Today on Boston Public Radio:
E.J. Dionne weighed in on the Biden administration’s cross-country “Help is Here” tour after the passage of the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill. Dionne is a columnist for The Washington 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.”
Next, we opened the phone lines to hear what listeners had to say about Massachusetts Education Secretary James Peyser’s plan to address learning loss by expanding in-person summer school programs.
Charlie Sennott discussed President Joe Biden’s charge to end the forever wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, touching on the current state of Al Qaeda in the Middle East. He also discussed Pope Francis’ visit to Iraq. Sennott is a GBH News analyst and the founder and CEO of The GroundTruth Project.
Bob Thompson recapped Sunday night’s Grammys. He also shared his thoughts on how soon is too soon when it comes to joking about a tragedy. Thompson is the founding director of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture and a professor of television and popular culture at the Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University.
The Revs. Irene Monroe and Emmett Price discussed the Vatican’s decree that its priests cannot bless same-sex unions, along with famous evangelist Beth Moore’s decision to leave the Southern Baptist Convention. Monroe is a syndicated religion columnist, the Boston voice for Detour’s African American Heritage Trail and a visiting researcher in the Religion and Conflict Transformation Program at the Boston University School of Theology. Price is executive director of the Institute for the Study of the Black Christian Experience at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. Together, they host GBH’s All Rev’d Up podcast.
Robert Lewis Jr. talked about his near-death experience with COVID-19 and what the past year has been like while working with kids. Lewis is the founder of the nonprofit The BASE.
We wrapped up the show by asking listeners if they’re ready to return to working in-person.
