Here and Now

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To put a period at the end of our interview, I'd love to quote you to yourself because you write so well.

And you write again, Herschel spent an entire career laying claim through his writings and activism that being a pious Jew meant adherence to tradition, to open oneself up to God, and to devote one's entire being to pursuing social justice here and now.

Is that legacy, essentially? Yeah.

I

Questions like, why are executives paid so much? Why is innovation in healthcare so hard? Is ESG just greenwashing? And of course, is business broken? Follow Is Business Broken? wherever you get your podcasts.

Lots more to read and listen to today at hereandnow.org, including about the off-stage drama happening at the Kennedy Center.

President Trump is the chairman of the board of that performing arts center in DC, and yesterday, the board of mostly Trump appointees voted to close the Kennedy Center.

This story's been a bit of a saga, and Jonathan Edwards has been following it all for The Washington Post.

Secretary Lutnick said that they will appeal, and as you mentioned, President Trump has said that, quote, "The reconstruction and renovation of the Kennedy Center will not take place," end quote, until he gets a ruling he wants and his name's on the building.

The Washington Post's Jonathan Edwards.

There is more to that conversation, including what renovations the Kennedy Center actually needs, right now at hereandnow.org. [instrumental music playing] But that's it for the show today.

Here and Now Anytime comes from NPR and WBUR Boston.

We've got lots more about that on yesterday's episode.

Just scroll back to Monday, September 14th, and check out hereandnow.org, where today we asked Kevin Roose of The New York Times about how AI agents can go from being helpful bots to malicious hackers.

This actually happened at OpenAI.

A different agent swarm was able to take over a production server, a group of computers that they were using in their research.

And so once you have your own computers, once you have copied yourself across the internet, it is not that hard to imagine these systems taking over a bank's database or a hospital or even some piece of critical infrastructure.

So it's not as simple as just saying to the AI, don't go commit any crimes, because often what it is doing is sort of committing crimes by accident on the way to some other goal.

There is more to that conversation at hereandnow.org, where you'll also find our interview with a congressman representing Silicon Valley.

Democrat Sam Liccardo says there is AI regulation on the table right now, independent of these bigger calls for overhauling the industry or creating a new international body to guide this slowdown that the Frontier Labs are talking about.

These e-bikes are taking brakes designed for bicycles, low-quality ones, and putting them on these big, heavy electric bikes.

There's more to that conversation about e-bike safety, and you can listen to it all right now at hereandnow.org, where you will also find a conversation with two union leaders in the video game industry.

Workers just notched a big win at Blizzard Entertainment, the studio behind hit franchises like World of Warcraft, Diablo, and Overwatch.

They just ratified a first-ever union contract covering all 1,900 company workers.

... you know, they're not making a billion dollars on a game, but actually they're making fifty, a hundred times their budget because their budget was very low, and they had, they had passion.

They were able to put in what they needed to, to get their game out.

Listen to that whole conversation about unionization in the video game industry and so much more at hereandnow.org.

But that'll do it for the podcast today.

Memories of 9-11, which changed everyone's life, especially those who saw it firsthand.

It is Friday, September 11th, and this is Here and Now Anytime from NPR and WBUR.

I'm Chris Bentley.

I'm Chris Bentley.

Thank you so much.

I appreciate you having me.

Here and Now Anytime comes from NPR and WBUR Boston.

Today's stories were produced by Lynn Manigon, Ashley Locke, and Karen Miller-Medsen.

One year after his killing, conservatives mourn Charlie Kirk.

[electronic music] It is Thursday, September 10th, and this is Here & Now Anytime from NPR and WBUR Boston.

I'm Chris Bentley.

Today on the show, Russian drones are buzzing into Eastern European airspace, and NATO is getting anxious.

This is going to be fun.

Today's episode features my dear, dear friend Indira Lakshmanan, who is a host of Here and Now, NPR and WBUR's midday national news magazine.

Indy is a veteran foreign correspondent and political reporter with decades of experience covering global events and U.S. policy.

During her more than 30 years of award-winning journalism experience, she has embedded with pirates in the Philippines, Maoist rebels in Nepal, and Khmer Rouge holdouts in Cambodia.

Israeli settler violence against Palestinians is getting worse.

It's Tuesday, September 8th, and this is Here and Now Anytime from NPR and WBUR.

I'm Chris Bentley.

Today on the show, police hunt for two thieves who broke into the Renoir Museum on the French Riviera and stole paintings worth millions of dollars.

Thank you.

That's it for the podcast today.

Here and Now Anytime comes from NPR and WBUR Boston.

Today's stories were produced by Jill Ryan, Lynn Meneghan, and Karen Miller-Medsen.