Boston Public Radio Podcast

Today on Boston Public Radio: ·      Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker discussed education reform, controversies surrounding RMV license suspensions, as well as recent calls for the resignation of MIT’s president over the handling of donations from Jeffery Epstein. ·      Chuck Todd, moderator of MSNBC’s Meet The Press, discussed congressman Joe Kennedy’s Senate run, which is expected to be announced Saturday. ·      Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey discussed the state’s current suit against OxyContin producer Purdue Pharma. ·      Alex Beam explained the dishwasher lobby’s efforts to persuade the Trump administration to weaken environmental rules, and why chess tournament players are losing weight. Beam is a Boston Globe Columnist, whose latest book is “The Feud: Vladmir Nabakov, Edmund Wilson and the End of a Beautiful Friendship.”

Today on Boston Public Radio: We opened the lines to ask our listeners: is the voting public enamored with outlaws? Former Massachusetts education secretary Paul Reville spoke about Boston Public Schools' late bus problem. Homeland security expert Juliette Kayyem talked about President Donald Trump's next national security advisor. Boston Globe business columnist Shirley Leung discussed Jeffrey Epstein's donations to Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Jenifer McKim, senior investigative reporter at WGBH's New England Center for Investigative Reporting, joined to speak about her reporting on suicides among college students. Naturalist Sy Montgomery talked to us about the pros and cons of spaying and neutering our pets, as well as the legal verdict of a rooster being allowed to cock-a-doodle-doo. WGBH's executive arts editor Jared Bowen gave us his review on the Downton Abbey movie.

Today on Boston Public Radio: We opened the lines to hear listener thoughts on the impact criminal punishment of corporations accused of wrongdoing has on society. Attorney General Maura Healey is one of a handful of AGs not accepting a settlement with Purdue Pharma, as she seeks harsher conditions. NBC Sports Boston reporter Trenni Kusnierek joined us to break down the latest news on Patriots player Antonio Brown, who has been accused of sexual misconduct, and other allegations of wrongdoing. Boston City Council President Andrea Campbell discussed her call to curtail corruption at City Hall by establishing a full-time inspector general. Michael Norton, professor of business administration at Harvard Business School, discussed minimalism in the age of Trump. Food writer Corby Kummer discussed the latest food policy headlines. CNN's John King broke down the latest political news regarding gun legislation. Playwright Ryan Landry dished on the controversy around "Saturday Night Live" hire and fire: Shane Gillis.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has given their support to the dairy industry and recommended that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) not allow plant-based milks to use the label 'milk' on their products. Food writer Corby Kummer joined Boston Public Radio on Tuesday to explain the money-based bias in studies that say children are better off drinking cow's milk. "The American Academy of Pediatrics gets lots of money from the dairy board," Kummer said. "So they pay attention to dairy board sponsored studies that say pediatricians are concerned that children might be lacking nutrients. It's a bogus study because New Food Economy called up a bunch of pediatricians who said they're not worried. It's just industry that wants to protect the designation of milk and doesn't want to lose its market." While cow's milk is a nutrient-packed product, it's incorrect to say that switching to plant-based milks will harm children, Kummer added. "The nutrient density of cow's milk is incredibly high and it's great for children, but it doesn't mean that if parents decide they want their kids to have almond milk or soy milk that its going to destroy their childrens' health," he said. "Most pediatricians said they've never seen it be a problem." 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: Michael Curry and Jennifer Braceras joined our political roundtable covering the latest in policy and news. Curry is senior vice president and general counsel at Mass League of Community Health Centers, and a member of the National NAACP Board of Directors. Braceras is a political columnist, senior fellow with the Independent Women’s Forum, and a former Commissioner of the United States Commission on Civil Rights. Charlie Sennott, executive director of The GroundTruth Project, spoke about the attack on the Saudi Arabian oil supply. Ali Noorani, executive director of the National Immigration Forum, went over the latest immigration headlines. 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang talked to us about his race to the nomination. Reverends Irene Monroe and Emmett G. Price III spoke about the call for slavery reparations. We opened the lines to ask our listeners about sexual misconduct allegations against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. TV expert Bob Thompson talked about Shane Gillis,* Saturday Night Live's* controversial hire.

Today on Boston Public Radio: Did you make it through the 3 hour long 2020 Democratic presidential debate last night? We opened the lines to ask our listeners their thoughts on the matter. Emily Rooney, host of WGBH News' Beat the Press, joined to give her list of fixations and fulminations. Boston Mayor Marty Walsh joined Jim and Margery in the WGBH Studio at the Boston Public Library to answer our listeners' questions. Callie Crossley, host of WGBH News' Under the Radar, spoke about gun reform. Author Salman Rushdie talked about his latest novel, Quichotte. Dani Babineau of Redemption Rock Brewing Company and Rob Burns of Nightshift Brewing Company joined us for our weekly News Quiz.

Today on Boston Public Radio: NBC’s Meet The Press moderator Chuck Todd previewed Thursday night's Democratic debate. MIT Ford Professor of Economics Jon Gruber discussed surprise medical bills, and answered listener questions about them. GFord Professor of Economics at MIT. Andrea Cabral reviewed California Senator and presidential candidate Kamala Harris' criminal justice reform plan. Art Caplan discussed the Trump administration's decision to crack down on e-cigarettes. Author Malcolm Gladwell discussed his new book "Talking To Strangers: What We Should Know About The People We Don't Know." WCAI science editor and host of Living Lab Radio Heather Goldstone joined us to discuss President Trump's coercion of NOAA to back his tweets about Hurricane Dorian. We opened the lines to hear listener opinions on sexual allegations against newly signed Patriots player Antonio Brown.

Today on Boston Public Radio: *Washington Post *politics reporter Annie Linskey previewed Thursday night's 2020 Democratic presidential debate. Boston Globe columnist Shirley Leung discussed her column on City Hall corruption. Homeland security expert Juliette Kayyem spoke about the ousted national security adviser John Bolton. Boston Globe columnist Alex Beam talked debated the origin of the name of Canada geese. WGBH's executive arts editor Jared Bowen reviewed The Goldfinch and Lyric Stage Company's production of Little Shop of Horrors. Media maven Sue O'Connell discussed the Bryon Hefner case and Doyle's closing in Jamaica Plain. We opened the lines to ask our listeners about restaurants and bars that have closed that are now missed.

Today on Boston Public Radio: We opened the lines to hear listeners' takes on how the United States is handling Bahamians seeking refuge from hurricane damage. NBC Boston sports reporter Trenni Kusnierek discussed Antonio Brown's deal with the Patriots, and other sports headlines. Chris Dempsey, director of Transportation for Massachusetts, broke down congestion pricing, and Governor Charlie Baker's hesitation to it. Corby Kummer, executive director of the Food and Society Policy program at the Aspen Institute, discussed how the movement to eat less meat is growing, to the concern of farming advocates. Abby Ellis, director of a new Frontline documentary that goes behind the headlines of the Flint water crisis, joined us to discuss the investigation, which revealed one of the country's largest outbreaks of Legionnaires disease was largely hidden from the public. CNN's John King gave us the latest on the breaking news Tuesday that President Donald Trump's National Security Adviser John Bolton is out, and previewed the Democratic debates. Bob Thompson, founding director of Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture at the Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse, reviewed his best and worst television of the week.

If you're a consumer at Chipotle or Sweetgreen, you might feel virtuous that the bowls used there are considered compostable. Yet new findings show that these compostable bowls can still cause harm to both the environment and human health. Food writer Corby Kummer joined Boston Public Radio on Tuesday to talk about what this new research means for the future of your food bowl. "A writer from The New Food Economy got 19 different samples of compostable bowls, from Chipotle to Sweetgreen. All of them had high content of fluorines, which is what these 'forever chemicals' contain," he said. Compostable bowls began to find increasing popularity when some cities like New York banned Styrofoam containers, Kummer said. "New York and others started banning single-use foam because it was so bad for the environment and it never biodegraded." These foam containers contained long chain PFAs, and switching to compostable materials seemed reasonable, Kummer said. Yet these compostable containers consist of the less researched short chain PFAs, he added. "What they didn't know is that all these short chain PFAs make compost toxic, because they never dissipate and they are long persistent in the human body and collect in your organs," Kummer said. The reason that PFAs are useful in food containers lies in their ability to resist liquid, preventing food from dripping through its holder, Kummer noted. "PFAs are used to resist water in cookware and carpets. The long forms [of PFAs] were ruled out for a lot human use, but there's no data on the shorter forms." A new law will go into effect in 2020 banning all PFA use in single-use serviceware in San Franciso. With this in mind, alternatives containers will be produced, Kummer said. "All sorts of manufacturers are racing to provide alternatives, since San Francisco will outlaw short form PFAs in January," he said. "Sweetgreen was the first to step up and say yes we're looking into alternatives and we're going to find a way around this." 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.