Boston Public Radio

What's the best way to get to the White House? For one Boston group, the answer was simple: put one foot in front of the other.

Today we talk with Robert Sloane, the founder of WalkBoston. Sloane was recently honored at the White House for his efforts to promote walking in Boston.

Rep. Barney Frank is stepping down from his House seat at the end of this year. As soon as Frank announced his retirement candidates began positioning for a ballot spot. The saying goes that nature abhors a vacuum, and in the 4th Congressional District race that has certainly been the case.

Google was willing to pay $6 billion for the deal-of the-day site Groupon less than two years ago. It seemed like a great deal at the time- Groupon was on pace to hit $1 billion in sales faster than any other business. When Groupon opted to go it alone, it appeared to pay off. Their IPO last year was the largest by a U.S. Internet company since Google.

It’s one of those things we do dozen times a day and don’t even think twice about it: Thank someone. For bagging our groceries. Or holding the door. Or letting us proceed at a crosswalk. But sometimes a simple thank you isn’t enough. 

Today we continue our conversation about guns and gun control. In the wake of recent shootings in Colorado, Wisconsin and Texas A&M we’ve been talking about what, if anything, can be done to rein in gun violence.

Helen Gurley Brown, longtime editor of Cosmopolitan Magazine, and the author of the 1962 best seller "Sex and the Single Girl", died Monday.  She told the world that unmarried women had sex, and more importantly, enjoyed it. She was seen as a force who both liberated women, and boxed them in. We see her sexually liberated women in modern day pop culture, in such television shows as  "Mad Men" and "Sex and the City".

We have a lot of ways to describe our class divide in America. The "haves" and the "have-nots", "us" versus "them". John Edwards used his "two Americas" rhetoric to illustrate the disappearing middle class and the Occupy movement described our nation as the one percent versus the 99 percent. 

But the class divide could be whether the division ends...

Callie Crossley explores  how unconscious bias affects us all when it comes to racial profiling, and whether it can be avoided during the type of behavior screening the TSA uses at Logan Airport.

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"I enjoy cooking with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food I'm cooking." — Julia Child

How difficult is it to make it in a world dominated by big corporations?

Kara Miller talks with entrepreneurs about finding success in the food industry. How do you make waves when you've got a small, natural product - especially when you're facing down behemoths like General Mills and Kraft?

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Everyone in this town knows rents are high. But when they continue to soar it’s sour news for people just looking for a place to live.  In the past year rents have gone up by 7 percent. Today it will cost you, on average, just over $1800 a month. And that’s not even factoring in  related expenses, like finder's fees, security deposit and utilities.

Mitt Romney finally bit the bullet and made his big announcement over the weekend. He tapped young Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan — budget hawk and economics wunderkind — as running mate.

Last fall, voters in Holyoke, Massachusetts elected the state's youngest mayor: 23-year-old Alex Morse. Mayor Morse launched his campaign when he was a senior in college. After graduation, he moved back to his hometown of Holyoke to prove that he had the political savvy to steal the election. We check in with Morse, who is now six months into his first year as mayor.

Boston got  front page attention from the New York Times on Sunday.

WGBH's own "Dean of Boston Jazzz Radio" Eric Jackson stopped by to discuss his recent experience at the Newport Jazz Festival, the concerts e's most looking forward to and what he listens to when he isn't listening to Jazz.

Inspired by the new movie "Ruby Sparks," a modern Pygmalion story about a writer suffering from writer's block whose character comes to life and captures his heart, we talk with our resident film critic Garen Daly about depictions of writer's block in the movies.

Here's the trailer for "Ruby Sparks."

Guest:
Garen Daly, film critic
 

Do you remember the first time you quit a project or your job?  What about the first time you moved away from home? Or, moved on from a relationship?  Sociologist  Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot says all of these are exits we should pay attention to and learn from. Callie Crossley spoke with Lightfoot about her new book Exits: The Endings That Set Us Free.

Re-imagine the city - the office buildings, the apartments, the houses. How would they look if we were trying to reduce our carbon footprint? Kara Miller talks with three people who have an interesting take on what, exactly, a greener, more sustainable city would look like and how it would function.

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• Katie Swenson, vice president of design at Enterprise Community Partners
• Jerry Hajjar, chair of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Northeastern University
• Mark Webster, senior engineer at Simpson, Gumpertz, and Heger

For the 17th straight summer, the words of the Bard are echoing through the summer night for thousands of people on Boston Common, thanks to the efforts of Steve Maler and his Commonwealth Shakespeare Company (CSC).

But this year Steve is doing something a little different. Instead of presenting a tried and true crowd pleaser like Othello or Taming of the Shrew, he’s decided to challenge audiences with a little known, politically charged, historical tragedy: Coriolanus. 

This past Sunday a gunman opened fire at a Sikh Temple in Wisconsin, killing seven people and injuring four more. This came on the heels of last month’s Colorado theater shooting, where twelve were killed and scores more injured.

Both tragedies have reignited the gun control debate. Law enforcement in every big city — from L.A. to the streets of Boston — face the unenviable task of keeping firearms out of the hands of would-be criminals.

Today Boston Public Radio begins a series of discussions on what can be done, from renewing an assault weapons ban, to restricting internet sales and strengthening background checks.

A mural in Dewey square is  generating quite a controversy.  It’s part of an ICA exhibit, featuring the work of Brazilian artists  Os Gemeos.  The mural is a large scale painting  of a boy whose head is wrapped up in a red jacket. The controversy was sparked after Fox 25 aired a piece where a passersby told a reporter that the character in the mural looked like a terrorist. 

It's been six years since Massachusetts passed healthcare reform, but since that time health care costs have risen at an unsustainable rate. Amy Whitcomb Slemmer, the executive director of Health Care for All, writes that the time to tackle the issues of cost and quality is now. We talk with Slemmer about her piece.

Massachusetts lawmakers have lifted the longtime ban on prescription drug coupons. This makes Massachusetts  last state in the country to allow these discounts. The coupons will make some prescription drugs that do not have less-expensive generics more affordable.

When the housing market crashed, the search was on for someone to blame: irresponsible homeowners, bankers, politicians who loosened regulations. Economist Paul Willen says it's not so simple. 

We've heard the stories of people acting unethically in their business dealings. Take, for example, Enron, a multi-billion dollar energy company that failed spectacularly in 2001, or the slew of bank and investment scandals- most recently Barclay's, which has been accused of manipulating lending rates.

How do we consciously or unconsciously slip from ethical to unethical? Kara Miller looks into ethics in the workplace and the kind of business culture that makes slipping down the slope of immoral behavior acceptable.

A little-known policy regarding properties owned by the Catholic Archdioceses has potential buyers tied up in knots. The Church has been using deed restrictions to control how former properties — once used for religious services, education, or for housing nuns and priests — are used by new owners.

Does the Golden Voice award mean anything to you? What about the Audie? These are some of the highest honors associated with audiobooks. We're discussing the audio books and the best recordings to keep you company during your road trips for this last stretch of summer. 

What are your favorite audio books for a long road trip? Weigh in on our Facebook page or call us during the segment: 877.301.8970. 

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