the C’s season. Casey also discussed how replacement coach Joe Mazzulla’s relative inexperience could affect the team's prospects. Trenni is an anchor and reporter with NBC Sports Boston, and a Boston Public Radio contributor. Nancy Gertner discussed the upcoming Jan. 6 insurrection hearing scheduled to take place on Wednesday, Sept. 27, which was subsequently postponed due to the impending Hurricane Ian. Gertner also examined the six legal cases former President Donald Trump is facing and whether or not he could actually be criminally prosecuted. Nancy Gertner is a retired federal judge in Massachusetts an

The last time a Presidential administration held a summit on hunger, Richard Nixon was president – giving way to the federal food stamp program we know today. On Wednesday, President Biden will hold his own hunger summit in DC, aiming to bring food and nutrition into the practice of medicine and healthcare. “It took years of work to get the White House to consider having its own conference, which they’re calling Hunger, Health and Nutrition,” said food policy writer Corby Kummer, whose organization the Aspen Institute is involved in the conference and who will be attending. Kummer said one concrete action that will come out of the conference will be recommendations to expand paid, medically tailored meals, as well as access to SNAP. “And then the real work will begin of actually enacting them,” said Kummer. Corby Kummer is executive director of the Food and Society policy program at the Aspen Institute, a senior editor at The Atlantic and a senior lecturer at the Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition Scienc

Today on Boston Public Radio: We started the show by hearing from listeners about what their ideal work week would look like, as more and more people seek alternatives to the traditional 9 to 5. Michael Curry discussed the latest COVID-19 numbers in Massachusetts, the Mass Black Expo aiming to foster community for Black entrepreneurs, and the latest on diversity in state contracts. Michael Curry is President and CEO of the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers. He’s also a Member of the National NAACP Board of Directors, where he chairs the board’s Advocacy & Policy Committee. Poet Richard Blanco read some of his own poetry tackling identity to help us celebrate Hispanic heritage month. Blanco Blanco is the fifth presidential inaugural poet in U.S. history, His latest book "How To Love A Country" deals with various socio-political issues that shadow America. Reverends Irene Monroe and Emmett G Price III discussed the moral issues of the day, like how 75% of Republican evangelicals saying t

Today on Boston Public Radio: We began the show by asking listeners about the year-long suspension of Celtics coach Ime Udoka. Juliette Kayyem talked about the latest from the Alex Jones trial, Former President Donald Trump’s recent spring of bad headlines, including his seeming support for QAnon and the fraud lawsuit against him and some of his children. Kayyem was the assistant secretary for Homeland Security under former President Barack Obama, and is the faculty chair of the Homeland Security program at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. Her new book is “The Devil Never Sleeps: Learning to Live in an Age of Disasters.” David Abel talked about his latest reporting, including Boston Mayor Michelle Wu’s new forestry plan to increase the city’s canopy, and railroad companies in Mass. bulldozing thousands of trees. Abel is a Pulitzer Prize–winning writer who covers the environment for the Boston Globe. Christopher Muther talked about his travel reporting, including new luxury RV parks in Boston, Pete

Today on Boston Public Radio: We began the show asking listeners whether the recent headlines about Former President Trump will affect the public’s perception of him. Susan Zalkind gave some insight into her years of investigating a 2011 triple homicide in Waltham, Mass., which despite its brutality and connections to the Boston Marathon bombing, remains unsolved; and its recent adaptation into a docu-series. Zalkind is an independent journalist, writer and producer. A docu-series based on her reporting, “Murders before the Marathon,” is out on Hulu.  Andrea Cabral discussed the latest in former President Trump’s legal troubles, and Adnan Syed’s release after two decades in prison. Cabral is the former Suffolk County sheriff and secretary of public safety, and former CEO of the cannabis company Ascend. Sue O’Connell shared her insights on the alleged looming price spike of heating, and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s pledge to introduce articles of impeachment against President Joe Biden. O’Connell is the c

Today on Boston Public Radio: Art Caplan discussed President Biden’s comments about COVID, Tampa Bay school districts launch of Tom Brady’s fitness program, and new research showing 20 percent of households are dealing with some form of medical debt. Art Caplan is a professor and the Director of NYU Grossman School of Medicine's Division of Medical Ethics. After talking to Art Caplan about issues surrounding the mental health crisis, we heard from listeners about our stress levels during the pandemic. Shirley Leung talked about her recent article on the development potential and costs for the reopening of Long Island, plus the latest on the MBTA's Orange Line reopening, and the MA Steamship Authority rejecting suggestions for its naming competition for the newly acquired ferries to Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard. Shirley Leung is a columnist and associate editor at the Boston Globe. Rick Steves shared his travel experience dining and cruising the Burgundy Canal, and the usefulness of trekking poles whil