Say More

If you lived around Massachusetts in the 1980s, you might remember hearing ads for 1-877-JOE-4-OIL. Joe Kennedy II dedicated much of his life to delivering discounted oil to families in need through his organization Citizens Energy. Now his son, former Massachusetts Congressman Joe Kennedy III is picking up the mantle, and helping the organization shift to renewables – think solar panels. The younger Kennedy joins Shirley Leung on Say More to talk about his new energy ventures, family politics, and the public’s enduring fascination with the Kennedys. Email us at [email protected].

For years, the New Bedford docks were home to one of the most notorious fraudsters in Massachusetts fishing history. His name is Carlos Rafael, but you might remember him as “The Codfather.” Besides being an exciting yarn full of conspiracy and crime, Carlos’s story ends up being a fascinating window into the challenge and perils of regulating fisheries in the US. This week on Say More, GBH News host and producer Ian Coss talks to host Shirley Leung about his new podcast series, “Catching the Codfather.”

You can listen to the series here. 

Murder makes demands. It’s a phrase underpinning THE KEEPER, the newest novel by Tana French, an author known best for her Dublin Murder Squad series. French was born in Vermont, but grew up all over the world. She landed, finally, in Ireland, where she fell in love with the humor and story-telling culture. This week on Say More, French talks to host Anna Kusmer about her latest trilogy which melds together western and mystery genres, set in the Irish countryside. French also reveals whether or not she is a dog person. Email us at [email protected].

For the first time in 30 years, a Boston policeman is facing manslaughter charges for the shooting of an unarmed carjacking suspect who was trying to flee in his car. With this move, in an important election year, Suffolk DA Kevin Hayden is garnering praise and condemnation. By his side, is Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, whose recent acts of political retribution are drawing parallels with her predecessor, Mayor Tom Menino, a famous holder of grudges. This week on Say More’s political panel, opinion editor Jim Dao sits down with Ideas writer Abdallah Fayyad and opinion columnist Joan Vennochi to talk about these topics, and the insurgent oyster farmer, Graham Platner who is leading the polls in Maine’s senate primary. Email us at [email protected]. 

Emily Oster, Brown University economist and author of ParentData newsletter, headlined Boston’s Globe second annual Working Mothers Summit this month. In a special live recording, Oster talks with Say More producer Anna Kusmer about why making parenting decisions feels even harder now than ever before. (Hint: social media isn’t helping) Oster, author of best-selling books EXPECTING BETTER and CRIBSHEET, stirred controversy during the pandemic for her controversial takes on school reopening. She says she has no regrets. Email us at [email protected].

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The sun was shining for the inaugural game this month of Boston Legacy, the city’s new women’s soccer team. While Legacy didn’t win their first match, optimism was high that finally, Boston may have a big women’s sports team to rally around. This week on Say More, host Shirley Leung talks to New Yorker sports writer Louisa Thomas about the progression of women’s sports, and what this team needs to do to survive the long haul. Can they promote stars and secure loyal fans? Can success mean an WNBA team is next? Email us at [email protected]. 

Reporter Shirin Jaafari has covered countless conflicts across the Middle East. But now, for the first time, the neighborhoods of her childhood in Iran have become a warzone. Shirin has been covering the war for The World radio program at GBH, here in Boston, while keeping tabs of her family and friends back home. This week on Say More, she talks to Boston Globe opinion editor Jim Dao about what Americans get wrong about Iran and the aspirations of the vast, and diverse, Iranian diaspora. Email us at [email protected].

Literacy rates in the US are shocking. Nearly half of the nation’s fourth graders cannot read at a basic level. Even Massachusetts, a leader in public education, reading scores have been falling. These disappointing results have fueled a bitter debate over how best to teach reading. And now that debate is fueled by another factor: artificial intelligence. Could tech tools help save more of our kids from illiteracy? Or will it simply expand the use of junk science? This week on Say More, opinion page editor Jim Dao talks to Ola Ozernov-Palchik, a cognitive neuroscientist at Boston University. She specializes in understanding how the brain learns how to read.  Her lab is working to ensure that new tools using AI are also backed by good science, which history shows, is not something you can take for granted in literacy education. Email us at [email protected].

Why exactly did the Trump administration bomb Iran, and how will it affect the rest of politics? And what should happen to the powerful Massachusetts people who were chummy with Jeffrey Epstein after his 2008 conviction for sex trafficking? This week on Say More, Opinion Editor Jim Dao talks to Globe Opinion columnist Joan Vennochi and Ideas writer Abdallah Fayyad about whether age seems to matter in the Massachusetts Senate primary and who we should be mad at when our sidewalks fill up with snow. Email us at [email protected].

It’s Rare Disease Week! And the Boston Globe held its second annual Rare Disease Summit, shining a spotlight on the 30 million people living with a rare disease in the US. In this BONUS live recording of Say More, we talk to Boston Children’s Hospital head of pediatrics Dr. Wendy Chung about strides in newborn genetic screening, and Bob and Bobby Coughlin, a father and son whose lives have been transformed by a breakthrough cystic fibrosis drug that’s changing the outlook for people with the disease. Email us at [email protected]. 

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