The Brian Lehrer Show

Laura Roumanos, executive director and co-founder of Photoville, talks about this month's Photoville Festival with 80 exhibitions across the boroughs June 7-22, and opening weekend events in Brooklyn Bridge Park.

Oren Cass, founder and chief economist of American Compass and editor of The New Conservatives: Restoring America’s Commitment to Family, Community, and Industry (Simon & Schuster, 2025), offers his take on the Republicans' tax bill, and President Trump's agenda, plus talks about his new book.

Alex Zimmerman, reporter at Chalkbeat New York, discusses what the Democratic mayoral candidates said about their plans for public education during this week's debate.

New York City and Minneapolis, Minnesota, recently ranked as the top of the list of being the happiest place to live in the United States. Listeners call in to share the happiest place they've ever lived, whether in a different country, state or borough, and what makes them happy to be there, whether it's proximity, cost of living or something else.

Katie Honan, senior reporter at The City and co-host of FAQ NYC, recaps last night's Democratic mayoral primary debate, which was sponsored by NBC 4 NY, Telemundo and Politico New York.

Marielle Anzelone, urban botanist, ecologist and the founder of NYC Wildflower Week, and Kelly Vilar, CEO of the Staten Island Urban Center, offer a "blueprint" for fostering biodiversity in NYC and explain its importance to city life.

Jerrold Nadler, U.S. Representative (D, NY-12), talks about an incident last week where one of his staffers was detained by officials from the Department of Homeland Security, and more about his work in Washington.

Elizabeth Kim, Gothamist and WNYC reporter, talks about the latest news from the campaign trail, including what she's expecting ahead of the first mayoral debate, the Working Families Party ranking Zohran Mamdani as top pick for mayor, and the battle for Asian voters.

Senators are currently negotiating their version of the so-called "big, beautiful bill." Ursula Perano, senate reporter at NOTUS, and Matt Brown, Associated Press reporter covering national politics, race and democracy issues, explain why some key provisions in the bill are under extra scrutiny, including one that would prohibit state and local governments from regulating AI for ten years.

John B. King, Jr., chancellor of the State University of New York (SUNY), former U.S. Education Secretary under Pres. Obama, and the author of Teacher By Teacher: The People Who Change Our Lives (Legacy Lit, 2025), talks about his memoir, his work at many levels of the education system and the importance of the Education Department.

This year's WNYC Health Convening with support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation continues with a look at the current state of cancer research in the United States. Sudip Parikh, Ph.D., chief executive officer of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and executive publisher of the Science family of journals, and Otis Brawley, professor of oncology at The Kimmel Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, a Bloomberg Distinguished Professor at Johns Hopkin and co-editor of The Cancer History Project, and Julie Rovner, chief Washington correspondent at KFF Health News and host of the What the Health? podcast, discuss what the impacts of the Trump administration's funding cuts to the National Health Institute have meant to clinical trials, and what a future without government funding to find a cure might look like should the science continue to be underfunded.

Each year the news division hosts the WNYC Health Convening with support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation as an opportunity for healthcare experts and practitioners to inform WNYC's health reporting. This year, as part of our centennial series "100 Years of 100 Things," Paul Goldberg, editor and publisher of The Cancer Letter and co-editor of The Cancer History Project, discusses the century of cancer treatment advancements and how the U.S. government played a major part in funding the science for treatment, early detection and prevention.

After a transgender high school athlete won two events at last weekend's California track and field championships, President Donald Trump has threatened to defund the state. Katie Barnes, ESPN senior writer covering the intersection of sports and gender, and author of Fair Play: How Sports Shape the Gender Debates (St. Martin's Press, 2023), discusses the controversy surrounding trans women in competitive sports, fact-checks ideas the broader public holds about fairness and gender in athletics, and talks about current rules various leagues already set in place to ensure equity and inclusion.

Jonathan Lemire, co-host of Morning Joe on MSNBC; writer for MSNBC and contributing writer to The Atlantic, talks about the latest national political news, including Sen. Joni Ernst's "we are all going to die" response to constituents' concerns over Medicaid cuts, what's brewing for Democrats regarding the 2028 election and more.

Early voting in New Jersey's gubernatorial primary starts Tuesday. Nancy Solomon, WNYC reporter and host of the “Ask Governor Murphy” monthly call-in show, offers political analysis of the race and the leading Democratic and Republican candidates.

Listeners who are ambivalent about having kids call in to talk about why they feel that way.

Nicole Gelinas, senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a contributing editor of City Journal, a columnist at the New York Post and the author of the new book, Movement: New York's Long War to Take Back Its Streets from the Car (Fordham Univ Press, 2024), and Dave Colon, reporter for Streetsblog NYC, talk about the mayoral candidates' proposals for making mass transit safe, affordable and reliable and for managing the "chaos" of use of streets by pedestrians, two-wheeled vehicles, and cars.

Three of our favorite segments from the week, in case you missed them. Contrapoints' Natalie Wynn Deep Dives into the Philosophy of Conspiracies (First) | The Child Care Issue (Starts at :38) | 'Bad Vibes' at the Supreme Court (Starts at 1:08) If you don't subscribe to the Brian Lehrer Show on iTunes, you can do that here.

The Trump administration announced it would "aggressively revoke" student visas for Chinese students who are planning to study in the United States. Liam Knox, the admissions and enrollment reporter for Inside Higher Ed and author of their Admissions Weekly newsletter, reports on the latest on that plus the dispute between the administration and Harvard over enrolling foreign students.

Long lines that snake down entire blocks or more are not an uncommon site in New York City. Listeners call in to share when they've waited on a really long line, what it was for and whether it was worth it.