Cloe Axelson

Why 'history is more thrilling than any romance' Doug Brown collects rare books on early America. But he recently acquired a desk that once belonged to Constance Miekevicz (nee Gore-Booth), an Irish revolutionary and suffragist. He was inspired by t...

Doug Brown collects rare books on early America. But he recently acquired a desk that once belonged to Constance Miekevicz (nee Gore-Booth), an Irish revolutionary and suffragist. He was inspired by the story of her extraordinary life.

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The more I talk about gun violence, the less I have to say Child psychologist Ellen Braaten wasn't an expert on gun violence when she received a call from a TV producer in the wake of the Sandy Hook tragedy. But I did know how to comfort and advise parents af...

Essay: Child psychologist Ellen Braaten often does media appearances, trying to reassure parents and kids in the wake of school shootings. She used to tell her audience that the adults in their lives do everything they can to keep them safe, but she doesn't say that anymore. We haven’t. We don’t.

I do not know how to fix it, but I cannot say enough how much we in the news need to figure out how to handle the “flood the zone with shit” strategy.

Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey is first in U.S. to require insurers to pay for COVID vaccine Healey's measures include requiring insurance carriers to cover vaccines that the state's public health department recommends and allowing pharmacies to administer the COVID-19 vaccine.

Healey's measures include requiring insurance carriers to cover vaccines that the state's public health department recommends and allowing pharmacies to administer the COVID-19 vaccine.

Steps away from the Capitol, victims of Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier and sex offender, on Wednesday demanded that all people who received sexual favors through Epstein be identified. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/03/u...

+1. I say this every year

I started playing tennis again. It's great, mostly Kathy Gunst resisted tennis as a kid. Her parents were fanatics, and on principle, she decided the sport — and the country club — wasn't for her. Then she found the game again, on a public court, at 6...

Essay: Kathy Gunst resisted tennis as a kid. Her parents were fanatics, and on principle, she decided the sport — and the country club — wasn't for her. Then she found the game again, on a public court, at 68.

Live Updates: At Least 2 Killed and 17 Injured in Shooting at Minneapolis Catholic School

Today's my kids' first day of school. It was these kids' third. Why do we choose to live like this over and over? We are the only country in the universe where this happens.

Live Updates: At Least 2 Killed and 17 Injured in Shooting at Minneapolis Catholic School www.nytimes.com/live/2025/08...

New requirements make it harder for Americans who need help to get it The One Big Beautiful Bill Act added work requirements and other administrative burdens for people seeking government benefits, write Alister Martin and Annamarie Rapp. These things sound reasonable i...

Commentary: While some organizations in Massachusetts work to simplify access to health care and solve for food insecurity, federal policy moves in the opposite direction, write Alister Martin and Annamarie Rapa.

Is the slide into autocracy supposed to feel so humdrum? Trump is consolidating power over government entities with the authority to unleash violence. Such a brazen power grab would be one thing if the administration were more popular, writes Andrew Carleen, but this government is not comporting itself as though it fears the consequences of future elections.

We should be clear-eyed about what is happening in our nation’s capital, writes Andrew Carleen. The Trump administration is exerting its will via the power ministries of the federal government. It is a dress rehearsal for things to come. spr.ly/63320f2l7C

I am not a Hulk Hogan person, but this is a total delight. www.wbur.org/cognoscenti/...

Bees, like people, need each other When Linda Button's other half decided to become a beekeeper, he transformed their backyard. He cleared a space for the hives, lining it with rocks and building trellises with flowering vines to guide...

Essay: Bees, like people, need each other, writes Linda Button. Bees, like all of us, do best when they lean on each other’s strengths.

Tuberculosis doesn't respect borders Tuberculosis kills 1.3 million people each year, making it the deadliest infectious disease in the world, write KJ Seung and Kunda Kwabisha Mikanda. Eliminating U.S. funding to combat it around the gl...

ESSAY: "Stopping the fight against drug resistant TB today, even temporarily, will have irreversible, catastrophic effects in the long run — for generations to come," write KJ Seung and Kunda Kwabisha Mikanda. @wbur.org @pih.org @johngreensbluesky.bsky.social www.wbur.org/cognoscenti/...

Will the U.S. Join Israel’s War With Iran? The Daily · Episode

Wondering how the good and smart folks at The Daily made an entire episode about Trump and Iran, with no mention of the deal — negotiated by the Obama administration — that Trump shredded during his first term open.spotify.com/episode/3oK4...

5 things to know about El Salvador El Salvador has been in the headlines for weeks, primarily because of an agreement its president struck with the Trump administration to accept and detain deported migrants. But the country’s past and...

Commentary: El Salvador’s past and present are deeply intertwined with U.S. policy, writes Iván Espinoza-Madrigal. To understand the roots of migration, you have to understand the country’s political, social and economic realities.

‘Project Esther’ and Trump’s playbook against antisemitism Many people believe President Trump is weaponizing antisemitism in his war against diversity, equity and inclusion. What many may not realize, however, is that his administration seems to be following...

COMMENTARY: Like Project 2025, "Project Esther" is also a creation of the Heritage Foundation. “It's an exercise in cynicism by an administration eager to prey on people’s worst fears,” writes Anita Diamant.

In Mass., volunteers pack thousands of abortion pills destined for states with bans Huddled around a small conference table in Greater Boston, volunteers form an ad hoc assembly line to slip hundreds of pills into padded envelopes. It's not an illegal drug operation, at least not her...

The Mass. Medication Abortion Access Project, or The MAP, runs a website offering medication by mail to people living in states that restrict abortion. In their view, they are fulfilling a basic health care need amid a fierce national debate and legal uncertainty.

'Hidden in Plain Sight': The forgotten history of the Holocaust in Serbia Julie Brill's grandfather died in the Holocaust -- he was imprisoned in a camp, and murdered by the Nazis outside of Belgrade. But no one ever really talked about the Holocaust in the former Yugoslavi...

ESSAY: As a child, I knew my grandfather was a victim of the Holocaust, but also thought somehow that the Holocaust had not really come to Yugoslavia, because nobody talked about it, writes Julie Brill.

Run through these 26.2 marathon facts ahead of Boston's big race Limber up and eat some pasta, because we're about to test you with a bit of Boston Marathon trivia for every mile of the run.

this is so fun www.wbur.org/news/2025/04...

'By Power and Pride': A Minuteman for life The 250th anniversary couldn't come at a better time to remind people it's OK to have different beliefs, Carl Sweeney, captain of the Concord Minute Men, told WBUR's Cloe Axelson. But you need to talk...

Commentary: The 250th anniversary couldn't come at a better time to remind people it's OK to have different beliefs, Concord Minute Men captain Carl Sweeney told WBUR's Cloe Axelson. But you need to talk, he said, and when push came to shove our forefathers stood up for their beliefs.

Lest We Forget the Horrors: An Unending Catalog of Trump’s Cruelties, Collusions, Corruptions, and Crimes Early in President Trump’s first term, McSweeney’s editors began to catalog the head-spinning number of misdeeds coming from his administration. We...

Our updated list of Trump's cruelties, collusions, corruptions, and crimes now includes video evidence. #LestWeForgetTheHorrors
www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/les...

What to know about Trump's plan to rescind federal funding from NPR and PBS A little more than 3% of WBUR's annual budget comes from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. But that doesn't fully encapsulate the potential impact of CPB cuts.

A little more than 3% of WBUR's annual budget comes from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. But that doesn't fully encapsulate the potential impact of CPB cuts. www.wbur.org/news/2025/04...

The Trump Administration Accidentally Texted Me Its War Plans U.S. national-security leaders included me in a group chat about upcoming military strikes in Yemen. I didn’t think it could be real. Then the bombs started falling.

Remember when this happened? It was 23 days ago. www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...

Fighting the illegal wildlife trade means investing more in animal sanctuaries Amy Hanes is a cultural anthropologist who studies conservation. As part of her research, she helped raise a chimpanzee orphan named Daphne. The Trump administration is gutting conservation efforts wo...

What a story. And the photos! www.wbur.org/cognoscenti/...

In April 1775, Isaiah Thomas snuck his printing press out of Boston. The rest is history On April 16, 1775, Isaiah Thomas, a revolutionary patriot and printer of the radical Boston newspaper, The Massachusetts Spy, snuck his printing press out of Boston under the cover of darkness. It was...

History is cool. We should try learning from it. www.wbur.org/cognoscenti/...

Opinion | Black Americans Are Not Surprised by What Trump’s Doing (Gift Article) Many Black Americans are not surprised by the way Trump is running roughshod over the rule of law, because they have seen it happen throughout American history.

“Far too many well-meaning white Americans have been what I like to call ally ostriches, believing in progress while burying their heads in the sand when discussions around the past become uncomfortable.” - Prof. Christina Greer, Fordham www.nytimes.com/2025/04/07/o...

It's the small stuff that endures There’s a sameness to the ritual we use to memorialize the dead -- readings, eulogies, prayers, music -- but I somehow always learn something funny or quirky about the person who’s passed. Something t...

"There’s a sameness to the ritual we use to memorialize the dead -- readings, eulogies, prayers, music -- but I somehow always learn something funny or quirky about the person who’s passed. Something that makes me wish I’d known them better." www.wbur.org/cognoscenti/...

Cutting Off NPR and PBS (Gift Article) Republicans say there is no reason for the government to fund the public broadcasters.

“When Mister Rogers’s testimony came up at the hearing last week, one witness said that Congress shouldn’t have listened to him.”

www.nytimes.com/2025/04/01/b...

Rubio spoke broadly about university students vandalizing buildings and harassing students, but did not back up those claims with concrete examples or offer specifics in regards to Ozturk’s case.