The Brian Lehrer Show

This month we hear from the makers of the five films nominated for the Academy Award for best feature documentary. Today, Johan Grimonprez, director of "Soundtrack to a Coup D’Etat", discusses his film's "fusion of jazz and geopolitics" that touches on colonialism, racism, the 1961 assassination of Congolese independence leader Patrice Lumumba, and a State Department-backed goodwill tour by jazz musicians like Louis Armstrong and Nina Simone.

Scott Stringer, former NYC Comptroller, talks about his campaign for the Democratic nomination for NYC Mayor in the June primary.

With the news that President Donald Trump signed an executive order to reverse a federal push away from plastic straws, Judith Enck, founder of Beyond Plastics, professor at Bennington College and former EPA Region 2 administrator, provides the broader state of plastic pollution in the United States, which efforts from former President Joe Biden actually worked and what the current president could rollback.

This month we hear from the makers of the five films nominated for the Academy Award for best feature documentary. Today, Shiori Itō, director of "Black Box Diaries," talks about her film that tells the story of her investigation of her own sexual assault case, credited with starting Japan's #metoo movement.

The DOJ directed federal prosecutors in Manhattan to drop the corruption charges against Mayor Adams. Elizabeth Kim, Gothamist and WNYC reporter, reports on how the mayor is reacting, whether it will affect how City Hall cooperates with the Trump administration, and how the news may shake up the mayoral campaign.

President Trump has been clear he'd like to dismantle the Education Department. Dana Goldstein, education reporter at The New York Times and the author of The Teacher Wars: A History of America's Most Embattled Profession (Anchor, 2015), reports on how Elon Musk and DOGE have started to do that, and how their plans will affect schools and education.

At the end of January, the New York State Public Service Commission approved the creation of a new New York City area code. Listeners call in to share what their area codes mean to them as a personal point of pride.

Bahar Ostadan, Nassau County politics reporter at Newsday Media Group, reports on the news that Nassau County has authorized its police detectives to work with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to arrest and deport undocumented immigrants accused of committing crimes.

Monica Gorman, managing director at Crowell Global Advisors who served as special assistant to the president for manufacturing & industrial policy under former President Joe Biden, talks about the new 25% tariffs announced by President Trump on steel and aluminum imports, plus the broader trade policy.

Brigid Bergin, WNYC's senior political correspondent, talks about the DOJ memo instructing prosecutors to drop the charges against Mayor Adams.

Since 2012, a total of 23 states have legalized cannabis. Keith Humphreys, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University, author of Addiction: A Very Short Introduction, and a member of the Stanford Network on Addiction Policy, discusses why he thinks legalization has led to more frequent consumption and increased potency, arguing that those factors raise a range of concerns, for both mental and physical health.

Susan Page, USA Today Washington bureau chief and the author of several books, including The Rulebreaker: The Life and Times of Barbara Walters (Simon & Schuster, 2024), talks about the latest national political news, as President Trump enters week four of his second administration.

Kathryn Wylde, president and CEO for the Partnership for New York City, talks about polling on congestion pricing showing its popularity with New Yorkers, as well as the local business climate under the new Trump administration.

As our centennial series continues, David Levering Lewis, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and the author of The Stained Glass Window: A Family History as the American Story, 1790-1958 (Penguin, 2025), discusses his new book, which turns the historian’s lens on his own family tree.EVENT: David Levering Lewis will be in conversation with fellow historian Annette Gordon Reed at 92Y on Thursday, March 13th at 7 PM. Details can be found here: www.92ny.org/events.

Three of our favorite segments from the week, in case you missed them.The State of Crime in the City (First) | 100 Years of 100 Things: Housing Inequality (Starts at 35:17) | Adam Gopnik's Insomnia (Starts at 1:11:4 0)If you don't subscribe to the Brian Lehrer Show on iTunes, you can do that here.

Micah Loewinger, co-host of WNYC's On the Media, offers guidance from reporters and consumers on how to navigate the "flood" of news items under the new Trump administration.

Kavitha Davidson, sportswriter and host of the podcast Sportly, previews the Super Bowl game between the Eagles and the Chiefs, as well as the pop culture sideshow, and listeners call in to share how they'll watch the game, the halftime show, the ads -- or their counter-programming plans.

Stephen Vladeck, professor of federal courts at Georgetown University Law Center, talks about some of the legal challenges to early actions by the Trump administration.

Chris Crowley, senior writer at Grub Street, talks about his reporting on the fears among local restaurant workers over potential ICE raids.

Federal agencies like the CDC, NIH and the FDA had to remove and alter some data from their websites to comply with executive orders issued by President Trump. Katelyn Jetelina, founder and author of the newsletter "Your Local Epidemiologist," explains why data is "gold," and how these changes may affect our health.

Shane Goldmacher, national political correspondent for The New York Times covering the major developments, trends and forces shaping American politics, talks about the Democrats ability to respond to the barrage of action by the new Trump administration and the national party's new leadership.

Adam Gopnik, staff writer for The New Yorker, and author of The Real Work: On the Mystery of Mastery (Liveright, 2023), discusses a recent essay in which he describes his long battle with insomnia.

News outlets are reporting that NYU Langone is cancelling some appointments for gender-affirming care for transgender children -- and that other hospital systems have removed mentions of gender-affirming care from their websites after President Trump issued a related executive order. Caroline Lewis, health care reporter for WNYC/Gothamist, reports on how trans kids and their families are reacting and the New York attorney general's warning to hospital systems that not providing the care would run afoul of state laws.

As Girl Scout Cookie season kicks off, Karen Lundgard, interim CEO of Girl Scouts of Greater New York, tells listeners about Troop 6000, a first-of-its-kind program to serve families living in temporary housing in the New York City shelter system, as well as asylum seekers in New York City, and their efforts to sell some of America's favorite sweets.

As our centennial series continues, Martha S. Jones, legal and cultural historian at Johns Hopkins University and the author of the forthcoming, The Trouble of Color: An American Family Memoir (Basic Books, 2025), shares her family's long history along America's "jagged color line" and what that's meant for her, her family and the society at large.

Andrew Prokop, senior politics correspondent at Vox, talks about the "vast powers" that President Trump has given to Elon Musk, what he's doing with them and what's underpinning the effort overhaul of the federal bureaucracy.

Mayor Adams cancelled his weekly press conference with reporters in favor of a trip to Albany to press the legislature for the city's priorities—traditionally known as "tin cup day." WNYC and Gothamist reporters Elizabeth Kim and Jon Campbell recap what he talked about and how legislators in Albany reacted to the mayor.

As our centennial series continues, Bernadette Atuahene, property rights scholar, professor at USC's Gould School of Law and leader of the grassroots Coalition for Property Tax Justice and Black Homes Matter campaigns, and the author of Plundered: How Racist Policies Undermine Black Homeownership in America (Little, Brown, 2025), explains the long history of inequality in property tax burdens rooted in redlining.

U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D NY) responds to the actions of the Trump administration so far, when and how Democratic in the Senate can push back, and other matters affecting New Yorkers and the country.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D NY-8th, Brooklyn) talks about his 10-point plan and explains what he is calling for Democrats to do in response to President Trump's moves on federal funding and more.

As the U.S. Agency for International Development faces a shutdown from the Trump administration, Elissa Miolene, reporter covering the USAID and the U.S. government at Devex, an independent news organization covering global development, explains what the agency does, who might be impacted and why the agency is being targeted.

Following Groundhog Day, listeners call in to share how they beat back the winter blues and what sort of rituals they have this time of the year when it's so cold and grey, and Hannah Docter-Loeb, homepage editor for Slate and a freelance writer, shares her tip -- to spend one Saturday eating ice cream for breakfast.

The collision between a passenger jet and Army Blackhawk Helicopter resulted in the worst aviation tragedy in the United States in decades. Oriana Pawlyk, POLITICO’s aviation reporter, and Jeff Wise, aviation journalist and host of the Finding MH370 podcast, share their reporting on the incident, the issues surrounding air traffic controllers, and whether or not this tragedy could have been prevented.

Francesca Chambers, White House Correspondent for USA Today, talks about the news from Washington focusing on the federal worker buyout offers and the announced tariffs on goods from Canada, Mexico and China.

Elizabeth Glazer, founder of the journal Vital City and former director of the New York City Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice, discusses a report that looks at data that illuminates surprising trends in crime in New York City and what it says about public safety and justice right now.

Three of our favorite segments from the week, in case you missed them.Subway Breakdowns (First) | The Federal Aid Freeze and Reversal (Starts at 30:30) | 100 Years of 100 Things: The New Yorker Magazine (Starts at 1:12:00)If you don't subscribe to the Brian Lehrer Show on iTunes, you can do that here.

With the Grammy Awards coming up and as our centennial series continues, Gary Trust, New York-based managing director of charts and data operations at Billboard Magazine, looks back through this century of hit music.

Michael Elsen-Rooney, reporter at Chalkbeat New York, delves into his reporting on how fears of family separation and deportation are affecting New York City schools and their students.

As our centennial series continues, David Remnick, editor of The New Yorker and the host of The New Yorker Radio Hour, talks about another centenarian, The New Yorker, which published its first issue on February 21, 1925.

U.S. Senator Andy Kim (D NJ) talks about the Trump cabinet nominees, including his questioning of RFK, Jr. on Thursday, the impact of the foreign aid freeze and federal employee purges, plus his other work in Washington and New Jersey.

The China-based AI startup 'DeepSeek' has sent shockwaves throughout the American tech and financial sector since its release. Reed Albergotti, technology editor at Semafor, explains what DeepSeek is and what it means for the future of American global dominance of the tech industry.

The White House budget office ordered a pause on federal loans and grants, only to issue a reversal days later. Kate Shaw, professor at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, co-host of the Supreme Court podcast Strict Scrutiny and a contributing opinion writer with The New York Times, offers legal analysis of the move — and the Trump administration's attempts to expand executive power in general.

New York State Senator Jessica Ramos (D, District 13, Queens) talks about the session in Albany, responds to the ICE raids in NYC, and discusses her challenge to Mayor Adams for the Democratic nomination for mayor in the June primary.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on Joe Rogan's podcast recently that "masculine energy" is good, and that culture should celebrate aggression. Listeners of all genders call in to share what masculinity means to them today, and whether they identify with Zuckerberg's comments.

Daniel Griffin, MD, PhD, chief of infectious disease for Island Infectious Diseases, the largest physician-owned Infectious Disease Specialist Group on Long Island, an infectious disease specialist and clinical instructor of medicine at Columbia University and president of Parasites Without Borders and co-host of the podcast "This Week in Virology", offers commentary and analysis of the Senate Finance Committee confirmation hearing for Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., President Trump's nominee to lead the United States Department of Health and Human Services.

Clare Malone, staff writer at The New Yorker covering politics, previews the confirmation of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s first of two confirmation hearings as President Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. Then, Ian Ward, reporter at POLITICO, where he covers the conservative movement and the American right for POLITICO Magazine, discusses the confirmation hearing of Brooke Rollins, President Donald Trump’s agriculture secretary nominee and her priorities for USDA.

Peter Beinart, journalist, commentator, author of the Substack newsletter 'The Beinart Notebook', professor at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY, and the author of Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza: A Reckoning (Knopf, 2025), talks about his new book on calling for 'a reckoning' for the state of Israel.

Listeners tell us how their relationships with the social media platforms have changed in this second Trump era.

The nation’s largest health care union, 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers, is in the midst of a succession battle to unseat its long term president. Maya Kaufman, health care reporter for POLITICO New York in New York City, explains what's the driver behind the battle and what New Yorkers stand to gain, and lose, depending on the outcome.

Jill Colvin, national political reporter for The Associated Press, talks about the latest national political news, including the ICE raids in Chicago and Dallas, the freeze on foreign aid and on immigration support funding.