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The Brian Lehrer Show

WNYC

Brian Lehrer leads the conversation about what matters most now in local and national politics, our own communities and our lives.

Location:

New York, NY

Networks:

WNYC

Description:

Brian Lehrer leads the conversation about what matters most now in local and national politics, our own communities and our lives.

Twitter:

@BrianLehrer

Language:

English

Contact:

WNYC Radio 160 Varick St. New York, NY 10013 212-433-9692


Episodes
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Will Republicans in Washington Make New Yorkers Hungrier?

4/3/2025
Experts anticipate deep cuts to federal food assistance programs by the Republican-led Congress in this year's budget negotiations set to take place in September. Karen Yi, WNYC and Gothamist reporter covering homelessness and poverty, explains how potential cuts will affect 1.8 million New Yorkers, including more than half a million children, who are reliant on SNAP.

Duration:00:27:40

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The Upside of Boredom

4/3/2025
Allie Volpe, senior reporter at Vox, talks about some of the common misunderstandings of boredom. → How to be less afraid of boredom | Vox

Duration:00:15:24

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When Family Members Believe Conspiracy Theories

4/3/2025
Zach Mack, host of Alternate Realities, a series from NPR's Embedded, talks about his three-part podcast on how he spent a year trying to save his father from conspiracy theories.

Duration:00:23:46

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A Good Week for Democrats

4/3/2025
Katie Glueck, political reporter at The New York Times, offers analysis of the Democrats' very good week, with strong showings in special elections in Florida and a big win in Wisconsin, plus Sen. Cory Booker's record-breaking speech on the senate floor.

Duration:00:43:05

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How Wikipedia May Be the Antidote to Trumpism

4/2/2025
Margaret Talbot, staff writer at The New Yorker, breaks down her latest reporting on how Wikipedia, through its increasingly stringent standards for reliability, has become a source to counter disinformation spread by the Trump administration and rightwing media.

Duration:00:17:06

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Choosing a College Now

4/2/2025
Colleges and universities made their acceptances at the end of March, now students have a month to decide. Angel Pérez, CEO of the National Association for College Admission Counseling, talks about the what goes into that decision and how the Trump administration actions might factor in.

Duration:00:21:07

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Reporters Ask the Mayor: Adams Charges Dismissed, Mayoral Campaign Heats Up

4/2/2025
Mayor Adams holds one off-topic press conference per week, where reporters can ask him questions on any subject. Elizabeth Kim, Gothamist and WNYC reporter, recaps what he talked about at this week's event, including his sharp criticisms of his primary opponent Andrew Cuomo — plus she offers analysis of the political ramifications of big news that the corruption charges against the mayor have been dropped.

Duration:00:33:51

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Could Luigi Mangione be Sentenced to Death?

4/2/2025
Attorney General Pam Bondi has told federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty for Luigi Mangione, who is accused of killing a UnitedHealthCare executive on a midtown street last year. Samantha Max, reporter covering public safety for WNYC/Gothamist, talks about Bondi's priorities on the issue and how Mangione's status as a folk hero to some figures in - plus she reports on the dismissal with prejudice of the corruption charges against Mayor Adams.

Duration:00:37:27

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Legal Sports Betting and Public Health

4/1/2025
With the Final Four just ahead, Jonathan Cohen, the Joan and Irwin Jacobs Senior Program Officer for American Institutions, Society, and the Public Good at the American Academy of Arts & Sciences and the author of Losing Big: America’s Reckless Bet on Sports Gambling (Columbia Global Reports, 2025), talks about the explosive growth of legalized sports betting and its effect on public health, beyond the games and the money.

Duration:00:26:47

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April 1 Extra

4/1/2025
Brian Lehrer shares his plans for today, April 1, with guest host Matt Katz. ...note: This is part of our yearly April Fool's coverage.

Duration:00:06:27

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Should You Delete Your 23andMe Data -- Even if it's Important to You?

4/1/2025
When 23andMe declared bankruptcy last week, attorney generals in multiple states including New York advised users to delete their data. Max Eddy, writer at Wirecutter covering privacy, security, and software, explains how to do it and why this kind of data is particularly important to keep private.

Duration:00:10:19

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Meet the NJ Governor Candidate: Steve Sweeney

4/1/2025
Steve Sweeney, former New Jersey state senator and state senate president, now running for governor of New Jersey, talks about his run to be the Democratic nominee for governor and the issues the matter to voters in the state.

Duration:00:24:09

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Reciprocal Tariffs for 'Liberation Day'

4/1/2025
Felix Salmon, chief financial correspondent at Axios, host of the Slate Money Podcast, and author of The Phoenix Economy: Work, Life, and Money in the New Not Normal (‎Harper Business, 2023), talks about President Trump's plans to impose "reciprocal tariffs," which he says will boost US manufacturing.

Duration:00:42:10

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Baseball's Back in New York City

3/31/2025
Both the Mets and Yankees have had their first few games of Major League Baseball's 2025 season. Deesha Thosar, MLB writer for Fox Sports who covers the Mets and Yankees, recaps what happened on the off season, and how New York's teams are doing so far.

Duration:00:13:40

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How to Compost in NYC

3/31/2025
Everyone in NYC is supposed to be composting already, but starting Tuesday, the city will start issuing fines to property owners for violations. Liam Quigley, parks and sanitation reporter for WNYC and Gothamist, shares how compliance is going so far (spoiler alert: not well!) and explains how to compost according to the city's rules.

Duration:00:25:45

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100 Years of 100 Things: Greenwich Village

3/31/2025
As our centennial series continues, John Strausbaugh, author of The Village: 400 Years of Beats and Bohemians, Radicals and Rogues, a History of Greenwich Village (Ecco, 2013) and most recently, The Wrong Stuff: How the Soviet Space Program Crashed and Burned (PublicAffairs (2024), takes us through the rich history of Greenwich Village.

Duration:00:32:14

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Monday Morning Politics: Talks of a Trump Third Term, 'Signalgate' and More

3/31/2025
Jim Newell, Slate's senior politics writer, breaks down the latest national politics headlines from over the weekend, the latest on President Donald Trump's remarks on a potential third term, "Signalgate" and more.

Duration:00:39:26

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Brian Lehrer Weekend: The Red Scare; The "Manosphere"; Tracing Preppy

3/29/2025
Three of our favorite segments from the week, in case you missed them. Clay Risen, New York Times reporter and the author of Red Scare: Blacklists, McCarthyism, and the Making of Modern America (Scribner, 2025), on his new book (First) | Andrew Marantz, staff writer at The New Yorker, on why young men are shifting to the Right (Starts at 31:05) | Avery Trufelman, host of the podcast Articles of Interest, delves into the last 100 years of preppies and their clothes (Starts at 59:10) If you don't subscribe to the Brian Lehrer Show on iTunes, you can do that here.

Duration:01:12:04

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Another Student Detained Over Pro-Palestinian Views

3/28/2025
A doctoral student at Tufts University was detained in an arrest that was caught on video and shared widely and accused of supporting Hamas by the Department of Homeland Security. Lindsay Nash, associate and clinical professor of law at Cardozo Law and co-director of the Kathryn O. Greenberg Immigration Justice Clinic, offers legal analysis of this and other arrests of pro-Palestinian immigrants.

Duration:00:49:23

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Staying Sharp During Retirement

3/28/2025
Mohana Ravindranath, reporter covering longevity, aging and brain health at The New York Times, breaks down her latest reporting on how to stay mentally sharp and healthy through the major transition of going into retirement.

Duration:00:13:50