Festivals around the country are holding off on annual celebrations for Hispanic Heritage Month due to the looming threat of ICE. Plus, a new poll shows President Donald Trump’s favorability is slipping with Latino voters. And Bad Bunny wraps up his epic Puerto Rico residency -- it's our Latinx news roundtable!

Few traditions are more sacred than marriage, but when complicated legacies are involved, few traditions are more stressful. “The Ceremony,” celebrated playwright Mfoniso Udofia’s sixth entry in the generation-spanning Ufot Family Cycle of nine plays, finds that complicated connection in the engagement between Nigerian-American Ekong Ufot and Nepali-American Lumanthi Rathi, simultaneously examining Ekong’s fractured relationship with his immigrant father Disciple. We speak with the playwright and the CHUANG Stage production's two leading actors.

Recent findings show that one-third of American high school seniors lack basic reading skills -- the lowest numbers in more than three decades. Could a shift to a more linguistics-centered educational approach help turn those numbers around? Plus, it’s Hispanic Heritage Month, which means it’s time again for the annual CineFest Latino Boston Film Festival. We speak with its founder and director along with two filmmakers whose documentary, "Comparsa," is kicking off the festival.

We’re exploring the latest headlines from Western, Central, and Eastern Massachusetts in our first Massachusetts news roundtable, including the latest in the off-shore-wind saga, consolidated high school football teams in the Berkshires and Holyoke as a non-sanctuary city. Then, Callie heads to Portland, Maine, to check out the Portland Museum of Art's new exhibit, “David C. Driskell: Collector," juxtaposing Driskell's work with some of his collected works, including pieces by celebrated artists like Lois Mailou Jones, Edward Mitchell Bannister and Romare Bearden.

• RSVP to our FREE Bookmarked LIVE! event at Parkside Bookshop happening Wednesday, September 17, at 6:30 p.m.: bit.ly/UTRParkside

First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes … divorce? Award-winning television host, actress and playwright Joy Behar goes from screen to stage in her new play, “My First Ex-Husband," premiering at the Huntington on September 12. We speak with Joy Behar and fellow iconic funny lady and cast member Jackie Hoffman about the show. Then, Olivia Blount squeaked through her employment interview to land the job of her dreams: working with the renowned Aubrey Merritt, a detective with a global reputation for solving impossible murder cases. Aubrey and Olivia’s Boomer - Gen Z relationship is at the heart of Liza Tully's new novel, “The World’s Greatest Detective and Her Just Okay Assistant" -- our September selection for Bookmarked: The Under the Radar Book Club.  

• RSVP to our Bookmarked LIVE! event at Parkside Bookshop: bit.ly/UTRParkside

Summer may be winding down, but we’re not ready to say goodbye just yet! This week, we go back to Cape Cod and the Islands for an encore of two of our favorite seaside segments. First, we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the movie “Jaws" through analyzing its iconic score with two music professors, including a John Williams expert. Then, we meet a chemical oceanographer and MacArthur "Genius" based in Woods Hole who's studying some of the smallest organisms on the planet -- plankton. 

• RSVP to our Bookmarked LIVE! event at Parkside Bookshop: bit.ly/UTRParkside

We’ve just passed the half year mark  into the second Donald Trump presidency. This month, President Trump called for the end of mail-in ballots. What could that mean for future elections?
States are pushing back against White House policies, and California Governor Gavin Newsom is taking a very public – and very snarky – approach. And early voting in Boston starts on August 30! We examine the latest news from the Boston mayoral race, as lead candidates Mayor Michelle Wu and challenger Josh Kraft battle over campaign finances. It’s an hour of political analysis with the Mass Politics Profs!

Massachusetts is a leader in the nationwide effort to reduce food waste, setting statewide standards on food scraps, supporting community-led efforts for food recovery, and ramping up assistance to schools and businesses. With fresh new insights and creative solutions, the fight against food waste is drawing new enthusiasts to an old environmental issue. How effective are the policies to reduce, donate and divert food waste?

Don’t throw out your leftovers; they might be the best part of your next meal! Repurposing leftovers and using food scraps in recipes is part of the movement to reduce food waste. Cookbook authors Tamar Adler and Anne-Marie Bonneau join Callie Crossley to make the case for low and zero-waste tasty recipes that’ll save home chefs time and money while being environmentally friendly.

In the past few years, Asian directors, actors, cast and crew have dominated award seasons – from “Parasite” to “Shogun” to “Everything Everywhere All At Once.” And culturally relevant Asian stories in film, on TV, and on streaming platforms continue to resonate with audiences – and bring in big bucks – around the world. So what Asian-led movies and shows should we be adding to our watchlists this summer?