The Brian Lehrer Show

For the eleventh thing in our centennial series, Deb Whitcraft, president of the New Jersey Maritime Museum,  and Emil Salvini, author of several books on the history of the Jersey Shore and host of "Tales of the Jersey Shore" for NJTV, take us through the larger history of the Jersey Shore as listeners share their memories and stories from the towns and beaches that fit under that giant umbrella of "the shore".

Greg David, contributor covering fiscal and economic issues for THE CITY and director of the business and economics reporting program and Ravitch Fiscal Reporting Program at the Newmark Graduate School of Journalism, delves into new analysis showing new migrants do not pose a threat to employment opportunities for native New Yorkers of color. 

Delve into the heated debate over Nassau County's mask ban and its broader implications for public health and political tensions. Explore the emotional complexities surrounding retirement, especially for educated professionals grappling with identity. Hear poignant stories about the challenges of aging and the struggles of transitioning into retirement. Finally, discover the environmental impact of tree loss due to extreme weather and the importance of urban tree resilience in combating climate change.

For this "Summer Friday" we've put together some of our favorite conversations this year:Anthony Fauci, M.D., longtime director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, now a professor at Georgetown University in the School of Medicine and the McCourt School of Public Policy, and the author of On Call: A Doctor’s Journey in Public Service (Viking, 2024), talks about his life and the public health crises the country faced.Sarah McCammon, national correspondent for NPR and the author of The Exvangelicals: Loving, Living, and Leaving the White Evangelical Church (Macmillan, 2024), shares her story of growing up within, and leaving, evangelican Christianity, and what her reporting shows of others like her and their impact on American politics and culture.Anne Lamott, author of twenty books, including Bird by Bird and her latest, Somehow: Thoughts on Love (Riverhead Books, 2024), talks about turning 70, and why love has been the answer to the many challenges she's faced in her own life.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, Siddhartha Mukherjee, M.D., associate professor of medicine at Columbia University, cancer researcher, co-founder of MANAS.Ai, and author of several books, most recently, The Song of the Cell: An Exploration of Medicine and the New Human (Scribner, 2022), and Shinjini Kundu, M.D., PhD, fellow physician and computer scientist at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, and Paul Friedman, M.D., chair of the Department of Cardiovascular Medicine at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, discuss how artificial intelligence is currently interacting with healthcare, including AI's role in diagnosing diseases, discovering the building blocks for medication, and cover concerns related to patient privacy and algorithm bias. These interviews were polished up and edited for time, the original versions are available here:Dr. Fauci Looks Back (June 28, 2024)Faith & Politics & Ex-Evangelicals (April 3, 2024)Anne Lamott on Love (May 22, 2024)A Roundtable on A.I. in Health Care (June 18, 2024)  

This year, 41 million members of Gen-Z will be eligible to vote for the first time. Erika Weisz, principal behavioral scientist at Murmuration, explains her findings from two reports authored by Murmuration on the civic engagement of this diverse generation, including their opinions on democracy, how political leaders can activate these voters, and which issues are of top priority in the upcoming presidential election.

New York State's Adult Survivors Act brought a flood of lawsuits against the city by women who say they were abused at Rosie's (the women's jail) on Rikers Island. Jessy Edwards, WNYC and Gothamist reporter covering incarceration and public safety, reports what she learned about allegations of serial sexual abuse when she looked into the lawsuits, and whether the city has initiated an investigation.

NYBG lost one of its oldest oak trees in this week's storm. Eric Sanderson, vice president of urban conservation at The New York Botanical Garden, talks about why losing just one tree can seriously affect the broader ecosystem, and how the garden is caring for its trees as extreme weather and flooding becomes more common.

Fueled in part by disinformation on social media, the United Kingdom has seen days of rioting and vandalism targeting Muslims, migrants and other minorities. Max Colchester, U.K. correspondent at The Wall Street Journal, discusses the unrest.

For the tenth thing in our centennial series, Laura Weiss, journalist and author of Ice Cream: A Global History (Reaktion Books),  gives us the scoop on the history of an iconic summer treat: ice cream, as listeners share their stories.

Nassau County Republicans passed a ban on face coverings in public, with supporters saying it's in response to antisemitic incidents, and Democrats accusing their GOP colleagues of stoking a culture war. WNYC and Gothamist's Charles Lane reports on what he says was a "raucous debate," and what may happen next.