The Brian Lehrer Show

Tara Rosenblum, anchor, host and reporter for News 12, and Chris McKenna, reporter at The Journal News and lohud.com, recap the debate between Westchester County Executive George Latimer and incumbent Congressman Jamaal Bowman, who are vying for the Democratic nomination in New York's 16th Congressional district.Watch the debate here. 

Julia Carpenter, freelance writer and reporter, offers advice for listeners on either side of a financial divide in their friendships.

Mark Hertsgaard, journalist and co-founder and executive director of Covering Climate Now, and the author of Big Red’s Mercy: The Shooting of Deborah Cotton and A Story of Race in America (Pegasus, 2024), shares the story of Deborah “Big Red” Cotton, an African American racial justice activist, who forgave the young Black men who shot her when they fired into a second line parade in New Orleans, a shooting in which Hertsgaard himself was injured -- and what that shooting and her response to it taught him about race and violence in America.

Advocates have been pushing for nine years for the Medical Aid in Dying Act, but the New York State legislature has been hesitant to act. David Leven, executive director emeritus and senior consultant to End of Life Choices New York, and Corinne Carey, senior campaign director for NY/NJ for the group Compassion & Choices, discuss what the bill would involve and why they support it.

Francesca Chambers, White House Correspondent for USA Today, talks about the news from Washington and beyond, including the Biden administration's policy toward sending weapons to Israel. 

Three of our favorite segments from the week, in case you missed them:The Complicated Reality of Egg Freezing  (First) - Luis Miranda's 'Latino Spirit' (28:00) - A.J. Jacobs Lives Originalism  (58:00) If you don't subscribe to the Brian Lehrer Show on iTunes, you can do that here.

Ahead of Mother's Day, Liana Finck, illustrator and author of several books, most recently, How to Baby: A No-Advice-Given Guide to Motherhood, with Drawings (The Dial Press, 2024), discusses her non-parenting “parenting guide” and listeners call in to share what surprised them the most about motherhood. 

For the first time since 1803 two broods of cicadas in the Midwest and Southeast are emerging at the same time. Benji Jones, senior environmental reporter at Vox, explains what's going on with the billions of insects buzzing around and the effect they'll have on the ecosystem. 

Samuel Stein and Oksana Mironova, housing policy analysts at the Community Service Society, talk about their report that highlights the problem of relying on "Area Median Income" in deciding what qualifies as "affordable housing."

Nicholas Wu, Politico congressional reporter, talks about the latest news coming out of Congress, including the bipartisan vote that kept Mike Johnson as speaker and NYC Schools Chancellor Banks' testimony to a House committee on antisemitism.