The Brian Lehrer Show

Brian Lehrer Weekend: Amazon Faces Heat, Mental Health Advice, Aaron Sorkin

Three of our favorite segments from the week, in case you missed them. Amazon Faces New York In Heated Hearings (First) | Advice for Caring for Your Mental Health (Starts at 31:03) | Aaron Sorkin on Broadway (Starts at 56:47)   If you don't subscribe to the Brian Lehrer Show on iTunes, you can do that here.

Experiencing Homelessness On Sesame Street

Sherrie Westin, President of Global Impact and Philanthropy for Sesame Workshop talks about Lily, the Muppet experiencing homelessness who lives on Sesame Street. NOW: @srwestin, president of Global Impact and Philanthropy at @SesameWorkshop, joins us to talk about Lily, the homeless Muppet who lives on Sesame Street. https://t.co/JE6GnVgu5p pic.twitter.com/sXwl94uad2 — Brian Lehrer Show (@BrianLehrer) December 14, 2018 "We look at issues affecting children and particularly issues that are tough for young children to cope with," says @srwestin of @SesameWorkshop on Lily, the Muppet experiencing homelessness on Sesame Street. Comments or questions? Call now at 212-433-9692. — Brian Lehrer Show (@BrianLehrer) December 14, 2018

#AskTheMayor: Securing NYCHA Funding, Criminal Justice Reform, Working With the Left

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio takes calls from listeners and discusses this week in NYC, including today's deadline to secure NYCHA funding from the federal government, criminal justice reform, and working with the far Left progressives. "The fact is not just me going in, it's HUD, it's the US attorney's office, NYCHA & the city. All of us saying that we're deep in discussion trying to find a constructive solution and that we're asking the judge for an opportunity to continue that," @NYCMayor tells @BrianLehrer — Madina Touré (@madinatoure) December 14, 2018 Matt Diaz, student at Bronx Academy of Letters, is really pressing de Blasio on fact that black/Latino students are less likely to have access to sports teams.BdB: "Not satisfied" with status quoMatt: "Do you have a plan?" — Alex Zimmerman (@AGZimmerman) December 14, 2018 "Can someone tell me when more criminal justice reform happened in New York City?.... I think it’s absolutely unfair to miss the changes," says @NYCMayor on his reaction to the Jazmine Headley arrest. Says it was unacceptable and won't happen again. — Brian Lehrer Show (@BrianLehrer) December 14, 2018

Amazon Faces New York In Heated Hearings

In the first of only three City Council hearings on Amazon opening a new hub in Queens, representatives of the tech company answered questions regarding the economic impact of the project. NYC City Council member (26th Queens) Jimmy Van Bramer describes the scene in the heated hearings and what he's been hearing from his constituents.

The Apps That Track And Sell Your Location

Natasha Singer, technology reporter at The New York Times covering consumer privacy, and Jennifer Valentino-DeVries, reporter on the investigative team at The New York Times, discuss their recent reporting on location-sharing technology that tracks users' movements through their phones and distributes that data...at a price.

A Pay Raise for Taxi and For-Hire Vehicle Drivers

After a tough year for cabbies and for-hire vehicle drivers, with economic troubles and driver suicides, Meera Joshi, chair and commissioner of the Taxi and Limousine Commission, talks about new rules that the TLC says will raise the pay of for-hire vehicle drivers, and that will benefit some yellow-cab drivers.

Advice for Caring for Your Mental Health

Kati Morton, licensed marriage and family therapist, and YouTube personality, discusses her new book Are u ok?: A Guide to Caring for Your Mental Health, and takes your calls. @KatiMorton says the best way to find a therapist is through word of mouth. If you have a friend who's seeing someone great, that's a good way to get a referral. — Brian Lehrer Show (@BrianLehrer) December 11, 2018

Abuse In and Out of Foster Care

New York Times Metro reporter Nikita Stewart and City Limits reporter Harry DiPrinzio talk about the rise of instances of abuse in foster care homes and centers, and when child-parent separation is allowable under law. Plus, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams joins to discuss the public outcry over a widely circulated Facebook video showing NYPD officers forcibly removing a 1-year-old from his mother. Lawyer of Jasmine Headley, the subject of that video, calls in to explain that Headley was at center to straighten out problems with childcare benefits. Says what you see in that video, is what it's like when they take a child away from a parent, even in family court. — Brian Lehrer Show (@BrianLehrer) December 11, 2018

The Chief Justice Marshall

Richard Brookhiser, senior editor of the National Review, National Review Institute Fellow, columnist for American History and the author of John Marshall: The Man Who Made the Supreme Court (Basic Books, 2018), talks about John Marshall, appointed to the Supreme Court in 1801, who is credited with establishing the Court's power through judicial review. 

Governor Cuomo Updates: L Train Shutdown and More

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo joins with updates on the latest news from Albany, including news on the impeding L train shutdown.

Impeachment Is Just Another Word for Indictment

NPR national political correspondent Mara Liasson reports on the latest national political news from Washington, D.C. including the fallout from former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen's hush money payments to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, and how impeachment is just another word for indictment, and doesn't mean that the President will be removed.

The Seven Political 'Tribes' of America, Part 2

Research from the new book, Hidden Tribes shows that Americans are divided into seven separate tribes with their own beliefs and norms, but most still think we can find common ground. Two of the co-authors, Míriam Juan-Torres, senior researcher at More in Common, and Daniel Yudkin, associate director of research at More in Common and a postdoctoral researcher in the Psychology Department at Yale, review these findings and its implications. → You can take the quiz here. "The 'politically disengaged' is the largest of the seven tribes, they tend to see politics as something that doesn’t really concern them. They are far more concerned with the day to day difficulties of living," says @dyudkin of @HiddenTribesUS. — Brian Lehrer Show (@BrianLehrer) December 7, 2018 "The 'politically disengaged' is the largest of the seven tribes, they tend to see politics as something that doesn’t really concern them. They are far more concerned with the day to day difficulties of living," says @dyudkin of @HiddenTribesUS. — Brian Lehrer Show (@BrianLehrer) December 7, 2018

Wisconsin GOP’s Lame-Duck Powerplay

Lame-duck Wisconsin Republicans are voting to weaken the incoming Democratic governor's power. Charlie Sykes, contributing editor at The Weekly Standard, MSNBC contributor, and author of How the Right Lost Its Mind (St. Martin's Press, October, 2017) talks about why the move, in addition to being grossly undemocratic, would be bad for the Republican party. "He’s taking time to put things in the public record, the court record, that is going to be very hard to ignore." 2/2 https://t.co/7xQuJ1mBGu — Brian Lehrer Show (@BrianLehrer) December 7, 2018 In Wisconsin, Republicans are exhibiting what @SykesCharlie calls the "sore loser reaction... signaling to the rest of the country that we’re going to react to an electoral defeat by making it harder to vote." — Brian Lehrer Show (@BrianLehrer) December 7, 2018 "Republicans, by doing what they’re doing, are very much energizing the Democratic base," says @SykesCharlie on Wisconsin Republicans moving to weaken the Democrats' access to early voting ahead of the 2020 presidential election. — Brian Lehrer Show (@BrianLehrer) December 7, 2018 "Conservative readers and investors… want the world to be binary, they want it to be tribal and The Weekly Standard has staked out a very unusual and very courageous position," by not "jumping on the Trump train," says @SykesCharlie. — Brian Lehrer Show (@BrianLehrer) December 7, 2018

The State of Natural Birth in New York

Journalist Julie Satow, author of The Plaza: The Secret Life of America's Most Famous Hotel (Twelve, forthcoming), discusses her reporting on the closing of the Mt. Sinai birthing center and why New York lags so far behind when it comes to providing safe and healthy natural birth care. →Why New York Lags So Far Behind on Natural Childbirth (New York Times, 11/30/2018) I was terrified of having a C-section, and in the end gave natural birth in 20 minutes in triage at NYU Langone. Apparently if you're fast enough you can avoid pitocin - and even an IV in my case. — Erin Finnegan (@erinf) December 6, 2018 I had natural childbirth-1st time because the resident didn't give me epidural in time, the 2nd because it was quick & I didn't trust anesthesia resident, & 3rd because I figured he'd be quicker than #2 (wrong). But I wouldn't want childbirth out of hospital in case of emergency. — Muddle-Age Spread (@muddleagespread) December 6, 2018 @BrianLehrer we did St Luke's Roosevelt birthing center, w option for conventional treatment . The nurses were incredibly sophisticated (and all from Philippines and west indies). For nxt child we did conventional delivery there--nurse exp. not good! — superf88 (@_superf88_) December 6, 2018 @BrianLehrer I’m concerned this conversation is only telling one half of the story. Specifically, no doctors have participated in this conversation. Doulas and midwives cannot deliver the same services and doctors such as post natal hemorrhage or emergencies in the newborn. — Alana Sigmund (@alanaecohen) December 6, 2018

The Right to Pay Cash

New York City Council Member Ritchie Torres (15th District - Central Bronx) and Alexa Tsoulis-Reay, writer for New York Magazine, talk about issues surrounding going cashless and CM Torres' proposed legislation to prohibit businesses from only accepting credit and debit cards. Andrew Rigie, executive director of the New York City Hospitality Alliance, also joins briefly.  

Finding Their Way to a Home

Susan Greenfield, professor of English at Fordham University and editor of Sacred Shelter: Thirteen Journeys of Homelessness and Healing, shares the stories of 13 people who were once homeless. She's joined by two people she profiles: James Addison and Dennis Barton.   EVENT:  December 9th at 1:30 PM at Middle Collegiate Church, a more in depth discussion of homelessness and healing.

Trump Administration Proposes Public Charge Changes

Proposed changes by the Trump administration would make it harder for families who use public benefits to secure legal status. Steven Banks, commissioner of NYC's Department of Social Services, and Bitta Mostofi, commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs, discuss the changes and how they would affect New Yorkers.

Speak to the Speaker: NYCHA, Amazon HQ2, Public Advocate's Race

Speaker of the New York City Council, Corey Johnson, talks about issues facing the City Council and takes calls from listeners. "If people saw the images yesterday of residents of the Patterson Houses," getting water from fire hydrants, says @NYCSpeakerCoJo. "It’s shocking and it’s something you wouldn’t think would happen in New York City." — Brian Lehrer Show (@BrianLehrer) December 4, 2018 "What we really need from Lynne Patton is to secure some federal dollars from the Trump administration and the Republican Congress that has tried to cut public housing subsidies both in the Capitol and on the operating side," says @NYCSpeakerCoJo. — Brian Lehrer Show (@BrianLehrer) December 4, 2018 "Requiring cities to bid against each other and sign non-disclosure agreements…. I think is really shameful and it’s not the way to come to a city if you want to relocate and create many jobs here," says @NYCSpeakerCoJo on #AmazonHQ2. — Brian Lehrer Show (@BrianLehrer) December 4, 2018 “I’m not endorsing in this race, and I think all sorts of great people are running, and it’s important who wins this seat but I’m not going to get involved in the [Public Advocate’s race]," @NYCSpeakerCoJo. pic.twitter.com/2LN5pK0mea — Brian Lehrer Show (@BrianLehrer) December 4, 2018

Middle Eastern Christians

Janine di Giovanni, a senior fellow at Yale University's Jackson Institute for Global Affairs and the author of The Morning They Came For Us: Dispatches from Syria (Liveright, 2016), talks about her reporting for Harper's Magazine on Christian communities under siege in the Middle East.

Peter Sagal, Midlife Crisis Runner

Host of NPR's Wait, Wait… Don't Tell Me! and author of The Incomplete Book of Running (Simon & Schuster 2018) Peter Sagal talks about the moments that have changed the way he sees the relationship between life and sport.

Monday Morning Politics: Indictment Watch

Kyle Cheney, Congress reporter for Politico, joins to discuss the latest political headlines, including the forgotten legacy of President George H.W. Bush, in which he issued pardons to six defendants in the Iran-Contra affair, and what indictments may come down from Special Counsel Robert Mueller's probe into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

Brian Lehrer Weekend: Amazon Blowback, Desegregating Long Island, Tina Brown

Three of our favorite segments from the week, in case you missed them. The Blowback From Amazon HQ2 (First) | Desegregating Segregated Long Island (Starts at 38:36) | Tina Brown (Starts at 1:18:46)   If you don't subscribe to the Brian Lehrer Show on iTunes, you can do that here.

Tracking Police 'Use of Force' in New Jersey

Craig McCarthy and Disha Raychaudhuri, reporters for NJ Advance Media, talk about The Force Report, a database of police use of force across the state of New Jersey that came out of a 16-month investigation by NJ Advance Media.

#AskTheMayor: Negotiations With Amazon, E-bikes and Citi Bikes

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio takes calls from listeners and discusses this week in NYC, including the expansion of Citi pedal-assist e-bikes, and ongoing negotiations with Amazon. 

Thursday Morning Politics: Trump's Infrastructure Plans

John O'Connor, WNYC Washington correspondent, talks about the House Democrats' leadership votes and Governor Cuomo's lunch with the president and Gabby Orr, Politico White House reporter, talks about the latest news from the White House, including a look at the negotiations over The Gateway Tunnel and the border wall with the United States and Mexico.