BPR Full Show: Sublime Snacking and Celebrity Sighting

Today on Boston Public Radio:

Chuck Todd begins the show by talking about what he thinks will get cut from the Democrats’ spending bill, and what “reconciliation” actually means. Todd is the moderator of “Meet the Press,” host of “Meet the Press Daily” on MSNBC and the political director for NBC News.

Then, we asked listeners if they plan to get their kids vaccinated, as FDA authorization is expected to go through for children aged five to 11 in the coming weeks.

Andrea Cabral discusses jury selection in the trial of Gregory McMichael, Travis McMichael and William Bryan, who shot Ahmaud Arbery in February of 2020. She also talks about today’s House vote on whether or not to hold Steve Bannon in contempt for defying a subpoena from a committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection. Cabral is the former Suffolk County sheriff and the former Massachusetts secretary of public safety. She is currently the CEO of the cannabis company Ascend.

Paul Reville unpacks the boom in enrollment at Christian schools, and an elite Concord school cancelling its invitation to Nikole Hannah-Jones to speak about The New York Times’ 1619 Project. Reville is the former Massachusetts secretary of education and a professor at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education, where he also heads the Education Redesign Lab. His latest book, co-authored with Lynne Sacks, is “Collaborative Action for Equity and Opportunity: A Practical Guide for School and Community Leaders.”

Folu Akinkoutu talks all things snacks, including her recollections of helping her parents run vending machines, her favorite food fusions across cultures and snack containers that dredge up childhood memories. Folu Akinkuotu is the Boston-based creator of the Unsnackable newsletter.

Jon Gruber highlights the legacy and importance of the Nobel Memorial Prize in economics, and how Joshua Angrist’s win for “natural experiments” in the field contributed to the rise in prominence of empirical economic research. Gruber teaches economics at MIT. He was instrumental in creating both the Massachusetts health-care reform and the Affordable Care Act, and his latest book is “Jump-Starting America: How Breakthrough Science Can Revive Economic Growth And The American Dream.”

We end the show by asking listeners about their celebrity encounters, after John Legend tipped a street performer playing “All of Me” outside Faneuil Hall.