WBUR Up Next

Brendan Little, who experienced homelessness and is the former policy director for the Mayor's Office of Recovery Services under Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, joins us to discuss.

Culinary superstar Tiffani Faison is back from the Food Network throwdown, "Beachside Brawl." We ask her about balancing her rising TV fame with being a chef, her calling to keep making food in Boston, and what "The Bear" got right about the restaurant world.

Plus, local author Rajani LaRocca discusses her new middle-grade novel, "Red, White, and Whole," about a girl who struggles to integrate different cultural identities in the face of illness.

LaRocca's own experience as an Indian-American, a mother and a doctor informs her stories.

After weeks of negotiating, Beacon Hill lawmakers finally came to a compromise on legalizing sports betting in Massachusetts. It was just one of a handful of bills that kept legislators in session overnight into Monday morning.

We're joined by Howard Bryant, senior writer at ESPN and sports correspondent for NPR's Weekend Edition Saturday, and Dan Shaughnessy, Boston Globe sports reporter and author of "Wish It Lasted Forever: Life with the Larry Bird Celtics."

Plus, Massachusetts legislators reach a last-minute deal that allows some betting in college sports. And doctors help us understand how the latest COVID subvariant is altering health officials' vaccination plans, and what's being done to contain another outbreak: monkeypox.

Plus, President Joe Biden's rebound case after Paxlovid.

We dive into the week's biggest headlines from Beacon Hill to white supremacy with former Boston City Councilor Tito Jackson and Boston Herald columnist Joe Battenfeld.

A popular class at Worcester Polytechnic Institute explores how Shakespeare was influenced by and incorporated the plague and pandemics into his works. We speak with the professor who teaches "Infected Shakespeare."