The Brian Lehrer Show

Jessica Gould, WNYC/Gothamist reporter, talks about the issues facing the education department, like whether to ban cellphone use in classes and Pre-K, as the school year gets started. 

Night-session attendance totals broke U.S. Open records this year. Matthew Futterman, senior writer for The Athletic, the sports unit of The New York Times, explains why the draw is so big all of a sudden and listeners call in to share why they attend the tournament. 

As our centennial series continues, Brad DeLong, economic historian, professor of economics at the University of California, Berkeley, former deputy assistant secretary of the U.S. Treasury under Clinton, and the author of Slouching Towards Utopia: An Economic History of the Long 20th Century, 1870-2010 (Basic Books, 2022), reviews the past century of work and the technology and other trends that affected employment. 

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 this week: violence at the West Indian Day Parade, 3-K and more. 

Domenico Montanaro, NPR's senior political editor/correspondent, talks about the latest on the presidential race, including the campaigns' efforts around voting and certifying vote counts. 

Steve Ulrich, managing editor at PoliticsPA, talks about the presidential race from the critical swing state of Pennsylvania.

"Mini-retirements," or adult gap years, are a rising trend among burnt-out worker bees. Charlotte Cowles, financial-advice columnist at New York Magazine's The Cut, reports on the trend among younger workers, as listeners call in to share personal stories and wisdom about taking extended time off from work.

Aziz Huq,  professor of law at the University of Chicago Law School and author of The Rule of Law: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2024), talks about his new book, plus the latest on the Trump federal indictments.

Roxanne L. Scott, independent journalist working on a series with the NY Amsterdam News about climate change in Southeast Queens, discusses her reporting on how climate change has brought heavy rains and high tides to predominantly Black and Brown neighborhoods in Southeast Queens, including the property damages residents are experiencing, and efforts the city has made to combat these inequities.

For this Labor Day:Continuing our centennial series, Joseph McCartin, professor of history and executive director of the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor at Georgetown University and the author of several books and co-author with Melvyn Dubofsky of Labor in America: A History (Wiley-Blackwell, 9th edition, 2017), traces the last hundred years of unionization and de-unionization in the U.S.Doris Kearns Goodwin, presidential historian, author of many books, including Team of Rivals and her latest, An Unfinished Love Story: A Personal History of the 1960s (Simon & Schuster, 2024), writes about the life and times she shared with her late husband, Dick Goodwin, a speechwriter and advisor to JFK, RFK, and LBJ.Building on examples from Atlantic columnist Arthur C. Brooks, listeners share what helped them move past fear of failing. These interviews were polished up and edited for time, the original versions are available here:Doris Kearns Goodwin's Personal Take on History (Apr 15, 2024)Your Stories of Getting Past Perfectionism (Mar 14, 2024)