Today on Boston Public Radio:
We opened the show by taking calls from our listeners to ask if they are returning to public transit following the grand opening of a new branch on the Green Line Monday morning. The Medford branch connects Tufts University to downtown Somerville.
E.J. Dionne Jr. discussed some of his latest columns for the Washington Post, including his plea to conservative Christians to change their mind on same-sex marriage. He also discussed Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s decision to switch her party registration. Dionne is a columnist at the Post and a senior fellow at The Brookings Institution. His latest book is “Code Red: How Progressives and Moderates Can Unite to Save Our Country.”
Stephanie Leydon and Frances Amador of City Life/Vida Urbana discussed the latest installment of "Priced Out," a GBH News series covering the rising housing costs in Boston. Leydon is director of special projects at GBH News. Amador is a longtime East Boston resident who started working with the housing advocacy group City Life/Vida Urbana when she and everyone else in her building were set to be evicted. She’s also the subject of a “Priced Out” profile, available to read or listen to here.
Corby Kummer discusses the return of the restaurant Eastern Standard, free school lunches for children, an angry Olive Garden manager and Pepsi's "Pilk." Kummer is the 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.
Revs. Irene Monroe and Emmett G. Price III talk about the end of Trevor Noah’s tenure on “The Daily Show,” the release of Brittney Griner and fractions within the Methodist church over positions on LGBTQ rights. Monroe is a syndicated religion columnist and the Boston voice for Detour’s African American Heritage Trail. Price is founding pastor of Community of Love Christian Fellowship in Allston, the inaugural dean of Africana studies at Berklee College of Music.
Jon Gruber explained why pedestrian and automobile deaths are on the rise in the United States despite falling rates globally, and the economic impacts of big cars. Gruber is the Ford Professor of Economics at MIT. His latest book is “Jump-Starting America: How Breakthrough Science Can Revive Economic Growth and the American Dream.”
We ended the show taking our listeners’ calls about what they plan on binging during the holiday season as the Golden Globe nominations are released.
