Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island discusses the government shutdown and his latest efforts to limit the influence of special interest groups in elections. GBH's Callie Crossley weighs in on SNAP benefits drying up, a new debate around autonomous vehicles in Boston and Trump reinstalling a confederate statue in D.C.  Nick Shea is a rapper/portrait artist who’s grown an online following since starting a $1 portrait project on Boston Common three years ago. He joins for Live Music Friday ahead of a new album release.  Victoria Kichuk is the chocolate sommelier behind the local tasting tour group Cocoa Beantown. She guides Jim and Margery through an assortment of treats from local chocolatiers. Media maven Sue O’Connell discusses a Texas Supreme Court ruling that judges can refuse same-sex marriages, Harvard conservatives testing the boundaries of free speech, Karen Read’s attorney putting Michael Cox on blast and controversy around the Boston strip club Centerfolds trying to move a few blocks over into Chinatown.