The Brian Lehrer Show

Nate Swanson, former director for Iran at the National Security Council between 2022 and 2025 and current director of the Iran strategy project for the Atlantic Council, offers analysis of President Trump's claim that the US will sign a nuclear deal with Iran, and the major obstacles standing in the way. Photo: Photojournalists take pictures of an Iranian technician walking at the Isfahan Uranium Conversion Facilities (UCF), 420 kms south of Tehran, 03 February 2007. (BEHROUZ MEHRI/AFP via Getty Images) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Manoush Zomorodi, host of NPR's TED Radio Hour and author of Body Electric: The Hidden Health Costs of the Digital Age and New Science to Reclaim Your Well-Being (Flatiron, 2026), talks about the impact on our bodies of our interactions with our phones and other tech -- and how to stay healthy and stay connected.Photo: A close-up view of a person using a smartphone indoors, showcasing modern technology. Public Domain, via pexles. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Listeners try their hand at a quiz based on people in the news.Photo: President Donald J. Trump holds up a copy of The Washington Post during the 2020 National Prayer Breakfast Thursday, Feb. 6, 2020, at the Washington Hilton in Washington, D.C. (Official White House Photo by Joyce N. Boghosian) PDM 1.0 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

As part of a series on "spring cleaning," Kaitlyn Wells, senior staff writer for The New York Times' product review site, Wirecutter, offers more advice on how to organize and digitize life's most important documents. Then, she'll share tips for organizing and digitizing the memorabilia you hold most dear. Photo: Stock image by Tsuji/E+ via Getty Creative Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Mayor Mamdani has released his executive budget. Elizabeth Kim, Gothamist and WNYC reporter, explains how the mayor proposes the city closes the major funding gaps and how the tardy state budget has factored in. Plus,  she shares her related reporting on the mayor's relationship with the business community and his base.Photo: Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani and Speaker Julie Menin hold a press conference at City Hall on Tuesday, April 28, 2026 to call on Albany to help close New York City's multi-billion dollar budget gap for the 2027 Fiscal Year, urging New York State to finalize its budget that delivers the City’s fair share of funding. April 28, 2026. Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Kai Ryssdal, host and senior editor of Marketplace, talks about the latest economic news, including recent data on inflation, jobs and productivity, the effects of President Trump's tariffs and more. Photo: High gas prices are displayed at a Shell gas station on May 11, 2026 in Burbank, California. President Trump today said he wants to suspend the national gas tax amid elevated gas prices as the war in Iran continues. The gas tax currently stands at 18.4 cents per gallon for gasoline and 24.4 cents per gallon for diesel. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Listeners try their hand at a quiz based on places in the news.Photo: Colorful Pins Locating Destinations on World Map, Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License, Credit: freebie.photography Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Jodi Kantor, New York Times investigative reporter, co-author of She Said (Penguin, 2019) and author of How to Start: Discovering Your Life's Work (Hachette, 2026), expands on her Columbia University commencement address where she tried to answer the question, “How, in this environment, is anyone supposed to find and start their life’s work?” Photo: Cover art for 'How to Start: Discovering Your Life's Work.' (Credit: Hachette) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

As part of a series on "spring cleaning," Kaitlyn Wells, senior writer at Wirecutter, offers advice on how to organize and digitize life's most important documents. Photo: Stock image by Tsuji/E+ via Getty Creative Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Mara Liasson, NPR national political correspondent, talks about the latest national political news, including what's happening in foreign policy as President Trump travels to China and a deal to end the Iran war is still not happening. Plus, she discusses the redistricting wars and what a recent NPR/PBS/Marist poll found about the president's approval ratings. Photo: A Democratic candidate for Congress in Florida speaks during an emergency town hall about Florida Republicans’ newly approved congressional redistricting map (seen on wall) on May 04, 2026 in Coral Springs, Florida. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

As state lawmakers continue to hammer out the details in this year's budget, Jon Campbell, Albany reporter for WNYC and Gothamist, reports that it looks like the state will loosen the emissions goals in the landmark 2019 climate law, and explains why Gov. Hochul is dedicated to this, and why environmentalists are furious.Photo: Factory smoke via rawpixel. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Listeners try their hand at a quiz based on numbers in the news. Image: Stock illustration, (GrafikLab via Getty Creative) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

As part of the yearlong series "Wild NYC," Marielle Anzelone, urban botanist and ecologist and the founder of NYC Wildflower Week, and Christian Cooper, science and comics writer, host of the National Geographic TV series Extraordinary Birder, NYC Bird Alliance board member, and the author of Better Living Through Birding: Notes from a Black Man in the Natural World (Random House, 2023), talk about the spring migration of birds and butterflies, happening now. Photo: Northern Parula, a small warbler, perched on diagonal perch in Spring, Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, New York (Adria  Photography via Getty) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

As part of a series on "spring cleaning," Kaitlyn Wells, senior staff writer for The Wirecutter, offers advice on how to purge your old clothes, including where to send them when they're out of your closet. Image: Stock photo; (smirart via Getty Creative) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Jimmy Vielkind, New York State Issues reporter for WNYC, digs into the details of the new, though still not final, $268 billion dollar New York State budget. Photo: The New York State Senate. (Credit: The New York State Senate) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

As the Trump administration is in the process of revamping Penn Station, Tom Wright, CEO and president of the Regional Plan Association (RPA), talks about a new report that offers the RPA's ideas for how to increase capacity and make the transit hub work for commuters. Photo: A clock at Penn Station. (Credit: Boaventuravinicius via Wikimedia Commons CC BY 4.0) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Civil rights scholar Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw, co-founder and executive director of the African American Policy Forum, founder and executive director of the Center for Intersectionality and Social Policy Studies at Columbia Law School, distinguished professor and Promise Institute chair for human rights at UCLA Law School and Isidor and Seville Sulzbacher professor at Columbia Law School, and author of Backtalker: An American Memoir (Simon & Schuster), talks about key moments in her life that helped her develop groundbreaking legal concepts. Crenshaw is popularly known for her development of “intersectionality,” “Critical Race Theory” and as the host of the podcast Intersectionality Matters! She'll be in discussion about Backtalker at NYPL on Wedneesday. Cover art courtesy of Simon & Schuster Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Jessica Grose, opinion writer at The New York Times, discusses the still-mostly-unequal division of household labor. Photo: Two women wash dishes in a kitchen in Australia in 1944. (Credit: Jim Fitzpatrick via National Library of Australia/Wikimedia Commons) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Andy Kim, U.S. Senator (D NJ), talks about his work in the Senate and the issues in New Jersey, including the war with Iran and partisan redistricting in the Garden State and around the country.Photo: US Senator Andy Kim (D-NJ). December 2024, Office of Senator Andy Kim U.S. Senate Photographic Studio, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

NYC Health and Hospitals announced plans to shut down a storied program at Bellevue Hospital that treats torture survivors, citing tenuous federal funding and the possibility of ICE raids at the hospital. Allen Keller, M.D., associate professor of medicine and population health at NYU Grossman School of Medicine and founder of Bellevue's Program for Survivors of Torture, and Ibrahim, former patient at Bellevue's Program for Survivors of Torture, discuss the impact of the program and why they're fighting to keep it open. Photo: Bellevue Hospital - NYC (Credit: ajay_suresh via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The U.S. fertility rate dropped to another record low in 2025, according to provisional CDC data, marking a 23% drop since 2007. Jill Filipovic, attorney and author of several books, including OK Boomer, Let's Talk: How My Generation Got Left Behind (Atria/One Signal Publishers, 2020),  and Karen Guzzo, director of the Carolina Population Center and a sociology professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, explain what's behind the decline, the current Republican and far-right conservative policy plans to try and reverse those trends and what actually works to incentivize a growing population. Photo: A doctor uses a hand-held Doppler probe on a pregnant woman to measure the heartbeat of the fetus on Dec. 17, 2021, in Jackson, Miss. (Credit: Rogelio V. Solis/AP) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Wes Jackson, president of BRIC, unveils the lineup for the BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! festival in Prospect Park, where the theme this year is "radical joy."  Photo: A Celebrate Brooklyn! performance at the Lena Horne Bandshell in July 2022. (Credit: BailieSchaefer via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On Monday, the Supreme Court temporarily reinstated a Food and Drug Administration rule allowing the abortion pill mifepristone to be prescribed via telemedicine. Amy Littlefield, abortion access correspondent at The Nation and author of Killers of Roe: My Investigation Into the Mysterious Death of Abortion Rights (Hachette, 2026), explains the legal battle over the abortion pill playing out in courts and how abortion access in the United States could be upended if reproductive care becomes inaccessible through the mail. Plus, Kristyn Brandi, MD, abortion provider in New Jersey and previous board chair with Physicians for Reproductive Health, explains how abortion access has expanded via telemedicine post-Dobbs and how abortion care providers are navigating shifting policies. Photo: Trans man and abortion rights advocate Artemis Duffy of New England shows a box of mifepristone he is taking outside the Supreme Court in Washington, DC, on March 26, 2024. (Photo by Shuran Huang for The Washington Post via Getty Images) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Zellnor Myrie, New York State Senator (D-20, parts of central Brooklyn including Crown Heights, Prospect Heights and Park Slope), talks about his bill that would allow survivors of sexual abuse by Jeffrey Epstein to seek damages from the Epstein estate, plus other budget-related news of the day. Photo: State Sen. Zellnor Myrie, center, questions New York State Police Superintendent Steven G. James, Daniel Martuscello III, commissioner of the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision and Joseph Popcun, deputy commissioner of the New York Division of Criminal Justice Services, during a joint legislative budget hearing on public protection on Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026, at the Legislative Office Building in Albany, N.Y. (Will Waldron/Albany Times Union via Getty Images) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Melissa Murray, NYU law professor, co-host of the podcast Strict Scrutiny, MSNOW commentator and the author of  The U.S. Constitution:  A Comprehensive and Annotated Guide for the Modern Reader (Simon & Schuster, 2026), explains the Constitution and how all the problems inherent in the founding are contained in it, not solved by it. Photo: The first page of the US Constitution. (U.S. National Archives and Records Administration via Wikimedia Commons) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

WNYC has been targeted by scammers who posed as hosts and offered authors interviews -- for a fee (which WNYC would never do). Rachel Tobac, co-founder and CEO of Social Proof Security, and Kenneth Atkins, assistant director of IT and data security at WNYC, talk about how to spot sneaky online phishing scams, and how to deal if you fall for it. Photo: Stock image (Vertigo3d via Getty Creative) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Nick Corasaniti, New York Times reporter covering national politics, with a focus on voting and elections, talks about how the Supreme Court's recent voting rights decision could fuel "endless redistricting wars," and how this may affect this year's midterm elections and beyond. Photo: Campaign signs in Takoma Park, Md. on Oct. 27, 2018. (Credit: Edward Kimmel/Wikimedia Commons BY CC 2.0) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Christine Clarke, commissioner and chair of the NYC Commission on Human Rights, talks about her new role, the Mamdani administration's priorities in human rights and the state of New York's anti-discrimination laws. Photo: Christine Clarke, chair and commissioner of the New York City Commission on Human Rights. (Credit: New York City Commission on Human Rights) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Derrick Palmer, cofounder of the Amazon Labor Union and the author of Handbook for the Revolution: Building a More Perfect Union for the Twenty-First Century (Auwa Books, 2026), tells the story of organizing the first successful labor union for Amazon workers at the JFK8 Warehouse on Staten Island and offers advice for other workers seeking to organize. Photo: Cover art for Handbook for the Revolution: Building a More Perfect Union for the Twenty-First Century by Derrick Palmer. (Credit: Macmillan Publishers) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Last Friday was "decision day" for high school seniors who are making plans to go to college in the fall. Listeners call in to share how much politics - or the job market - played into their decision (or their child's decision) on where to go. Photo: Stock image via fotosipsak/Getty Creative Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Farnaz Fassihi, United Nations Bureau Chief for The New York Times, reports on the latest in the negotiations around the Iran war and reopening the Strait of Hormuz. Photo: A pro-Iran demonstration in Iran on March 31, 2026. (Credit: 110 and 135/Wikimedia Commons BY CC 1.0) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Lawmakers in Albany are going back and forth over a bill that would require so-called "super speeders" — drivers who get caught speeding more than 16 times per year — to install speed governors in their car. J.K. Trotter, associate editor for Streetsblog NYC, explains the problem, the legislation, and his reporting on one NYPD cop who has racked up more than 500 speeding tickets. Photo: A speeding camera sign in Huntsville, Ala. pictured May 7, 2015. (Credit: formulanone/Wikimedia Commons CC BY 2.0) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Department of Health and Human Services recently released new guidance that prioritizes childbirth over contraception. Mary Ziegler, UC Davis law professor and the author of Roe: The History of a National Obsession (Yale University Press, 2023) and Personhood: The New Civil War over Reproduction (Yale University Press, 2025), explains what's in the guidance and why she believes that the Trump administration is launching the most serious effort in decades to curb contraception. Photo: Birth control pills and pregnancy tests sit on a pharmacy shelf. (Credit: Sarahmirk/Wikimedia Commons BY CC 4.0) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The New York Times released a list of the 30 greatest living American songwriters. Lindsay Zoladz, pop music critic at The New York Times and the writer of the music newsletter The Amplifier, talks about the luminaries on the list, and shares who she wishes could have been included but were left off. Photo: Taylor Swift performs onstage during "Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour" at BC Place on December 06, 2024 in Vancouver, British Columbia. (Photo by Kevin Winter/TAS24/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.