Boston Public Radio

"We have the capacity to force a vote, and I think it’s time we do that," the Massachusetts senator said.

The governor acknowledged criticism from lawmakers but insisted the current mix of state and local efforts is most effective.

Students and advocates are calling on Harvard University to acknowledge its role in slavery and offer reparations.

Healey tells Boston Public Radio she supports legislation to update the state's existing hate crime laws.

If reparations to slavery were enacted before the pandemic, COVID-19 transmission and deaths could have been mitigated dramatically, according to Dr. Michelle Morse.

Andrea Cabral speaks about concerns regarding the 845 unvaccinated members of the State Police.

Michael Curry reflects on last week’s Health Equity Compact Trends Summit, and Juneteenth in Boston. We followed his segment by taking calls and texts about what it means to celebrate Juneteenth and support Black communities. Jenee Osterheldt of the Globe discusses season 3 of A Beautiful Resistance. The series is all about Black joy and Black lives. Rumman Chowdhury is a Responsible AI fellow at the Berkman Center at Harvard, and Will Knight is a senior writer at WIRED. They join for an AI/tech panel. Charlie Sennott joins to discuss the death of whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg, a seeker of truth. Corby Kummer discusses the local seafood we should be getting ourselves familiar with; NYC setting minimum wage for food delivery workers. We wrapped up the shows by discussing how animals seem to be fighting back. One example are the Orcas off the coast of Spain are attacking sailboats in targeted strikes, sinking three boats in the last year alone.

Best Of BPR: Gov. Maura Healey Is Bracing For "Misguided" SCOTUS Affirmative Action Ruling

The Harvard Medical School morgue manager was arrested this week for stealing and selling human body parts. We opened up the phone lines to get general reactions and talk about donating bodies to science. Shirley Leung reflected on the state of hybrid and in-person workplaces in Boston and beyond. She’ll also touched on Scott Kirsner’s recent Mass. moonshot ideas published in the Globe, the decline of downtown convenience stores and the demise of the Instant Pot. Gov. Maura Healey joined for “Ask the Governor,” 12-1pm. She answered questions about rent control and affordable housing, recent pardons, climate goals, the new green bank, the MBTA, and more… Cambridge Symphony Orchestra is staging a performance of Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet tomorrow, with live ballet from former Boston Ballet dancers and students from Tony Williams’ Boston City Youth Ballet. We heard from conductor Cynthia Woods & choreographer Gino Di Marco, plus husband and wife duo Ruth and Bill Whitney. Ruth plays Juliet, Bill plays tuba in the orchestra. They also treated us to some live ballet to accompany the music. Sunday is Father’s Day. We opened the phone lines for a potpourri discussion on dads.

Best Of BPR: 'In The Whale' & Expanding Local LGBT Business

MA has the third highest rental costs in the country. Is renting broken in greater Boston? How are you making it work, and have you resorted to rental bidding wars? Renters and brokers called into the show. Chuck Todd joined us to weigh-in on Trump's indictment, plus shared what's next after he steps away from Meet the Press in the fall. Andrea Cabral discussed the investigation into RI officials for their conduct on a trip to Philadelphia. Also, lottery drama on the South Shore, reflections on the Wu car crash situation and the creepy Harvard morgue manager scandal. David Abel is premiering his film "In The Whale" this Friday at the Provincetown Film Festival. It centers on the story of Michael Packard, the man scooped up by a humpback whale off the coast of Cape Cod in June of 2021. David and Michael joined Grace Moreno and Isa Wang joined for a conversation about capitalism and entrepreneurship in the LGBT space. Grace is Executive Director of the LGBT Chamber of Commerce and Isa is the founder of Gamut Pins, makers of cute pronoun pins. Nativity Preparatory School offers free tuition and support for low income boys in Boston. This graduation season, we talked with President Brian Maher, Principal Gadisa Goso and two newly-graduated 8th graders. People love their air fryers. Why? Air-fryer fans called in.