The Brian Lehrer Show

As our centennial series continues, Annie Polland, president of the Tenement Museum, looks at the life and enduring legacy of Frances Perkins, the first female cabinet member as Secretary of Labor who was instrumental in crafting The New Deal, and passing a slew of federal workers protections, including Social Security, a minimum wage and a 40-hour work week.

For St. Patrick's Day, listeners call in to share their family's immigration stories, from Ireland to America, plus listeners who have emigrated from the U.S. to Ireland share their stories.

The federal government has issued a list of demands to Columbia University that they say it must comply with in order to restore hundreds of millions of dollars of funding. Jake Offenhartz, New York City reporter for The Associated Press, talks about the nature of the ultimatum and the contentious relationship between the university and the Trump administration.

Three of our favorite segments from the week, in case you missed them.The Nation Asks 'Are Men OK?'; (First) | 100 Years of 100 Things: Birth Control (Starts at 33:00) | Can We Change Our Personalities? (Starts at 46:20)If you don't subscribe to the Brian Lehrer Show on iTunes, you can do that here.

Eamon Whalen, freelance journalist and Nation contributor, offers analysis of the premise that men and boys are suffering, how to help them if they are, and how this intersects with the "manosphere," and the politics of the moment.

Whitney Tilson, former hedge fund manager and philanthropist, talks about his campaign for the Democratic nomination for NYC mayor in the June primary election.

Five years since COVID upended daily life, listeners weigh in on the biggest societal changes brought on by the pandemic.

Nancy Cook, senior national political correspondent at Bloomberg News, offers analysis of the Democratic split on the budget showdown in Congress, tariff chaos and more economic news from Washington.

Annabelle Williams, publishing editor at The Wall Street Journal, shares tips and best practices for managing "digital debt" in your relationships.

As our centennial series continues, Jane McManus, sportswriter, an adjunct professor at New York University at the Preston Robert Tisch Institute for Global Sport and the editor of The Year's Best Sports Writing 2024 (Triumph, 2024) and author of the forthcoming The Fast Track: Inside the Surging Business of Women's Sports (Temple University Press, 2025), talks about early attempts to organize women's sports and its post-Title IX growth.

Nancy Solomon, WNYC reporter and host of the “Ask Governor Murphy” monthly call-in show, recaps her conversation with New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy. Topics this month: how federal cuts are affecting New Jerseyans, Murphy's position on ballot redesign, a sinkhole on I-80, and more.

David Sanger, White House and national security correspondent for The New York Times and the author of New Cold Wars: China's Rise, Russia's Invasion, and America's Struggle to Defend the West (Crown, 2024), talks about the many ways Pres. Trump has upended the post-WWII international order.

Olga Khazan, staff writer at The Atlantic and the author of Me, But Better: The Science and Promise of Personality Change (S&S/Simon Element, 2025), talks about her new book and what she found on her year-long quest to become a "better" person.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has detailed Mahmoud Khalil—a legal permanent resident with a green card and prominent student-activist-turned-negotiator in pro-Palestine demonstrations at Colombia University. Peter Markowitz, professor of law at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law and the founding faculty member and co-director of the Kathryn O. Greenberg Immigration Justice Clinic, offers legal analysis of the detention.

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. Topics include the mayor's response to Columbia-grad pro-Palestine activist Mahmoud Khalil and how it may impact the Democratic primary election in June, developments in Adams' corruption case, plus why the mayor's stopped reading the news.

As President Trump's trade war heats up, Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics, and Mark DiPlacido, policy advisor at American Compass, talk about the pros and cons of tariffs and whether or not the president's current tariff policy could achieve Trump's stated goals.

Throughout this pledge drive, Brian Kelly, founder of the travel site The Points Guy and the author of How to Win at Travel (Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster, 2025), shares advice on how to optimize your travel plans. Today, he shares his tips for how to behave in order to have a smooth experience for you, and everyone around you.

Every day during this pledge drive, listeners can try their hands at a quiz. Today's topic is music history.

Timothy Snyder, history professor at Yale University and the author of the substack "Thinking About..." and the books, On Tyranny (Penguin Random House, 2017) and his latest, On Freedom (Crown, 2024), offers his analysis of recent actions by the Trump administration, including the elimination of USAID programs and attacks on the press.

Autism rates are rising but Paul Offit, MD, director of the Vaccine Education Center and an attending physician in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the author of Autism's False Prophets (Columbia University Press, 2008) and most recently Tell Me When It’s Over: And Insider’s Guide to Deciphering COVID Myths and Navigating Our Post-Pandemic World (National Geographic, 2024), says scientists have already debunked theories linking the rise to childhood vaccinations.

President Trump's U.S. Department of Agriculture has purged the agency's website of information related to climate change, extreme weather resilience and sustainable farming practices among other important topics. Now, one of New York's largest organic farming associations is suing the USDA. Emily Atkin, editor-in-chief of the HEATED newsletter, unpacks the story.

Throughout this pledge drive, Brian Kelly, founder of the travel site The Points Guy and the author of How to Win at Travel (Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster, 2025), shares advice on how to optimize your travel plans. Today, he shares advice on flying with your family, especially with babies and small children.

Every day during this pledge drive, listeners can try their hands at a quiz. Today's topic is American history, with some NY/NJ history questions sprinkled in.

As our centennial series continues, Elaine Tyler May, professor emerita of American Studies and History at the University of Minnesota and the author of several books, including America And The Pill: A History of Promise, Peril, and Liberation (Basic Books, 2010) and Fortress America: How We Embraced Fear and Abandoned Democracy (Basic Books, 2017), reviews the history of birth control, from Margaret Sanger to Dobbs.

Elon Musk and DOGE are slashing the size of the federal workforce in what they say will bring big savings to taxpayers. Stephen Fowler, political reporter with NPR's Washington desk, reports on the typos, exaggerations and shoddy math in DOGE's receipts.

LaFontaine Oliver, president and CEO of New York Public Radio, talks about the very real threats to public radio coming from Washington, and what NYPR plans to do to deal with them.

Three of our favorite segments from the week, in case you missed them.A hundred year history of the Equal Rights Amendment (First) | How potential cuts on the federal level would affect housing in New York City (Starts at 17:20) | Michelle Singletary's tips for planning group trips (Starts at 31:25)If you don't subscribe to the Brian Lehrer Show on iTunes, you can do that here.

Throughout this pledge drive, we're ending the show each day with travel tips. Today, Michelle Singletary, personal finance columnist for The Washington Post, gives advice on how to financially manage group vacationing and make it as equitable as possible for all parties involved.

Every day during this pledge drive, listeners can try their hands at a quiz. Today's topic is New York and New Jersey history.

Anand Giridharadas, journalist, publisher of the newsletter The.Ink, analyst for MSNBC, and the author of The Persuaders: At the Front Lines of the Fight for Hearts, Minds, and Democracy (Knopf, 2022), shares his thoughts on the state of American democracy and what protest actions can be taken by those opposed to President Trump's current policies.

Brigid Bergin, WNYC's senior political correspondent, shares her reporting on the NYC mayoral primary campaign, now in full swing as several new major candidates, including former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, have entered the race.

As our centennial series continues, Kevin Young, poet, New Yorker poetry editor and the editor of A Century of Poetry in The New Yorker (Knopf, 2025), goes through the history of poetry appearing in The New Yorker, and what was left out.

Paul Krugman, Nobel laureate in economics, former New York Times columnist now on Substack, distinguished professor at the City University of New York Graduate Center, and the author of (now in paperback) Arguing with Zombies: Economics, Politics, and the Fight for a Better Future (W. W. Norton & Company, 2020), offers his take on Pres. Trump's trade policy.

Throughout this pledge drive, we're ending the show each day with travel tips. Today, Michelle Singletary, personal finance columnist for The Washington Post, offers advice for budgeting for travel to make it affordable and wallet-friendly.

David Brand, housing reporter for WNYC and Gothamist, reports on how the prospect of federal cuts to housing programs may affect New York City, plus other related housing news, on rising insurance costs and security deposits.

A new study found that the human brain may contain up to a spoon’s worth of microplastics. Carolyn Kormann, writer with The New Yorker and New York Magazine, breaks down her latest reporting for New York Magazine, which shows that the amount of microplastics in the human body has been increasing over the past few decades, and explains what that means for health and how to minimize exposure.

Every day during this pledge drive, listeners can try their hands at a quiz. Today's topic is American history.

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 former Gov. Andrew Cuomo's entrance into the mayoral primary.

Throughout this pledge drive, Brian Kelly, founder of the travel site The Points Guy and the author of How to Win at Travel (Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster, 2025), shares advice on how to optimize your travel plans. Today, he shares advice on how to stay healthy when traveling, and how to cope with a fear of flying.

Susan Glasser, a staff writer at The New Yorker, where she writes a column on life in Washington and co-anchors a weekly roundtable discussion on "The Political Scene" podcast, and co-author with Peter Baker of The Divider: Trump in the White House, 2017-2021 (Doubleday, 2022), offers analysis, and fact-checking, of President Trump's speech to Congress.

Kadia Goba, congressional reporter for Semafor, provides her analysis of the official Democratic response to Pres. Trump's speech, from Michigan Senator Elissa Slotkin, as well as how Democrats in the chamber for the president's speech responded.

Every day during this pledge drive, listeners can try their hands at a quiz. Today: true or false?

Throughout this pledge drive, Brian Kelly, founder of the travel site The Points Guy and the author of How to Win at Travel (Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster, 2025), shares advice on how to optimize your travel plans. Today, he shares advice on how to deal when things go wrong on your trip.

The Environmental Protection Agency has signaled that it will reverse the agency's 2009 declaration that greenhouse gases endanger human health. Naveena Sadasivam, senior staff writer at Grist, explains what the so-called "endangerment finding" has contributed in the fight to mitigate climate change and why Trump's administration is targeting the declaration.

As our centennial series continues, Julie Suk, a law professor at Fordham University and the author of We the Women: The Unstoppable Mothers of the Equal Rights Amendment (Skyhorse Publishing, 2020), reviews the history of the Equal Rights Amendment, from its introduction by Alice Paul in 1923 through its current disputed status, following passage by a 38th state and President Biden's declaration that it's the "law of the land."

Every day during this pledge drive, listeners can try their hands at a quiz. Today's topic is local geography.

Jessica Malaty Rivera, infectious disease epidemiologist, science communicator and PhD student at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, talks about the government's response to the ongoing measles outbreaks, why an FDA vaccine advisory committee meeting on planning next year's flu shot was cancelled and what it could mean for next year's flu season.

Throughout this pledge drive, Brian Kelly, founder of the travel site The Points Guy and the author of How to Win at Travel (Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster, 2025), shares advice on how to optimize your travel plans. Today, he explains his tips for booking travel, including the best site to search for flights and how to maximize credit card points.

Dana Stevens, film critic at Slate.com, co-host of the Slate Culture Gabfest podcast and the author of Camera Man: Buster Keaton, the Dawn of Cinema, and the Invention of the Twentieth Century (Atria Books, 2022), recaps the highs and lows of Sunday's Academy Awards presentation.

Every day during this pledge drive, listeners can try their hands at a quiz. Today's topic is this year's Academy Awards.