A federal class action lawsuit aimed at Governor Andrew Cuomo and the administrators of New York State’s Unified Court System claims people charged with misdemeanors in the Bronx are not getting their constitutionally guaranteed rights to a speedy trial and due process.

Robin Steinberg, Executive Director of The Bronx Defenders, and Ilann Mazel, a partner with Emery Celli Brinckerhoff & Abady LLP, which is co-counsel in the case along with the law firm Morrison & Foerster (both pro bono), join to discuss.

In 2014, the misdemeanor arraignments in Bronx Criminal Court were significantly fewer than the number of case filings in Manhattan Brooklyn and Queens and, yet Bronx Criminal Court had more misdemeanor cases pending at the end of the year and in December 2013, and the Bronx had more misdemeanor cases pending in excess of one year than the four other boroughs of New York City combined, according to The Bronx Defenders' research. 

Robin Steinberg said the Bronx is such an outlier, mainly because of it's status as one of the poorest ares in the state and country. 

"The Bronx is the poorest borough in New York City. It has the highest minority population. It's the poorest county in the state, and quite frankly, the South Bronx is the poorest congressional district in the country," Steinberg said. "It's been overlooked; it's been underfunded. There hasn't been enough attention paid to it and we are bringing many, many, many residents of the Bronx through the criminal justice system on very minor offenses, and all of that is combining together to create a perfect storm of horrible." 

Faith Salie, contributor to CBS News Sunday Morning, a panelist on NPR’s Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me!, host of the PBS show "Science Goes To The Movies," and author of Approval Junkie: Adventures in Caring Too Much (Crown Archetype, 2016), talks about her collection of essays about all the things she's done for approval.

→ Hear more: Faith will be at Housing Works Bookstore on Crosby Street on Wednesday, May 18th at 7:00pm. Click here for more details.

Republican leaders are starting to peel off into different camps. There are those who support Donald Trump, like casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, those who aren’t endorsing, like both former President Bushes, and some in between.

Slate staff writer Jim Newell talks about the various reactions from Republican party leadership to their presumptive nominee.

@BrianLehrer voted for Romeny and McCain - not voting for Trump

@BrianLehrer his stance on immigration and I'm not positive he has a grasp on reality based on his statements/comments over the decades

The MTA is in a tough spot. Vital repairs are needed on the L train tunnel under the East River, but many riders rely on that line.

The two options: full closure of the tracks in both directions for 18 months, or keeping one track open for limited two-way service (a train every 15 minutes or so) for 3 years.

The work is scheduled to begin around January 2019. WNYC transportation reporter Kate Hinds explains what's ahead.

Pamela Erens' new book Eleven Hours (Tin House Books, 2016) takes place entirely during one labor and delivery in an urban hospital. She wanted to write something she hadn't read before: a story which described childbirth as it really is.

Pamela Erens discussed how literature has glossed over childbirth: "If you read almost any novel in which childbirth takes place, you will find that the actual act has been deleted.”  

Birth stories may be missing from literature, Pamela contended, but they are exchanged in real life. "I think women love to tell birth stories just as men love to tell combat stories. They're amazing tales of what you've been through."

So why not used as material for writing? "I tried to think of good reasons it might be an underdeveloped area in fiction." She dismissed violence or a constrained setting (think of war stories or death bed narratives). "I think it comes down to the female genitals, and that people are still really uncomfortable with that."

There are some notable exceptions, stories which get childbirth right: Pamela mentioned Margret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale and Toni Morrison’s Beloved.

Emily Bazelon, New York Times Magazine staff writer and panelist on Slate's Political Gabfest, talks about the growing movement to decriminalize prostitution as a feminist issue.

Catie Marron, chairman of the board of directors of Friends of the High Line and the editor of City Squares: Eighteen Writers on the Spirit and Significance of Squares Around the World (Harper, 2016), and Alma Guillermoprieto, journalist, MacArthur fellow, and author of Dancing with Cuba and Samba, talk about Mexico City's Zocalo and the role of city squares in cities around the world.

→ Hear more: Catie Marron will be in conversation with Adam Gopnik, who contributed to the book, at the New York Society Library on Tuesday, May 10th at 6:30pm. Click here for tickets and details.

@BrianLehrer Washington Square is so full of life! Performance artists, NYU students, dogs everywhere... such a beautiful NYC mash-up.

@BrianLehrer Washington square park at night between 10p to 12a. calmer, quieter, idyllic. pic.twitter.com/jHccK1nL80

@BrianLehrer Piazza della Signoria in Florence -- A reproduction of David right there.

.@BrianLehrer : do the plazas of city college count? I often walk by there. @cunynewswire @CityCollegeNY #nyc pic.twitter.com/qK6ySOfSg3

There’s a phrase that almost every mother knows, and that’s the “birth story.” It’s the story of the day you gave birth — the day you definitely became a mother.

But there are many mothers who did not give birth. They adopted, became stepmoms or god moms.

Today we're asking: if you are a mom not-by-birth (especially if this is your first Mother's Day celebrating), how did you become a mother? And feel free to keep your stories coming on Twitter - tweet @BrianLehrer anytime.

Love that @BrianLehrer is giving air time to moms who did not give birth to their children ahead of Mother's Day. Motherhood is so diverse.

You’re making my mother-in-law cry, @BrianLehrer!

Oh boy @BrianLehrer I can't drive and listen to this! Tears everywhere!

This @BrianLehrer Show segment is making me want to call my mom right now. #HappyMothersDay

very into all these moms crying on @BrianLehrer rn

That's the idea. Call your moms, folks! (Heads-up: if they're listening to the show right now they might be crying.) https://t.co/YWSYcWF4ZT

This is the start of something new: Mayor Bill de Blasio will appear on our show every week, generally on Fridays at 10am.

You can use the hashtag #AskTheMayor anytime (even during the week) to submit a question you'd like him to answer.

From the Office of the Mayor

Brian Lehrer: Good morning everyone. Mayor Bill de Blasio is our first guest right now. And, beginning today, the Mayor will be a regularly scheduled weekly guest here on the program usually at this time – Friday mornings at 10 o’clock. And, of course, listeners – we’ll take phone calls. So, we are bringing you direct access to the Mayor on a weekly basis now, and we can do what we do on this program with public officials all the time – a combination of deeper conversations about the issues than you can get in most places in the media, and, of course, since we’re a news organization, holding the public officials accountable. 

So, Mr. Mayor, welcome back to WNYC. Thanks for your willingness to join us weekly. 

Mayor Bill de Blasio: It is my pleasure, Brian. I’m looking forward to it. 

Lehrer: And listeners, our Ask the Mayor lines are open at 2-1-2-4-3-3-W-N-Y-C – 2-1-2-4-3-3-9-6-9-2 – or Tweet us, using the hashtag Ask the Mayor. 

And Mr. Mayor, this comes at a tricky time for you. I guess, to be transparent to the listeners, we had offered this invitation at the beginning of your administration and your team didn’t want it then, though they said you’d come on frequently, and you certainly have been very accessible as a frequent guest, and we gratefully acknowledge that. And as we begin this weekly appearance, your Press Secretary, Karen Hinton, just announced her resignation yesterday. The New York Times, today, says, “The administration’s inability to define itself has been highlighted by the weeks of unforgiving headlines that have accompanied news in at least five investigations by the U.S. Attorney and the Manhattan DA.” So, accepting our invitation now is part of a larger, new communications strategy? 

Mayor: Well, I don’t agree with the thesis of that article. We said we were coming here to address income inequality, and to create a more fair city, and create more opportunity. We’ve been doing that in terms of decreasing crime, ending the unconstitutional approach to stop and frisk, building affordable housing, Pre-K For All. I think it’s quite clear to the people of this city that I had a vision for the city – people voted for it, we’ve been implementing it. So, insiders may want to characterize, you know, the communications strategies the way they want to, but I think the people are receiving the reality of our policies. They’re feeling the realities of our policies. Look, I think Karen Hinton did a great job and, you know, she has a family reason why it makes sense for her to take a change at this point and I respect that. But we’re very confident that the things we’ve done on the ground are being felt by everyday New Yorkers. I’m going to be doing more and more town hall meetings. I’m going to be doing lots of things to communicate directly to my fellow New Yorkers. And, Brian, you know, at the beginning of the administration we had a lot we had to get done quickly. A lot of that is now underway and working, and I think this is the kind of format that makes sense to have even more direct contact with everyday New Yorkers. 

Lehrer: Do you think your communications team could have done a better job – or you, yourself – containing the Daily News headlines, especially – which you know I’ve said to you on the air publicly I think are sometimes over the top and misleading. But that’s what tabloids do, and it’s part of your job not to give them too much bait. 

It seems like, at one time, everyone was reading Susan Cain's book Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking.

Now, she's written a book specifically about introverted teens. It's called Quiet Power: The Secret Strengths of Introverts (Dial Books, 2016).

In it, the former corporate lawyer and negotiations consultant continues her defense of introverts, now with issues that affect teens and kids in schools and social milieus that might favor their more outgoing peers.

@BrianLehrer,Parent of former introvert who was also shy. We pushed her to express herself. I think correctly. World doesnt value the silent