WBUR Up Next

This week, jury selection started for a federal murder case involving a former Stoughton police detective. Prosecutors allege Matthew Farwell killed 23-year-old Sandra Birchmore in 2021 and staged it to look like a suicide. Also this week, Gov. Maura Healey declared a "state of energy emergency" in anticipation of high heating bills this winter. We also check in with Jaser AbuMousa. He fled Gaza shortly after an Israeli airstrike killed several members of his family. It was shortly after Hamas attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. AbuMousa eventually settled in Walpole, Mass. with his two surviving, teenage children. AbuMousa spoke to WBUR's Lisa Mullins about the pull he feels to rebuild his homeland versus the push to help his children move forward in their new home. Editor's note: a previous version of this podcast had technical problems. We apologize for the error.

This week, the attorney general's office released its investigation on clergy sexual abuse in the Worcester, Springfield and Fall River dioceses. And new polling gives a sense of where voters stand on the gubernatorial race and the ballot questions for this election. WBUR's Tiziana Dearing sat with Boston Mayor Michelle Wu this week. She shared her complicated feelings on artificial intelligence and how it drives her policies. Plus, it's almost peak leaf-peeing season in the Boston area. Check out this foliage map from the state's Department of Conservation and Recreation to see the best time and location to see the colors change.

We'll catch up on the week's news — from an immigration enforcement operation in New Bedford to how the governor wants to deal with high gas prices. Then we'll dig into the debate on the future of delivery services: drones. Amazon plans to launch a drone delivery service from Westborough, Massachusetts - a town of around 20,000 people in Worcester County. Andresidents have mixed feelings about it. WBUR talks with a member of the town’s planning board.

WBUR's Tiziana Dearing takes us through this week's top headlines. The City of Boston released a report saying Flock Safety failed to keep its data secure during a 2025 pilot. Rep. Lori Trahan, along with other Democrats, urged congress to quickly work on guardrails for artificial intelligence. And Ed Sheeran's upcoming at Gillette stadium is at the center of a fiery debate about censorship - specifically about Israel-Palestine. We also spoke to Dr. Ashish Jha, who's the former COVID-19 response coordinator for the Biden administration. He shared the advice he gives his own family members on vaccines.

Miller spent two years at a rural high school in the northeast studying bullying up close.

WBUR's Morning Edition Tiziana Dearing host talked about how to stay healthy with Dr. Ashish Jha, a White House COVID 19 response coordinator in the Biden Administration and current fellow at Harvard University.

Cookbook author Mandy Silverman joins WBUR's Lisa Mullins to make challah stuffed with pomegranate-glazed apples.

Flight attendant Jeff Collman was aboard American Airlines Flight 11 when it crashed into the World Trade Center's North Tower on September 11, 2001.

Miles Schlichte was a Gloucester fire captain when terrorists flew two planes into New York City’s Twin Towers on Sept. 11, 2001. He was among the hundreds of first responders who dug through the rubble at Ground Zero. Twenty-five years later, he talks about what he experienced.

Evan Hubinger, a researcher at the AI company Anthropic, waded into an increasingly frenetic argument over the speed of AI development Tuesday. Massachusetts Congresswoman Lori Trahan talked about how those comments are landing on Capitol Hill.

WBUR reporter Deborah Becker has covered the Lindsay Clancy trial since 2023. She joins WBUR's All Things Considered to reflect on the trial, the media's role and why Clancy's case resonated nationally.

Sen. Jo Comerford of Northampton used a heavy dose of sarcasm and humor to call out specific online commenters by first name and mention their hateful comments against her. She then called on people to come together with more civil forms of communication and constructive criticism.

Murder-suicides are more common than many people realize. But they're still unusual enough that the people left behind often feel alone in their very complex grief. Jenna Howe and suicide prevention program Call2Talk recently started a support group for survivors of this specific type of loss.

Sen. Ed Markey, Rep. Richard Neal and Rep. Stephen Lynch were among a slew of veteran Massachusetts lawmakers who fended off younger challengers in Democratic state primaries this week.

George Bachrach, who managed Markey's first run for Congress in 1976, joined WBUR's Morning Edition to reflect on the strategy and instincts that have powered Markey's 50-year career on Capitol Hill.

The plan raises questions about how immigration officers might deploy the robots, and whether selling them to ICE could violate a pledge Boston Dynamics made about the use of its technology.

Former Newton Police Chief John Carmichael argues Flock Safety cameras can be an asset to law enforcement, despite growing public backlash.

Liya, who fled Afghanistan after American forces withdrew from the country in 2021, joins WBUR's Morning Edition to reflect on five years of life in the United States.

Fenway Park will host a bare knuckle fighting event on Aug. 29, and a Haverhill-native will be part of the main event. Harry "the Hitman" Gigliotti talks about how growing up in his city led him to the world of bare-knuckle boxing.

The Red Sox are headed to Yankee Stadium for a four-game weekend series with potential postseason implications.

Dr. Mathilde Ross, a Boston University psychiatrist and author of the book, "How to Thrive at College: A Guide to the Ups and Downs of Mental Health on Campus," discussed how parents can help their kids as they start or head back to college.

Boston Globe columnist Adrian Walker and former Boston City Councilor Josh Zakim join WBUR's Morning Edition to discuss what these kinds of scandals do to communities and politics.

Contract negotiations were tense in the wake of the BSO board's unexpected decision not to renew the contract of music director Andris Nelsons.

The DA's offices are in the process of buying new software. Nasser Eledroos, who worked as a senior data scientist for the Suffolk County district attorney, said the current system has severe limitations.

Police cited more than 500 people a year for wrong-way driving in Massachusetts each of the past two years. That’s significantly more than in previous years going back almost a decade.

The companies make products like earbuds, headbands, and sleep masks that claim to help you snooze.

Cancer took away Alice Harty’s ability to speak. She's one of a growing number of people who have turned to AI to replicate their voice.

Politico reporter Lisa Kashinsky says the result should put other New England incumbent politicians on edge.

George Robert Twelves Hewes was a local shoemaker who participated in a lot of events leading up to the American Revolution. Now, the Old South Meeting House in Boston is sharing more of his story with artifacts and testimony.

An automobile race across the United States was held in 1909, when many up-and-coming car manufacturers were throwing their hats in this new age of transportation. And for one of these up-and-comers was a little, unknown factory from Stoneham, Massachusetts: Shawmut. It's all detailed in Boston-based author Eric Moskowitz's new book, "The Hardest, Longest Race."

A Lowell man held in a Russian prison for the last four years is now free.

Downtown Boston Gets Boost in Police Patrols and Anti-Theft Operations

Boston Globe sports reporter Alex Speier joins WBUR's Morning Edition to discuss the team's transformation.

You can catch three different celestial events this month: a partial solar eclipse, the Perseids meteor shower and a near-full lunar eclipse. Here's when and how you can see each of them.

Jessie Colbert, who works for the statewide maternal mental health advocacy group Mind the Gap Coalition, is lobbying for a bill on Beacon Hill that would change how the criminal legal system treats new moms charged with crimes.

Massachusetts has seen dramatic rise in reported tick-borne diseases in the last three years, according to data from the state Department of Public Health. This year, there has been a spike in one particular illness known as alpha-gal syndrome, which has hit Martha's Vineyard especially hard.

MBTA General Manager Phil Eng hopes to bring the MBTA into what's called a "state of good repair," where trains run fast, stations are clean and well-lit, and signals operate like clockwork. In the meantime, though, he — and T riders — must contend with a decades-long maintenance problems that continue to snarl commutes.

Thousands signed a letter accusing Wu of slow-walking the transportation safety agenda she ran on. But the tragedy is also personal for the mayor. Gag once interned in Wu's old city council office.

Organizers of the Pan-Mass Challenge held this weekend hoped to raise 79 million dollars for cancer research and care at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Nearly 65-hundred cyclists took part. Rachel Marshall rode to honor her late father.

WBUR's All Things Considered host Lisa Mullins talks with comedian Jimmy Cash about elementary school gossip, sobriety and his journey to the comedy stage.

Last month, the Board of Higher Education approved pilot programs at Merrimack College and Suffolk University.

"A New Era," examines the impact of legendary Boston activist Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin and the women she worked alongside. Playwright Miranda Austen ADEkoje joined WBUR's Morning Edition to talk more about the play and how its themes still run true today.

For two decades, "Mortified" has brought deeply embarrassing, but also hilarious teenage memories to the stage. On Friday night, the Boston chapter has a show at WBUR CitySpace. Co-producers Sara Faith Alterman and Jackie Arko previewed the show for WBUR's Morning Edition.

Retired family doctor and jazz pianist Stanley Sagov recently performed a show at the Regattabar in Cambridge, two and a half years after what he thought would be his farewell performance because he had been diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer.

Congenital cytomegalovirus is a common viral infection that passes from mother to fetus during pregnancy. It affects about one in 200 babies in the US.

Ava J. Membreno is the new public address announcer for this year's inaugural Boston Legacy FC season. The rising Dean College sophomore grew up around New England sports, so getting to work with the local pro women's soccer team is sort of her dream job.

Hyundai announced plans to introduce a humanoid robot to its plant in South Korea. Workers got so angry that some walked off the job.

A new six stop audio tour is teaching people about Indigenous history in Boston. Thea Hopkins with the Aquinnah Wampanoag tribe composed two songs for the trail. She joins WBUR's Morning Edition to talk about the trail and why it's history is important today.

The six track on the album, "Tributaries," feature influences from New Orleans swing to West African highlife and were written by local composers. The collaborative grew out of "an explosion of creativity" in the pandemic, when musicians composed a trove of jazz works but had no way to get them performed and recorded.