Boston Public Radio Podcast

Today on Boston Public Radio: Chuck Todd discussed the latest political headlines. Todd is moderator of Meet the Press and political director for NBC News. We opened the lines to hear from listeners about whether they think there is a disconnect between the way government operates and the will of the people. Former Suffolk County sheriff and former public safety secretary Andrea Cabral discussed how Jeffrey Epstein's apparent suicide is casting a spotlight on how federal prisons are rife with violence, sexual harassment, and chronic under-staffing. Cabral is now CEO of Ascend. Boston Globe business columnist Shirley Leung discussed new MBTA cars on the orange line and the planned merger between Harvard Pilgrim and Tufts Health Plan. Paul Reville discussed the tuition hike at UMass and other education headlines. Reville is former secretary of education and a professor at Harvard University's Graduate School of Education, where he runs the Education Redesign Lab. Corby Kummer discussed a potential meat tax in Germany as the country reckons with the industry's environmental harm. 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 Science and Policy. We opened the lines to discuss the sales tax holiday in Massachusetts.

Today on Boston Public Radio: We opened the lines to ask whether you're skipping traveling during your vacation time off from work because it's too expensive. Pine Street Inn President Lyndia Downie joined us to discuss the aftermath of Operation Clean Sweep on Boston's homeless population. We spoke with medical ethicist Art Caplan about President Donald Trump's proposal to allow the importation of cheaper pharmaceuticals into the United States. WGBH Executive Arts Editor Jared Bowen shared his thoughts on the latest production of "To Kill a Mockingbird," which is now running on Broadway. We spoke with historian Nancy Koehn about Robert Kennedy's leadership style during his 1968 presidential campaign. WCRB's Brian McCreath and Celtic Sojourn's Brian O'Donovan joined us for a seasonal concert round table.

Today on Boston Public Radio: On Monday, the Trump administration announced it would be changing the way the Endangered Species Act is applied, significantly weakening it. We asked our listeners to share their thoughts on the decision. Trenni Kusnierek discussed the recent calls to boycott Equinox Fitness and SoulCycle due to the chairman of the company that owns both companies hosting a fundraiser for President Donald Trump. Kusnierek is an anchor and reporter for NBC Sports Boston. Ali Noorani discussed the Trump administration’s “public charge rule,” a policy that requires immigrants to be denied a green card if they are likely to use government benefit programs. Noorani is the executive director of the National Immigration Forum. We asked our listeners to discuss their techniques for being environmentally conscious in the modern world. John King discussed the latest developments in the 2020 presidential race. King is the chief national correspondent for CNN. Playwright Ryan Landry joined us to discuss how art under the Trump presidency.

Today on Boston Public Radio: Charlie Chieppo and Jennifer Braceras joined us for a political round table. Chieppo is principal of Chieppo Strategies and senior fellow at both Governing and Pioneer Institute. Braceras is a political columnist, director of the Center for Law & Liberty at the Independent Women's Forum, and a former Commissioner of the United States Commission on Civil Rights. We spoke with WGBH News Analyst Charlie Sennott about the resignation of US Ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman, one of a string of resignations in President Donald Trump's cabinet. Pat and Tammy McLeod joined us to discuss their new book *Hit Hard: One Family's Journey of Letting Go of What Was -- And Learning to Live Well with What Is, *about their son's traumatic brain injury sustained while playing football. We opened the lines to take listener calls about the news that convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein apparently committed suicide while in jail. Reverends Irene Monroe and Emmett G. Price III joined us for another edition of All Rev'd Up to discuss the legacy of late author Toni Morrison. Michael Maso, executive director of the Huntington Theater, discussed the theater's upcoming renovations. Media scholar Bob Thompson previewed this year's Emmy Awards in September. Thompson is founding director of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture and a Trustee Professor of Television and Popular Culture at the Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University.

Today on Boston Public Radio: SoulCycle leadership has been found to throw fundraisers for President Donald Trump. SoulCyclers who don't support Trump now feel conflicted about where their money is going. We opened the lines to ask our listeners if morality affects their consumer habits. Sabine van Rensburg and Brin Schoellkopf of The 7 Fingers circus discussed their U.S. premiere of PASSENGERS opening at ArtsEmerson this September. WGBH's Emily Rooney spoke about troubles with the RMV in Massachusetts as well as Tucker Carlson's denial of white supremacy. Tech writer Andy Ihnatko spoke about 8chan, the site which the El Paso shooter allegedly posted an anti-immigration manifesto before killing 22 people. Lindsay Mis, executive director of Massachusetts Design Art & Technology, talked about the new public art installation in New Bedford called "Silver Current." Boston Globe business columnist Shirley Leung discussed why Massachusetts traffic congestion is hitting its limit. Three players from the Boston Renegades - Allison Cahill, Stephanie Pascual and Emily Beinecke - joined us for our weekly news quiz. The Boston Renegades are a women's tackle football team.

Today on Boston Public Radio: NBC News' Chuck Todd gave updates on the latest in national politics. Author Rebecca Traister talked to us about 2020 presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren's past as a professor. We opened the line to ask our listeners if they think Warren's career in the classroom helps on the campaign trail. Criminal justice analyst Andrea Cabral spoke about the Trump administration's stance on gun control. Mike Norton, behavioral economist at Harvard Business School, spoke about the healing power of humor in tragic situations. He also took calls from our listeners about how humor has helped them along the grieving process. WGBH science editor Heather Goldstone described the present day impacts of climate change. Medical ethicist Art Caplan explained why video games and mental illness are not to blame for mass shootings.

If you prefer your milk without the moo, a variety of plant-derived "milks" exist. Some people swap cows' milk for plant milk due to having dairy allergies. Others choose to consume plant milk for environmental or animal rights reasons, and these are just the type of people who might soon reach for a glass of lab-made milk instead. Food writer Corby Kummer joined Boston Public Radio on Wednesday to explain how lab-made dairy can produce milk with without the methane. "Protein alternatives made from plants are all the rage as we know Beyond Meat and Impossible burgers, but it's happening in fish, eggs and milk. This milk is not an alternative, it's got all the allergens of dairy products, but what it doesn't have is belching cows behind it," he said. As funny as it is to imagine cows belching, the methane released from these burps is no joking matter. Cow burps add up, accounting for 26 percent of all U.S. total methane emissions, according to National Geographic. Cow-free dairy could lower this number, said Kummer. "The main reason behind it and most of these alternatives is the environment. It's to save the methane emission from cows," he said. "It's to save all the animals from the huge concentrated animal feed lots and all these huge operations." Cow-free dairy swaps 1,000+ pound cows with much smaller organisms - microbes - to produce the dairy proteins instead. These proteins are what makes milk look and taste like milk, Kummer said. "Synthesized proteins mimic the two main proteins in milk, which help coagulate cheese and help give flavor to milk. They're already being synthesized, it's very successful and works fine. Where it doesn't work yet is on any kind of big scale, that's a ways off." Until researches figure out how to increase productivity for a larger scale, you won't be able to find this lab-milk in your dairy aisle quite so soon. In the meantime, you're more likely to find lab-made dairy in the form of cheese, according to Kummer. "It's going to be the base of cheese, whey protein, that lots of cheese makers make. What it does is have all the protein properties that's going to help in making cheese and probably be indistinguishable when they add the salt and the other flavoring that goes into cheese. So it's probably going to be very useful to the industry," he said. Kummer added that even though lab-made milk will take a longer time to reach the masses, demand for it is there. "The company that's farthest along with this, called Perfect Day, did a test market in July of limited edition batches of flavored milk and they sold out." 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. Written by Hannah Uebele

Today on Boston Public Radio: Economist Jonathan Gruber distinguished the 2020 Democratic candidates' healthcare plans from each other. He also took questions from our listeners about how different healthcare plans could affect them. Massachusetts Representative Stephen Lynch discussed gun reform legislation in the wake of the fatal shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio. CNN analyst Juliette Kayyem explained why she believes white supremacism is the greatest terroristic threat to the United States of America. WGBH's executive arts editor Jared Bowen called in from New York City to describe his experience last night during the panic at Times Square. Hundreds of people ran for their lives after mistaking a motorcycle for gunshot. Venezuela and Uruguay have issued travel warning to the U.S. in response to the mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton. We opened the lines to ask our listeners about their safety concerns with traveling in the U.S. MA Representative William Straus and Senator Joseph Boncore discussed the problems within the RMV. Food writer Corby Kummer spoke about everything from faux-guacamole and "Impossible" milk to vegetarians who've become butchers in an attempt to change the meat industry.

Today on Boston Public Radio: We opened the lines to hear from listeners about how mass shootings are affecting our mental health. NBC Sports reporter Trenni Kusnierek discussed a recent Major League Soccer player's goal celebration decision to grab a field microphone and call on Congress to end gun violence, and the league's decision not to punish him. Chris Dempsey and Jim Aloisi discussed Governor Charlie Baker's transportation bond bill, highlighting aspects where the governor is a leader and where he's falling behind. Dempsey is director of Transportation For Massachusetts. Aloisi is a former Massachusetts Secretary of Transportation and is on the board of TransitMatters. ACLU Executive Director Carol Rose discussed anti-immigration rhetoric coming out of the White House in the aftermath of the El Paso shooting, and what the civil liberties union is doing to protect immigrants rights. Lizzie Post discussed her new book* Higher Etiquette: A Guide to the World of Cannabis, From Dispensaries to Dinner Parties.* We took listener calls again, this time to hear horror stories and odes to the long distance bus ride. Poet Richard Blanco joined us for another edition of Village Voice, and shared a collection of poems to help us “surrender to oblivion” and recenter in the wake of trauma with recent mass shootings. Blanco is the fifth presidential inaugural poet in U.S. history, his new book How To Love A Country deals with various socio-political issues that shadow America.

Today on Boston Public Radio: Sue O'Connell and Joanna Weiss discussed the weekend mass shootings in Ohio and Texas and other national headlines in a political round-table. O'Connell is co-publisher of Bay Windows and South End News, and in-depth politics reporter for NECN. Weiss is editor of Experience, a magazine published by Northeastern University. WGBH News analyst Charlie Sennott looked at how America compares to other nations when it comes to gun deaths, and why mass shooters who espouse white nationalism aren't charged with domestic terrorism in the country. We opened the phone lines to hear from our listeners about where they stand on gun control. Reverends Irene Monroe and Emmett Price discussed what rural Christians heard during the Democrat presidential debates. Monroe is a syndicated religion columnist and the Boston voice for Detour’s African American Heritage Trail and a Visiting Researcher in the Religion and Conflict Transformation Program at Boston University School of Theology. Emmett is Professor of Worship, Church & Culture and Founding Executive Director of the Institute for the Study of the Black Christian Experience at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. Together they host the All Rev’d Up podcast. TV guru Bob Thompson previewed the American Experiences documentary on Woodstock, and reviewed other media headlines. Thompson is founding director of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture and a Trustee Professor of Television and Popular Culture at the Newhouse School of Public communications at Syracuse. We got an acoustic set from musician Will Dailey, who will perform a series of concerts at Fenway Park this summer.